The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts Monday, February 25, 2019 — 5A Classifieds Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com WORK ON MACKINAC ISLAND This Summer – Make lifelong friends. The Island House Hotel and Ryba’s Fudge Shops are seeking help in all areas: Front Desk, Bell Staff, Wait Staff, Sales Clerks, Kitchen, Baris‑ tas. Dorm Housing, bonus, and discounted meals. (906) 847‑7196. www.theislandhouse.com SUMMER EMPLOYMENT By Ed Sessa ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 02/25/19 Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis 02/25/19 ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: Release Date: Monday, February 25, 2019 ACROSS 1 Sources of nuclear energy 6 Wolf call 10 Banned pollutants, briefly 14 Exodus mount 15 Author Wiesel 16 “I smell trouble” 17 Tavern mug 18 Get off the lawn, as leaves 19 Noncurrent currency of Italy 20 Tricolor flier in Dublin 23 Longtime forensic drama 25 The first “T” in TNT 26 Bitcoin, notably 27 Quality sound reproduction 31 Prefix with violet 32 Shipshape 33 Mineral hardness scale 34 “The game is __”: Sherlock Holmes 36 “Alas!” 40 Waves to ride on 41 Hit that barely gets over the infield 42 “And suppose my answer is no?” 46 Panini cheese 48 “Alice” diner owner 49 “That’s all __ wrote” 50 “What’s your hurry?” ... and a literal hint to what’s hiding in 20-, 27- and 42-Across 54 Stereo preceder 55 Length times width 56 Erode 59 Blue dye 60 Storm-producing weather systems 61 Wharton’s Ethan 62 Must have 63 Crafter’s website 64 Brown-toned photo DOWN 1 Stubborn animal 2 Chickadee relative 3 20% expressed as a fraction 4 Snail or junk follower 5 “New York, New York” crooner 6 Valiant 7 Disney snowman 8 User-edited site 9 Eyed wolfishly 10 Don, as boots 11 China’s __ Kai-shek 12 Carried 13 Shielded from the sun 21 College sr.’s exam 22 Send out 23 Buddy 24 Grain storage area 28 Tax-collecting agcy. 29 Like most light switches 30 Classic roadster 34 Used car lot event 35 The “F” in TGIF: Abbr. 36 Furry sitcom ET 37 Landing site for Santa’s sleigh 38 Dance in a pit 39 Olympic fencing event 40 Wise one 41 Opinions 42 Dog at a cookout 43 Ramis of “Ghostbusters” 44 “Doesn’t bother me at all” 45 NFL official 46 “Oh, no, bro!” 47 Dazzled 51 Relaxed running pace 52 Fells with an ax 53 Steak order 57 Mate, across the Channel 58 Tazo product The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and select pianists from the Doctor of Musical Arts program in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance performed a two-part series of classical orchestra pieces at Hill Auditorium over the weekend on Friday and Saturday nights. Upon entering the auditorium, I immediately noticed that people of all ages were present. I saw some who looked to be seasoned symphony- goers, while others, apparently new parents, brought along their smiling toddlers, all of whom seemed to enjoy the performance — even those too young to be able to verbally communicate it. At the Friday night performance, I spoke with audience member Stevie King, who said that she had come to the performance to support her coworker, who is a flutist in the orchestra. She also brought along her husband, who is a pianist himself, in the hopes that he would enjoy the work of Claudio Espejo and Hsiu-Jung Hou. I also spoke with Palmer, a senior at the University of Michigan and a member of the University’s Men’s Glee Club, who said he wanted to attend more events in Ann Arbor before he graduates. “It’s free and a good study break,” said Palmer during intermission. He has been on the stage at Hill with the Glee Club many times, but as he states, “It is nice to just be an audience member.” I spoke with another gentleman who owns two houses: one in Ann Arbor and another in New Hampshire. After seeing an ad in the Record, he and his wife decided to attend the performance, as they “like to see what humans are capable of.” It was apparent that the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and DMA pianists attracted audience members from both the University and the greater Ann Arbor area. Both performances utilized the talents of Robert Broadman as guest conductor. Broadman was Artistic Director of Live from Orchestra Hall, the free worldwide webcasts of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, until he was appointed the position of Interim Director of Orchestral Studies at Eastern Michigan University in 2018. Broadman is also the winner of several prestigious musical awards, including the first place award in 2018 and 2015 for The American Prize and Maestro Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming. Watching Broadman conduct with intense passion was artistic. His face would get beet-red and his movements fast and violent as the crescendos of his orchestra bid him to. He seemed to physically muscle through the symphony, as though he needed to exhaust himself to pull the music out of the written page and out onto the orchestra. I am certain that this man was hypertensive for a significant portion of the performance. “Finale: Alla breve” is a piece