In early February, alternative rock musician, actor and radio personality Mojo Nixon died while on board the Outlaw Country Cruise. He was 66.
Nixon, known for the novelty hit "Elvis Is Everywhere," died from a cardiac event, according to his family. He had played a gig onboard the cruise ship the previous night, had breakfast with his bandmates and his friends and went to his stateroom to rest, where he apparently passed.
Strangely, Nixon -- whose real name is Neill Kirby McMillian Jr. -- isn't the only musician to die on a music-themed cruise.
On this day (March 22) in 2017, former Boston drummer John "Sib" Hashian suffered a similar fate. He was 67.
Hashian, who manned the kit for Boston's best-selling first two albums -- 1976's self-titled album and its 1978 follow-up Don't Look Back -- collapsed while performing on the cruise. Attempts to revive him with CPR and a defibrillator were unsuccessful.
While Mojo Nixon did not collapse and die during a performance, strangely his close friend and mentor, Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers did, but he was not on a music-themed cruise. He was performing with the Beat Farmers at the Longhorn Saloon in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. There are conflicting reports whether Montana died from a heart attack or an aneurysm. He was only 40.
Mojo Nixon wrote the song "The Ballad of Country Dick" about the musician following Montana's death, and the reconstituted Beat Farmers recently paid tribute to Nixon by performing at Mojo's Mayhem in Austin, Texas, an all-day, unofficial SXSW throwdown that had been staged annually for two decades.
Mojo, Country Dick and Sib Hashian don't have much in common, save for their untimely deaths. It's likely Mojo and Montana hated Boston, and a polished arena rocker like Hashian would likely dismiss Mojo and Country Dick as rank amateurs. Hashian, of course, is best-known for drumming on the monster hit "More Than a Feeling." As for Mojo Nixon and Country Dick Montanna -- they did everything with more than feeling! Rest in power, gentlemen.
