Kansas City News Blog

Thanks for recognizing Mott and his greatness. Mott recently did the same by hosting a tribute to Vince Roark after Vince passed. A couple of years ago when I was going through hard times I would go to see Mott and he would give me really tender-hearted and good advice. I tried to get my kids around Mott often because I wanted them to know him as well.
I first met Mott in around 1983(he was the coolest looking punk around) but we didn't become friends until 1987 when I was doing a history of the KC punk scene. Mott did an interview and donated his vast collection of fanzines and ephemera to the Western Historical Manuscripts Collection at UMKC. The collection is available for public research and can be found as the Patrick Sumner and Mott-ly Kansas City and Lawrence Underground Zine Collection (1239 kc).
Mott was one of the best friends I've ever had and his heart was so huge. Like Anne said Mott had his complicated side but almost always in these last few years I was greeted by Mott with his beautiful smile. It is really hard to work today as I am overwhelmed. Mott I'll miss you always.
Patrick

I have so many great memories of Mott. The first time I saw Mott was the very first day of classes at KCAI in 1986. He was there greeting new students with a smile and was handing out tiny little xeroxed fliers full of tiny art and even tinier words. I remember thinking his clothing and appearance somehow seemed in conflict with his warm and friendly welcome. My friends Archer and Barry ended up playing in Mudhead with Mott so we saw them play a lot... sometimes my friend John and I would follow them to a shows in other cities... Each show totally different from the last.... always as cathartic as they were fun. I remember sitting on the front porch of that great old house on Warwick during an end-of-the-school-year communal porch sale chatting with Mott and other folks and watching my parked car get totaled right in front of our eyes. I remember often siting in my room on McGee Street listening to "Charlie's Golden Ticket" as it came up thru the vents from their practice in our basement.... I remember many times seeing Mott dancing at shows and in a over-joyful burst, throwing his prosthetic leg up on to the stage at a band he was enjoying as if it was a rose or pair of panties. I did not know a lot of details on Mott's health and condition over the years... not as much as I know now. I never ever remember hearing him complain about it or see it get the best of him. His strength and his standing up to his everyday challenges must have been purely internal.... he never seemed to let it show how much work it was most surely taking. He will be missed by many many people as he touched many people with his kindness and friendship.

Hi Gina,

I cant remember when I first met Mott I beleive it was 84 I wandered into the print making department at KCAI and I saw Mott and Archer working in there together and loved what they were both doing. I became quick freinds with Mott we shared music, movies, art, politics, urban decay, mushrooms, many laughs(obscure humor) etc. I always had fun and enjoyed every minute of his company. When I moved away I always made sure to visit him and kept up on what he was doing. Like few other people I have met in this world and I have met many few have continued to "STUN ME" the way Mott did. In the past couple years I have attended more than my share of freinds funerals who I had spent more recent time with but his "SPIRIT" touched me the most.He was dignified,unflappable, courageous, brilliant, dynamic, important, spectacular, untiring, truly caring and Im not even mentioning him as an artist. He was one of the best human beings I have ever met. I was trying desprately to get back to KC and have a show at his gallery and he was anxious for me to do so, more than anything to spend time with him but also to show respect to someone who I considered to be the most important artist in KC. I never got to have that show and will ALWAYS regret it, I wanted to be at the memorial coming up but will not be able and wanted to share my thoughts about him. I apreciate the beutiful words you have said about him. Drink a toast to him and celebrate his life!

Bob Moon

Bye Mott-Ly RIP

BTW - Don't forget he was also singer in The Tunneldogs.

Thanks for everything Mott-ly.

Love,
The Punks

=)

Mott-ly,
may you rest in peace and look down on all the KC punks and keep them safe. When i first met mott-ly, we were playing our first show at the momo, it was a birthday bash for one of kc's finest and most fun punk bands. mott-ly strolled out in his wheel chair and greeted me with a smile and firm hand shake. he said "hey you guys here for the show". he was always nice to all of us kc punks and put up with alot of our antics. from kids shooting out street lights with bb guns to 15 yearold throwing up all over them selvs out side. he always welcomed us back. any time. he said just give him a call to book another show and he would make time in his day to clear up the art room floor. Mott-ly, where ever you are, you will always be missed by us punks.

Love,
ben

some links...

www.mottly.com

http://caul.org/media/mott_parade.mov

I was giving Mott a ride a few years back, at about the time he lost his second leg. I don't recall whether it was gone yet or not. It hardly matters since he had a lot of pain either before or after. He just started to complain a little then stopped, and said "I shouldn't complain." I actually laughed. I said "Mott, you're not the first person that I would tell to quit their whining. When you want to complain to me, then you complain." Still, he wouldn't. Not very often.
I could tell 20 years worth of stories, but it's enough to say that Mott played and had fun while the rest of us able-bodied whiney-asses complained. He had fun with his gallery and always wanted, on some First Friday, while the other galleries showed their very important artwork, to conduct an indoor petting zoo in his space. This was his humor. He was too often distracted to plan well for things, but I was anxious for his new venture with Apryl, the Slap and Tickle Gallery. With Apryl's help and humor, perhaps these thing would have been better realized. Apryl intends to go ahead with the plans they made, and I wish her luck. Perhaps she can help to channel some of that old Mott'ly spirit that so many of us will miss so much.
Rest in Peace, pal. You're a piece of my heart.

