Mojo Nixon & the Toadliquors Continental Club February 26, 2011
When Mojo Nixon "retired" from recording and touring following 2009's Whisky Rebellion, the music world breathed a sigh of relief (or sorrow) that one of its principal loose cannons had finally been silenced. Never mind Eminem or Helena Bonham Carter, Mojo Nixon does not give a fuck.
Aftermath has a feeling Nixon is taking a Brett Favre-like approach to his retirement, however, and we hope the similarities stop there. No offense, but the idea of Mojo sexting pictures of his junk to anyone scares us worse than surgery sans anesthesia.
All it took to get Mojo on last weekend's three-day swing through Texas that climaxed (sorry) at the Continental Club Saturday was his band the Toadliquors' piano player, Wetdawg, to find himself in a "suddenly single situation." Benevolent bandleader that he is, Nixon took it upon himself to - as he pointed out umpteen times from the stage - "get Wetdawg laid."
This involved changing the lyrics to many of Mojo's beloved songs, such as opener "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child," "Tie My Pecker To My Leg" and closer "Elvis Is Everywhere," to emphasize Wetdawg's newfound availability. Singalongs were legion, and the non-sexual subject matter can be summed up by the title of the encore: "All Liquored Up."
It was about an hour of full-tilt roots-rock as scripted by Redd Foxx, with a nice tribute to Mojo's equally askew late friend (and "Pecker" co-author) Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers thrown in as well. If you don't know what a Louisiana liplock is, Aftermath can assure you it has nothing at all to do with alligators.
Wetdawg's plight even inspired Nixon to debut a new song, "New Pussy," Saturday, and call the merch girl (whose name escapes us, but was typically Nixonian) onstage to help the band sing it. Ironically, it sounded a lot like the doo-wop and early rock and roll that was spinning out on the patio, except we're willing to bet the Flamingos or Bobby Vee were never quite that blunt about not getting any.
Gene Vincent may have been, though.
No word on Wetdawg's post-show conquests (if any), by the way. That's his business, but with Mojo in his corner, we're willing to bet he made out all right.
Personal Bias: We're a big fan of Mojo's weekday shift on Sirius/XM's Outlaw Country channel. Nobody can scream "Outlawwww Country" the way he can.
Overheard In the Crowd From the Stage: "Mojo requires multiple gin and tonics"
The Crowd: Continental crew representing to the fullest: Older men, lovely ladies, and one youngster in a Dead Kennedys T-shirt.
Random Notebook Dump: Whisky Rebellion is named after a farmers' revolt against an excise tax on hooch in 1790s Pennsylvania. The history lesson does not extend to songs such as "What's Up Judge Judy's Ass?" and "I Wanna Kill My Wife Tonight."
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