PALLAS
RESTAURANT
&LOUNGE
27909 Orchard Lake Rd.
(at 12 Mile)
Farmington Hills
(248) 553-9013
Open 7 Days A Week
AVAILABLE -
FOR
PRIVATE PARTIES
yOUP
pafale,
°odic
"OCTOBER
SPECIAL"
1 0% OFF
Total Food Bill
• Sunday – Thursday
(except holidays)
• Cannot be used with
other offers
9/24
2004
56
• No VIP stamp with discount
• Discount on lowest
priced entree
• Excludes alcohol & taxes
expires 10/31/04
880670
from page 53
Now 26, Lee still claims the story actually hap-
pened. True or not, Lee's tale is telling of the person
he is.
Growing up in Sydney, he says, his family did not
have a lot of money — but did have creativity to
spare. "My bar mitzvah was a square dance. Not my
idea," he moans. "It was my family's idea. We
couldn't compete on that grand scale of 'lees bring
out Topol.'"
And music seems to be in his blood. "My great-
uncle was the court violinist for Czar Nicholas, in
Russia. Another ancestor was a musician, too. Then
they all came out to Australia and forgot the music.
I've got to bring it back," he laughs.
Lee also attended a Jewish day school. And
though Judaism has not been the central spiritual
activity in his life (he practices Qigong, a Taoist
form of Chinese self-healing), he professes that the
study of Judaism and Torah gave him a framework
from which to look at life.
"It taught me that things are worth looking into,
worth talking about," Lee explains. "It's given me a
general respect for religion and spirituality and
taught me that there's value to ritual and prayer.
Whether or not you end up practicing, there's a
value to questioning, and to yearning from the
soul."
Though Lee's conversation gravitates often
toward weighty matters of the mind and spirit, it is
also peppered with a wit that indicates he doesn't
take himself too seriously, an accomplishment in
Ben Lee: "The most punk-rock thing you can do right now is just feet"
itself for a musical wunderkind who was "discov-
ered" at the age of 14.
On the strength of a four-track demo recorded in his bed-
seen the fame as the be-all and end-all. It's about what I can
room in Sydney and a debut performance at a library book
do with it. And the more stable you are in the sense of know-
sale, his band Noise Addict was signed to a record deal. With
ing who you are, the more responsibility you have to help
other people.
help along the way from famous fans such as Sonic Youth's
Thurston Moore, the Lemonheads' Evan Dando and the
"I see it as the job I have to do, to bring people some kind
Beastie Boys' Mike Diamond (whose Grand Royal label
of joy from my music. I used to just want to be a rock star.
became home for Noise Addict in their formative years), the
But now, it's nothing but how can you help? I've lived a little
band quickly skyrocketed to indie success before Lee broke out bit more now"
into an equally successful solo career. (The fact that the Beastie
In the last few years, he's experienced heartbreak (he and
Boys are Jewish, Lee laughs, "probably made my parents trust
longtime girlfriend actress Claire Danes broke up last year)
them more when I was running off to record in America when and death (a friend overdosed, and his father passed away).
I was 15.")
And the living he's done is reflected in his music.
Now, Lee has begun his own label, Ten Fingers Records. "It's
Up until a year or so ago, Lee explains, all of the big bands
a vehicle to let me do what I want," he explains. "Now I'm
— Dylan, the Stones, Nirvana — were influences. "Then,
just trying to figure out how to pay for the records."
something clicked over. Now I don't listen to much music
Lee describes the first band to release an album on the label,
anymore — it's all coming straight from the source," he says.
Pony Up!, as "these five wonderfully creative girls from
'After 12 years of writing songs, it's finally my own."
Montreal who are making the music I am trying to make.
Coming from another person, especially one is his mid-20s,
They're living it."
such a statement might be perceived as egotistical. From Lee,
The kind of music he's "trying" to make has evolved from
however, it's simply pure and honest — which is why he can
the oddball poignancy and humor of Jonathan Richman and
get away with many of the things he says, in conversation and
in song.
Alex Chilton-esque garage pop of Noise Addict to his most
recent offerings, melding the rawness of '80s noise bands, the
Says Lee, "I always knew that there would be a connection
prettiness of pop ballads and a focus on good songwriting, all
between me and God. But I think that the key is faith — not
tied up with the handiwork of producer Dan the Automator
religion or practice. If you can find the key that unlocks your
(of Beastie Boys and Herbie Hancock fame).
faith, then you can do anything in the world.
"It's all about the way I'm going to do what I want to do in
"You read stories in the Torah about people who just knew
the world. Music is a vehicle for something else," says Lee.
that things could happen, as long as they believed it. And I
believe it." ❑
And what is that something else? "I want to bring people
back to tenderness," he says. "Everything now is all about
going to war — we have to be tough and macho. But good
Ben Lee appears with Pony Up! Sunday, Sept. 26, at
artistry helps you remember your dreams. The most punk-
the Magic Bag in Ferndale. Doors open at 8 p.m.; 18
rock thing you can do right now is just feel.
and older welcome. $12. (248) 645-6666.
"I see myself as sort of a soldier in this revolution. I've never
ql.=q uFri p !AeG Aq cuoqd
SPIRITUAL SEEKER