from Piano Concerto no. 3 in D Minor, op. 30 composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff. It was played during the Friday night performance with Hsiu-Jung Hou at the piano. Hou presented in a deep maroon dress that looked like a point of color amid the blackness of the orchestra from which the orchestra fanned out from Hou and her piano, adding a bit of colorful drama to the already-dramatic piece. “Finale” was played with such vigor and passion that it was as though the listener has been sent down a winding road filled with both triumph and melancholy. The Saturday night performance brought with it some of the best classical piano I have ever heard, courtesy of Eun Young Lee, Mi-Eun Kim, and Ji-Hyang Gwak. The combined performances on Friday and Saturday night further showcased the talent housed in Ann Arbor and the University, and its capability to draw in audiences from in and around the area. Students & Symphony put on a stunning show for AA COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW “Documentary Now!,” the brainchild of four very successful “Saturday Night Live” alumni (Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Rhys Thomas), takes the best elements of the latter’s sketches and extends them into bite-size mockumentaries. Very often, these mockumentaries skillfully straddle the line of surreal and somehow perfectly believable, taking real documentaries and turning up the dial ever so slightly on every aspect of production. Season 3 (or Season 52 as the show calls it) begins with an ambitious, yet perfectly executed parody of “Wild Wild Country,” aptly named “Batsh*t Valley.” The mockumentary tells the story of coked-up cult leader, Ra-Shawbard (Owen Wilson, “Cars 3”), who takes his groups of followers to a small Oregon town called Chinook. The townspeople are perplexed, but welcome the new residents anyway. They are amused by the cult’s insistence on, for example, making sure the vegetables they eat give them permission to be eaten. On the other hand, they are less amused by the frequent, loud orgies that become a point of conflict. The story is told through a mix of old newsreel footage and present-day interviews of former cult members and FBI agent Bill Dawes (Michael Keaton, “Spider Man: Homecoming”). There’s rarely a line of wasted dialogue, and the tension that escalates between the cult and the townspeople becomes so engaging it’s hard to forget how batsh*t it all actually is. You might just believe for a second that you are in fact watching a documentary about a Jonestown-esque cult, but then the show throws out something remarkably absurd such as “orgasm jars,” where cult members must scream their pleasure into a jar in order to preserve it for future moments of darkness. Even more impressive than Wilson’s woozy cult leader performance was that of Nescar Zadegan (“The Good Doctor”) as cult spokesman “Ra-Sharir.” She is a truly detestable villain: Her checkered past and dark turn lay the groundwork for the second half, where the show truly goes insane, reminiscent of the final fight sequence in “Hot Fuzz.” Like when it is revealed that the names of cult members are just anagrams of the names of Steelers players (“Ra-Shawbard” is derived from Terry Bradshaw). Yet, within the framework that the episode develops for itself, all the events still seem strangely natural. “Batsh*t Valley” features an impressive attention to detail in the way it parodies its source material. The most absurd aspects of the cult are detailed in the same manner-of- fact tone as “Wild Wild Country,” and some specific characters will be instantly recognizable to fans of the show. However, it is absolutely not necessary to have watched “Wild Wild Country” to enjoy this, and like any show made by Fred Armisen and Bill Hader that I have ever watched, I can guarantee several references and jokes went over my head. And that’s what makes “Documentary Now!” continue being so brilliant. Even though it may not be for everyone, everyone can indeed find their own way to enjoy it and marvel at its absurdity. ‘Now!’ returns even better TV REVIEW One symptom of the streaming era is that making a statement with an album cover has become an underappreciated art. A byproduct of albums going from 12-inch physical records to Spotify thumbnails on a phone screen, it’s much easier to overlook album art (that’s not to say we didn’t have awful album covers 20 years ago). However, a cover can be an important part of an album’s legacy, and artists should treat it as such. It’s the first thing a listener sees and can be an important part of framing the experience. Hip hop is a genre founded on sending a message with words, and a picture tells a thousand words. So, what makes good album art? When talking about album art in hip hop, most people will point to older album covers as the greatest. Naturally, the first ingredient to a classic album cover is that the album itself will stand the test of time. Those classics set the example for good artwork. First, take what is arguably hip hop’s greatest album cover (an argument that I’ll