while dallas has kept me busy lately, my friends in blacktop mojo hit up my old stomping grounds in paris, tx and i had to be there. as you recall from my “40 years is a long time” story, i recently had my 40 year high school reunion in Paris. certainly i’d love to go back and keep visiting old and new friends, i wasn’t expecting to go back this soon.
but – blacktop mojo. an excuse to visit said friends and introduce other friends to this amazing band. hell yea it was a ROADTRIP weekend!
many years ago (i have stopped saying how many these days) i went up to paris to see blacktop mojo for a july 4th weekend at the paris harley davidson dealership. took pics, hung out with the band, and had a great time. i didn’t find out about this performance til mid last week but everything lined up and the texas / ou game took back seat to this day.
got there around 11am for an 11:30 to 1pm show and the crowd was already into the action. booths of vendors lined the parking lot and if you got there later, you were shuttling in from Home Depot across the highway. check camera settings on the motorcycles inside the caged dome and i was now ready for the band.
minutes before they were to go on, i ran into catt murtis. lord he has got to be one of the most fun people to shoot in rock and roll. big smile from an old friend and a brief conversation before he had to finish getting ready.
now, what i was NOT expecting was to be able to shake hands with ryan keifer. no, i don’t know about long term plans, i only know i got to see him on stage once more and appreciated it.
11:30 hit and we were off and running. the band came out with their usual flair and matt james‘ vocals were as on point as ever. if you’ve ever seen a blacktop mojo show, you know the energy they bring. if you’ve not – well, that’s a problem you need to fix and quick!
there’s a reason these guys have been a renegaderadio spotlight band since meeting them back to a number of years we won’t get into. great musicians and great people, and definitely worth a road trip to paris, tx!
i’ll let the pictures do the talking from here. check ’em out on their youtube channel or on spotify. you can also pre-order their upcoming release pollen on their website.
