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ot of fans want to know what's up with KEM's next album.
So does KEM.
Actually, the Lathrup Village-based R&B singer is certainly in tune with "Album III: Intimacy," which he's been working on diligently in Detroit and hopes to have finished soon and out next year as the follow-up to 2005's gold-certified "Album II." But he's also been using his concerts to hone the new material and debut songs such as "Mother's Love," "Why Would You Stay?" and "Share My Love," the projected first single.
"We try a lot of the new music out on the road," explains KEM, whose real name is Kim Owens. "Part of our template for creating records has been taking the music to the audience and test-driving it, if you will. You learn first and foremost if the audience likes the song, and I learn how to perform the song live and ... maybe get some different ideas about what to do with it in the studio.
"That's been going over really well, so far. We always look forward to that part of the show."
The album's title, meanwhile, should give a sense of what KEM's new songs will focus on -- although they're not only about that, he says.
"I'm known for making love songs," Kem explains, "so we thought we'd explore that word, that idea -- not only sensual intimacy but the true meaning of relationships and opening yourself up to somebody and allowing them to do the same with you.
"So the song 'Mother's Love' is about maternal intimacy between a mother and child. There are spiritual love songs on the album, too. Life is about relationships -- good, bad or indifferent. That's what we will be exploring on this new album."
KEM and Rahsaan Patterson perform at 8 tonight at the Fox Theatre. Tickets are $63-$153. Call (313) 471-6611 or visit www.olympiaentertainment.com.

Weezer has always been a band, but on its sixth album -- which came out and June and was dubbed "The Red Album" because of its color cover -- the group gestalt is even more pronounced.
"It's definitely more sophisticated," says frontman Rivers Cuomo, who stepped aside from his usual roles as sole writer and lead singer to make room for other band members' contributions, including switching instruments.
"It was a blast. It definitely feels like there's a lot more of our energy that over the years has been kind of pent up and now has been released and is flowing freely between the four of us."
Drummer Pat Wilson, who steps front and center on the song "Automatic," agrees that "it just seemed like that was the healthy way to keep everything feeling fresh. After 15 years of doing it the other way, it just felt like it was time" for the rest of the group to have more creative input.
The energy Cuomo speaks of is already taking root on Weezer's next album, which the group has been writing since finishing "The Red Album." The quartet plans early November sessions in California with producer Garrett "Jacknife" Lee for a 2009 release.
"Now that we've got more writers we don't have to wait for Rivers to have a bunch of songs he's happy with," Wilson notes. "We used to take forever to make a record, then tour on it forever and be burnt out and not do anything for two years. This is a lot better."
Weezer, Angels & Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club reform at 7:30 p.m. Monday at The Palace, Lapeer Road at I-75, Auburn HIlls. Tickets are $45, $39.50 and $25. Call (248) 377-0100 or visit www.palacenet.com.

After scoring a platinum album with 2006's "The Evolution of Robin Thicke" and a massive crossover hit in "Lost Without U," the R&B singer faces some lofty expectations for his new album, "Something Else," which comes out Tuesday.
But, he notes, "nobody expects more from me than I do."
"I challenge myself pretty hard to rise to the occasion," says Thicke, 31, who's the son of actors Alan Thicke and Gloria Loring. "I don't change my sound to match whatever today's sound is. I don't call the coolest people in the business to do guest appearances. So there's always going to be that tough road to travel because I'm uncompromising.
"I just make my own music and hope it connects, you know? I just hope that (people) like it. That's all I can do."
Even more than "The Evolution ...," "Something Else" nods to Thicke's old school R&B sensibility with direct sonic references to Motown, Curtis Mayfield and Philadelphia soul. He also got to tap into the spirit of vintage Michael Jackson, using horn players whose credits include Michael Jackon's "Off the Wall."
"It was pretty cool," Thicke recalls. "These 60-year-old, 65-year-old guys are in there, slamming it down. They were amazing."
Robin Thicke performs with Mary J. Blige and David Young at 7 p.m. Sunday as the DTE Energy Music Theatre, Sashabaw Road east of I-75, Independence Township. Tickets are $39.75-$99.75 pavilion only. Call (248) 377-0100 or visit www.palacenet.com.

