#the mojo manifesto: the life and times of mojo nixon

[greensparty]

Remembering Mojo Nixon 1957-2024

Funny cowpunk musician Mojo Nixon has died at 66. I first became aware of him in the late 80s with songs and videos like "Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with my Two-Headed Love Child" (which had Winona Ryder as Gibson in the video) and "Don Henley Must Die" (which Henley joined him onstage for once). He did a ton of MTV promos in the early 90s as well.

Rock 'n' Roll Comics did unauthorized bios of musicians in comic book form, but the issue they did on Mojo Nixon (his bio was featured in the ZZ Top issue) was the only one that was authorized and done in collaboration with Nixon. In 2005, he appeared in the documentary The Story of Rock 'n' Roll Comics and even contributed music to the doc.

He also was a DJ, a columnist, an activist, and he acted in quite a few movies. I didn't catch it at the 2022 IFFBoston, but the documentary The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon played there.

The link above is the obit from Rolling Stone.

[jimstares]

The documentary "The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon" is outstanding if you are a fan of Mojo

[americanahighways]

REVIEW: Documentary: "The Life & Times of Mojo Nixon" Highlights Roman-Candle Personality

REVIEW: Documentary: "The Life & Times of Mojo Nixon" Highlights Roman-Candle Personality @mojonixonworldE @mojomanifesto @conqueroo1 @manifestorecs #mojonixon #ericambel @bulletheadnyc @johndoefromX #americanamusic

The Mojo Manifesto: The Life & Times of Mojo Nixon – Documentary

This documentary gets off fast on the purveyor of psychobilly Mojo Nixon (born Neill Kirby McMillan, Jr). A roman-candle personality who jump-started a wildly self-propelled musical career. He infused it with modern vaudeville & lampooned roots-rockabilly & punk. Was it all novelty? Junk music? Parodies? Nah, Mojo Nixon & his band…

[greensparty]

Preview: 2022 IFFBoston

It is now my favorite time of year in Boston! My favorite film festival in Boston, in Massachusetts and possibly the world is Independent Film Festival Boston (read my coverage here).  I have a special place for this festival: in 2014 my documentary Life on the V: The Story of V66 had its World Premiere at the festival, and in 2015 I was on the Documentary Jury. Due to the pandemic, the scheduled 2020 festival in April 2020 was canceled. In 2021 the festival came back as a virtual festival. Now for 2022, the festival is back as an in-person film festival at Somerville Theatre (Somerville), Brattle Theatre (Cambridge), Coolidge Corner Theatre (Brookline) and WBUR Cityspace (Boston). This year’s IFFBoston takes place Wed. April 27 to Wed. May 4, 2022. 

Here are the films on my radar for this year’s fest:

Wed. 4/27/22:

Opening Night Film is Emily The Criminal with Aubrey Plaza. She’s always good and this thriller made a splash at Sundance!

Thurs. 4/28/22:

 We Feed People is the new documentary from Ron Howard. I was a huge fan of his doc The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years, so color me curious here. The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon is a doc about the funny cowpunk musician Mojo Nixon (known for “Don Henley Must Die” and “Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with my Two-Headed Love Child”). I’m curious about this one mainly because I haven’t heard much from Nixon since the 90s. Both Sides of the Blade is the new one from Clair Denis with Juliette Binoche and Vincent London.

Fri. 4/29/22:

Resurrection is a disturbing drama with Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth, both always reliable. The documentary The Pez Outlaw looks at a notorious seller of pez collectibles. Co-directed by Bryan Storkel, who did Fight Church, which played at IFFBoston in 2014 (one of the docs the year I was there with my V66 doc). Speaking of docs, Dio: Dreams Never Die profiles legendary metal singer Ronnie James Dio. I hope to be headbanging to Dio and Black Sabbath by the end of it! Cha Cha Real Smooth is a post-college “now what?” comedy with a solid cast.

Sat. 4/30/22:

The Centerpiece Narrative Film is the SXSW hit I Love My Dad, where Patton Oswalt catfishes his estranged son in order to keep in touch with him. The thriller God’s Country stars the always excellent Thandiwe Newton. Anonymous Club is an intimate doc on one of my favorite singer-songwriters of the last decade Courtney Barnett (read my coverage of her here).

Sun. 5/1/22:

Zhang Yimou is one of the most exciting filmmakers around. Even when his films are disappointing, there is still something visually breathtaking and thought-provoking. His new one One Second is a period film about the power of film!

Mon. 5/2/22:

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande stars Emma Thompson as an older woman who tries to get her groove back.

Tues. 5/3/22:

The doc The Janes looks at a group of Chicago women pre-Roe v. Wade who created an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable and illegal abortions.

Wed. 5/4/22:

The Closing Night Film is Marcel The Shell with Shoes On, the big screen feature-length debut of the animated character voiced by Jenny Slate.

In addition to all of the feature films and feature documentaries, the festival also has several short films (narrative, documentary, and student) programmed as well.

For info and tickets for IFFBoston: https://iffboston.org/

[americanahighways]

Song Premiere: Mojo Nixon’s “Going to Utah”

Song Premiere: Mojo Nixon’s “Going to Utah” @conqueroo1 @mojomanifesto @mojonixonworldne #goingotutah #mojonixon

Americana Highways brings you this premiere of Mojo Nixon’s song “Going to Utah” as a herald to his forthcoming testament, The Mojo Manifesto: The Original Album Collection, available on Friday March 27.

The box contains ten CDs (ten albums!) plus a full-length documentary film on DVD titled The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon. This is a really eye-opening DVD on Mojo’s career.…