6A — Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

WHISPER

SUBMIT A 
WHISPER

By John Guzzetta
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/29/20

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

01/29/20

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, January 29, 2020

ACROSS
1 Like much desert 
terrain
5 Constructed
10 Modeling 
material
14 Latina toon 
explorer
15 Bay of Bengal 
nation
16 Ceviche flavoring
17 Exclusive place 
for tennis
19 Slavic John
20 Come next
21 Tizzy
22 Keyboard slips
25 Unpredictable leg 
joint
29 Cleaver 
nickname
30 Rapper __ Rida
31 Balls in coin-op 
machines, say
32 Throat condition
34 Ed who plays 
Santa in “Elf”
36 Con’s opposite
37 Skeet enthusiast
40 Salary
42 Game console 
button
43 Mary, Queen 
of __
46 Air quality 
watchdog: Abbr.
47 Poem of praise
48 “The thing is ... ”
49 Big Apple power 
company
53 Big and strong
54 Roman who 
wrote “The 
History of Rome”
55 Puzzle-solving 
asset
57 Unconscious 
state
58 Gridiron 
infraction, and 
a hint to 17-, 
25-, 37- and 
49-Across
63 Quaint oath
64 Otherworldly
65 Rooms to Go 
rival
66 Singer Lovett
67 One with piece 
offerings?
68 Sleep in a tent

DOWN
1 Yalta Conf. 
attendee
2 Mauna __ 
Observatory

3 Rainbow shape
4 Corporate 
acquisition
5 Drill parts
6 Like some 
directors’ editions
7 Car waiting at the 
airport, maybe
8 Lucy who voices 
Master Viper in 
the “Kung Fu 
Panda” films
9 It might be 
opened in a bar
10 Sound of toasts
11 Walking, talking 
example
12 Hobbyist
13 Urge
18 USCG rank
21 Hybrid apparel
22 “Miracle 
Workers” (2019) 
network
23 “Is it soup __?”
24 Fun-loving type
26 On the other 
hand
27 Geppetto’s 
goldfish
28 Angsty rock 
genre
33 Send-up
34 Burros
35 “That’s all __ 
wrote”

38 Spa treatment, 
for short
39 Drawn from 
various sources
40 Upper-bod 
muscle
41 Words of regret
44 Tyke on a trike
45 Where 
thunderheads 
form
50 Get away from
51 Skateboard 
stunt

52 Circus clown’s 
collection
53 “__ Dark 
Materials”: HBO 
fantasy series
56 Code carrier
57 Animation frame
58 Distant
59 SweetWater 
Georgia Brown, 
e.g.
60 Alias letters
61 Sleep cycle
62 Put to use

CLASSIFIEDS

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FOR RENT

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MEDIUM

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1 of 1
10/1/2010 12:58 P

SUDOKU

For all its subplots, the enduring 
struggle of Netflix’s “The Ranch” 
has always been the Bennetts 
themselves. 
The 
tumultuous 
relationship 
between 
Colt’s 
(Ashton Kutcher, “That 70s Show”) 
narcissism and the intensity of 
his father, Beau (Sam Elliot, “The 
Mule”), has been at the center of 
it all. As the Bennetts continue to 
suffer from fighting one another, so 
does their beloved ranch. Nothing 
grows where there is no nurturing. 
Thus, the fourth season of this often 
dark western comedy has arrived 
and with it, the end of “The Ranch.”
The second half of the season 
comes after the first half was left on 
a cliffhanger: Who shot Nick (Josh 
Burrow, “The Crimson Mask”)? 
While both Colt and his cousin 
Luke (Dax Shepard, “Bless This 
Mess”) are arrested, it was actually 
Colt’s ex-girlfriend Heather (Kelli 
Goss, “Grey’s Anatomy”) behind the 
trigger. 
Season four allows the Bennets 
to leave on a high note, after three 
seasons of misfortunes. Colt and 
Abby (Elisha Cuthbert, “24”) come 
to the decision that they’d like to 
have a second child. Luke comes 
to terms with the death of a close 
friend and to the conclusion about 

where he wants to be — at the ranch 
with the Bennetts. At the same 
time, Colt manages to do some 
sleuthing — proving the foul play 
of a large agricultural corporation. 
In the process, Colt not only saves 
his father’s ranch, but also acquires 
a new ranch next door for his new 
family.
Despite its large and talented 
cast, 
“The 
Ranch” 
has 
gone 
relatively overlooked for each of 

its four seasons. Yet, the show 
has been notable for a number of 
reasons, including the crassness 
with which the characters speak. 
The series never shied away from 
f-bombs, nor introspection. Even 
more notable is its subject matter. 
“The Ranch” has maintained an 

idle, almost offhand preoccupation 
with the rural. Here the Bennetts 
were, in the same town they grew 
up in, in the same bar they’ve 
always been drinking in, doing the 
same things they’ve always done. 
Perhaps it’s because of this that the 
Bennetts have struggled to survive 
in the onslaught of change and 
misfortune. Beau’s insistence on not 
moving his herd during a wildfire, 
only to lose track of his family, is one 
such notable example.
But I think “The Ranch” is more 
than that. There are few televised 
offerings that portray country living 
in a way that doesn’t pander or talk 
down to people with rural lifestyles. 
Yet, “The Ranch” has always been 
firm in portraying ruralites with 
a heavy dash of humility. Yes, Colt 
and Rooster are ranchers whose 
names are literal farm animals, 
and yes, they do get up to some 
yee-haw shenanigans. But the 
show also punishes its characters 
for this. The narrative punishes 
characters for being set in their 
ways too deeply. “The Ranch” does 
not praise the mischief that arises 
from the itchiness that comes with 
living in the middle of nowhere. But 
it also doesn’t condemn it, because 
that’s unreasonable and a tad 
discriminatory.

