• See How We Are: John Doe & Exene - Duo performance.
• 8:00pm

"See How We Are" pairs "X" Band founding members John Doe and Exene for a special duo performance at City Winery.

John Doe and Exene Cervenka met in 1976 at the renowned Venice Poetry Workshop. Their meeting spawned a marriage, a creative partnership that lasts to this day, the rise and demise and resurrection of one of punk’s most influential bands ever and about 24 records between them.

Tonight’s concert is a rare opportunity for John and Exene.With no additional musicians, the focus is on their lifelong songwriting and singing collaboration stripped down to their emotional core utilizing only acoustic guitars and voices.

They will be performing material from their vast catalogue of respective solo projects as well as from the bands The Knitters and X.

About John Doe

As one of the founding members of the Los Angeles punk band X, John Doe was one of the most influential figures in American alternative rock during the early '80s, but when he launched a solo career in the early '90s, he decided to pursue a rootsy, country-rock direction instead of continuing with punk. X's latter-day albums exhibited a rockabilly and country influence, but it wasn't until Doe's 1990 debut, "Meet John Doe", that he recorded a pure country album.

"Meet John Doe" was recorded during a hiatus in X's career. Following the release of the 1988 live album "Live at the Whisky a Go-Go" the band temporarily parted ways. Initially, Doe concentrated on the acting career he began in 1986 with Oliver Stone's "Salvador", appearing in "Road House" and the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic "Great Balls of Fire" in 1989. The following year, "Meet John Doe" was released on DGC to positive reviews, yet it didn't appeal to an audience outside of X's cult, peaking at 193 on the pop charts. Later in 1992, X began playing live again and Doe's solo musical career went on hiatus, although he continued to act in movies like "Pure Country", "Liquid Dreams", "Roadside Prophets", "Wyatt Earp", and "Georgia".

Following X's 1993 reunion album, "Hey Zeus!", Doe signed a solo contract with Rhino/Forward. In summer 1995, Doe released "Kissingsohard", a harder and punkier album than his debut. A few months after its release, X released the live semi-acoustic set "Unclogged", which would turn out to be their final album. The band split up a year later, but their original lineup (with Billy Zoom on guitar) reunited for a series of live shows in 1998 and toured periodically. Doe continued to focus on his solo career when not occupied with X or his acting career: "Freedom Is..." was released by the SpinArt label in 2000, the semi-acoustic "Dim Stars, Bright Sky" appeared on Artists Direct in 2002, and the subtle but aggressive "Forever Hasn't Happened Yet" arrived via Yep Roc in 2005. It was that same label that reissued Doe's 1998 KRS EP "For the Rest of Us" under the name "For the Best of Us", the new version containing five additional songs that had been recorded during the same sessions. Doe stayed with Yep Roc for his next two albums as well, 2007's "A Year in the Wilderness" and 2009's "Country Club", where he is co-billed with Canadian roots band the Sadies.

ABOUT EXENE CERVENKA

Best known as the singer for X, one of the leaders of the late-'70s/early-'80s California punk explosion, Exene Cervenka has also issued solo albums, launched several side bands, and penned books. Although Cervenka has been closely associated with California for a long time, she is not originally from the West Coast. Born in Chicago, Christine Cervenka grew up primarily in Tallahassee, FL, before relocating to Santa Monica, CA, during the summer of 1976. Through a local poetry workshop, Cervenka met John Doe, and the seeds of what would eventually become X were planted. With both sharing vocal duties (and Doe doubling on bass), Doe's friend Billy Zoom supplied guitar in a Duane Eddy style and was soon followed by the arrival of drummer D.J. Bonebrake, resulting in the birth of X in 1977.

With Cervenka changing the spelling of her first name to Exene, the group led the Hollywood punk movement, but there was much more to their sound than the average punk band -- as country, rockabilly, and Exene's poetic lyrics set them apart from the pack. A string of classic (yet criminally overlooked) releases followed -- 1980's "Los Angeles", 1981's "Wild Gift", 1982's "Under the Big Black Sun", and 1983's "More Fun in the New World" -- during which time Cervenka and Doe were married. In addition to her X duties, Cervenka appeared as part of the country spin-off the Knitters (1985's "Poor Little Critter on the Road"), and issued (also in 1985) a poetry collaboration with Wanda Coleman entitled "Twin Sisters". But as the '80s wore on, Cervenka and Doe's marriage would collapse, as did X after Zoom's exit and a few spotty albums. With X winding down, Cervenka launched a solo career, resulting in 1989's "Old Wives' Tales" and 1990's "Running Sacred".

After a break early in the decade, Cervenka, Doe, and Bonebrake resuscitated X in the early '90s with a new studio album, 1993's "Hey Zeus!", and 1995's acoustic affair, "Unclogged". Later in the decade, Zoom signed back on, resulting in a re-formation of the original X lineup (no new studio recordings surfaced, however, just live dates). During this time, Cervenka found the time to launch a new albeit short-lived band, Auntie Christ (in which she also supplied guitar), including X bandmate Bonebrake as well as major X fan Rancid bassist Matt Freeman -- and also issued a third solo release, 1996's "Surface to Air Serpents".

The early 21st century saw the formation of another musical side project for Exene, the Original Sinners. Additionally, Cervenka has issued several books, including the titles Virtual Unreality (through Henry Rollins' 2.13.61 publishing company), "A Beer on Every Page", and "Just Another War", the latter of which was a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Kenneth Jarecke, in which Exene supplied commentary to Jarecke's photos of the Gulf War. The Knitters resurfaced in 2005 with "The Modern Sounds of the Knitters", and the following year Cervenka released the solo album "Sev7en". "Somewhere Gone" appeared in 2009.