MaybeACoordinator has passed away - Official Farewell Thread

[billfromlaketravis 11519]

17 hours ago, mycox said:

The Houston Press Article isn't online anymore. He walked from Highway 6 to Elgin with friend. 

 

11 hours ago, msbesq said:

He started at West Oaks Mall and finished at The Maple Leaf Bar. We started at Sylvia’s Enchiladas and also finished at The Maple Leaf Bar.

That is a pretty long drive. Unimaginable as a walk. The man has my admiration. 

Edited May 10, 2023 by billfromlaketravis

[Radical Larry 28649]

Damn. RIP MAC.

[Sawbonz 27580]

Rest easy MAC. Wish I had known him IRL

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

As a cocktail waitress at a downtown club, my mother infuriated Bonnie Raitt by serving her ice from her bra and made country bad boy David Allan Coe cry by taping his album cover to the inside of a toilet. 

That is what makes me laugh and cry.  

[Anastasis 23479]

Didn't know him IRL, but had a few PM exchanges and he seems like a good guy. Sad to read this. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

51 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Didn't know him IRL, but had a few PM exchanges and he seems like a good guy. Sad to read this. 

Thing is, but for the grace of me goes you, thankfully my constitution is strong and although I commiserate, I ain’t gonna die.   Rooster and all.  

[DalTxHornFan 3108]

1 hour ago, Sawbonz said:

Rest easy MAC. Wish I had known him IRL

Whoa?  Surly isn't IRL?

[ztejas 43499]

Someone just brought it back to my attention that one of MAC's last crusades here was filing through various incarcerated females and even writing to at least one of them on the meet an inmate thread. 

There's so many interactions on Surly that I don't remember months or years later and as I went through that thread I realized we had gone back and forth a couple times just cracking jokes on a ridiculous thread even by Surly standards. We were definitely cut from fairly similar cloth (a lot of us here are).

Life comes at you fast. At least that motherfucker went down swinging and putting his writing talents to good use - by comforting criminally insane females just looking for some lovin' (or their next mark).

RIP indeed. Feeling a bit more grateful tonight. 

P.S.: here's some absolute gold

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by ztejas

[Post Oak 20251]

What a magnificent SOB

[burntorangebongos 10747]

9 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Not sure how I missed this thread the first time around.  RIP MAC.  

Brisket originally posted about his illness in a more protected area of the site. Where you are not likely to venture unless you wished to read/post about "Assssssss" and "Instagram Sloots I would super smash". He didn't want to doxx him in the event that MAC or perhaps his family would take offense. We are, after all, degenerate assholes from the internets. It sucks when we lose another inmate from this asylum. Especially one as entertaining and talented. Again, RIP MAC. I'm glad to have links to your very good articles and colorful stories. I stayed up until 3AM last night reading some of them. 

[Mez2 4024]

Damn this sucks, I talked with him on FB at times about his articles in the Houston Press. Really liked that dude, was jealous his username was sweetjones and if you know Houston rap makes it a great name. 

 

 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

https://lomaxky.omeka.net/collections/show/10
 

 

[troph 24879]

His article about his mom got to me like really got to me. Maybe the trauma - not the same but a lot of us share a common experience when you talk about childhood trauma. Maybe it’s how close he was to my musical epicenter (I named my son after Guy Clark), maybe how he passed is too similar to a friend I lost that I still miss most days.  Seems like some of you might be having a hard time too. Not sure what to say.

So I made a playlist. It wasn’t planned, I was listening to Bonnie Raitt of all artists and one thing led to another. It’s for him but for you fellas too. it’s ok to be sad, some times our sadness is all we can really call our own. 

Sorry you’re gone MAC. I’m tired of loss, I bet you are too.  

 

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by troph

[Homercles 10206]

I would have paid a small fortune to listen to MAC and RDC…well…just shoot the gotdamn breeze, if I’m being honest.  This place attracts characters, and it’s like my favorite corner of the internet becomes a little darker when one passes on.  

