RIP Mojo Nixon

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13585]

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/mojo-nixon-dead-obituary-1234964257/

Quote

“August 2, 1957 — February 7, 2024 Mojo Nixon. How you live is how you should die. Mojo Nixon was full-tilt, wide-open rock hard, root hog, corner on two wheels + on fire…,” his family shared in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Passing after a blazing show, a raging night, closing the bar, taking no prisoners + a good breakfast with bandmates and friends.

“A cardiac event on the Outlaw Country Cruise is about right… & that’s just how he did it, Mojo has left the building,” his family’s statement continued. “Since Elvis is everywhere, we know he was waiting for him in the alley out back. Heaven help us all.”

 

[Gil Bang 25960]

he was on here in San Diego for years.   Instant "hit the button and change the channel".  

Anyway, I'm sorry for those that loved him. 

[Paul Wesley 3278]

The Hole in the Wall episode with Don Henley is one of Austin's finest legends, IMO.  

The RS article references it with this link:  https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2014-06-20/don-henley-must-die/

[Celery Man 20962]

If we don’t got Mojo Nixon then our world could use some fixin.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13585]

 

[jimmyjazz 45963]

2 hours ago, Paul Wesley said:

The Hole in the Wall episode with Don Henley is one of Austin's finest legends, IMO.  

The RS article references it with this link:  https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2014-06-20/don-henley-must-die/

The Hole In The Wall has had many things go down, musical and otherwise.  I was there for two -- the theft, chase and recovery of a guitar off stage during a Magneto USA (now Fastball) set, and Don Henley's surprise appearance to sing "Don Henley Must Die" with Mojo Nixon.  

I don't suppose either will be a top 10 moment on my deathbed, but they were pretty cool, nonetheless.

[Hornius Emeritus 12464]

Cause she vibrator dependent, don't want me in it.
Says I don't make the right noise.
Being replaced by batteries.
Hey there fellas can't you see,
She just wants to play with her toys.

 

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

I was lucky enough to have caught a few Mojo shows at the Continental Club ( Houston) and even at least at the old Fabulous Satellite Lounge.  Or maybe it was Fitzgeralds. Memory is fading.

good times with some friends at those shows.

Edited February 8 by Nice Guy Eddie

[deadshank 24653]

The Loon in the Afternoon.  
 

RIP

[locodos 5387]

7 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Cause she vibrator dependent, don't want me in it.
Says I don't make the right noise.
Being replaced by batteries.
Hey there fellas can't you see,
She just wants to play with her toys.

 

 

This line has lived rent free in my head for 30+ years

along with "put 220 on the money, honey!"

 

 

I guess he's gonna meet Jesus at McDonald's at midnight

 

[Guest]

Older brother and mom loved Mojo, so I grew up listening to him.

Mom/brother went to a concert and met him. My mom told him "I'm you're biggest fan!" He told her "Ah, baby, I've seen bigger women." 

 

[Nigel Tufnel 199]

10 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

The Hole In The Wall has had many things go down, musical and otherwise.  I was there for two -- the theft, chase and recovery of a guitar off stage during a Magneto USA (now Fastball) set, and Don Henley's surprise appearance to sing "Don Henley Must Die" with Mojo Nixon.  

I don't suppose either will be a top 10 moment on my deathbed, but they were pretty cool, nonetheless.

See, so this is pretty cool.  Any specifics on the Henley appearance to share with the group?

[jimmyjazz 45963]

16 minutes ago, Nigel Tufnel said:

See, so this is pretty cool.  Any specifics on the Henley appearance to share with the group?

I was at the back of the room, so I didn't realize what was going on until he actually got on stage.  If you've been there, you know it's hard to see much beyond people's heads when the room is crowded-- it's a very low stage. 

A true WTF moment for sure.

Edited February 8 by jimmyjazz

[Mitch Cumsteen 18550]

I saw Mojo more times than I care to admit. RIP.

The man could turn a phrase:

I love you more than eating 'sghetti.
I love you more than Richard Petty.
I love you more than meatballs.
But not as much as football.

11 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

The Hole In The Wall has had many things go down, musical and otherwise.  I was there for two -- the theft, chase and recovery of a guitar off stage during a Magneto USA (now Fastball) set, and Don Henley's surprise appearance to sing "Don Henley Must Die" with Mojo Nixon.  

I don't suppose either will be a top 10 moment on my deathbed, but they were pretty cool, nonetheless.

I wasn't there for the Don Henley must die night, but I was 100% there for that Magneto show. I was pretty fucked up and it was a long time ago, but wasn't there a standoff on the drag where the thief was holding up the guitar and everybody was pleading with him not to drop it? One of my good friends was pretty tight with Beaver Nelson at the time, and Magneto (plus Paul Minor) was essentially his backup band before they formed. So, we were at pretty much every one of their shows. I wore out that cassette. 