fight for tooth-and-nail) from the classic group A Tribe Called Quest. The Low End Theory, hailed as one of the greatest and most influential hip- hop records of all time, was an innovation in both sound and cover design. The dark cover features a woman with vibrant red and green body paint across her body, posed on her knees and shot from the side. The woman in body paint was eye-catching, sexy and Afrocentric, capturing the essence not only of A Tribe Called Quest, but of hip hop as a genre. Today she is a timeless logo for hip hop. A good album tells a story, and so does a good cover. N.W.A.’s politically charged debut, Straight Outta Compton, had many stories to tell about the realities of gang life in Compton, California. So does its threatening cover. In the photo, the group stares menacingly over the camera with the skyscrapers of LA towering behind them. Eazy-E points a gun at the viewer. There is indeed a tale to the photo on the cover. As told to NME by photographer Eric Poppleton, “We were in downtown Los Angeles ... I just lay on the ground and they pointed what hopefully was an unloaded gun down at the camera. I couldn’t say for sure whether it was ready to fire, but it was definitely a real gun. There wasn’t anything fake back then.” Personally, I like to think Eazy had the gun loaded. The cover of Straight Outta Compton captured the essence of gangsta rap in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, but The Pharcyde was the first hip-hop group to defy the trend that N.W.A. pioneered. Their debut, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, featured an outrageous cover showing the four eccentric emcees riding a rollercoaster into a toothy vagina. And that works — it’s an album about goofy shit. Few artists were going against the grain in sound during the era saturated in gangsta rap, and The Pharcyde took their sonic rebellion to the extreme with their lighthearted humor — and album art to match. To answer the question, good album art is iconic, a symbol of the music, the artist, and the era of hip hop that it falls in. Good album art is beautiful, drawn by artists with a vision, or photographed with care. But most importantly, it captures the essence of the album. Music is an experience, and the cover is a part of that experience. And just as hip hop has spread its influence in sound, so has it started trends in visuals with iconic album covers. A major theme in hip hop is innocence gone early, a product of the dangerous communities that many hip hop stars have grown up in. The album that kicked this trend off is the masterpiece Illmatic, featuring a young Nas superimposed over the Queensbridge projects. The Notorious B.I.G. followed suit with a baby picture on Ready to Die, which was the subject of many disses for biting Nas. Contrary to popular belief, the child on the cover is not Biggie himself — it was a kid from the Bronx booked through a modeling agency. The baby picture album cover theme would make waves, with baby photos gracing the covers of some of the biggest albums in the next millennium: Lil Wayne on Tha Carter III, Kendrick Lamar on Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City and Drake on Nothing Was the Same. The comic book-inspired cover trend was extremely prevalent in hip hop in the ’90s, but has since died down, with Czarface being the only group still pumping out albums with beautiful comic covers. Many amazing works of art came out of this trend, however. Earlier I talked about Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde as the model cartoony album cover, but several other iconic covers followed afterwards, such as GZA’s Liquid Swords, MF DOOM’s Operation Doomsday and Wu-Massacre from the Wu-Tang anthology. The most recent phenomenon in album art has been the “meme cover.” Over the last few years, the most memorable album covers have been ones that go viral online. Fans can even generate their own album covers inspired by Views, The Life of Pablo and Ye. Snapchat users have a sticker of their bitmoji inspired by DAMN. Album cover parodies aren’t a new phenomenon by any means. Fans have probably made thousands of variations of famous album covers like Abbey Road and The Dark Side of the Moon. But in recent years, memed-out hip-hop album covers have been making the rounds on Twitter more and more. Even if it takes a back seat today, the pursuit of innovative cover design is still alive. Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, the man behind Kanye West’s Graduation cover, designed one of hip hop’s most wallpaper-able covers with KIDS SEE GHOSTS, an instant vinyl purchase for me. The cover of Tyler, the Creator’s Flower Boy is both surreal and beautiful, painted by Ann Arbor native Eric White. Here’s to future classic album covers to come. Best hip-hop album covers MUSIC NOTEBOOK SAYAN GHOSH Daily Arts Writer ZACHARY M.S. WAARALA Daily Arts Writer DYLAN YONO Daily Arts Writer The Saturday night performance brought with it some of the best classical piano I have ever heard ‘Documentary Now!’ IFC Wednesdays @ 10 p.m. Season 3 Premiere