Dad Drip, Häagen-Dazs Merch, and West Village Sorority Girls

Plus: why Lego won F1 this weekend, and motivation for building your own Star Wars IP

Welcome to Small Talk, an email I serve out every Monday morning exclusively to our Breakfast Club members in NYC and Charleston. The premise is simple: my top of mind topics for the week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners ahead anytime some chatter is required. From now on, I’ll be sharing it with subscribers of The Supersonic as well. Enjoy, and crib topics as necessary.

May the 4th (be with you) went down yesterday, and though I don’t celebrate I hope it was a good one for all who did. The White House got in on the action with an AI-generated image of a lightsaber-wielding President Trump. While the caption suggests POTUS is a Jedi, some folks found it curious that he was holding a red lightsaber, which any self-respecting Star Wars fan knows is the color reserved for evil Sith Lords. Gaffe or intentional easter egg? Controversy aside, it goes without saying that George Lucas created an amazing brand and community in Star Wars (not to mention IP, which newsletter Dirt calls "recession proof"). As an entrepreneur (one who loves restaurants the way some of you might love, say, The Empire Strikes Back) I find that fascinating and inspiring. This footage of Lucas sitting down to write the prequels resonates in particular — at the end of the day, no matter what you’ve built previously, even a multi-billion dollar global brand that reinvented cinema as we know it, you’ve got to start from scratch again, staring at that blank page. If Lucas had to do it, so do the rest of us. So go do it, go build your own Star Wars.

Of course you’ll need caffeine to get started. For some of you on our annual Breakfast Club pass, please remember that it will be expiring soon, meaning to keep enjoying the benefit of a coffee every day at some of the best cafes in town, you’ll need to renew your membership for $25 a month.

For consideration …

• Lego my F1
  Speaking of unstoppable global brands, I was down in Miami this weekend for Formula 1, where McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris went one-two. Or, as Sky Sports commentator David Croft put it, finished in “a different post code” from the rest of the field. McLaren has certainly figured out their car this season. So has Lego. The Danish toymaker constructed life-size cars for 20 drivers, all of whom arrived at the driver’s parade in brick-built replicas of Ferraris, Red Bulls etc. The stunt was eight months in the making, and required 26 Lego engineers who logged 22,000 hours (for those interested in how Lego transformed itself from a dusty old brand on the brink of bankruptcy to the icon it is today, read this). It’s fascinating to see how F1 has blown up stateside, something I’ve written about at length in this newsletter already. And with increased American fans comes the need for an American team. Cadillac is here to fill the void. The 120+ year Detroit car manufacturer is poised to hit the grid in 2026. It’s a serious endeavor, one that’s been a three year effort, and clocks count the debut down to the second in every Cadillac office. One big question surrounding the project is who will be the team’s two drivers? Cadillac assures us that Americans are in the mix, but the big rumor in Miami linked Mexican vet (and Red Bull alum) Sergio Pérez to the team, which could be the type of firepower the project needs.

• Dad drip
  With the Met Gala going off tonight (theme: “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”), fashion comes to mind. These days, from street style to the ‘gram, it seems like we live in a perpetual fashion show. Look no further than the hats that were on display at The Kentucky Derby this weekend. Or ask the dad—Kevin Peter Wilson—who recently went viral on TikTok for showing up to the playground with his daughter while wearing Comme des Garçons and Lemaire. The drip did not go down well with some commenters, who labeled the 26-year-old “pretentious” and “insufferable.” Are dads expected to just give up sartorially? Don’t put us in a box, man! Wilson spoke to Dazed to defend his style, and perhaps redefine how us fathers should be showing up. And how about those Häagen-Dazs t-shirts that are now fetching as much as $450 on secondary markets? You know I love a good piece of merch, and this one’s got history. The price tag has a little something to do with hardcore icon Henry Rollins, who worked at Häagen-Dazs before fronting Black Flag. Alamo Draft House has spun up its own line of merch for the 50th anniversary of Jaws, which includes t-shirts, ball caps, and a Great White popcorn bucket.

• We all YouTube
  Everybody wants to be a YouTuber these days, especially Gen Alpha. According to a recent poll, 30 percent of 12 to15-year-olds want to follow in Mr. Beast’s footsteps, while 21 percent chose TikToker as their top profession. Count Ezra Klein among them. His eponymous podcast is now a YouTube show — the New York Times has hired a full-time director of photography to shoot the thing. Show, not video pod, is the operative word here. YouTube is now TV—full stop—and everyone from Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly to Michelle Obama and Chuck Todd are joining the fray. Rolling Stone rounds up the current wave of “digital talk-show hosts” (how’s that for hip jargon, kids?) and claims they’re coming for late night TV. Short-form is where the eyeballs are, which is why creators like Kareem Rahma choose platforms like TikTok for shows like Subway Takes. Rahma took Blackbird to his favorite Egyptian seafood joint for our show Take Me To Your Spot, whose second season premiered last week with an episode at Bar Madonna. Do check it out. We’ll be dropping episodes every Tuesday.

Quicker hits …

• The New Yorker on why life now feels so unreal.

• Restaurateur Keith McNally chronicles his regrets in his memoir, which drops tomorrow.

• The quest to save Timex's iconic Connecticut headquarters.

• Goodbye to the GOAT — Warren Buffett retires.

• Brock Colyar—another Take Me To Your Spot alum—on the rise of the West Village sorority girl.

• The final Glastonbury tickets sold out in 19 minutes.

• An AI tool that helps you "cheat on everything" got the kid who founded it suspended from school (he also raised a $5.3m seed round).
  

Enjoy your week.

BL

Ben Leventhal
Founder + CEO
Blackbird