That era was for me, pretty much peak Austin before I moved back to San Antonio, The Hole would consistently book the Gourds, Magneto USA, Beaver, the Damnations, Two Hoots, the Sleestax and then there was always Dale, Charlie and Bruce Robison, Roger Wallace, and Damon Bramblett at the Continental or Ginnys. Junior Brown every Sunday night first at Henry's and then at the Continental. Electric Lounge opened around then, too.  So much great music every night of the week. 

Edited February 8 by Mitch Cumsteen

[jimmyjazz 45963]

8 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

I wasn't there for the Don Henley must die night, but I was 100% there for that Magneto show. I was pretty fucked up and it was a long time ago, but wasn't there a standoff on the drag where the thief was holding up the guitar and everybody was pleading with him not to drop it?

It was local guitarist/amp tech/pedal designer Alan Durham who ran down the thief.  Alan and I were sitting with his girlfriend at a table by the bar when the front door opened, a guy stepped in, grabbed the guitar off its stand and ran out.  Everybody just kinda looked at each other for a second in a "did that just happen?" way, and then the bar emptied.  Alan is fast, real fast, and he got out ahead of the rest of us.  He caught up to the guy running south on San Antonio Street and basically kept screaming at him "don't drop it, don't drop it".  Eventually the guy just set it down and took off.  No harm, no foul.  I don't know if the cops caught him or not.

[UTexasFight 9454]

I’m fascinated at the thought of who the third is going to be to join Toby and Mojo.

Everyone in Mungo Jerry doing well?

 

[Pato del Muerto 52507]

RIP and whatnot, but this will make it more likely that I flip to outlaw country now that I won’t have to hear him talking.  

[deadshank 24653]

2 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

I’m fascinated at the thought of who the third is going to be to join Toby and Mojo.

Everyone in Mungo Jerry doing well?

 

Jelly Roll looks good in the stable. 

[rage-a-holic 4402]

6 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I was at the back of the room, so I didn't realize what was going on until he actually got on stage.  If you've been there, you know it's hard to see much beyond people's heads when the room is crowded-- it's a very low stage. 

A true WTF moment for sure.

"I don't know how many people can fit in the front room, 100 at the most, but about 5,000 people have told me they were there," chuckles Nixon, 22 years after the fact.

[TwiceHorn 31488]

I wanna be in sin with Martha Quinn

I wanna be in Martha Quinn

I wanna be stuffin Martha's muffin

[Al Czervik 1229]

22 hours ago, Celery Man said:

If we don’t got Mojo Nixon then our world could use some fixin.

Unappreciated song line with this crowd. 

[Celery Man 20962]

29 minutes ago, Al Czervik said:

Unappreciated song line with this crowd. 

They’re too busy listening to Beach Boys songs. Like California Dreaming.

[Frieda’s Boss 181]

6 hours ago, Celery Man said:

They’re too busy listening to Beach Boys songs. Like California Dreaming.

And eating fudge banana swirl. 

[Red Five 40859]

On 2/8/2024 at 11:56 AM, Pato del Muerto said:

RIP and whatnot, but this will make it more likely that I flip to outlaw country now that I won’t have to hear him talking.  

Same. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21075]

On 2/8/2024 at 8:00 PM, Celery Man said:

They’re too busy listening to Beach Boys songs. Like California Dreaming.

And doing stuff to the soil (NTTAWWT). 

[abuelo gringo 321]

Michael Corcoran had a good write up.  You can read a lot of his work at michaelcorcoran.net or subscribe to his emails at the same location.  Great for long time Austinites or people who want to learn Austin music history.

Spoilered for length.

 

