Almost as iconic as Mr. Rogers' trademark cardigan is the green striped rugby shirt worn by Steve on Nickelodeon TV's Blue’s Clues. After six years as the show's original host, he's been replaced by another soft-spoken actor, and it felt unsettling to deflect "Steve is dead" rumors from my seven-year-old and find Steve Burns the post-blue-dog serious actor portraying a creepy killer on Law & Order. Burns' resume is getting a little more diverse next month when Pias America Records releases his debut CD, Songs for Dustmites. Self-described as an album about science and love, this is no children's record despite the album’s playful collaboration with Steven Drozd of the Flaming Lips and producer David Fridmann, knob-twiddling master of records by the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse, and Weezer. In other Flaming Lips news, Burns has revealed that – shhh! – he’s in the band’s long-anticipated Christmas on Mars motion picture.