I remember first meeting Motly in KCAI in the printmaking department in 1985 what an awsome year there was a gorup of people and i remember his bright red hair and yellow hair and his suit and shoes but the artwork was what it was all about - the tiny delicate etchings he was an awsome spirit. I knew him for years in KCAI then out of the blue I saw him here in NYC during an alumni meeting 1999? It was an awsome rush we talked all night and I ended up giving him a ride home I knew things in NYC were tough on him but in hindsight looks like what he did afterwards was far better - he had alot of love and carried a hard weight - i know he is happy somewhere and i wish him well and lots of sun.

First time I meet Mott, he and Tom were shit faced and I gave them a ride too the Charlotte st. house. the last time I saw him, he still won't let me light him on fire ( in the wheel chair), but then again we did get to have more fun than any two guys with one leg between them should or ever will have! Mott-ly you ARE my personal savior and I'll gimp-shit ass kick anyone who says otherwise!! As your barber/driver/friend/brother/side-kick/nemisisisis/pain in the ass/fellow hippie hater(girls excluded) I will miss you forever and think of you often. But not like at night when I'm alone and touching myself. More like when I see all our friends laughing and acting like fools. Thats when I'll think of you, and piss my self! Love RAMJET
Captain my Captain

I ran across this thread years after this article was published. I was thinking about Mott-ly as I do surprisingly often considering it has been about ten years since I saw him last. I was looking for any info about him online, Unfortunately there's not much so I thought i might as well offer some of my best memories/impressions of Mott-ly. My first encounter came while watching Mud-head around KC/Lawrence in the '86 vicinity. I was only 14 at the time and was just discovering music. It's embarrassing to think about how dorky me and my suburban skateboarding teen-age pals were back then. It was a strange time because to me there wasn't that great a difference between REM and MDC or JFA or whatever. I was too young and too naive to draw strict lines between Black Flag and the Smiths or The Cramps or New Order-as long as it was something all the 'jocks' at my high school didn't know about it- you could count me in. All the musical snobbery would come later. At that age, not having any cool older brothers or parents or (the internet) it really took a lot of effort to discover music that you couldn't hear on the radio (unless you could position perfectly your boombox-which I never having seen a ghetto except when quickly driving through East KC-called a 'ghetto blaster' as to pick up KJHK in Lawrence or buy records -or tapes-from the 'imports' section of the 5 or 6 actual record stores in the area back then-also keeping in mind I didn't have much money so when you spent $9 on a record there was no way of knowing if it was any good till you got it home-so I bought many records on the strength of the record covers-only to get burned by the time it hit my turntable-or to find out that it was an EP and only actually had 2 songs!!!). In my suburb in 1986 just letting a tuft of hair fall in front of one eye was a huge statement. Maybe it still is in Overland Park but I doubt it. Well needless to say going to the Outhouse and the all-ages balcony at The Uptown etc...were hugely influential experiences for me. Being so desperate for ANYTHING out-of-the-ordinary I devoured music. I went to go see every live show that I could. It didn't matter if it was a sold out Husker Du concert or Drowning Incident playing to ten people on a Tuesday. If it was all-ages and I could get a ride...I was there. Thinking back most of the bands were terrible. 95% of hardcore ages very very badly and many of the local-alternative bands age even worse. But as cringe-inducing as it seems today-to me even the most heinous white-reggae band were worth my undivided attention. Even though I was simultaneously discovering the Butthole Surfers and their Touch and Go brethren I was really not prepared for Mudhead. This band was different. Easily the coolest and most interesting band to ever emerge from the area (aside from 1930's jazz) that I've ever heard of. They became my (and my friends who were in the process of losing our skateboards and discovering acid guitars and girls) favorite local band. I probably saw them 15 times. I wouldn't know which show to focus on. I remember a show in Lawrence with Agent Orange-Jello Biafra-Mind Over Four-Underdog (speaking of music that ages very very very badly). What a lineup. It makes no sense. You couldn't be picky in Kansas back then. Well I was on acid and I swore that Mott-ly was staring at me through the panty-hose mask he was wearing the entire show. I moved around to different sections of the crowded club only to feel like his stare was following me. The music was so good. The band was so unusual looking. Truly psychedelic. Swirling guitars. That to my recollection played pretty simple parts-but I could never figure out how they were making the sounds half the time. Archer and Barry were really great musicians (esp Archers drumming-who else could blow away Fela's entire phalanx of teenage drummers after opening for them in Volker Park-Mudhead and Fela?!?!-now that was a show!!!! somebody please buid me a time machine) But Mottly was the star of the band. Completely unpredictable. He was better than Gibby Haynes-though it is all criminally undocumented. You had to be there and I feel so lucky that I was. Sure I was too young to see the great sixties and seventies bands but even the snobbiest-know-it-all coastal eletists will never know how great this secret band was. Maybe it's better that way. They released a single and a track on that KC singles comp. Years later Mott gave me a long lost tape of five or six other songs from those sessions. It was great but it did not match their live power. There was always rumors that Albini was going to do something with them postumously. I would eventually live across the street from Mott while attending KCAI. We became great pals and I came on his radio show a couple times. I would also get to know him later when he moved to NYC. He's a legend in my eyes and one of the greatest role models in my life.