Café Society

Wrote not too long ago about the Ultraviolet Café, next to the Spectrum. Turns out (thanks to the Albany Bloggers for pointing this out) that the Madison Theater is now blessed with a similar adjunct called The Muddy Cup. Big, wide-open place filled with cast-off furnishings and free wi-fi, perfect for a soaked family waiting to get in to see “Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit” (which was brilliant, by the way). If they’d had coffee houses like this when I was younger, I definitely would have hung out there. Alas, all we had were bars. So in a way, all that alcohol consumption wasn’t even my fault, was it?

Very glad to have the Madison open again — its future was very iffy there for a while, and after the last closing it appeared it would be sold to Sage College and the last neighborhood theater in Albany would be gone (the truth of that statement depends on whether you consider the Spectrum a neighborhood theater). It’s a drive for us, but the seats and concessions are cheap, it shows first-run films, and it keeps me from handing over money to the big chains. And now, there’s a place to hang right next door. Perfect.