Subtly located along the mid New Scotland corridor, the Capital City Gastropub (New Scotland Avenue, Albany) is the culmination of the avenue’s transition from graduate student haunt to a tony happening section of Albany.

The Gastropub previously was home to a pizzeria and before that (as the roof will tell you), a Stewart’s Shops location. However, it’s past doesn’t reflect it’s future. It’s ornate, intimate decor is part Brown Derby, part Elda’s, and part Pump Station.

As a bar, they have a wonderful set of beers called a flight (the Pump Station has this as well), where you can choose four beers of your choice. One of my favorite beers is here on tap, Dale’s Pale Ale (why did you have to get rid of it, Washington Tavern?).

When you are inside the Gastropub, it is decidedly metropolitan inside. You forget you’re in midtown Albany and instead immersed into a wonderful world of great conversation, an open kitchen, and great beer.

The Capital City Gastropub
Rating: Four out of Five Pints
261 New Scotland Avenue, Albany
Facebook: Capital City Gastropub

Al Gore would have had better odds playing MegaMillions than banking on Keith Olbermann saving his cable network.

Current TV announced that Olbermann, who was chief news officer for the struggling cable network, had been fired. Gore, along with co-owner Joel Hyatt, issued a statement saying that Olbermann “no longer represented their relationship.”

With Olbermann out, former N.Y. Governor Eliot L. Spitzer will headline the 8 p.m. hour. Spitzer, who co-anchored a ‘Crossfire’-style show on CNN with conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, would bring another former Democratic governor to the network. Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm hosts “The War Room.”

For Gore, Current TV represents an ongoing bleak spot in his otherwise remarkable post-presidential campaign career. Gore and Hyatt purchased Newsworld International roughly eight years, rebranded the network “Current TV” with the intention to be a more liberal, interactive counterpart to Fox News.

With the rise of MSNBC’s rise as a recognized liberal counterpart to Fox News, Current TV’s reputation hasn’t yet been defined. By bringing on Olbermann on last year, Gore and Hyatt hoped that the fiery sportscaster-turned-newsman would shore up their efforts.

Los Angeles Lakers legend and businessman Earvin “Magic” Johnson, along with a team of investors, won the auction to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball franchise.

Johnson, 53, is joined by Peter Guber, Stan Kasten, Bobby Patton, and Todd Boehly in the deal that was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The Dodgers deal beats the $1.1 billion paid three years ago by New York developer Stephen Ross for the Miami Dolphins from Wayne Huizenga.

Johnson also owns a part of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA franchise. Johnson’s group succeeds Frank McCourt, who purchases the franchise in 2004, only to see ownership slip away in divorce proceedings.

Details on the deal are not known yet.

Johnson appeared in the Capital Region last October, speaking at the University at Albany’s World Within Reach Speaker Series.

The owner of the Albany Sunspot Cafe, Thomas Genovese, has passed away at the age of 38 from injuries suffered in a car-motorcycle crash on the Adirondack Northway in Chester, N.Y. on Tuesday.

Genovese collided with the back of a car driven by Joshua Jaenisch, 30, causing Genovese to lose control of the Suzuki motorcycle and be thrown from it, according to state police speaking with the Glens Falls Post-Star.

Genovese suffered leg and internal injuries, and was taken to Glens Falls Hospital by North Warren Emergency Squad, where he was pronounced dead shortly after the 12:20 p.m. crash.

Genovese’s business, the Albany Sunspot Cafe, which is located on Quail Street diagonal from another coffee shop (the Hudson River Coffee House), remained closed for the duration of Tuesday. It is currently uncertain whether the business will continue operating under the cirumstances. The store recently celebrated its one year anniversary this past Saturday.

In the past, in the event that a small business’s ownership passes away, the business most likely shutters not too long after. In May 2005, Taco Pronto owner Mark Fiato, 53, died from head injuries suffered from a bicycling accident in the town of New Scotland.

With its ornate decor, refined slate tiling, and fireplace, the Albany Sunspot Cafe gave Midtown Albany another cosmopolitan eatery in the same vein as the Gingerman restaurant. Previously, the location had been home to a stained glass workshop.

At Brooklyn Borough Hall on Thursday night, legislative leaders were lauded as part of an awards ceremony for the New York State Federation of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, highlighting the impact that small businesses and Latinos have in the changing face of American business.

