Jason Mackenroth (Mother Superior/Rollins Band/Blue Man Group) was a brilliant drummer, a lovely guy, and the biggest KISS fan I've ever known. I enjoyed many great record-spinning hangs with Jason and his Mother Superior bandmates Jim Wilson and Marcus Blake in the late 90s and early 00s, where we'd air out all manner of old rock, soul and funk 45s, but the talk (and laughter) would always inevitably turn to Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter.
I vividly remember talking to Jason backstage at a Mother Superior gig at the Troubadour in the fall of '98; initially stoked about the release of Psycho Circus, the first new album by the original KISS lineup in nearly 20 years, he'd come to the realization that it was a cynical cash-grab that didn't actually feature Ace and Peter on most of the tracks, and he was PISSED. Me, I thought the album sucked; we both agreed that night that we'd be skipping the band's upcoming Halloween concert at Dodger Stadium on principle...
Flash-forward to Halloween... I'd received a last-minute assignment to cover the KISS show for USA Today, and I was just settling into my sweet eighth-row press seat when I heard someone yell my name. I looked down the row and saw Jason waving to me, a mile-wide grin on his face. "Well, here we are," he laughed. "I couldn't stay away!" That was Jason — a pure fan to the end.
The end, sadly, came yesterday, when Jason died following a long battle with prostate cancer. We'd more or less lost touch after he moved to Vegas about a decade back; and like many of his friends and acquaintances, I didn't even know he was ill. Aside from the awful sadness of losing a husband and a father, Jason's far-too-young passing leaves his family in the lurch, financially. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help them; please pass a few bucks (and some good vibes) their way, if you can: https://www.gofundme.com/echcegfw
Rest in peace, Jason. And thanks again for that Bobby Womack "Somebody Special" 45. You were somebody special, too.
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