Notes from around town

 There was some work being done on the El Dorado building June 28-30, but that work has stopped, and the doors are locked again, pending a resumption of repairs.

Typical in Troy. Start & stop operations, likely due to money.

=============================================

"Yacht rock"?

WROW devoted the July 4 weekend to dusting off soft rock tracks under the "yacht rock" umbrella, with artists like Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, and solo tracks by Michael McDonald added to the playlist, likely in the hope that they'll be added to the rotation in short order.

You have to remember, too, that there was a time when WROW began playing soft, non-Muzak tracks back in the 80's. By the way, the station retired it's "Good times, great oldies" slogan in April in favor of "The Capital Region's classic hits". Their automated playlist schedule was shrunk after John Tesh's show moved to midnight a few weeks back.

Autoplay now runs from 5-6 am on Saturdays, Midnight to 6 am on Sundays, and 10 pm-5 am on Sunday night/Monday mornings.

=================================================

When Tuscan Oven opened its restaurants in Menands a few years back, they used Golden Grain pizza.

Now, Golden Grain is coming to Troy. 

For months, there's been a sign suggesting Golden Grain would take over the former Roxy Cleaners on Hoosick Street and Oneida Avenue, but no work's been done that we can see in recent weeks. Hmmmmm.

==================================================

Sunday marks the start of the Music Haven concert series at Central Park in Schenectady. Promoter Mona Golub (Price Chopper/Market 32) has been doing this since the 90's, and this year's lineup is, for lack of a better description, loaded. To wit:

Sunday: Red Baraat w/Quadrature.

July 18: SUNY Schenectady Faculty Jazz Combo featuring Nestor Torres.

July 20: Bamba Wassoulou Groove w/Ballet Waramba.

July 26: WEXT presents Wild Adriatic, Sawyer Fredericks, Tops of Trees, Daisybutter, & Ganella. Show starts at 2 pm.

July 27: Solas w/ Matt & Shannon Heaton.

August 3: Blues BBQ w/Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Selwyn Birchwood & Annie & The Hedonists. Show starts at 5 pm.

August 9: "Classical Mystery Tour", a tribute to the Beatles w/the Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra.

August 10: The Steeldrivers w/Reese Fulmer & The Carriage House Band.

August 16: WAMC on The Road Hudson River Sampler w/Wanda Fischer, Michael Jerling, Kate McDonnell, Dan Berggren, & Joe Jencks.

August 17: Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience w/Keith Pray's Mohawk Brass Band.

August 24: Season finale with Edmar Castaneda World Ensemble and special guests Brian Melick & Friends.

Showtime is 7 pm, unless noted otherwise above.

Music Haven will also have movies, starting at 6 pm on these dates:

August 15: "Respect" (Aretha Franklin bio).

August 22: "This is Spinal Tap".

August 29: "Wicked", with karaoke subtitles.