“Hispanic business must be at the table, because the demographics are changing,” said U.S. Representative Nydia Velasquez (D-N.Y.). According to Velasquez, Latino small businesses grew by 43 percent nationally.

The federation, established in 1983, aims on providing a collective voice for Latino business owners.

In addition to Velasquez, Assemblyman Peter Rivera, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer also gave remarks.

“I’m Scott Stringer and I represent the suburbs of Brooklyn,” joked Stringer. Stringer applauded Speaker Christine Quinn’s plan to turn the Brooklyn Navy Yard into a design center.

“Any candidate for public office knows they need to habla es espanol,” said Markowitz.

Ken Adams, the executive director of the Empire State Development Corporation, was present – consistently getting friendly jabs over development opportunities in Brooklyn.

Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) was introduced by Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn).

“We want to make sure the Latino community has the opportunity to create businesses,” said Skelos, the Senate Majority Leader.

Skelos’s attendance at the event is no doubt is an attempt to forge Republican control within the Latino business community.

In anticipation of the Albany Common Council passing a sweeping reform to the regulation and licensing of music venues, some establishments are either outright cancelling or rumored to be changing their evening entertainment, possibly changing the landscape of music and live entertainment in Albany.

Laughs on Lark, a comedy showcase at Elda’s on Lark that is hosted by Matt Kelly and Jaye McBride, announced it will cancel its series amid concern over the future of the bill’s possible passage.

“Many of you are familiar with, or have come to enjoy our monthly Laughs on Lark Comedy Showcase. We regret to inform you that we will have to cancel this month’s show, scheduled for Wednesday February 8th, our first cancellation since we started 20 months ago,” said Kelly and McBride in an e-mail statement.

“It is not because we need to write new material, though we could use a few fresh jokes, or because of anxiety over the possibility of a Rick Santorum presidency, but because of a proposed Ordinance by the City of Albany regarding audio entertainment within taverns and restaurants. The ambiguity of the bill and the rush to enforce it prior to the Common City Council meeting scheduled to discuss it leave us no option but to pull the plug,” Kelly and McBride continued.

According to All Over Albany, the city’s code enforcement stopped Elda’s on Lark, Pinto & Hobbs, Jackie’s Bar, and Rocks due to failure to have a zoning variance granted. The variance costs $125 and must be approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). However, an establishment can continue to operate until the BZA meets and votes upon the variance, unless outstanding health concerns were present.

The bill would change the authority vested with regulating venues from the BZA to an approval system of five city department heads and license issuance from the city clerk, in which a fee based upon the square footage of the building would range between $300 and $900 a year.

“Done properly, a cabaret licensure system will expand the venue for live entertainment in restaurants and taverns enhancing neighborhood vibrancy while also balancing neighborhood needs.  The current process of getting approvals through the zoning system is cumbersome and lacks adequate enforcement ability against bad establishments,” said Richard Conti, president pro tempore of the Albany Common Council and representative of the sixth ward.

“The process needs to be public and transparent, and that’s what I’ve been advocating during the time the Common Council has been considering this issue,” Conti continued.

Christopher T. Higgins, who represents Center Square and Downtown Albany as part of Albany County’s fifth district, said that “building in sufficient safeguards for neighborhood input through the permitting process will be critical to how successful this new proposal is.”

“Any final plan must take into consideration meaningful input from concerned residents and neighborhood associations. The City, and any adopted proposal must give people the ability to make their opinions known on whether a cabaret license should be issued to a restaurant or bar near their home,” said Higgins.

“I shouldn’t even be involved with this. This bill shouldn’t affect cafes,” says Anton Pasquill, the owner of the Hudson River Coffee House and one of the chief opponents to the bill. The coffee house has a weekly open performance series and weekend indie rock shows.

Michael Corts, the chief executive officer of the Avid Agencies, whose Avid Entertainment division runs a number of weekly live entertainment shows in the Capital Region, says that there will be “no changes” to Tuesday Night Live, which is every week at Justin’s on Lark.

“We love this neighborhood and judging by the increasing number of folks in attendance, you like us too. We believe strongly that businesses that promote and nourish local performers should be celebrated and not punished,” Kelly and McBride continued.

