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Mojo Nixon’s Annual SXSW Party Goes on Without Him, as a Last Testimonial to the Rocker-DJ’s Wild Mayhem
Mojo Nixon had hosted an annual day-long gig that was counterprogramming to SXSW, and it went on without him in Austin, six weeks after his death.
Easily mixing bawdy lyrics, unthinkable allusions and a good deal of drinking and drugs for a cocktail of “take that,” the guy who once did unhinged promos for MTV created a world based on puncturing the bloat, the greedy and the self-interested with a throat punch to the obvious and swaggering dose of high impact rock ‘n’ roll. To see 2024 National Endowment of the Arts recipient Rosie Flores, easily the night’s utility player — who earlier strapped on Langford’s guitar for the Wacos’ “Folsom Prison Blues” — gleefully step into Montana’s boots for the Dr. Demento favorite “Happy Boy” was to understand how effervescent the cowpunk-and-beyond scene was. Eschewing the obvious choices (which would have been “Burn Down The Malls,” “Elvis Is Everywhere,” “Debbie Gibson is Pregnant” and “Don Henley Must Die”) for a six-song set of the sublime, Pete “Wetdawg” Gordon” on keys, Mike “Wid” Middletone on drums and Matt “Earl B Freedom” Esky brought it hard.
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