Neko Case

After more than a decade in the music industry, Neko Case is branching out. Those up late with the munchies this past Sunday might have caught Case’s guest-starring role alongside the animated food of Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force; and she’s also signed on to take part in a new series from one of the cocreators of Aqua Teen, which bears the rumored title of Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge.

Yum.

Of course she still has her main gig to fall back on. Best known in some circles as a coconspirator in the New Pornographers, Neko Case has a strong and varied collection under her own name. It’s been 10 years since her country-drenched debut disc The Virginian, and two since the critically lauded Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, so when Case comes to town this evening, look for some new material to be filed among the catalog tunes.

Neko Case, plus Archers of Loaf/Crooked Fingers frontguy Eric Bachmann, will perform at the Egg (Empire State Plaza, Albany) this evening (Thursday, Jan. 31) at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $24. For more info or to reserve tickets, call the box office at 473-1845.

Indies at the Madison

What’s the best place to see a movie? If you said “at home, on my TV,” we can only reply: wrong answer. The best place to see a movie is in a real movie theater. Next question: What are the least likely films to see in a theater? If you replied, “locally made independent films,” congratulations. You are correct.

That’s why the program of short films this week (Feb. 1-7) at Albany’s Madison Theatre is so special.

Organized by local filmmaker Jeff Burns, the program will feature Kevin Dobies’ comedy-romance Good and Clean; Joy E. Reed’s computer comedy Boxed In; Ben Alpi’s drama Silver Lining; the psychological thriller Four, directed by Michalina Almindo; the drama Waste of Candy, by Frank D’Andrea and Terry J. Field; and Burns’ own Breaking Up, a “story of unrequited love and poor cell phone reception.”

The program Indies at the Madison will screen at the Madison Theatre (1036 Madison Ave., Albany) tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday (Feb. 1-2) and Monday through Thursday (Feb. 4-7) at 7:15 and 9:35 PM. There also will be midnight screenings Friday and Saturday, and matinees Friday (at 4:30 PM) and Saturday (at noon, 1:45 and 4:30 PM). Admission is $6. The box office number is 438-0040. The filmmakers will be present for a Q&A after the Friday and Saturday evening shows. For more info and to view a trailer for the program, visit myspace.com/indiesatthemadison.

Macbeth

Macbeth is a play so treacherous it’s said to be cursed. As the story goes, Shakespeare’s three witches recite incantations lifted from an authentic black-magic ritual. Practioners were furious, and cursed the play. Catastrophies have befallen productions for centuries. Reverential actors refer to it only as “the Scottish play.” Its name is never spoken inside a theater for fear of what wicked thing may come.

And yet, Macbeth is performed century after century around the globe. Why? Because it is a magnificently timeless tragedy of betrayal, prophecy, murder, tyranny and political intrigue. Because, like Lady Macbeth’s counsel to “look like the innocent flower/but be the serpent under it,” the Bard’s sinister and exquisite poetry is indelibly relevant.

Timothy D. Stickney (pictured) is this production’s Macbeth.

Macbeth opens at the New York State Theatre Institute (Schacht Fine Arts Center, Russell Sage College, Division Street, Troy) on Saturday (Feb. 2) at 8 PM and runs through Feb.13. Tickets are $20, $16 for students and seniors, and $10 for children to age 12. For more information, or to make reservations, call box office at 274-3256.