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KXT Sun Sets: John Doe and Jake Paleschic

ArtandSeek.net 20

This Thursday, in the next KXT Sun Sets, John Doe and Jake Paleschic will play on the roof of Dallas Power & Light.

KXT Sun Sets: every other Thursday, 7 p.m., The Pool at Dallas Power & Light. Learn more and buy tickets.

John Doe’s real name, John Nommensen Duchac, is not as catchy as his professional alias, but his music certainly is. The Californian’s work spans from punk rock to folk to country; his roots are in the Los Angeles punk band X, but at Sun Sets he’ll play with the John Doe Rock ‘n’ Roll band, after an opening act, Austin-based singer/songwriter Jesse Dayton.

Doe chose the alias for himself when he was growing up. Filmmaker John Waters was a major influence of his, and he thought everyone famous had a stage name. Plus, “I felt like there should be an actual person John Doe,” says Doe.

In addition to being a musician, he’s a poet and an actor — you may have seen him as Jeff Parker in the TV show “Roswell.” Those various roles are hardly contradictory: he loves to perform on any stage.

“Creativity and drive and a desire to live in the world, that’s something you have or you don’t,” Doe says. “I’m lucky enough to have it.”

At Sun Sets, he’ll play a mix: “Old songs, new songs, fast songs and slow songs,” he says. In addition to some X songs and tracks from his new album “The Westerner,” he says he may throw in some covers. Or he may not — all he promises is a great rock and roll show.

Arlington-native Jake Paleschic takes the stage before John Doe. Paleschic is a barista in Fort Worth by day and local music hit by night, according to FortWorth.com. His songs, based in traditional American roots, venture into folk, rock and roll and country.

The 26-year-old started playing piano at five and writing his own songs in high school, writes Edward Brown. He listens to a large volume of music, mainly older stuff, but he appreciates his contemporaries. Lately, he’s been working to put as much into his finished songs as he does into the creative process.

“I tend to have a bad habit of writing and thinking that’s all there is to it,” Paleschic tells FortWorth.com. “You really gotta treat your songs with love and do everything you can to get them in the ears of people.”

See the full 2016 Sun Sets lineup at kxt.org. Tickets become available one week prior to each show.