The bill’s impending impact also has created a rumor mill that kareoke and other forms of weekly entertainment would be curtailed. Pinto & Hobbs, a bar on Washington Avenue near the state capitol, hosts a weekly kareoke that was rumored to be ending because of the bill. According to a representative of Pinto & Hobbs, kareoke will “continue as is, spread the word.”

The bill is expected to be voted upon the Common Council before the end of the month  to be reviewed by the Common Council’s planning committee on February 15 at 5 p.m., in which there will be a public comment period.

The Los Angeles Dodgers may have another New Yorker in charge, and this time – their name isn’t Joe Torre.

Jared Kushner, 31, the owner and publisher of the Observer Media Group, the media organization responsible for the New York Observer, has emerged as a possible contender to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers according to the Associated Press.

Kushner, who purchased the Observer in 2006, would become the youngest owner in Major League Baseball if he is successful for his bid.

In addition to Kushner, eight other interested parties have moved to the second round of the ownership “sweepstakes” in the wake of MLB taking over the team after the divorce proceedings of Frank and Jamie McCourt, the previous owners.

Kushner is credited with expanding the reach of the Observer and investing in supplementary ventures to expand the Observer’s reach online.

Park Playhouse, Albany’s free theater series that takes place in Washington Park, announced Wednesday that for it’s upcoming season that “Cabaret,” not the previously advertised “Legally Blonde,” will be produced for the company’s twenty-fourth season.

“Legally Blonde is a show that Park Playhouse may do someday,” said Owen M. Smith, the producing artistic director of Park Playhouse. Smith, who has been head of the venerable summer theater program for three years, expressed confidence in the change from the movie-turned-musical “Legally Blonde” to “Cabaret.”

“Our funding structure has changed and we’ve taken a look at the new budget structure. Legally Blonde is a lesser known title and a more expensive production and this is not the first time we’ve changed shows,” said Smith.

“(Cabaret) is a better fit for our budget and people have wanted to see Cabaret for years.”

Park Playhouse, which began in 1989 as part of a municipal arts program and has evolved into its own non-profit organization, is still in a revival phase since Smith took over in 2010. Under Smith’s tenure, Park Playhouse has produced critically-acclaimed productions of “Annie Get Your Gun” and “The Producers.”

“We all felt good about the switch,” Smith continued.

‘Cabaret,’ which was written by Kander and Ebb and first performed in 1966, is set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power. The show focuses on nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around the 19-year-old English cabaret performer Sally Bowles and her relationship with the young American writer Cliff Bradshaw.

“I think Cabaret is a story that needs to be told and we will be doing it in a very different than what people have seen before.”

Mistakes, mistakes don’t turn the water back on.

According to a report first published by the Albany Business Review, the University at Albany is seeking new bids for contractors to rehabilitate the water tower and fountain on its uptown campus in response to a subcontractor of Latham-based Bunkoff General Contractors erred on an estimate for work of approximately $1.2 to $1.5 million.

The bid that the subcontractor was involved with kept the amount below the $15 million threshold when the subcontractor discovered the mistake.

The entire project, estimated around $15 million, is set to be complete by 2014.

The SUNY Construction Fund, who is managing the bids for the project, decided to re-open the request process in light of the mistake. The new bid is now due on February 14, with provisions to keep the project within line cost-wise and minimize distractions on the Edward Durell Stone-designed campus.

A small water fountain not located in the main area was separated out as an alternate bid, which means the university could decline to do that portion of the project depending on the cost.

Some of the criticism over the project stems from the university’s 2010 plan to cut a number of humanities programs while embarking on a robust list of construction projects that include building a new School of Business building, rehabbing dormitories, and renovating the Campus Center.

Apple has officially become the world’s top computer maker, according to research firm Canalys, beating longtime leader Hewlett-Packard.

Canalys included tablet PCs in their calculation, such as Apple’s iPad. The global PC market grew by 16 percent to a total of 120 million computers in the final quarter of 2011.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple sold 20.6 million units, compared to HP’s 15.3 million units in the last quarter. Lenovo placed third, selling 13.5 million. Dell and Acer rounded out the top five, with 11.9 million and 11.2 million sold respectively.

The calculation by Canalys could be used by other analyst firms such as Gartner to calculate the total amount of computers sold and used across the world. With more users switching from desktop/laptop-based platforms to a tablet, Apple could in fact be the mainstream maker it has long sought to become.