On Thursday I took a trip to The Altamont Fair. On the way to the fair grounds a large thunderhead was following. Sure enough, I parked and got in line just in time for the wind to kick up and for the sky to completely unleash. It was probably the worst thunderstorm of the summer. Thankfully I wasn’t completely soaked before I could take shelter in an animal barn.

The storm passed pretty quickly, but standing around with a bunch of sheep made it feel like forever. Then I headed down to the Reid F. Northrup Memorial Stage to catch 11-year-old child star Anthony Gargiula film his music video. Gargiula has …

Congratulations to Ten Year Vamp for hitting it big yet again! If you are going to the New York State Fair this year, be sure to check out 10YV as they open for Worldwide superstars, Aerosmith! Full press release below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16th, 2010
Albany rock band, Ten Year Vamp, will open for Aerosmith on August 26, 2010 at the New York State Fair.  This is the first day of the New York State Fair, held in Syracuse NY.  The concert will be held at the Mohegan Sun Grandstand at 7:30pm. The State Fair Grandstand is an outdoor venue which has a roof that only covers the top upper level seating …

Friday night was my first Tri-City Valley Cats game. I personally am not a die-hard baseball fan, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a minor league game. I’ve been to local high-school games and Yankee Stadium a few times growing up. It’s fun and all, but in general I like faster games – hockey, lacrosse, and extreme sports.
A buddy of mine had an extra ticket and invited me to tag along. Not having to work and knowing many of the Valley Cat staff, I had to check it out – even if it turned out to be a one time thing.

It’s a quick drive to Joe Bruno …

Unfortunately, fire seems to be a reoccurring theme this summer. Back in May of this year, Tess’ Lark Tavern was shut down due to an early morning fire that devastated the inside of the popular Albany hang-out.
Just this past week, another major fire broke out on the Harrier Fields Farm in Columbia County, burning four barns to the ground, killing two work horses, destroying every machine, tool, and piece of equipment in them.
To top that off, we just got word that our friends from SwampPitBBQ that we hung out with at the Troy Pig Out had their trailer flip over while in tow on the highway and catch fire while …

This weekend was the third annual Troy Pig Out which featured professional BBQ teams from across the United States competing in best chicken, brisket, pork ribs, and pork butts/shoulder categories. An estimated 33 teams competed in this (2) day competition including NY favorite the Dinosaur BBQ, which is currently building it’s fourth location in Troy, NY. We had an opportunity to speak with Dinosaur BBQ and we have officially confirmed mid-October as the grand opening for the new establishment next to the Green Island Bridge on River Street in Troy, NY.

Tonight the Capital Alliance of Young Professionals, also known as CAYP (pronounced cape), is celebrating it’s 3rd year in operation with it’s annual networking event at 677 Prime. We wanted to take the time to personally congratulate Maxine Barasch and the entire CAYP board on a great effort to provide networking for young professionals in the Capital Region. If you are looking to build your professional network, look no further. The events that CAYP puts on and gets involved with are always fun and full of new people. We really mean it too! Albany Alive networks at CAYP. True story.
Why do we go to CAYP?

Simple. To meet new people.
To check …

This past weekend was the fourth of July which featured fireworks on the Empire State Plaza courtesy of Price Chopper. We snapped lots of photos of fireworks that can be seen here. Check out the video clips we caught too:

The Capital Region has a new variety show for men and for women who care (about men). It’s called MANville.
Johnny Hustle, a local voice-actor and talent brings his love of all-things for men to the web via podcast. Co-host
Kevin Marshall of MarshallMMA.com and also a blogger on the Times Union, joins up with Hustle once a week to discuss guy things, like: Mixed Martial Arts, Girls, Cars, Bands, Local Events, and of course beer! The lineup has a recent addition of gamejak Dan who reviews the latest video games too.

This past Thursday was the City of Albany’s Alive at Five Summer Concert Series with World renown recording artists Boyz II Men. The crowd exceeded 20,000 people at the Riverfront Park in the Corning Preserve. This was a new record attendance! The last major crowd seen like this was for Blues Traveler in 2009 with above 15,000 in attendance. This upcoming week’s artist is The Gin Blossoms. Expect a large crowd again. If you missed out, don’t worry, we have lots of photos from the event right here as well as multiple videos on the AlbanyAlive YouTube channel. While we didn’t go prepared for video, but we thought we would …

You’ve probably noticed the face-lift already. We’ve taken all our friends, fans, and clients into consideration with the design of new site and will continue to work hard on it for you. It’s a big step in the right direction for us. We have always wanted the website to be an enjoyable experience for our users, but it’s been a challenge to find the time and the right web technologies to organize the 40,000 photographs we have published at any given time. You will notice a much easier-to-use interface, faster page load times, and most importantly a completely new and enjoyable photo browsing experience.
What about all the old AlbanyAlive photographs? …