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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 1, 1992                   TAG: 9112310223
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: Beth Macy
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

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NAMES IN '91

When we visited the Men of Mojo in September, they'd just launched their wacky, irreverent Mojo Sloth magazine. The five Roanoke guys were - and still are - having too much fun filling up their tabloid for Southwest Virginia college students with banter, Top 10-list parodies and raucous, rambling essays.

But seven issues later, the realities of running a business are starting to sink in. In December, they had to cut back publishing from twice a month to once, and they recently held a benefit concert to help with printing costs.

Although Norfolk community-news publisher David Else has expressed interest in buying and franchising the mag, the deal is on hold. And nobody's been able to draw a salary yet.

"Basically we've had to take part-time jobs to pay the bills," says publisher Mark Gammon, who's selling clothes for The Tie Dye Guy in Towers Shopping Center. Other Mojo staffers are selling books, waiting tables, playing piano and doing free-lance editing and design on the side.

They've even had to start charging for classified ads - though customers get to use the words "a," "and" and "the" for free and a complimentary "dammit" if it follows the word "intelligent."

Clearly, the guys haven't lost their editorial touch. Their January issue, which is scheduled to be the first to circulate into Richmond and Charlottesville, will feature Election '92 analysis, Gammon says, adding: "We're gonna see about registering the Mojo Sloth as an actual political party."

As for those of you (read: their parents) wondering about their dog - who hadn't quite adapted to the potty-training thing, Gammon assures us that both Theo and the carpet are doing better.

Keywords:
YEAR 1991

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