By MIKEL TOOMBS

The first time I saw X and the Blasters perform together was in, wait for it, 1980.

That show, at the North Park Lions Club in San Diego, took place before X revealed its roots, um, roots (although having the Blasters as its opening act might have provided a hint). It was also before then-Blaster Dave (“Hey, baby, it’s the Fourth of July”) Alvin joined X for a spell.

Obviously, this was well before the memorable X New Year’s Eve show three years ago at Seattle’s Moore Theatre, a setting so cold that, even indoors, NYE revelers kept on their coats and hats and X guitarist Billy Zoom blew on his hands between songs.

Anyway, that night over three decades ago the Blasters were visibly unsure how their tradition-based “American Music” was going over with the punk-primed crowd (The Crowd was the intervening act, if that gives you any idea), but they needn’t have worried.

The atmosphere should be much the same Friday, Dec. 20, and Saturday, Dec. 21, when X and the now-more-assured Blasters join forces again at El Corazon, 109 Eastlake Ave. E. in Seattle. Only this “Family X-Mas” is 21-plus and not 21-minus, and the only Alvin left in the Blasters is front man Phil. (Find all the details here and at the X website here.)

X’s John Doe and Exene Cervenka also perform live on KEXP Saturday at 3 p.m. And speaking of NYE shows, there’s an interesting dilemma here this Dec. 31 between Leftover Salmon at the Neptune and Leftover Crack at (of course) El Corazon. Choose your poison.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Mikel Toombs is a frequent contributor to GeneStout.com. Read his recent preview of the Rosie Flores concert here.)