It's difficult to decide which is more surprising: the fact that Steve Burns has made a rock-and-roll record, or the fact that his record is actually good. The original host of Nickelodeon's hit children's show Blue's Clues, Burns easily could have cashed in on his fame as a preschool icon with an album of kids' songs. But the now-30-year-old had other plans.

"I've been playing guitar since I was about 14," he says on the phone from New York City. "I was always in bands in high school and college. My sister got me into David Bowie, and I loved all those Manchester bands, like the Smiths, Joy Division and New Order."

When he quit Blue's Clues in 2002 after a six-year run, Burns contacted producer David Fridmann, who had worked with one of his more recent favorites, the Oklahoma psychedelic pop group the Flaming Lips. Not only did Fridmann agree to produce Burns' debut album, but he enlisted Lips drummer Steven Drozd to add his bombastic wallop to several tracks. The result, Songs for Dustmites ([PIAS] America), is a startlingly strong collection of woozy indie rock that resembles the Flaming Lips at the group's finest.

Wednesday's show at the North Star will be a homecoming of sorts for Burns, who grew up in Boyertown. "I used to cut school and go to South Street. My father took me to Independence Hall and Old City. I loved the Rodin Museum," he says. As a kid, his favorite album was the Rocky soundtrack, and he performed the run up the Art Museum steps "countless times."

Now a New Yorker, Burns says music is his primary focus, although he hasn't ruled out more acting. He plans to record a follow-up to Dustmites with Fridmann, and recently finished shooting small roles in Marie and Bruce, a movie starring Matthew Broderick and Julianne Moore, as well as Christmas on Mars, an offbeat sci-fi flick directed by Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne.

"Acting is certainly not my emphasis right now," he says. "But some days I wake up and I'm an actor, some days I wake up and I'm a musician. It all comes from the same place for me."

Just don't expect to see him hanging out with any blue cartoon dogs any time soon.

Steve Burns, at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the North Star Bar, 27th and Poplar Streets. Tickets: $10. Phone: 215-684-0808.