Topic: Bill Donoghue (aka Fessor Mojo) Ascends in 2017

[mtzionmemorialfund]

William E. Donoghue (aka Fessor Mojo) who had conducted twenty years worth of interviews and compiled massive amounts of research on Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) and Robert Jr. Lockwood passed away recently.  He had self-published one short monograph Don't Start Me to Talkin on Williamson to date.  He was a good friend to Lillian McMurry of Trumpet Records in Jackson, Mississippi, as well as the two sisters of Rice Miller--Mary Ashford and Julie Barner.  He also paid for their headstone in the same cemetery as their brother's.  I'm not sure of the current status of his unpublished manuscripts, but he was indeed a passionate researcher.   He may have had some wacky ideas and a lack of general understanding about many aspects of culture in the American South, but he never gave up and spent a fortune trying to find his truth.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/seattletimes/obituary.aspx?n=william-e-donoghue&pid=184113905&fhid=23429

[oddenda]

Truth be told, there are fewer and fewer artists and relatives left. It's now "our" turn to cark it.

pbl (over 75 and not liking it one bit!)

[Bunker Hill]

Here's the first ever correspondenceI received from hin

[Bunker Hill]

Don't understand why the above has turned out so large. Whatever I try to reduce it in size makes no difference. Maybe one of our Weenie "techies" can put right.

[Stuart]

It looks okay to me, Alan. Perhaps someone fixed it already, but I first saw it only about 20 minutes after you posted it.

[mtzionmemorialfund]

Thanks Alan.  The New York Times mistakenly reported that the MZMF put up a marker for SBWII in a 1997 article, but actually we had simply helped some local nuns get a grant to maintain the property, which was abandoned and grown over.  The whole ordeal upset Lillian McMurry, who erected the marker in 1977, a great deal, and Bill sent a letter to the Times expressing their mutual displeasure about the incident.  MZMF founder Skip Henderson never claimed to have erected the marker, but I attach his letter because it contains some of his research at that moment on SBWII.

I also learned that his colleague Jim Basnight plans to publish his book on SBWII in 2018.

[Bunker Hill]

This attached might raise a laugh...or grimace

[hms]

Don't understand why the above has turned out so large. Whatever I try to reduce it in size makes no difference. Maybe one of our Weenie "techies" can put right.

Click on the link, not the thumbnail always seems to work for me!

h

[Bunker Hill]

HMS. Good lord, so that's the explanation. Thanks for the head-ups.....

Only a cretin such as Balfour of Southampton could drive himself nuts attempting this, and the Donoghue insert, without spotting the obvious....argh

[oddenda]

Alan -

          Another "senior moment"? It happens!

pbl

[alyoung]

I dunno.... you old blokes!

[Chezztone]

Donoghue was working on some kind of documentary on the blues; he came to the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival a few years ago and interviewed a lot of people for it, including me. Anyone know what happened to that project?

[mtzionmemorialfund]

Donoghue was working on some kind of documentary on the blues; he came to the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival a few years ago and interviewed a lot of people for it, including me. Anyone know what happened to that project?

Sure, I can answer that question Mr. Cheseborough,

Bill enjoyed having regular updates about the maintenance of SBW II's grave and the double marker funded for his sisters (you can watch more about those ongoing efforts of the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund here https://youtu.be/KeJcDrzDCdU?list=PLcMHmb-lb-fYNmSIE9Z0_hv2BZMFvVw5

Since you met him I'm sure you know that he could not contain himself about new discoveries and the progress of his work. He was a most pleasant individual to know and I was the fortunate recipient of many an unsolicited update. Sadly, he will not get to see it compiled and published later this year, which a friend from right near you informed the other day.