Notes from around town

 Vic Christopher's family of restaurants will have a more uniform look to its menu as of today, per the Albany Times-Union. 

Christopher, the former Tri-City Valleycats executive turned business mogul, revealed Monday that the menus at Donna's Italian, The Tavern Bar, Little Pecks, & Lucas Confectionary, will all be the same. So, if you're away from your favorite eatery among the four, and closer to another, you'll get the same food, and, likely, the same service you're already accustomed to.

This is on the heels of Donna's executive chef, Jake Robins, and Clark House Hospitality's Paula Patterson announcing plans to depart the chain to start their own eatery in South Troy at the former Carmen's Cafe later this year. That has Christopher's seal of approval.

Stay tuned.

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Former *NSYNC singer Chris Kirkpatrick is headlining this year's 4th of July show at the Empire State Plaza, and bringing a few friends.

File photo courtesy Albany Times-Union.

Kirkpatrick will be joined by revived groups LFO, O-Town (remember Making The Band back in the day?), and Ryan Cabrera (husband of WWE star Alexa Bliss) for the show. Apparently, no opening act may be needed, but we'll know when we get closer to the date.

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Staying in Albany, the city's annual Alive at 5 begins a new season in June at a familiar place.

Alive at 5 launched in 1990, the brainchild of then-mayor Tom Whalen. The concert series moved to Jennings Landing at Corning Preserve in 2003, and, except for the pandemic year of 2020, it's been an Albany tradition. The schedule has been trimmed, however, to six concerts in June & July, with a week off in the middle for the July 4 Empire State Plaza spectacular.

This year's lineup (rain site will be the Corning Preserve boat launch, per tradition):

June 5: 90's rockers Queensryche with Gozer.

June 12: Neal Francis with TV Doctors.

June 19: Lupe Fiasco with DJ TGIF & Rhakim Ali.

June 26: Boys Like Girls with The Story Boys.

July 10: Mellow Mood with Dis-N-Dat Band.

July 17: Middle Aged Dad Jam Band, featuring former members of MTV's The State, with Wild Adriatic.

The return to Tricentennial Park may be a 1 year experiment, depending on who will be the next Mayor of Albany after Kathy Sheehan ends her run in January. Trust me. I've been to a bunch of these shows at both Tricentennial Park & Jennings Landing, and the former is an easier venue to get to, especially if you're a commuter like me.

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Reading that the city of Troy is accepting bids for bands to participate in this year's Memorial Day parade in Lansingburgh, set for May 26, rain or shine. You have to believe that Mayor Carmella Mantello, a 'Burgh native, doesn't want to see the last of Troy's parades go away, but it might help if they did a better job of promoting the event, in addition to the heavily promoted free concerts that follow during the summer.

Sports this 'n' that

 Deion Sanders should stick to what he knows. Coaching and doing commercials.

During the NFL draft last week, Sanders' two sons, Shedeur, a quarterback, and Shilo, a safety, weren't picked until Shedeur was drafted by Cleveland on Saturday. On Sunday, Shilo signed as an undrafted free agent with Tampa Bay, and announced he had signed with one of the top agents in the NFL, Drew Rosenhaus. Until Sunday, Deion acted as a de facto agent for his sons, a la LaVar Ball.

Unlike La Loud Mouth, though, Deion Sanders, who shills for Chime, AFLAC, and, briefly, DirecTV, was actually a superstar in two sports. However, Shedeur has caught some heat for pre-draft statements & posturing, prompting WFAN morning co-host Boomer Esiason to refer to Shedeur as "entitled".

Prior to that, it was reported that Shedeur was pranked on Friday night by some clown claiming to be New Orleans GM Mickey Loomis. In reality, the phone scammer was Jax Ulbrich, son of Atlanta defensive coordinator and former Indianapolis head coach Jeff Ulbrich. The younger Ulbrich owned up on Sunday to having access to his dad's phone.

The irony here, of course, is that Deion started his NFL career in Atlanta, during which time he appeared in a Hammer music video ("2 Legit to Quit"), and cut his own CD, which, if memory serves, was produced by Hammer (Stanley Burrell).

Inevitably, the brothers will meet as opponents. It's just a question of when.

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Further clouding the draft is a report circulating that White House press shill Karoline Leavitt is trying to credit president Trump with getting Shedeur Sanders drafted. Both Leavitt and Trump are so clueless to think Orange Nachismo's whining on Truthless Social had anything to with the decisions of NFL owners & coaches. It didn't.

Back to Boomer. He claimed on the air on Monday, having been in Green Bay for the draft, that a number of owners took Shedeur off their draft boards because the incoming rookie rubbed them the wrong way. I shan't be surprised to think that this was actually Deion's doing.

I often referred to Ball as the Fred Sanford of stage parents. Deion, then, is George Jefferson.

