The only people truly qualified to judge mojo are people with mojo. We see and know what is involved in having mojo.The rest of you must go on what you see , your emotions based on what you think you know about mojo, what you imagine it takes, and what others might have to say about it. Every time I make that statement there is someone who says "who the hell do you think you are and what the f*** do you know". Spare me. Having mojo is not magic, takes moderate skill(about like brain surgery), and I've paid my dues for nearly 50 years. Now if there's another person with mojo who would like to take exception to what I say then I'm all ears. I'm not pulling rank on those of you without mojo; but the fact is I know more about it than you do.
Major Taylor has mojo. Greg LeMond has nojo. Dennis Miller has mojo. Geraldo doesn't. Patti Smith mojo. Celine Dion nojo. Tucson does. Phoenix doesn't. Some people are born with mojo, Picasso. Some earn it like Lance. Some have mojo thrust upon them like Todd Beamer on flight 93. Some have it and die young, like James Dean. Some have it and don't die young and lose it like Marlon Brando. Confente's mojo is aided by this site through an awareness of his history. It's also pumped up by people who picked up mojo by being around him. Jacson Pollock, Jimi, and John Belushi all had mojo and threw it away. The Mona Lisa may have mojo but a lot of nojos pretend they get her mojo so they can have mojo. This is faux mojo...kinda of like restoring a perfectly good bike. To worship someone or thing with mojo is nojo. To respect something is mojo. English bikes with unusual frames have a whole lot of mojo.
Brian's comments about framebuilders was nojo. It actually gave mojo to J. Dunn's argument. But Brian's discussion about mojo was so mojo it cancelled out his nojo. If you write me an e-mail about teasing Brian about his framebuiler statement telling me to get off this site because I don't worship Brian, don't bother because you lack mojo. I respect Brian. Respect is mojo.
If I drew an absract portrait of a face, you might like it or not because of mojo. But if I attempted to draw a realistic face, and the eyes were misaligned, you would be able to see its flaws whether you spent 30 years drawing faces or if you were my ten year old son. A person can learn and critique an art or craft-- painting, films, writing, wiring a house, even framebuilding--without having to have done it as a profession. Some of my best art teachers were not famous artists. Some famous artists I studied with were unable to teach me anything about their art. If it were me, I would be careful in saying that only framebuilders can understand the craft of framebuilding. I don't think that only artists are qualified to judge art. That only teachers can judge the success of a teacher. My experience has taught me that often it is the outsider that can see things in a different way. Seeing things in a new light is mojo.
Art Smith
Phoenix