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Very sad to hear of the passing of the one and only Mojo Nixon, a true cultural force and rock ’n’ roll cult hero for a timeless era. As one fan summed it up: “He OWNED whatever kind of stage he performed upon. From a bar top counter to a main stage. He made a ton of people feel better with his music.”
Camper Van Beethoven’s Jonathan Segel (who toured with Mojo Nixon in the 80’s) noted this truth about that “animated sweet nutjob,” that he pretty much did it all on his own terms the whole time. “Are there even people like this around anymore?”
Good question. One this fan responded with; “There's a thread that connects him to other ‘real deal’ figures in culture...Bukowski, Hunter Thompson, Hank WIlliams, Johnny Rotten, Kerouac, Burroughs. He believed it, he lived it, and he didn't care if you didn't like it.”
Had my own interactions with him many years ago, as Big Beef Productions, which has a long association with The New Duncan Imperials and Pravda Records, documented one of the band’s performances as the backing band for Mojo Nixon, from which comes this video of their doing one of Mojo’s more iconic songs. Just a tip of that vast, energized and exuberant iceberg that was/is Mojo Nixon, cultural force.
I guess Mojo himself is now everywhere and in everything, rocking the universal groove where it is all happening.
As this bereaved fan noted, “He was truly a gift from the universe as he was wise beyond his years. His energy is free to spread even further by those of us who were and those who will be touched by his existence.”
Rock on, Mojo. Here's raising a toast of some Kentucky bourbon with a chaser of Jäger your way, and may your next journeys be rocking ones. And this time with Elvis himself. WATCH Mojo Nixon with NDI doing “ELVIS IS EVERYWHERE”
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