The Verve Pipe's Brian Vander Ark is happy to be breathing some "new life" into his old catalog.
The singer and songwriter has signed a national distribution deal for his three solo albums, which will boost his latest, self-titled effort, which came out in January, as well as 2003's "Resurrection" and 2006's "Angel, Put Your Face On."
"I really wasn't concerned with that kind of thing; I was thumbing my nose at the (music) industry," says the 42-year-old Grand Rapids resident, who also dabbles in acting and had a prominent role in 2001's "Rock Star." "But the fact is I've only taken it as far as I can take it with just doing my own marketing and keeping mailing lists and all that stuff.
"I was constantly beating the pavement and just had it. So when (Red Eye Records) came around, it was perfect. They're the biggest independent distributor and can actually get these into stores and out worldwide, too. It'll really help."
Vander Ark also is coming off a full summer of what he calls a "lawn chair tour"-- basically playing in private homes for people willing to hire him. He's doing more of those shows than ever and hopes to continue growing that aspect of his career.
"I'm trying to weed out the 'normal' gigs now 'cause this is so lucrative," explains Vander Ark, who financed his latest album with his 2007 house gigs. "I wasn't making nearly this kind of money playing the clubs; clubs just don't pay anymore.
"It's a great way to make a living. You go to these people's homes, they're nice to you, they invite you in, they cook for you ...There's no surly sound man, no promoter who's gonna (cheat) you at the end of the night. I get paid. People listen and they buy all the CDs and they all sign up on the mailing list.
"I've doubled my fan base doing this. It's ... phenomenal."
Brian Vander Ark, Jamie McCarthy and Crashing Cairo perform tonight at the Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12. Call (248) 544-3030 or visit www.themagicbag.com.

The past four years have been a bit rough for Everlast.
The singer, songwriter and rapper -- real name Erik Schrody and a former member of the hip-hop group House of Pain ("Jump Around") -- found himself at the end of a major label deal that yielded the double-platinum 1998 album "Whitey Ford Sings the Blues" and the hit "What It's Like," as well as a Grammy Award-winning collaboration with Carlos Santana, "Put Your Lights On." He didn't exactly despair, but it "definitely put a dent in my spirit."
"It was more about whether I was going to want to make music anymore," explains Everlast, 39, whose "Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford" -- the first for his own label, Martyr Inc., came out this week. "My outlook on this (music) business is very weird. I love it. I love making money. I love making my living doing this. But I kinda hate the business.
"So I sat around for four years. I just had to wait for the point where I wanted to make music again."
Along with a remake of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" with Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs, "Love, War ..." features some of the most political pointed lyrics Everlast has ever recorded, including "Kill the Emperor," "Stone in My Hand" and "Letters Home From the Garden of Stone," the latter of which imagines the thoughts of U.S. soldiers stationed in overseas combat zones.
"I just think that's the climate," says Everlast, who also composed the theme and score music for TNT's "Saving Grace." "I don't consider myself to be very political, but it's what goes on in my daily conversations. It's what I'm talking about in my daily life.
"I didn't force any of the songs; they just kind of came, so I figured it was meant for me to express my opinion this time out."
Everlast, the Lordz and Questions perform tonight at the Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20. Call (313) 833-9700 or visit www.majesticdetroit.com.

When it comes to Delerium, group leader Bill Leeb -- who co-founded the electronic-based rock group in 1987 in Vancouver -- gets by with more than a little help from his friend.
Leeb says that the band's first tour in five years, for instance, is being driven by drummer Ash Sood, Sarah McLachlan's estranged husband and now part of the Delerium collective.
"I needed a drummer and he's a great drummer and he lives in the same neck of the woods as I do," says Leeb, 47, who's also a member of Front Line Assembly and Skinny Puppy. "We hadn't played together in a while, and I thought, 'Heck, why not?'
"He brought me the entire Sarah band except Sarah, and the band sounds just great. It's gotten us into a couple big things, festivals and whatnot."
The current edition of Delerium also includes Sixpence None the Richer's Leigh Nash, who sang on two Delerium albums (2000's "Poem" and 2003's "Chimera") and with Leeb and his partner Rhys Fulber on another project, Fauxliage in 2007.
"She's kind of a starlet, and she sounds great live," reports Leeb, who's putting the finishing touches on "Voice," a new Delerium album that features three new songs and stripped-down versions of several older tracks. "She's got this wonderful voice, like a modern Patsy Cline or something. We've done so many songs with her over the years it was just another natural, and she's really raised the bar as far as the band goes.
"So with her and Ash on board, it was like, 'Yeah, we gotta go out and show this to the world again...' "
Delerium, Morgan Page and Elsiane perform tonight at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25. Call ((248) 399-2980 or visit www.royaloakmusictheatre.com.