Spoiler

How we lost our Mojo MICHAELCORCORAN FEB 10   “Mo-Jo! Mo-Jo! Mo-Jo!” The rabid crowd packed in around the small Magnum’s stage of the Norwegian Pearl Tuesday night as if anticipating a cock fight. They were waiting for their man, their spiritual captain in the red aloha shirt and daisy dukes, and when he arrived with his Toadliquors band, insanity broke loose like an overwhelmed mooring. “Debbie Gibson is pregnant, with my two-headed love child,” Mojo Nixon started the set, with the band- Wet Dawg on piano, Earl B. Freedom on bass, and a drummer on loan from Jesse Dayton christened Caveman Muthafucka for the gig. There were rants. There were randy singalongs (“A.I. Can Suck My Dick”). And there was Mojo on the guitar, as wild as I’d ever heard him in the 37 years since he first played the Continental Club with swinging stickman Skid Roper. Mojo Nixon had something to prove- that he was still harder than Chinese algebra- and the audience’s affirmation, always a big part of Mojo’s mayhem, was especially delirious on this 8th annual Outlaw Country Cruise. This was Mojo’s ship, after all. Leading up to the set, he stepped out of the SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country channel to meet and greet and josh and jiggle until these folks were family. “Were we in jail together?” he asked one fan. “Did I make out with your mama?” to another. The day after the show, at lunch with wife Adaire and son Ruben, Mojo handled accolades by saying “Not bad for an old fat man.” He was in high spirits. At about 1 or 2 p.m. there was a “code alpha” on the ship’s loudspeaker. A passenger was in distress on the 14th Deck, where the artists’ cabins are. Mojo Nixon had gone back to take a nap after lunch, and his wife noticed he’d stopped breathing. Paramedics spent an hour trying to revive him as band members, sent upstairs by a text from manager Scott “Bullethead” Riley, looked on in horror. “Should we have done this one last show?” Hard to believe because he had only one speed, full throttle, but Mojo had longtime cardiac trouble that a heart procedure, an ablation, seemed to alleviate a couple years ago. Heart disease was in his family, with father Neil Kirby McMillan Sr., who owned a Black radio station in Virginia, dropping dead at age 42. Kirby Jr. ending up living 24 years longer. Mojo Nixon was taken off the boat, docked at San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday afternoon in a covered stretcher, and flown back home to Cincinnati with his wife and son. There would not be an official announcement on the boat until the 10 p.m. set by Mojo fave, Dash Rip Rock, on the same stage as Mojo’s swan song 23 hours earlier. But the word had seeped out that the man who shared himself with everybody was no more. You could tell who knew. In their friend and mentor’s honor, Dash guitarist Bill Davis announced, this would be an especially hard and fast set, “just like Mojo would want.” “The Loon in the Afternoon” at Outlaw Country  never liked anything half-assed. The set opened with a singalong of Mojo’s “Are You Drinkin’ With Me Jesus,” followed by the punkest version ever of “I Saw the Light” by Mojo hero Hank Williams. The next morning, a screening of Matt Eskey’s 2021 documentary The Mojo Manifesto was put together for a packed Spinnaker Lounge, wobbled by waves of salt water and grief. After the film (which is available on Amazon Prime) there was a talk afterwards with Outlaw Country curator Jeremy Tepper, manager Bullethead, members of the Toadliquors, Dash’s Davis and Rosie Flores, the only act who’s played all nine Outlaw Country Cruises besides Mojo. “I would say let’s take a moment of silence,” said Tepper, who hired Mojo for satellite radio 20 years ago. “But that wouldn’t be appropriate in this case.” There was the Mojo Nixon character and then there was Kirby McMillan Jr. “When Mojo asked me to be in his band he said we’d be best friends,” said pianist Gordon. “And we have been for 35 years. Mojo taught me how to be a husband and a father. He’s always been there for me.” There were stories that just scratched the surface, but here’s one. Right wing country singer John Rich bristled at liberal Mojo in an interview: “You look like a guy I killed once.” Mojo shot back, “You look like a guy I fucked in prison,” and Rich stormed out. Every act I saw the rest of the cruise mentioned Mojo. Lucinda Williams dedicated the fantastic tribute show in her honor to “a true artist” after closing with an all-hands-on-deck version of “Go with God,” and Jesse Dayton detailed how Mojo’s radio support made it viable for him to get out of the Central Texas dives and tour the country. The Dayton tune that clicked with Mogey Wogey was “I’m Home Getting’ Hammered While She’s Out Getting Nailed” and Jesse gave communion to the crowd that turned the Atrium into a raging honky tonk. Playing at the same 10:30 p.m. timeslot, Shinyribs returned to the Stardust Theater where they had, just two hours earlier, practically stole the Lucinda show with a soul/funk version of “Can’t Let Go.” I wasn’t there for the full Ribs set, but heard Kevin Russell dedicated a gospel song to the profane prophet. Maybe Outlaw Country recorded it, as they did the Lu fete. The feelgood turn from tears to a celebration of life culminated with a 1 a.m. set by Flores, keyboardist Emily Gimble, guitarist Eve Monsees and a crack rhythm section.. Everyone was dancing wildly to the mix of oldies and Rosie origs- including the Toadliquors and former Pogues bassist Cait “Rocky” O’Riordan, who’s been friend with Mojo since her band gave Mojo and Skid Roper their first road gig 40 years ago as their opening act. The last line of The Mojo Manifesto reverberated: “You’ve got one chance,” Mojo said, challenging the camera to come along on his wild ride. “You gonna party up in heaven? I hear there’s no beer!” This year at SXSW was supposed to feature the 25th and final Mojo’s Mayhem day party at the Continental Club. Now, it’s going to be a memorial show, with the Knitters, Beat Farmers, Dan Baird and many more expected. I’ll go deeper on Mojo leading up to that blowout. The wifi situation onboard is such that I’ve been trying to post this for a couple days. And photos didn’t work here. I’ll also have a lot more on OCC8, with photos, when I get back to my desk and my inspirado and free wifi. It’s been quite a time on the ocean from Miami to P.R. and back, with a lot more to think about than any of us expected.   You’re a free subscriber to Michael Corcoran's Overserved, a book in progress about the Austin music scene. To get an autographed copy (est. 2024) and help with expenses, become a paying subscriber. Either way, I’m happy to have you aboard.