Mojo Nixon & the Toad Liquors

Another artist from my generation’s shared experience (many remember his brief time on MTV in the late Eighties and novelty hits, a redneck version of “Weird Al”). I kept up with him yet I always heard, “He’s still around?” Technically, Mojo never really went away. He continued to make albums, tour, appear in movies, do voice work in videogames and host his own showcase at SXSW through the Nineties and beyond. Mojo’s main gig lately is hosting his own segments on an XM-Sirius channel. However he retired a few years ago from performing live but made an exception to raise money for Kinky Friedman’s rather disastrous Texas gubernatorial campaign in 2006.

This week, Mojo staged a brief comeback tour which was exclusive to the Lone Star state (Dallas, Austin and Houston). Then I figure he’ll retire again. The logic I was given last month when I called about his appearance at the Continental Club went like so; You can’t have a comeback unless you retire first. Makes sense. The Who have been pulling this stunt since 1982.

I was pretty stoked to see him again because the last time was at Antone’s in 1995 and after reading his online goodbye letter in 2004, I was heartbroken due to my own personal encounter with him in 1989.

Mojo took the stage at midnight and kicked off with “Debbie Gibson.” He kept the lyrics the same; lesser performers would’ve changed out Debbie for Lindsey Lohan and Rick Astley for Clay Aiken. His longtime back-up band the Toad Liquors were present to assist on other faves: “Louisiana Liplock,” “You Can’t Kill Me,” “Drunk Divorced Floozy,” “The Ballad of Country Dick,” (a tribute to the Beat Farmers’ singer, not a dirty joke) and “Are You Drinkin’ With Me Jesus?” Those are the titles which were PG-13 or safer, the rest I left out to maintain some attempt at decorum. Near the end of the set they did “Elvis is Everywhere.” If they didn’t, the Continental Club would’ve been trashed.

Beyond the musical elements, there were more F-bombs dropped than a Big Lebowski quote-along screening. Mojo was still hilarious, namely when he poked fun at his age and appearance because nestled in the crowd was a woman taping the performance for a documentary. He explained how she was going to use the footage to contrast what he looked like in 1991, back when he was a slim handsome, Rockabilly hero. Now he said he resembles the old, fat porno-watching uncle. Mojo’s (paraphrased) words, not mine.

The New Duncan Imperials warming up the gathering crowd.

Opening the concert was longtime Mojo allies/friends The New Duncan Imperials. I have heard of them for years but the only material I knew of theirs was a cover of “Convoy.” It blew my mind when the singer said their home base is Chicago; I probably pegged them for Southerners due to their Mojo associations. They were great so I scored a CD of their last release. What can I say? I have a soft spot in my heart for prankster bands like them, early Camper Van Beethoven, Thelonious Monster and Wild Kingdom. After the show, I had an informative conversation with TDI’s bassist Kenn. Discovered he’s the president of Pravda (music) which released several cover compilations a la K-Tel Records in the Nineties I love: they were primarily Seventies tunes done by contemporary acts of the day (Trip Shakespeare, Smithereens, SCOTS, Posies, Young Fresh Fellows, John Wesley Harding, Dash Rip Rock, Reivers, Material Issue, King Missile, Uncle Tupelo, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet and Goober & the Peas, some little band with Jack White). He told me about how Billy Corgan raised a legal stink over the “Jackie Blue” contribution once Smashing Pumpkins got famous. Kenn already had me on his side since I think Corgan is a has-been crybaby.

I did get some face time with Mojo and kept it brief. Others wanted to talk to him which was cool. The evening was rapidly approaching 2:30 AM too. I’m primarily glad I have this photo of us to join my growing Brushes collection.

Great googly moogly we're old but we're still sexy!