Exene Cervenka's still doing things her own way

Talking to Exene Cervenka can be daunting or challenging, depending on one's outlook.

She is, after all, the frontwoman of L.A. punk legends X - a band often considered among the best of American underground rock 'n' roll - which demands a sense of reverence.

But she's also a mother, a former elementary school teacher's aide and a woman who says she first developed an interest in art around age 4, when she drew a picture of a banana, and her father told her it was good.

To put it simply, she may be worthy of her honorific status in the music world, but she's also an incredibly simple and nice lady who is in no way imposing or arrogant when it comes to talking about the much-praised work she's done or the accolades she's received for it.

"I have to say I have a lot of gratitude to younger musicians for mentioning X and to women for mentioning me. It's a really nice thing when kids come up and they appreciate what you've done, and they take the time to find you and seek you out, because it's not all that easy," she says. "And the other amazing side to that is when you do that for other people, as well, and you get to have your friends come play with you, and people get turned on to them. It's all a big lovefest, really, and that's what it should be."

Come Tuesday, Cervenka will arrive with a lovefest in tow at the Caledonia Lounge to perform songs from her first solo album since 1991, "Somewhere Gone," with longtime friends and label mates the Dex Romweber Duo.

It's a show that's deserving of a larger venue but is well-suited to the intimacy only a smaller gig can bring.

Considered something of a legend himself, former Athenian Romweber shares with Cervenka a love of mixing older, more heartfelt styles of country and blues with brash, aggressive punk rock, lending more credibility to the theory that every true punk has an inner cowboy, or in this case, cowgirl.

But to Cervenka, there's nothing theoretical about it.

"Long before punk music was born, I was a little child listen

Comment on "Exene Cervenka's still doing things her own way"