Mojo’s Brand of Mayhem Finally Going Hollywood

Mojo Nixon is going Hollywood. The manic talkin’ bluesman from San Diego, who earlier this year appeared in a series of promotional spots for MTV, will star in the upcoming motion picture “Citizen Mojo.”

Co-producing the comedy are Joe Regis, a veteran cult film maker from Los Angeles, and Bill Hines, president of Enigma Records, Nixon’s label. The screenplay is almost finished, Nixon said, and shooting could start as early as next spring.

“It’s sort of a cross between ‘Repo Man’ and ‘Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,’ ” Nixon said. “I play a guy who inherits a corporation that builds shopping malls, and when they want to build one in Graceland, I do everything I can to stop them. There’s a possibility that the evil Yuppies who run the corporation will be aliens from another planet disguised as Yuppies. As for me, I’ll just be my normal, rambunctious self.”

What Mojo Nixon considers “normal” would probably be considered abnormal by anyone else, even Yuppie aliens from outer space. Over the past six years, Nixon has earned a reputation as the Captain Beefheart of the 1980s. With his sidekick, Skid Roper, he has twisted the basic blues structure several degrees toward mayhem, both on his annual road trips and on his three Enigma albums.

Many of Nixon’s deliciously irreverent tunes--like “Stuffin’ Martha’s Muffin,” a salacious come-on to ex-MTV veejay Martha Quinn, and the vitriolic “I Hate Banks”--have become college radio classics. Last year, Nixon’s musical debunking of the Presley mystique, “Elvis is Everywhere,” cracked commercial-radio play lists and brought him to the attention of MTV, the 24-hour cable music-video channel.

“They came out to San Diego last November and we filmed maybe 16 spots,” Nixon recalled. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘They’re never gonna play these things ‘cause they’re too wild.’ But then, in February, they started showing up on TV and I couldn’t believe it--it was really cool.”

With the filming of “Citizen Mojo” not scheduled to start for at least another seven months, Nixon has plenty of time for other projects in the interim. On Sept. 12, he will fly to Memphis to begin work on his fourth Enigma LP. After that, he and Roper will go back on tour--unless, of course, Nixon secures a part in another pending flick, “Great Balls of Fire,” a cinematic biography of rock ‘n’ roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis. Last week, he went up to Los Angeles and auditioned for the role of Lewis’ drummer.

Last summer, Robert Vaughn and the Shadows seemed destined for stardom. After six years of rehearsing in a Point Loma garage and recording demonstration tapes, the rock band signed a two album deal with Island Records.

Their debut, “Love and War,” came out in June, 1987, and within weeks had been added to the play lists of more than 150 radio stations across the country. A single, “Justice,” entered the Top 100 chart in Album Network, a national music trade publication. But, before the band could take advantage of this momentum, Island withdrew its support.

“The same time they signed us and spent $80,000 on our first album, they signed another new band, World at a Glance, and gave them $300,000,” recalled singer-songwriter-guitarist Vaughn. “Still, they promised to promote us both equally. But by the end of the summer, Island was experiencing financial problems and they decided they could only afford to push one new band. And, since they had more money invested with World at a Glance, we got goosed.”

Indeed. Promise after promise was broken--the promise of a video, the promise of a major advertising campaign, the promise of a national tour. Talent alone had been enough to cock the gun, but with Island refusing to pull the trigger, Robert Vaughn and the Shadows’ expected shot to stardom was never fired.

Two months ago, the band’s contract with Island was terminated by mutual agreement. Ever since, Robert Vaughn and the Shadows have once again been rehearsing and recording demo tapes--and hoping that negotiations with RCA, Columbia and A&M; will lead to a second big break.

“We’ve learned a lot through our experience with Island,” Vaughn said. “A record deal is one thing; getting promotional support is another. Without that support, a new band has virtually no chance of success.”

TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS: The folks at Avalon Attractions are pretty excited about their upcoming Santana concert in San Diego. After all, this is the first time since the early 1970s that the veteran Latin-rock group has been touring with four original members: guitarist Carlos Santana, keyboardist Gregg Rolie, drummer Michael Shrieve and percussionist Jose Chepito Areas.

So, as soon as the local booking was confirmed, Avalon rushed out a press release hyping the show as “a must-see for all Santana fans.” Also included is a complete membership roster and information on where tickets may be purchased.

Enthusiasm, however, often begets forgetfulness. What Avalon’s release neglects to mention is the concert’s date (Oct. 1) and location (San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater).

KEEP ON SMILIN’: When Buck Owens walked on stage at SDSU’s Open Air Theater not long ago to open for hot young country singer Dwight Yoakam, he was all smiles. Maybe it was because he was glad to be back on the road after nearly a decade of self-imposed retirement (interrupted only by regular appearances on television’s “Hee Haw”).

Then again, maybe Owens was smiling because a few minutes before show time, he had been surprised on his tour bus by a stripper--hired by Yoakam to entertain the country legend on his 59th birthday.

BITS AND PIECES: Ex-Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry’s Sept. 16 concert at SDSU’s Open Air Theater has already sold out. . . . Tentatively scheduled for local appearances sometime in October are heavy-metal heavies Judas Priest, at San Diego Sports Arena, and new-wavers the Smithereens, at the California Theater downtown.