Forget about not being able to go home again -- R&B singer Eric Benet did just that, going home to Milwaukee to write and record his third album, "Love & LIfe."
"For me, the whole album was about going back to the roots of R&B," explains Benet, 41, who was married to actress Halle Berry from 2001-2005. "I wanted it to feel like one of those records that made me fall in love with the idea of becoming a recording artist -- Earth, Wind & Fire to Stevie (Wonder) to Donny Hathaway, Al Green, Rufus, Marvin Gaye ...
"So I figured if I was gonna do a record about going back to the roots, I should go back to my roots and the guys I started in the game with."
Benet notes that "Love & Life," which has already spawned the No. 1 Urban AC hit "You're the Only One," is also "the first time in my career I had complete control" of his work. After two albums for Warner Bros./Reprise he negotiated a deal to moved to the independent label Friday, although Warners is still handling distribution and marketing for the project.
"(Friday) is owned by a friend of mine," Benet explains. "So Friday picks up the tab for the production and I'm still considered a Warners/Reprise artist. It's like the best of both worlds; I get to make the record I want and still have one of the biggest companies around get it out there for me. You gotta love that."
Eric Benet and Phredley perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the City Theatre in the Hockeytown Cafe, 2301 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Tickets are $41. Call (313) 471-6611 or visit www.olympiaentertainment.com.

Loudon Wainwright III says "Recovery" is the perfect title for his new album.
The set, produced by Rochester Adams grad (and Madonna's brother-in-law) Joe Henry, features newly recorded versions of 13 songs form Wainwright's first couple of albums, adding full-band arrangements to what were once austere renderings.
"When I was signed to Atlantic Records in the late '60s, they had seen me playing songs with just my guitar," recalls Wainwright, who first worked with Henry on "Strange Weirdos," the companion album to the hit film "Knocked Up." "They said, 'We're gonna put you together with some great musicians ...'
"But it just didn't seem to work out. I was uncomfortable, I think; I was nervous, and these guys were killer musicians. So in the end I just decided on my first two albums, at least, to do them totally stripped-down, voice and guitar. But I always wondered, 'What if ...?'"
The exercise, Wainwright notes, gave him new insight into himself as a songwriter -- both then and now.
"The first thing I noticed as we were going along was that when I was 25 I was obsessed with getting old," says Wainwright, whose next project will be a tribute to old tyme banjoist and North Carolina Ramblers leader Charlie Poole. "Now I'm 62. There's not much new under the sun. I haven't changed that much, although physically and vocally I have.
"But a lot of my concerns haven't changed -- and a big one is mortality. I guess we can call that a theme throughout my career."
Loudon Wainwright III performs at 8 tonight at the Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Tickets are $20. Call (734) 761-1451 or visit www.theark.org.

David Gedge may be the Wedding Present's mainstay and frontman, but David Gedge doesn't have to control everything. In fact, he's turned over concert set list duties to bassist Terry de Castro -- gladly.
"It's a thankless task, to be honest," says Gedge, 48, who co-founded the Wedding Present in 1985 in Leeds, England and reactivated it in 2004 after a seven-year break to pursue another band called Cinerama. "We have so many songs now, like about 250, including covers, and you try to condense that into a 90-minute set, which means you've got to leave stuff out. And whatever you do, people always complain, so if someone else wants to take the brunt of that, it's fine with me.
"And also, (de Castro) has only been with me since the Cinerama days, so she's got a bit more objective view on the earlier songs, more like a fan. It's quite helpful to have that kind of detached, outsider perspective, I think."
The Wedding Present's new album, "El Rey," bears the mark of Gedge's move to California before making the album, from lyrical references to song titles such as "Santa Ana Winds" and "Spider-Man on Hollywood." But he did not set out to make his version of a Beach Boys album.
"Musically I think it would sound the same wherever we are," Gedge explains, "'cause it's the sum of the influences of the people in the group at any one time.
"But the way I write (lyrics) is quite a personal style. And because I've been living in Los Angeles the last year or so, I felt it would be quite interesting to make some references to that. It's nice to absorb the influences around you -- especially in Los Angeles, which is a bit of a weird city and gives you a lot to write about."
The Wedding Present and Dirty on Purpose perform Thursday at the Pike Room in the Crofoot complex, 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12. Call (248) 858-9333 or visit www.thecrofoot.com.

Gary Graff writes about music for The Oakland Press. His work can also be found at www.goanddomichigan.com, while his Classic Rock Insider reports appear at www.wcsx.com.