All Over Albany

Bubbles and hugs in Schenectady

Weeee!

We happened upon what was, for a few minutes at least, easily the happiest place in the Capital Region Wednesday afternoon in Schenectady.

Why? Bubbles and hugs.

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Muddy Cups no longer

Albany's unnamed coffee house has finally settled on a name.

The cafe, on Madison Avenue near Main, took down the Muddy Cup name last fall. After a brief flirtation with the name "Drama Cup," it's now Tierra Coffee Roasters.

The name echoes the fact that their coffee is from Tierra Farm, a Valatie operation that roasts Fair Trade coffees. It's catchier than "that place that used to be the Muddy Cup." Shorter, too.

The Muddy Cup had a dusty bohemian vibe. As Tierra, it's been spiffed up with a new coat of paint and art by Samson Contompasis.

And with Proctors Theatre taking over the Muddy Cup in Schenectady, the Hudson Valley chain's local presence is no more.

Muddy Cup opened the Proctors lobby cafe in 2006.

Proctors' plan is to run the Schenectady place itself. From their press release:

"At Proctors request, Muddy Cup transferred operations and all equipment back to Proctors. Proctors will rebrand the location for business with a fresh look and a new name before the start of next Sunday's Green Market in the lobby of Proctors State Street complex."

Update: The location at Proctors will be called the Apostrophe Cafe. [Marv Cermak]

Q-Fest at Proctors

Q-Fest, Proctors' LGBTQ film festival, begins tonight.

If you're thinking about going, but can't figure out which movie(s) you want to see, we've got the synopses and reviews below. There's a whole range of films -- from serious activist documentaries, to the campy ABBA-soundtracked films...

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David Sedaris at Proctors

Author David Sedaris will talking/reading (we're guessing) at Proctors on April 9. Tickets are already on sale. They start at $20. His appearances in the this area have been very popular in the past (at least one sold out).

The blurbage doesn't say exactly what Sedaris will be doing at Proctors. The times we've seen him, he stands on stage and reads his work, then talks a little bit, reads some more, talks some more, the audience laughs in odd places (not sure exactly when they're supposed to laugh), and then he says goodnight. So, pretty much what you'd expect from David Sedaris.

Sedaris' most recent book is Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, a collection of short stories in which the characters are animals. For example: "Can a parrot and a pot-bellied pig find happiness in a world that only wants to pigeon-hole them?"

A clip from Sedaris' November appearance on the Daily Show is embedded after the jump.

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Proctors and Capital Rep partnering

Proctors and Capital Repertory Theater announced today that they have teamed up to "sustain the state of the performing arts and to explore economies of scale and shared solutions." The full release is after the jump.

The orgs say that Proctors has taken over ticketing, finance, marketing, development, education programming and group sales for Capital Rep. The press release says Cap Rep will continue to operate independently with its own artist direction and at its downtown Albany location.

The release notes that Cap Rep has been dealing with declining support from municipal and private sources, and "recorded losses along the way." The theater had been getting $60k from the City of Albany, but that funding -- and the funding for other arts groups -- was cut in the last city budget. But the theater had already been scraping to get by -- and had a round of layoffs last summer. [TU Arts Talk]

Capital Rep expects to save $200k under the new partnership. [TU]

Talk of a potential partnership between the two arts organizations has been buzzing in the background for a while -- but as late as mid-December, the players were denying a plan was in the works. [Troy Record]

If this partnership helps shore up the finances of Capital Rep, it could be a good thing for theater fans (beyond simply keeping the theater afloat). It might give Capital Rep the freedom to program adventurously without having to depend on sure-fire hits to pay for more challenging programming.

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Metropolis at Proctors

This could be cool: Proctors is showing the remastered version of Metropolis, the landmark 1926 film by Fritz Lang. The silent film will be accompanied by a new score written for -- and played live on -- Proctors' Wurlitzer organ.

