Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Tue, Mar 10 1992 Date: Tue, 10 Mar 92 05:44:45 EST Message-ID: 03-10 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update March 10, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network UPSCALE TOPLESS CLUBS THRIVE: The recession and local regulations are driving out traditional strip joints. But taking their place is a new breed of upscale topless clubs, with public relations and lawyers to fight off opposition. Fax machines and valet parking don't mask what the clubs really are, say anti-pornography leaders. But last year men spent $3 billion in topless clubs, says Gentlemen's Club magazine. YOUNG TALENT IN SPOTLIGHT: Young R&B acts provide the steam at Tuesday's Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles. "It's been a major year for launching young talent," says executive producer Don Cornelius. "The awards bore that out with top nominations for artists who are very street, very hip-hop-oriented groups," he says. Nominees include rap trio Naughty by Nature and vocal quartets Jodeci and Boyz II Men. JODECI MAKES PRESENCE KNOWN: New contender Jodeci is up against established acts at the Soul Train Music Awards Tuesday night. The vocal quartet is one of a number of acts studding the charts with '50s-type group harmonies over rap beats. Jodeci has four nomination including best group. The group has sold 1.5 million copies of its debut album, "Forever My Lady," and has topped the R&B chart with it and "Stay." TALK SHOWS GRAB RATINGS: Ratings for the talk show "Sally Jessy Raphael" increased 21% in the February sweeps over last year's, as USA TODAY reported Monday. Other shows did well also. "Geraldo" was up 37%; "Joan Rivers," up 12%; "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Maury Povich," up 11%; and "Donahue," up 7%. HOLLYWOOD MEETS GREAT WHITE WAY: Movie stars have made Broadway hot again. Between now and May 31, 17 shows will open, many with major film stars. It's the busiest season since 1981. "People are starting to buzz about the theater," says producer Roger Berlind. "Even taxi drivers are talking." Among the names: Gene Hackman, Richard Dreyfuss, Glenn Close in "Death and the Maiden"; Alan Alda in "Jake's Women." PACINO IS ON BROADWAY: Big names on Broadway this season include Al Pacino, who will alternate nights performing in "Salome" and "Chinese Coffee." Judd Hirsch plays in "Conversations With My Father." Even revivals are hot with Alec Baldwin in "A Streetcar Named Desire." One reason for the migration: Film scripts are lukewarm lately. Hollywood caution "has gotten worse," says actor Griffin Dunne. MAMBO MAKES A COMEBACK: The mambo, a spicy Cuban- and African-based dance and music genre, is poised for a comeback. Oscar Hijuelos' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love," has been made into a movie, "The Mambo Kings." And the movement popular in the 1940s and '50s has gained new interest. The movie soundtrack is out. "Ran Kan Kan" by Tito Puente has hit Billboard's top 10. WIPE OFF THE WHITE FACE PAINT: Silence isn't golden anymore. Mimes, popular in the 1970s, have increasingly been the target of a backlash. Twenty years ago, boomers were a nation emerging from a '60s hangover, entering adulthood with trepidation. Now it's the Get Real '90s. "Back then, there were so many mimes ... all full of love. People just got sick of them," says The New Republics' Robert Brustein. MOVIES SHOW MIME-BASHING: Popular culture is starting to reflect the surge of anti-mime emotion. In "Shakes the Clown," drunken clowns beat up mimes. Hulk Hogan decks a mime in "Suburban Commando" and Woody Allen slugs one in "Scenes From a Mall." Theater critic Robert Brustein traces mime aggression to a late-'70s "Saturday Night Live" sketch that shows a guy killing his mime roommate. C-SPAN GOES TO LOCALS: Just as for the 1990 Congressional elections, C-SPAN is strengthening Super Tuesday coverage with a simulcast of election coverage from local affiliates Tuesday night. "We got more notice for our election coverage (from viewers)," says C-SPAN's Terry Murphy. C-SPAN is available in 55 million cable homes and its audience is ferociously loyal. HOLIDAY IMPROVES BOOKING SYSTEM: Holiday Inn Worldwide Tuesday will join the increasing number of hotel chains trying to make buying a hotel room similar to buying a plane ticket. The company will unveil an improved computer system that will let it offer a wider selection of rates. Travel experts say this could mean higher rates for those booking late. WE TOOK ON MORE CAR LOANS: Consumers continued to pay down installment debt in January. But loans for automobiles increased for the first time in 13 years, the Federal Reserve said Monday. Consumer credit dropped a seasonally adjusted $183 million. Installment debt fell 0.8% during 1991, the first annual drop in 33 years. Auto loans rose at a 1.5% annual rate or a seasonally adjusted $332 million. Trends & Marketing Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM