Today in the Culture: March 26, 2021 | Good news/bad news in books | Trib nixes better offer for company

Matcha Latte at Matchacita

FILM & TV

Rebooting a shoot about rebooted humans

CW is rebooting the 2004-2007 USA Network series “The 4400” and filming in Chicago.

Here’s the description: “In ‘The 4400,’ 4400 overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized people who vanished without a trace over the last hundred years are all returned in an instant, having not aged a day and with no memory of what happened to them. As the government races to analyze the potential threat and contain the story, the 4400 themselves must grapple with the fact that they’ve been returned with a few upgrades, and the increasing likelihood that they were all brought back now for a specific reason.”

FOOD & DRINK

Mas matcha

Matchacita, claiming to be the city’s first matcha-focused café, has opened at 705 West Belden in Lincoln Park. Founded and co-owned by hospitality industry veteran Bianca Pearson, it’s a “dual-branded partnership with the recently opened health-conscious eatery Squeez Juice Bar, founded by Zach Segal.”

LIT

Bookstore of the year, and what a year

Seminary Co-op is one of five finalists for Publishers Weekly’s Bookstore of the Year award. Here’s the full shortlist:

• Charis Books and More (Decatur, Georgia)
• Eso Won Books (Los Angeles)
• MahoganyBooks (Washington, D.C.)
• Seminary Co-op Bookstores (which includes Seminary Co-op and 57th St. Books, Chicago)
• Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria (New York City)

Home team hero

The School of the Art Institute Chicago magazine features alum of the school, and of Newcity, Chris Ware as the cover story of its spring edition; he also created the cover.

“The reality of the city didn’t put Ware off—it was part of the appeal. ‘Drawing pictures of the world was the reason I came to Chicago,’ he explained. ‘Because it seemed to me to be the city of real, rough life and, of course, the city of the [iconic 1960s art collective] Hairy Who—where, when it all came down to it, no one really cared what you did.’ “

Less Volumes, for now

Beloved bookstore Volumes Bookcafe is closing its Wicker Park location after five years, citing pandemic-related losses. The sisters who own it, Rebecca and Kimberly, say they’re keeping their newish location at 900 North Michigan and looking for a physical location near the original as well. 

MEDIA

Alden’s appeal 

So Tribune Publishing revealed in a filing that its board recommended Alden Global Capital’s bid for the company over a higher offer from Baltimore hotel magnate Stewart W. Bainum Jr., but sort of kept the door open. Notably, “Tribune Publishing CEO Terry Jimenez was the sole dissenting vote, according to the SEC filing,” as reported in the Chicago Tribune. “Jimenez said the price proposed by Alden ‘was inadequate,’ and considered ‘remaining as a stand-alone company in the best interests of the company and its stockholders,’ the filing said.”

ARTS & CULTURE

Chicago says get out(side)

With COVID rates rising in the city, the mayor tweaked guidelines to push activities outdoors, without loosening up indoors, yet.