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.
====================================================
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.
==============================================
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.
===================================================
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.