I wasn’t as familiar with MAC as many of you were, so my words ring pretty hollow…but guys like him are the Machi Cure at Uchi in an otherwise soulless landscape of flash-frozen, microwaved fish sticks that goes for storytelling in the Tik Tok age.  Glad his legacy will live on through his long form. 
 

“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die” - HST

Edited May 11, 2023 by Homercles

[Hook1997 5394]

15 minutes ago, Homercles said:

I would have paid a small fortune to listen to MAC and RDC…well…just shoot the gotdamn breeze, if I’m being honest.  This place attracts characters, and it’s like my favorite corner of the internet becomes a little darker when one passes on.  

I wasn’t as familiar with MAC as many of you were, so my words ring pretty hollow…but guys like him are the Machi Cure at Uchi in an otherwise soulless landscape of flash-frozen, microwaved fish sticks that goes for storytelling in the Tik Tok age.  Glad his legacy will live on through his long form. 
 

“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die” - HST

That’s was really well said.  But it’s even more amazing if you read it in Sam Elliott’s voice like I did after I saw RDC…well….   I don’t know why, maybe the edible but it really works. Lol

[Mitch Cumsteen 18550]

5 hours ago, Foosters said:

You "declined to comment?" 

Is that a first?

I read the pm and then just forgot to get back to him until after the article got published. But I wasn’t willing to doxx myself over school cafeteria enchiladas, regardless of how fantastic they were. 

5 hours ago, MAUFRAIS said:

 

Totally dunked on you with that sic.

[RDCanecutter 26454]

3 hours ago, ztejas said:

Someone just brought it back to my attention that one of MAC's last crusades here was filing through various incarcerated females and even writing to at least one of them on the meet an inmate thread. 

There's so many interactions on Surly that I don't remember months or years later and as I went through that thread I realized we had gone back and forth a couple times just cracking jokes on a ridiculous thread even by Surly standards. We were definitely cut from fairly similar cloth (a lot of us here are).

Life comes at you fast. At least that motherfucker went down swinging and putting his writing talents to good use - by comforting criminally insane females just looking for some lovin' (or their next mark).

RIP indeed. Feeling a bit more grateful tonight. 

P.S.: here's some absolute gold

 

I wish I hadn't talked him out of it now.

[Gatorubet 30254]

1 hour ago, troph said:

His article about his mom got to me like really got to me. Maybe the trauma - not the same but a lot of us share a common experience when you talk about childhood trauma. Maybe it’s how close he was to my musical epicenter (I named my son after Guy Clark), maybe how he passed is too similar to a friend I lost that I still miss most days.  Seems like some of you might be having a hard time too. Not sure what to say.

So I made a playlist. It wasn’t planned, I was listening to Bonnie Raitt of all artists and one thing led to another. It’s for him but for you fellas too. it’s ok to be sad, some times our sadness is all we can really call our own. 

Sorry you’re gone MAC. I’m tired of loss, I bet you are too.  

 

 

that is a damn fine playlist

[Gatorubet 30254]

8 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

I wish I hadn't talked him out of it now.

[RDCanecutter 26454]

First time I met him, actually a couple days before he came up from Houston, he asked me if I wanted some baseball cards. I still don't know jack about baseball cards, but I said sure, why not. So he sent me some phone pics of baseball cards on top of a wardrobe. Also, at the time, as happens to artists and writers, he said he was almost dead broke.

I see the photo but all my eyes latch onto are a familiar orange coin amongst the cards and clutter. I call him up.

"Yo dude, is that a coin? Does it have a bald-headed dude facing left? Does it say 'Diez Pesos?'"

Yes, yes, yes.

"Dude that's a quarter ounce of gold. You aren't broke duuude, you got gold."

So when he pulls up in Bama he wants to take them to a coin shop or something. He has multiple small gold coins. I'm like "No need" because I want to buy them. We jump on the internet, split the difference between what a coin shop would pay and charge, and kaching.

I was like "How long have you had that gold?" He said " I just thought it was an old gold-colored Mexican coin." Which it quite literally was. They belonged to his late uncle, who died very young in the 80s(?) I had him teach me the uncle's name so I could thank him.

