Everclear frontman, singer/songwriter/producer and all around busy guy, Art Alexakis is, not surprisingly, using time off from recording the next as-yet-untitled Everclear album (due this year) to launch a sixteen-city solo tour.

"Before a song gets to be an Everclear song, it starts off as my song with a guitar and a vocal and that's kind of what I want to bring it back to," Alexakis says, explaining the decision to perform without drummer Greg Eklund and bassist Craig Montoya.

Alexakis promises his set will include Everclear staples like "Santa Monica," "I Will Buy You a New Life" and "Wonderful," as well as two new songs, "Glorious" and "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom." "It takes a shot at the right wing a little bit," he says of the latter. "It's all based on the theory that strippers and porn stars grow up to become Republicans."

Songs from Alexakis' pre-Everclear days will reach new audiences when he pulls out material from his old band, Colorfinger. "Most of [the old material] makes me kind of shudder," he says. "But, you know, I'm a better singer and player and songwriter than I used to be, so I'm breathing a little fresh life into it now. There's one song called 'The Marrying Kind,' the first real song I wrote where people went, 'OK, you're figuring this out. That doesn't suck.' So I might play that song, which is really funny, 'cause since then I've been married three times. What [the marrying kind] is, I don't know. I used to know, and now I'm not sure."

Alexakis will get the opportunity to expound on this and many other topics, including music and politics, when he starts his job as host of a new radio show, "Black Jack Radio: Music, Politics and Attitudes." The two-hour show will air on Portland, Oregon station KNRK on Sunday nights and be broadcast on the Web. It makes its debut April 14th, and the inaugural topic is the local music scene in Portland and other scenes around the country. Guests will get to play DJ, everyone choosing one song.

Alexakis also promises to stir the show up a bit with help from his daughter's pet lizard, Bobby Angel. "I'm going to have my daughter's lizard crawl on the table towards a picture of either the person representing the liberal point of view or the conservative, and wherever he goes, that's the slant I'm taking," he explains. "A good debater can win any debate from any point of view -- it doesn't matter."

Art Alexakis tour dates:

3/21: Detroit, St. Andrews Hall
3/22: Omaha, NE, Sokol Auditorium
3/23: Mt. Vernon, IA, Orange Carpet -- Cornell College
3/25: Boca Raton, FL, Florida Atlantic University
3/26: DeLand, FL, Forest of Arden-Stetson University
3/27: Joplin, MO, Taylor Auditorium
3/28: St. Louis, MO, Gargoyle-Washington University
3/29: Urbana, IL, Foellinger Auditorium -- Univ. of Illinois
3/30: Boston, Paradise
4/1: New York, Supper Club
4/2: Chicago, House of Blues
4/3: San Francisco, Bottom of the Hill
4/4: Los Angeles, The Knitting Factory
4/5: Moscow, ID, Idaho Commons -- SUB Ballroom, University of Idaho
4/7: Seattle, Crocodile Café
4/9: Portland, OR, Aladdin Theater

CHRISTINA SARACENO
(March 8, 2002)