Metropolis includes some striking imagery -- especially for its time. This new version of the film also features 25 minutes from the original that were thought to be lost -- until someone found the footage in archive in Argentina in 2008. The newly put-back-together version of the film debuted earlier this year.

There will be two screenings at Proctors -- this coming Sunday (at 2 pm) and Monday (7:30 pm). Tickets are $10 ahead of time, $12 at the door.

Proctors Broadway series tickets on sale Saturday

Tickets for Proctors' Broadway series go on sale Saturday. Here's the lineup:

Young Frankenstein - October 19-24, 2010
White Christmas - November 22-28, 2010
Fiddler on the Roof - January 4-9, 2011
HAIR - May 3-8, 2011

The Lion King is also coming to Proctors, February 22 - March 20 -- but the tickets for that don't go on sale until November 13th.

While we're at Proctors...

+ The stage version of Spamalot is playing there October 8 and 9.

+ And Victoria Stilwell -- the British dog trainer from the Animal Planet show It's Me or the Dog -- will be there solving "doggie dilemmas" onstage October 14 (no word on whether your dog can also attend -- maybe if they buy a ticket).

Proctors has advertised on AOA in the past

posters via Proctors

Proctors animation festival

Persepolis

If you're looking for something fun (and air conditioned) to do this week, you might want to stop by Proctors' animation festival, which started Sunday and continues through Friday.

The festival is showing a handful of animated flicks each day. The lineup includes 15 films -- among them a few old ones (1939's Gulliver's Travels) and a bunch of newer ones (Coraline). Among the highlights:

+ The Iron Giant (directed by Brad Bird, the guy directed The Incredibles and Ratatouille for Pixar) - Tuesday at noon, Wednesday at 4 pm

+ Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Cheese, Gromit!) - Thursday at 8pm

+ Persepolis (based on Marjane Satrapi's coming of age graphic novel set during the Iranian revolution) - Tuesday at 6 pm, Wednesday at 8 pm

Here's the full schedule.

Tickets are $3 for each film. A week-long pass is $15.

image: Sony Picture Classics

Thruway tolls increase, Albany schools to use lottery, the weekend in crime, the first baby of 2010

Thruway tolls went up five percent on Sunday, for both cash and EZ-Pass. State comptroller Tom DiNapoli criticized the increase, calling it "the last thing New Yorkers need now." [AP/Saratogian] [Fox23] [NYS OSC] [WNYT]

A 78-year-old woman was killed in Schenectady Saturday night after she was struck by a pick-up truck while crossing State Street near Proctors. The woman had been volunteering at the theater. The SPD says it's investigating the accident. [Daily Gazette $] [TU] [Fox23] [CapNews9]

Troy police say a man stole an idling SUV -- with two kids in it -- from outside a grocery store Friday morning. The TPD says the kids were found 45 minutes later, unharmed, along with the SUV. They say the suspect was arrested later that day. [Troy Record] [TU] [Troy Record]

Officials from the YMCA will be holding a meeting with the public this week to talk about what might be done to save the Washington Ave location in Albany. [Troy Record]

The Albany school district will be switching to a lottery system for filling slots in its pre-k programs. The old system was first-come-first-pick-wait-all-night. [TU]

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Troy police find guns during raid, suit filed over landfill expansion, local company dumps chamber of commerce over climate change legislation, sole tenant leaving Kiernan Plaza

Troy police say they found a shotgun and an assault rifle during raid connected to the investigation of last week's fatal shooting in south Troy. They also arrested a man. But they say the guns weren't used in the crime nor is the man a suspect. [Fox23] [CapNews9] [TU]

Save the Pine Bush is suing the City of Albany and the DEC in attempt to block expansion of the city landfill. A volunteer for the environmental org says the city "needs to adopt a rational solid waste policy that does not include destroying 15 acres of rare Pine Bush ecosystem." [AP/CBS6] [TU]

