From the Great White North to the frozen
tundra of Michigan, the Philosopher Kings,
on a U.S. tour, make a stop at St. Andrew's
Hall tonight.
TheBrothers
Levine And The
Philosopher
Kings
Philosopher Kings
nearly a year ago,
specifically the lush, jazzy
"Charms" and the quirky "Every-
one'll Let You Down."
The band's sophisticated
sound belies its relatively short
history: strongly influenced by
jazz (several of the guys have jazz
training), with strains of hip hop
and pop, the result is something
like Joe Jackson meets P.M.
Dawn meets John Coltrane.
Four of the band members —
vocalist Gerald Eaton, bassist Ja-
son Levine, brother/pianist Jon
Levine and guitarist Brian West
— began writing songs and per-
forming together in high school.
But it wasn't until guitarist Mc-
Collum, Jon Levine and drummer
Craig Hunter simultaneously
hen James McCollum
says that he and the
five other members of
the Philosopher Kings
have "paid some dues," take the
phrase with a grain of salt. After
all, a band of college-age guys
that gets signed by a major label
on its seventh gig can't have
scraped bottom for too long.
In fact, the Toronto sextet's
popular success seems to have
been preordained. The single
"Charms," off its self-titled album
debut, made the Top 10 in both
Canada and Japan; the band has
criss-crossed its own country six
times on tour and begins an
American tour this month.
Lucky for Detroiters, Canadi-
an-owned station the River, 93.9
FM, started playing cuts off The
dropped out of music
school at the University
of Toronto that the group
gelled. (McCollum says
he decided that perform-
ing for an audience made
more sense than per-
forming for grades.)
By its third or fourth
gig, the buzz on the band
was big enough to attract the in-
terest of Sony/Canada, who
signed the Philosopher Kings
soon thereafter. And while Mc-
Collum says the Sony studio
proved conducive to musical in-
spiration, it's the band's live per-
formances — full of
improvisations and experimen-
tation — that really give the mu-
sicians the freedom to open up.
—Liz Stevens
`a The Philosopher Kings will
perform tonight at St. Andrew's
Hall. All ages welcome. 6 p.m.
doors. Tickets are $7 in ad-
vance. 431 E. Congress, Detroit.
Call Ticketmaster at (810) 645-
6666.
-
This Weekend's Best Bets
•
David Broza
The popular Israeli rock
singer, often compared
to Bruce Springsteen,
Fri., 9 p.m.
appears at 7th House,
7 N. Saginaw
in Pontiac. Tickets are
$13. (810) 335-3540.
Purim. Bash
Celebrate with the
Klezmer Fusion
Band, food, dancing,
roulette and cos-
tumes with the Ann
Arbor JCC, at Wash-
Community
to
College. Tickets are
$12 advance, $15 at
the door.
(313) 971-0990.
Sat.,
7:30-11 p.m.
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in
ickets
3) 761-1800.
See The Catifidar
Ellis and
Branford
Marsalis
The renowned jazz
educator and pianist
performs with his
sax-playing son at the
State Theatre, next to
the Fox Theatre in
Detroit. Reserved
tickets are $21.75.
(313) 961-5450.
p.m.
Sun. , 7.30
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