Why diners want 'theatrics' from restaurants
Things I Saw This Week — Friday, April 11
Food
(More) questions to ponder:
Music
On the lessening frequency of musical guests on late-night TV shows:
The result, according to a Consequence analysis, is a downward spiral. After peaking at over 800 annual bookings between 2011 and 2013, the total number of musical performances had been in decline for many years. And while the COVID era saw a reversal, buoyed by at-home concerts, the return to studio shows, followed by a number of industry-shaking strikes, accelerated the drop. In 2023, the total number of bookings barely crested the 200 mark.
A new documentary explores funk’s origins.
Funk's status as a joyful, unapologetically Black musical form is emphasized again and again in We Want the Funk!. But the documentary also shows how funk both borrowed from and inspired other types of music – with guitarist Carlos Alomar demonstrating how funky rhythms inspired interlocking guitar parts in the hit song he co-wrote with and for David Bowie, "Fame."
In an inspired sequence, Clinton admits that "Fame" inspired parts of "Give Up the Funk." Both songs emphasize "the one" – the first beat of key measures in a song that lends a driving beat.
Later, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne notes the title of their hit "Burning Down the House" was inspired by a chant Parliament started with the crowd during a show. Byrne says, because Parliament never put the phrase on a record, it seemed "up for grabs."
Here’s a map of 84 independent record stores in Los Angeles that closed between 1956 and 2020.
Retail
Business of Fashion reports on the high-end hotel boom on the African continent.
Africa is a burgeoning market for high-end goods and luxury travel driven by strong economic growth, an expanding middle class, increasing consumer-spending power, a rising millionaire population and growing air connectivity. It was the best-performing tourism region in the world in 2024 after the Middle East, with foreign arrivals 7 percent above pre-pandemic levels, according to the United Nations tourism agency.
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About 92 percent of the almost 50,000 rooms under development in North Africa are high-end, with a predominance of luxury projects in Egypt and Morocco, the report shows. The number of rooms in the pipeline for the region is up 23 percent from a year earlier, outpacing growth of 6 percent in sub-Saharan Africa.
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East Africa’s Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar and Boa Vista, an island off Cape Verde in West Africa, are the only two destinations outside of North Africa with resort projects planned for 2025.
Sports
Nearly 200 international athletes recently participated in North Korea’s Pyongyang International Marathon, the first time the event has been held in six years.
Participants this year came from countries including China, Ethiopia, Morocco and Romania, state news media reported. In earlier editions of the race, only elite foreign runners from socialist and nonaligned states could enter the race; now, foreign amateurs were also invited, according to the race’s official travel partner, Koryo Tours.
Despite its reclusiveness and economic isolation, which has deepened since the coronavirus pandemic, North Korea runs a relatively successful athletic program. The authoritarian government invests heavily in sports as a cultural development tool — a way to boost national pride and to try to elevate the country on the international stage.
TV/Film
“Why A Goofy Movie Is So Beloved by Black Fans.”
The 1995 animated movie is a coming-of-age story that follows Goofy (Bill Farmer) and his son, Max (Jason Marsden), as they embark on a fishing trip despite having trouble connecting. On its surface, there’s nothing particularly Black about the film—after all, it was directed by a white man (Kevin Lima), written by three white men, and stars an almost entirely white cast. So how did this little Disney picture end up so beloved by Black viewers? After decades of rumination, speculation, and even an Atlanta episode about it, Disney has finally offered some of its own insight, in the form of a Disney+ documentary, Not Just a Goof (available to stream on Disney+), about the making of A Goofy Movie and its legacy 30 years later.
Songs I Listened to This Week
TV/Films I Watched This Week
‘Freaky Tales’ | in theaters
Set in 1987 Oakland, Freaky Tales is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters — an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks, neo-Nazis, and a debt collector — on a collision course in a fever dream of showdowns and battles. Executive produced by hip-hop pioneer Too $hort, and featuring an all-star ensemble including Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, and Tom Hanks, this pulpy blend of explosive action, edgy humor, gory kills, and sly twists and turns makes for one wild ride.
‘Sinners’ | in theaters April 18
From Ryan Coogler—director of “Black Panther” and “Creed”—and starring Michael B. Jordan comes a new vision of fear: “Sinners.”
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. “
You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”
Written and directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Coogler, “Sinners” stars Jordan (the “Black Panther” and “Creed” franchises) in a dual role, joined by Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld (“Bumblebee,” “True Grit”), Jack O’Connell (“Ferrari”), Wunmi Mosaku (“Passenger”), Jayme Lawson (“The Woman King”), Omar Benson Miller (“True Lies”) and Delroy Lindo (“Da 5 Bloods”)