Known as one of the most popular fast casual spots in the city of Los Angeles, many celebrities, shows and books have paid homage to Zankou Chicken. The restaurant is best remembered for the perfectly crispy rotisserie chicken they sell, which is seasoned using a combination of local spices. This process takes several hours, so workers are often up well before the restaurant opens.

That’s probably why a sense of pop-culture has developed around Zankou. It should be no surprise that Zankou has also been referenced in actual media too.

Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Palestinian Chicken

curb-your-enthusiasm-zankouIn the popular show Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David wrote a scene that took place inside a restaurant that was a not so subtle nod to Zankou Chicken. Although it’s not actually called “Zankou” by name, all the signs are there. One inconsistency: the Iskendarian family serves Lebanese recipes, not Palestinian chicken. Still you can see the yellow shirts and red-block writing, smell the pita and taste the garlic sauce.

Beck’s “Debra”

The song “Debra” features a not-so hidden mention of everyone’s favorite chicken spot. Supposedly, Beck is a regular at Zankou, getting it whenever he has the opportunity to do so. Although we don’t know what his favorite dish is, our guess is it’s the rotisserie chicken.

Other Mentions

If you’ve ever seen the show “Man vs. Food”, then you know the name Adam Richman. He’s among several celebrities who call Zankou Chicken one of their personal favorites. In fact, Zankou’s first Los Angeles location was in Hollywood to cater to the city’s population of starving artists, aspiring actors and ambitious screenwriters.

Music biz strikes a chord with TV placement

Television seems to be taking the center spot and is responsible for even driving music sales and exposure for artists. Over the years, labels and publishers avoided TV pacts, but with everyone in the industry looking for new ways of making profits, topped off with radio making its way to a slow death and music videos on MTV and VH1 being more or less rare – TV has now become a fairly important source for labels’ marketing departments.

A good example is when Mamie Coleman, VP of music and production for Fox Broadcasting spread the word to music labels and publishers of the need for a new upbeat tune for its January promotional campaign for American Idol and 24. The overwhelming response is evidence of the big impact of TV on the music production industry.

The profits can be huge. Veterans of American Idol have currently sold close to 40 million records, and have under their belt 60 number one hits and 14 platinum albums – all these are just for one TV show.

However, not all situations are win-win. Music deal-making is extremely complicated, with all parties tussling over the use of music, be it in snippets versus the entire tune, the most crucial of which are those deals that involve the internet and home video rights.

Major labels have so far shunned digital distribution, but now, with the shift in power, some major players have managed to get into the game with very low upfront costs and without the need to make use of manufacturing or distribution infrastructures.

Coleman says, “We have so much direct contact with the labels and publishers now. We are always getting people telling us they have the perfect song for ‘House’ or a great song for ‘Idol’. A lot of labels have performances for us in their offices, and when we like what we hear, we sign a deal right then and there.”

Music Appreciation Online Class

This is a guest post from Daniel Horne

I had to take more elective classes for school one semester and there were a variety of online classes to choose. Since I have never taken an online class before and it was only an elective, I was willing to give it a shot. I signed up for Music Appreciation. I have always had an appreciation for music, what I heard on the radio anyways, and figured this class would be an easy A and help boost my grade point average. Boy was I wrong. The whole class started out bad. I could not get to the website I needed. After I found that, I couldn’t watch any of the videos that the instructor had posted. They would just stop in the middle and never start back up again. I called my instructor who informed me that it was most likely my internet connection. I told him that it shouldn’t be a problem because I had cable internet and he suggested that I give hughs net a try. That afternoon I called hughes in SC and the next day had satellite internet installed in my apartment. Since then I have always been able to watch the course required movies. I have had no trouble uploading and downloading files and while I wasn’t right about this class being an easy A, it is easier now that I can access the material properly.

Taio Cruz Breaks the Record

It stood for seven long years before Taio Cruz broke the record for the biggest jump to the number one slot on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The British newcomer floated 52 places to the top with his collaboration with Ludacris titled “Break your heart” and is a record for the biggest jump by an act with their first chart single. Previously, the record was helped by the first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, for her victory song “A moment like this” back in 2002 when it jumped 52 places.

Cruz knocked the Black Eyed Peas from the top slot after which the BEP single “Imma be” dropped down to the fifth slot after two weeks at the top. The act most disappointed by this turn of affairs would be country trio Lady Antebellum, who rose to the number two spot with “Need you now” by dislodging Young Money’s “Bedrock”, who in turn slipped to third. If not for Cruz they would be reigning in the top spot. But all is not lost; Lady Antebellum just might hit number one next week if the predicted drop in sales for Cruz does come about.

Waiting in the wings is also Rihanna’s “Rude boy”, currently in the number four slot. Rihanna’s track has been gathering momentum and could spoil the party for Cruz and Lady Antebellum. Ke$ha dropped two places to number six with “Tik tok” and Train dropped one slot to end at number seven with “Hey Soul Sister”. By climbing two places Jason Derulo claimed the number eight slot with “In my head” and the exhibitionist, Lady Gaga fell down to the ninth spot on the charts with “Bad romance”.