The judge in Adrian Thomas case has ruled that the jury will not hear testimony from dueling expert witnesses about the possibility of a coerced confession. Closing arguments are scheduled to start today. [Troy Record] [TU]

David Paterson said yesterday that he will be including the soda tax in next year's proposed budget. The Paterson Administration also said same-sex marriage will be on the agenda for next week's planned special legislative session. [WNYC] [NYDN]

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Raucci report won't be released, cool summer may be setting up cold winter, Tedisco hints at run for different office, alleged cold cut heist leads to pepper spraying

The Schenectady school district's internal investigation into Steven Raucci -- the former district employee who's been accused arson and intimidation -- will not be made public. The district says its lawyer "strongly advised" it to not release the report. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

The package of state incentives for the Luther Forest chip fab project is actually closer to $1.37 billion -- and could be more if GlobalFoundries expands at the site. [TU]

A guy who was forcibly sedated at the direction of Albany County law enforcement so they could search his body for drugs in 2006 has settled his lawsuit for $125k. The search included a camera being put up his rectum. [TU] [AP/CBS6]

There's some historical data that indicates we could be in for a cold, snowy winter. [TU]

The Capital Region's tick population -- and the incidence of Lyme disease -- appear to be on the rise. [Daily Gazette]

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Anthony Bourdain at Proctors

The chef/author/traveler will be at Proctors November 15 -- which is a bit of a ways off. But tickets for the "No Reservations: An Evening with Anthony Bourdain" went on sale today. And judging from his last appearance in the Capital Region, this should be a popular event.

Bourdain, who was the chef at a French restaurant in NYC, originally rose to fame for his book Kitchen Confidential. More recently, he's been the host of a great travel TV show called No Reservations. And he's talked some smack about Rachael Ray (that didn't stop her from sending him a fruit basket, though).

Here's video of a Bourdain talk at Google, in which he said: "This celebrity chef scam is really working out."

Tickets for the Proctors event start at $20.

Yep, Proctors advertises on AOA. We're highlighting this because we think it'll be a good time

photo: Flickr user Neeta Lind

The revolution will take forever

Benicio del Toro takes his time in Che

If you ever wanted to see Steven Soderbergh's epic biopic Che in the theater, here's your chance. Or, rather, chances.

You see, Che is so long -- 4:17 to be exact -- that Proctors is showing it over two nights. Part one (The Argentine) is showing tonight. Part two (Guerilla) screens tomorrow. Tickets are $6 bucks a showing.

Is it worth the time? Well, Che has gotten "generally favorable" reviews -- though some people really liked it and others thought it was terrible. Maybe it helps to be wearing the t-shirt.

Also: Proctors has a bunch of movies on its slate for this month. Many of them are second-run pics (Curious Case of Benjamin Button, for example) that are only $3.

image: IFC Films

The Hitchcock Film Festival

Proctors is showing a bunch of Alfred Hitchcock films this week. The series, organized by It Came From Schenectady, will show three Hitchcock flicks a day -- at 3, 5:30 and 8 pm -- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Tickets are $6 for individual screenings -- but you can also buy a $25 pass that will get you into all the showings.

It looks like the best slate might be Friday: Rear Window plays at 5:30 followed by Psycho at 8.

(Thanks, Kim!)

It Came From Schenectady!

Blade Runner, Barbarella and Forbidden Planet are three of the films playing this weekend.

One of the organizers of the first It Came from Schenectady film fest says the event "began as the musings of four dorks in tinfoil hats who happen to be in the right place with the right set of tools, toys and passions."

OK, stop. You had us at "four dorks in tinfoil hats."

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The respect you deserve

One of the great things (we're guessing) about being a senator or governor or some other sort of muckety-muck is the respect people afford you. The downside is that you actually have to, you know, campaign and do all that other stuff.

But it turns out there's an easier way to get people to address you with the respect you so richly deserve. And it's all because of Proctor's. Yes, we said Proctor's. The theater. In Schenectady.

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