Next day my wife came in on the train from Philadelphia. About the only thing we splurge on are sleeper cars to and from Philadelphia. Johnny took in the power of the big-ass locomotives rumbling in, and he was hooked. A few days later he was on that train headed to Virginia on the next step of his Scotch-Irish pilgrimage. While we waited on the platform, we saw one semi-attractive woman among the lumpish mob.

"That's an Amtrak 8," we both said.

Months later he came back through, children in tow, and as happens with artists and writers, I was broke but he had money. He took us all out for pizza.

[Gatorubet 30254]

19 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

First time I met him, actually a couple days before he came up from Houston, he asked me if I wanted some baseball cards. I still don't know jack about baseball cards, but I said sure, why not. So he sent me some phone pics of baseball cards on top of a wardrobe. Also, at the time, as happens to artists and writers, he said he was almost dead broke.

I see the photo but all my eyes latch onto are a familiar orange coin amongst the cards and clutter. I call him up.

"Yo dude, is that a coin? Does it have a bald-headed dude facing left? Does it say 'Diez Pesos?'"

Yes, yes, yes.

"Dude that's a quarter ounce of gold. You aren't broke duuude, you got gold."

So when he pulls up in Bama he wants to take them to a coin shop or something. He has multiple small gold coins. I'm like "No need" because I want to buy them. We jump on the internet, split the difference between what a coin shop would pay and charge, and kaching.

I was like "How long have you had that gold?" He said " I just thought it was an old gold-colored Mexican coin." Which it quite literally was. They belonged to his late uncle, who died very young in the 80s(?) I had him teach me the uncle's name so I could thank him.

Next day my wife came in on the train from Philadelphia. About the only thing we splurge on are sleeper cars to and from Philadelphia. Johnny took in the power of the big-ass locomotives rumbling in, and he was hooked. A few days later he was on that train headed to Virginia on the next step of his Scotch-Irish pilgrimage. While we waited on the platform, we saw one semi-attractive woman among the lumpish mob.

"That's an Amtrak 8," we both said.

Months later he came back through, children in tow, and as happens with artists and writers, I was broke but he had money. He took us all out for pizza.

The very best thing about unemployment is not the time off to do shit, but the fact that no matter how many times you are flat ass broke nobody knows your company is insolvent.

Unless they look in your refrigerator. 

[RDCanecutter 26454]

11 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

The very best thing about unemployment is not the time off to do shit, but the fact that no matter how many times you are flat ass broke nobody knows your company is insolvent.

Unless they look in your refrigerator. 

"Broke" was a relative term. One look at my gut back then would tell you our refrigerator wasn't empty.

[Gatorubet 30254]

12 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

"Broke" was a relative term. One look at my gut back then would tell you our refrigerator wasn't empty.

Well, you are a writer. You cannot let yourself waste away and interfere with a robust synapse response. We all know that mistreating your pyloric valve could kill you….or worse, lead down the slow, painful path to normalcy.

[MAUFRAIS 6629]

That’s you’re deal man.

[Shoxthemonkey 1982]

I've tried to add something to the conversation several times and deleted it. I don't know what to say. My heart goes out to those of you that were lucky enough to know MAC. He will finally find some peace. He will be missed.

[hullabelew 3724]

A ton of his articles are stored here:  Fuck work and send up peaceful thoughts while reading these.  

https://muckrack.com/geronimolomax/articles

 

[troph 24879]

10 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

that is a damn fine playlist

I’m on my 4th time through since I made it last night, lotta feels about how shitty being a human really can be sometimes with a twinge of hope, optimism and celebrating the fact that I can feel anything, something at all, if you like this kinda music I have to agree it’s pretty solid. I’m clearing out some gunk with it as I type. 

[cactusflinthead 27601]

On 5/10/2023 at 11:10 AM, G650 said:

 

I did not know that. Was Alan Lomax his grandfather?

Otis Gibbs has some podcasts of his dad. Definitely worth a listen.

