Contact: the Musical

Contact: the Musical was created by Susan Stroman and John Weidman for the Lincoln Center Theater. The play, which premiered in September 1999, consists of three different-but-linked stories told mostly through prerecorded music and dance. The first, “Swinging,” is set in the French countryside to the music of the Rodgers & Hart song “My Heart Stood Still”; the scene is a beautiful woman swinging on a swing while two men watch her. The second, “Did You Move,” is set in an Italian restaurant in Queens in the early 1950s, and tells the story of a woman who is trapped in a loveless marriage and dreams of becoming a ballerina. The third, “Contact,” is set in present-day New York and depicts a successful yet suicidal advertising exec. Note: The show’s not for kids.

Contact: the Musical will be performed at Proctor’s Theatre (432 State St., Schenectady) tonight (Jan. 27) at 8 PM. Tickets are $29.50, $39.50, and $42.50. For more information about tonight’s performance, or to order tickets, call 382-1083 or visit www.proctors.org.

Queensrÿche— Operation: Mindcrime

We’re not gonna belabor the point, but we find it interesting that Queensrÿche have chosen to tour their 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime this year, this inaugural year.

Sure, it was their commercial breakthrough and, as many contend, their most artistically successful album. It’s been hailed as a genre-defining work, the very model of everything a heavy-metal concept album should be. It’s been praised as a combination of Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd (by folks who mean that as an unqualified compliment, by the way), and ranked among the best themed albums ever. And, has been pointed out in high school parking lots the nation over, the thing rocks. So, it all makes sense at that level.

But the fact that the theme in question deals with a Reagan-era mercenary burned out and disgusted by the cynicism and corruption he sees around him, the greed and the religious zealotry, who joins an anarchic organization bent on toppling that system using the ages-old technique of targeted political assassinations . . . well, we can’t say with certainty where Queensrÿche vocalist Geoff Tate files his taxes, but we’d bet the office copy of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot that the guy’s a blue-stater at heart. Just a guess.

Queensrÿche will perform Operation: Mindcrime at Northern Lights (1208 Route 146, Clifton Park) on Wednesday (Feb. 2). Tickets for the show are $30. For more information, 371-0012.

Moog

If you love old-school psychedelia or prog rock, you must have a favorite Moog moment. (We’ll get to ours in a moment.) What’s a Moog? Why, it’s a man and a machine. Four decades ago, the man, Bob Moog, invented the machine, the Moog synthesizer, and music geeks all over the world rejoiced. The Moog, an analog synthesizer, is/was a beast to operate, but the oddly majestic, otherworldly sound it makes is worth the effort—as in the climax of King Crimson’s goofy 10-minute epic “In the Court of the Crimson King,” our nominee for the all-time greatest Moog moment.

Bob Moog has, however, been working in electronic music ever since, and his body of work is much more than the prog rocker’s favorite toy. Hans Fjellestad’s documentary, Moog, explores the man’s life and work. TSL in Hudson is screening the film this weekend and next, pairing it with electronic music performances. On Saturday, Boston’s Jessica Rylan will perform on her own homemade instruments; Thurston Moore has characterized what she does as “one of the strangest things I’ve seen in a while.” Next weekend, on Friday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 PM, our own Jason Martin will do what he does.

Moog will be shown at 7:30 PM on Saturday (Jan. 29) at Time & Space Limited (434 Columbia St., Hudson). Jessica Rylan also will perform. Tickets are $10 general admission, and $7 for members. For more information, call 822-8448.