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After getting screwed on a triple play that wasn't on Friday, and seeing their bullpen spring a leak again on Sunday (Ryan Stanek either won't be closing games anytime soon, or is hiding an injury), the Mets vented on Washington on Monday to the tune of a 19-5 beatdown. Ex-Marlin Jose Urena, making his Mets debut, got a 3 inning save despite giving up all 5 Nationals runs in the 8th inning. Ex-Met Amed Rosario pitched the 9th for Washington, and poured gasoline on the fire with a collection of eephus & lollipop pitches.....

The Mets are back home to play Arizona beginning tonight.

Does anyone remember Burger Queen? (1956-80)

 Everyone knows Burger King, but, for 24 years, there was also a Burger Queen chain of restaurants.

Today, many of those former Burger Queens are now Dairy Queen locations (none in NY) after Druthers purchased Burger Queen in 1980.

For five months in 1978, Burger Queen hired TV's Fish, Abe Vigoda (who was back on Barney Miller by the fall of '78), to do commercials, like this one.

There is a Druthers here in upstate NY, but they're a different breed.

A blue suit at a funeral? Ignorance or disrespect?

 It would be news if president Trump wore something other than a blue suit.

Saturday, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, Trump stood out like a sore thumb as one of a few people adorned in blue. England's Prince William also wore blue, but the media is focusing on Trump, who might not have a black suit in his closet. Wife Melania wore a black ensemble, veil included, and blended in.

Media outlets were quick to note Trump had committed a violation of Vatican protocols for funerals, as did William, but, again, Trump attracted a media firestorm because of his reputation as a vain narcissist. He had five days to have a black suit custom tailored for him.

So, the question is asked again. Is it willful ignorance of protocol? Or is it general disrespect, since he & Francis had a number of disagreements?

I guess we'll never know.

When Icons Meet: Mickey Rooney on The Tim Conway Comedy Hour (1970)

 If there was one thing Mickey Rooney & Tim Conway had in common, it was the fact that neither was able to sustain their own TV shows. Rooney had two come & go before he guested on The Tim Conway Comedy Hour in December 1970, as the series was nearing the end of its run. Fellow screen legend Dorothy Lamour also guests, along with primary musical guest Bobby Bloom ("Montego Bay"). The repertory company includes:

Art Metrano, who'd move on to The Chicago Teddy Bears the following season.

John Amos, who otherwise was recurring on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

McLean Stevenson, who came over from The Doris Day Show.

Sally Struthers, who moved on to All in The Family a month later.

Announcer-actor Ernie Anderson, Conway's best friend from Cleveland.

The first sketch has Rooney as a judge in a case where Lamour is the defendant, and Conway & Stevenson are prosecuting attorneys, and Metrano is a defense attorney.

Rooney would get one more crack at sitcom glory a few years later (One of The Boys), but that, too, would flop.

Rating: B.

Notes from around town

 Sports agent John "JR" Rickert's tenure as principal at Niskayuna High is coming to an end at the end of the season.

The district, which recently announced they would retire the "Silver Warriors" team nickname in favor of plain "Nisky" in the fall, announced Friday that Anthony Malizia will succeed Rickert as principal beginning in September.

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WROW (Magic 100.5/AM590) has added more classics to their playlist as of this morning, including artists like Duran Duran, Human League, and Whitney Houston, and Club Nouveau's cover of Bill Withers' legendary "Lean on Me".

In addition, the station has given real estate expert John Bevilacqua the boot, as of today. Bevilacqua's last show was April 19. Also, Madison Wealth Managers' experiment with replaying their Saturday hour on Sundays has officially come to an end, as the updated schedule reflects what everyone had assumed, that morning co-host Jaime Roberts is working a full 5 hour shift on Sundays, 7 am-Noon.

The current lineup:

Saturdays:

6-8 am, 8:30-10 am, 11 am-Noon: John Gabriel.

8 am: Herzog Law Firm.

10 am: Madison Wealth Managers.

Noon-6 pm: Ben Patten.

6 pm-Midnight: "Brother" Lou Roberts.

Sundays:

6 am: News, Views, & Interviews.

6:20: Albany Street.

7 am-Noon: Jaime Roberts.

Noon-5 pm: Bill Williams.

5-10 pm: Candace Curby.

Weekdays:

5-10 am: Jaime Roberts & Ben Patten.

10 am-2 pm: Ben Patten.

2-7 pm: John Gabriel.

7 pm-Midnight: John Tesh (syndicated).

The automated "Good Times, Great Oldies" format runs from Midnight-5 am Tuesday-Friday mornings, Midnight-6 Saturday & Sunday mornings, and 10 pm-5 am Sunday night into Monday morning.

On The Air: People Puzzler (2021)

 People Puzzler spent three "seasons" across two years on Game Show Network (2021-3), after which the series went into syndication, and is out of production.

Spun from a popular feature in People, now a monthly publication after Meredith Publishing acquired it and the rest of WarnerMedia's family of magazines, the game invokes memories of classic word games like the Cross-Wits in the 70's. Actress Leah Remini (ex-The King of Queens, Saved by The Bell) serves as series host.

Let's check a sample episode.

It seems a little too easy, but then again, so is the puzzle in the magazine.....

Rating: A-.