Here's part 1

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9vdGlzZ2liYnMuY29tL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BvZGNhc3QvZmVlZC8/episode/aHR0cDovL290aXNnaWJicy5jb20vP3A9MTIzOQ?ep=14

Edited May 11, 2023 by cactusflinthead

[Bozo_Casanova 26498]

We only talked a couple times in person but we had a half dozen friends in common. Good human being. It's very sad. 

[TwiceHorn 31509]

13 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

First time I met him, actually a couple days before he came up from Houston, he asked me if I wanted some baseball cards. I still don't know jack about baseball cards, but I said sure, why not. So he sent me some phone pics of baseball cards on top of a wardrobe. Also, at the time, as happens to artists and writers, he said he was almost dead broke.

I see the photo but all my eyes latch onto are a familiar orange coin amongst the cards and clutter. I call him up.

"Yo dude, is that a coin? Does it have a bald-headed dude facing left? Does it say 'Diez Pesos?'"

Yes, yes, yes.

"Dude that's a quarter ounce of gold. You aren't broke duuude, you got gold."

So when he pulls up in Bama he wants to take them to a coin shop or something. He has multiple small gold coins. I'm like "No need" because I want to buy them. We jump on the internet, split the difference between what a coin shop would pay and charge, and kaching.

I was like "How long have you had that gold?" He said " I just thought it was an old gold-colored Mexican coin." Which it quite literally was. They belonged to his late uncle, who died very young in the 80s(?) I had him teach me the uncle's name so I could thank him.

Next day my wife came in on the train from Philadelphia. About the only thing we splurge on are sleeper cars to and from Philadelphia. Johnny took in the power of the big-ass locomotives rumbling in, and he was hooked. A few days later he was on that train headed to Virginia on the next step of his Scotch-Irish pilgrimage. While we waited on the platform, we saw one semi-attractive woman among the lumpish mob.

"That's an Amtrak 8," we both said.

Months later he came back through, children in tow, and as happens with artists and writers, I was broke but he had money. He took us all out for pizza.

So, the two of you are among our most creative, eclectic, and perhaps eccentric posters.  Fits that you were friends in the real world.

Did you meet through this site?  It seems like a number of people knew him from other connections.

Edited May 11, 2023 by TwiceHorn

[RDCanecutter 26454]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

Did you meet through this site?  It seems like a number of people knew him from other connections.

Yes. Back when he was Sweetjones he wanted to do a comic book collab about raccoons riding skateboards but we didn't get it going.

Then during the Roy Moore debacle he was intrigued and amused by Bama doings, and included Birmingham as a stop on his tour of old family graveyards and Pokemon critters between Houston and Nashville.

He was in the upstairs bedroom and our geriatric dog got nervous and shit all over the upstairs bathroom next to where MAC slept. I found it, and remember, I'd just met the dude in person, I was like, damn, do I need to get Johnny to the emergency room? Then I saw dog foot prints in the poo and a guilty dog watching from outside the door.

[RDCanecutter 26454]

OK, random fact: in my teens in Alabama, had yet to go to Texas, I named an orange tomcat "Johnny Lomax." No earthly idea why, maybe I saw the name in an article on Ledbelly, if I did I had forgotten it, who knows.

Johnny Lomax (the cat) had a trick of rising up on his rear legs to "box," then he'd butt the top of his head on your hand. As years went by, I got other cats to do this, we called it "do the Johnnie Lomax" long after the original cat lived out his life.

Just a weird random fact. I never tried to see if MAC would do that.

[Tylerocks 2553]

On 5/10/2023 at 6:34 AM, deadshank said:

Did not know MAC’s real-life identity until today.   Have enjoyed his articles over the years and possibly met him years ago.   
 

Death stings in so many ways.  

Same here. Always read his stuff...had no idea reposted here.

I found out a few years ago that he was married to a friend of mines sister. Always thought that was kinda cool, he was a minor celebrity (in my eyes) here in Houston.

RIP MAC

[Saint Tacky 1614]

Vaya con dios, brother.

