The Sexi Mexi (moodboard)
🎶 I've been looking so long at these pictures of James
Hi. It’s time for some old photos and captions!
But first, quickly:
I wrote about Jason Molina canning me, with the soft focus of a 20-year lens: Getting Fired by Songs: Ohia (@ Paste).
Little Engines Issue Nine is coming this winter. Until then, get a get Issue Eight for $0. For the writers: I’m seeking a columnist to replace Mike Nagel. For the readers: I’ll have a booth at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville next month. I’ve held back copies of Issue Six & Seven reprints for the fest, so come grab ‘em if you’re in town. Nagel’s coming to work the booth with me. Hang with us!
OK, onto the pics. I’ve been writing about James Morelos—The Sexi Mexi—a critical figure in the book I’m working on. Our friendship was heavily active in the very-late ‘90s and very-early ‘00s.
My Polaroids of James are among my favorite pics I’ve taken, ever. They cover a long, monumental moment in my life, and James looks fantastic.
â–² Two from shows on the Jets to Brazil / Pedro the Lion tour. Merch table behind him in one, Ben Brubaker setting up his tiny Pedro kit on an anonymous stage behind him in the other. Note the sweatband. One wrist only. Was a short-lived thing, which I thought was bitching.
▲ I’m happy to find so many photos of James with someone else, and both parties fully happy as hell. Above and going clockwise you’ve got Brian Maryansky from Jets to Brazil, David Brown from the publicity company Holiday Matinee, Kyle McLaughlin my old friend from college, and a Seattle scenester whose name escapes me, but had some connection to Kurt (which impressed me) and PUNX tattooed across his knuckles.
â–² James in the middle with Roadside Monument. These two have a guest appearance of Jeff Suffering from Ninety Pound Wuss and Raft of Dead Monkeys in the shot. Roadside often had two or three roadies with them. Sometimes it doubled the size of the audience.
â–² New York City. Likely the fanciest hotel any of us had been in, something 3-star with a happening bar. Here, the bathroom and the lobby.
â–² James and Jonathon were an unstoppable pair. Also: Cigarettes! Loved them. Miss them. Want them. Look at James in this diner, and in the hotel lobby above, smoking indoors. The young among us will never know the pleasure!
▲ James and me. The first two are from a party at his apartment on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Someone called me a hesher as I lit up a bowl stuffed with some brickweed, and though I didn’t know what hasher meant, I liked the way it sounded. I remember feeling completely comfortable there, probably the first time it had happened at a house party. The bottom two photos are from the Roadside van. I’ve been writing a lot about the tour van, around the tour van, in the tour van. James is reading the handmade edition of my first book.
▲ My favorite shot of them all. James in his studio apartment, god bless it, packing orders for the first Pedro the Lion album. He’s sitting on his platform bed, and that open door behind him is his closet. He had a little desk in there where he ran his new record label, Made in Mexico.
James and I are still friends, mostly on the internet. We see each other every 5-10 years, god willing. I did a long and winding interview with him during the pandemic for research, and for help with my memory. It was a revealing talk. I hope to share bits from the book soon-ish, including The Sexi Mexi stuff.
James is out there doing great with his flea markets and shops in Palm Springs, Phoenicia, and beyond. Follow his ass on Instagram.
