SXSW in Four Hours

Mats tribute and Mojo celebration was all I needed to feel right

Clara Reed and Dave Alvin of the Knitters. Photo Mike Fickel.

A good day is one where I have no appointments, no meetings, no social calls. I can get up at 3 a.m., go back to bed at 9 and sleep until the afternoon, then have morning coffee again. What you called the Pandemic was, in my life, the Coincidence. Shelter in place, and get all meals from drive-through? I can do that!

I didn’t even pick up my badge at SXSW this year, and that’s been my favorite week for over 30 years. I live in Buda so Uber is kinda out, and the idea of getting to the Convention Center, and trying to find parking, and then the walking and walking, which doesn’t stop when you get there, just didn’t seem that appealing.

“This is not for you” is the speech Roland Swenson gives to SXSW employees each year: you’re here to do a job, not to have fun. I’d always done both, but it’s just not for me anymore. Age may have a little to do with it.

The line for Mojo’s final Mayhem at 8:45 a.m. Got it off Facebook.

But I wasn’t going to miss the Mojo Nixon sendoff at the Continental Club on Saturday afternoon. When Mojo was everywhere in the late ‘80s, preaching personal freedom like a horny Woody Guthrie, he was the first celebrity spectacle at SXSW. People still talk about his 1989 invocation, which was really more an evisceration. Of music industry greed and how it can strangle creativity if you let it. He was always great for a quote, a lunatic with tons of soul, who treated his fans a lot better than the folks who could help his career. I first saw Mojo Nixon on that same Continental Club stage in 1986, and wrote a Spin feature about him and Skid Roper the next year.

Lead photo of my Spin article on Mojo in 1987.

I was also on the Outlaw Country Cruise last month, when Mojo died of a heart attack the day after his set with the Toadliquors practically torched the big boat. I watched the first couple hours streaming from the Mojo Manifesto facebook page, but this was something I’d have to leave the house for.

Ian Moore rocked hard on “Left of the Dial.” Photo David Mose Pyndus

But first I’d pop in at the SoCo Stomp’s tribute to the Replacements at C-Boy’s. It was a fantastic hour and change, opened by Tommy Stinson himself! Kudos to the English Teeth backing band, whose only fault might’ve been that they played too good. The magic moment was when Britt Daniel of Spoon did justice to both Paul Westerberg and “Alex Chilton” after doing “Sadly Beautiful” from the forgotten All Shook Down. Other highlights: Chuck Prophet with horns on "Can't Hardly Wait," Ian Moore on "Left of the Dial," Kelly Willis’s sweet "Skyway," Alejandro Escovedo stompin’ all over the lyrics of "Bastards of Young." Damn, I didn’t realize how much I needed that.

Walked down to the Continental and caught the last 20 minutes of the Knitters. I felt my head was going to explode when they did “Born to Be Wild”! Have never heard Dave Alvin better, with his Dickey Betts tone, and the vocal tradeoff between Exene and John Doe was XLent! America’s greatest punk band was its greatest country band on Saturday afternoon, and it was especially great to see Clara Que Si in top form as hype girl dancer. The only people who don’t love when Clara hops onstage to go-go dance are the ones who don’t know her.

Then the Toadliquors came out and did Mojo proud with a hard-stompin' set that had everyone dancing to various guest singers, including Jello Biafra. Besides the music, the mood was just untoppable. A lot of love in that packed room, with Mojo’s Sirius XM family, including Steve Earle (who sang “Dead Flowers” with Dan Baird), Warner Hodges and station head Jeremy Tepper giving thanks to have been in Mojo Nixon’s orbit. There’s never been anyone like that Mushroom Maniac, but above all he was kind, considerate and smart as hell.

I left Buda at 3 pm and was back in my favorite chair at 7. That was my SXSW this year, and I'm fully satisfied. It’s not easy to leave the house, but it’s always worth it for great music and good friends!

The Beat Farmers at Mojo’s Mayhem 2024