[Willfully Horn 8038]

[Goredho 17412]

While this thread is poignant and touching, aren't you all a little nervous that our past real selves will be revealed here when we die?  Like an inverse of the end of Animal House where the audience learns of everyone's future?  Hell, we'll probably find out @Deej was Billy Gibbons, @Brisketexan was Dick DeGuerin and @NowThis was Ted Cruz.

Rest in peace, MAC.

[burntorangebongos 10747]

I'm just wondering which of you mfers is Matt McConaughey. Probably someone with real bad takes on the football board.

[Deej 76842]

2 hours ago, Goredho said:

While this thread is poignant and touching, aren't you all a little nervous that our past real selves will be revealed here when we die?  Like an inverse of the end of Animal House where the audience learns of everyone's future?  Hell, we'll probably find out @Deej was Billy Gibbons, @Brisketexan was Dick DeGuerin and @NowThis was Ted Cruz.

Rest in peace, MAC.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

Very sorry to hear of MACs health problems that he’s had to face. Hope he’s in peace and not in pain.

 

[sasquatch69 603]

Oh man, I hate to hear this.  I figured out who he was IRL back when he was sweetjones/upgrayyed but didn't realize he'd switched monikers again on here.  As a fan of both good music writing and Texana, I got to be a big fan of his work.  I will miss reading his future takes on the Lone Star State and everything else.

[RollLeft 5045]

RIP

[Brisketexan 105161]

So, I mean.....are we at the Lee Corso spot here?

 

I dunno.

But, here's the most recent update from his ex:

Quote

All, John is very much still with us. Please keep up the prayers and sweet energy.

So....I'ma do that.  Would love for MAC to stick around.

[CycleTex87 2977]

Crazy.  Brisket, you or someone said above that MAC had the final say when to pull the plug.  I'm sure that's a very odd thing to be conscious of.

[Rip76 4946]

6 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

I'm just wondering which of you mfers is Matt McConaughey. Probably someone with real bad takes on the football board.

Username certainly checks out

[Al_4_ISU 12470]

42 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

So, I mean.....are we at the Lee Corso spot here?

 

I dunno.

But, here's the most recent update from his ex:

So....I'ma do that.  Would love for MAC to stick around.

Come on, motherfucker.  Pull it out!

[Frank Drebin 5650]

[RollLeft 5045]

On 5/9/2023 at 11:25 AM, Jerry Callo said:

Instead on dwelling on his end, feel free to take a look at the legacy he made.  Books on Amazon, articles in Houston publications, and articles in many other places, including 244 Texas Monthly articles.

 

On 5/9/2023 at 2:21 PM, troph said:

this is a great article.... https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/guy-clarks-my-favorite-picture-of-you/

I was hoping MAC was older.  I lost a friend the same way, brutal.

 

On 5/9/2023 at 2:27 PM, RDCanecutter said:

You'd probably like these too. Worth the price of admission.

https://www.patreon.com/johnnovalomax

 

On 5/9/2023 at 2:27 PM, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Gonna be missed around these parts.

Didn't know him but he was quite the story teller. As we near Mother's Day, a story he wrote a decade ago about his mother that gives you some great insight into his life:

https://www.houstoniamag.com/news-and-city-life/2013/07/of-unknown-origin-july-2013

 

 

On 5/9/2023 at 8:53 PM, TwiceHorn said:

Since his shit is officially on blast.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/john-nova-lomaxs-road-to-recovery

 https://substack.com/@johnnovalomax

 

 

On 5/10/2023 at 1:51 PM, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Man, this really sucks. RIP.

He PMd me about using my post in his enchilada article.

https://texashighways.com/travel-news/for-the-best-enchiladas-in-texas-go-back-to-school-in-san-antonio/

 

 

[Post Oak 20251]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

So, I mean.....are we at the Lee Corso spot here?

 

I dunno.

But, here's the most recent update from his ex:

So....I'ma do that.  Would love for MAC to stick around.

 

[Grade of D as in David 13253]

Great news 

[Pam Cummings 9646]

4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

So, I mean.....are we at the Lee Corso spot here?

 

I dunno.

But, here's the most recent update from his ex:

So....I'ma do that.  Would love for MAC to stick around.

The ultimate puke and rally!