Here’s to roots, to ‘Ranch’

NETFLIX

Oh, Mipso, you have my 
heart. 
Mipso, 
a 
folk/bluegrass 
quartet hailing from Chapel 
Hill, returned to Ann Arbor 
this past Friday to perform at 
the Ark and fit into this city 
like a vintage, leather glove. 
The evening began as quietly 
and strangely as it ended, with 
the astral music of openers 
Bridget Kearney on electric 
bass/vocals 
and 
Benjamin 
Lazar Davis on a whole slew 
of instruments. Their music 
snuck up on me. These two 
quiet, endearingly awkward 
musicians 
created 
these 
incredibly stark soundscapes 
dotted with musical oddities 
and rhythmic complications. 
Kearney’s 
deceptively 
simple lyrics combined with 
Davis’ 
eccentric 
musical 
flare made for a continually 
surprising experience. It felt 
simultaneously 
welcoming 
and isolating, like they were 
inviting you to feel lonely 
with them. Each song had 
an 
uncomfortable 
element 
to it, but uncomfortable in 
that it made you alert, not in 
a way that was unpleasant to 
listen to. These oddball songs, 
coupled with the performers’ 
awkwardly wonderful sense 
of humor, made the audience 
ready to receive anything. 
When Mipso entered, they 
slid right into their set as if they 
had always been there, playing 
as smooth and consistent as 
river water. They didn’t stop 
to acknowledge the audience 
until after their third song, and 
the greeting seemed less like 
an introduction and more like a 
continuation of a relationship. 
Their set glittered with gems 
from their new album, EDGES 
RUN, as well as a few sneak 
peaks from their upcoming 

album (title TBD) and some 
hilariously-picked 
and 
brilliantly-executed 
covers. 
The audience chuckled and 
cackled in disbelief when the 
shimmering opening chords of 
a new song quickly turned into 
a Death Cab for Cutie song.
Each 
member 
shone 
brilliantly: 
Jacob 
Sharp’s 
(mandolin, 
vocals) 
lyrical 
depth 
and 
quiet, 
yearning 
vocals were heart-wrenching; 
Wood Robinson (bass, vocals) 
rooted the band with his steady 
playing; Joseph Terrell (guitar, 
vocals) gave the band its fun, 

classically-country flair; and 
Libby 
Rodenbough 
(fiddle, 
vocals) tied it all together 
with a fiddle that soared and 
danced, a voice that slipped 
through tight harmonies and 
sweet lyrics, and an attitude 
that commanded and drove the 
band forward.
Though 
each 
was 
remarkable, the most beautiful 
aspect of their performance 
— in addition to their quirky 
quips between songs and their 
friendly, intimate banter with 
each other and the audience 
— was how much they shared 
the spotlight. The songs in 
the set felt varied tonally in 
a complementary, refreshing 
way, and the lead singer was 
constantly rotating between 

the band members.
In fact, I don’t even know if I 
can say there is a lead singer in 
the band. Mipso accomplishes 
something rare that I didn’t 
realize the full extent of until 
seeing them live: they all work. 
Each one of them played at 
least two different instruments 
in the concert alone, all of them 
sang beautifully, and from the 
lyrical variance, it became clear 
that each of them contributed 
to the writing. Each band 
member 
is 
a 
musician, 
a 
singer, a lyricist and a vivid, 
welcoming presence onstage, 
making each of them essential 
and irreplaceable. And that is, 
for a lack of better words, truly 
insane. 
It 
is 
rare 
to 
see 
tight 
collaboration anywhere, but 
what a delight it is to witness 
such collaboration in action.

The 
multi-talented, 

symbiotic relationship between 
all of the group members 
coalesced 
into 
a 
vibrant, 
energetic 
folk 
experience. 
Each song charged forward, 
while retaining that sense of 
laid-back ease inherent in folk 
music. They met each moment 
with 
enthusiasm 
and 
then 
relaxed into it. And, in turn, we 
relaxed with them.
When they came back out for 
their encore, the band met the 
audience with an incredibly 
somber song about being ready 
to die. This made a few audience 
members who recognized the 
tune greet the encore with 
scattered chuckles, but we all 
quickly gave into the soothing 
flow of the song. 
They slipped out of the 
concert and this town as 
smoothly and naturally as they 
had entered it, leaving the 
audience with sweet memories 
of well-crafted songs and a 
subtle itching in the back of our 
minds — a sense of waiting and 
eagerness for whatever is to 
come from the haunting, lively 
band Mipso.

Multi-talented musicians 
of Mipso return to the Ark

The Ranch

Season Four

Netflix

Streaming now

TV REVIEW
TV REVIEW

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

Read more online at 
michigandaily.com

MAXWELL SCHWARZ
Daily Arts Writer

STEPHANIE GURALNICK
Daily Arts Writer

It is rare to see 
tight collaboration 
anywhere, but 
what a delight it 
is to witness such 
collaboration in 
action.

