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Jojo Baby, the doll-maker, drag queen and owner of Jo-Jo's Closet made a gruesome discovery Tuesday night as he was picking up mannequins he had bought off eBay from Bucktown resident Brian Sloan. According to Jojo, there were human skulls being boiled in Brian's apartment. Brian says he bought them legally to sell on eBay, and though the police have confiscated the skulls, no charges have yet been filed.
The real point is that Chicagoist wants you to just look at the excessive amount of photographs accompanying the story on NBC 5. Not only are there two slideshows, one of the skulls being removed and one for the actual story, but there's a close-up of Sloan's hat with a skull pin, Jojo wearing a Taste of Chicago shirt with an arrow pointing netherwards, and a picture of a human skull for sale on eBay.
We smell a publicity stunt. Sloan looks way too happy in the photos than we would if the cops just janked our still-meaty imported human bones.
Jojo in his shop by The Skillet Lickers.
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Jesus this story is awesome.
I'm less appalled at the skulls boiling in water as I am of the fact that Sloan "has a law degree."
Is this what awaits me at the end of 3 years?
I sure hope so.
So THAT's the odd looking guy I always see wandering into filter (Jo Jo)
I can think of no better twist on this story than knowing that JoJo was involved. Thank you Chicagoist for reporting with the other news would not!
I went to high school with him! Go Vikings!!
I've known JoJo for years and I very seriously doubt he'd conjure up something like this for a "publicity stunt" as you allege. I don't doubt he's enjoying the subsequent attention, but that's simply not his style. And besides what would be in it for this other guy? I can tell you right now, had JoJo not been seriously weirded out by the discovery he would have never called the police in the first place. I do generally enjoy this site but shame on you guys for suggesting otherwise.
my farts smell like poop
I smell b.s.
Looking at JoJo makes my dick go into frightened turtle mode.
Can someone PLEASE explain why horses are still being slaughtered in DeKalb, IL for "human consumption"???
Also, JoJo is the closest living relative we have to the Oompa Loompas and deserves respect in his decision to buy human skulls, probably.
Ald. Moore ban on skull boiling in 5...4...3...
I have also known JoJo Baby for a few years. The publicity may be nice for JoJo's business, but I agree, I do not think it's his style.
But, watching the footage on NBC5 10 pm news of JoJo wearing the Taste of Chicago shirt was hilarious!
Thanks, JoJo!
What is weird to me is that the skulls were shipped from China un-boiled.
Is the meat on the skull like a mattress tag that can only be removed by the end user?
Oh, and you would trust someone else to boil the meat off the skulls for you? Especially skulls from China, whose skull boiling quality control system is notoriously lax? What are you, some kind of clueless hipster/trixie transplant?
Real Chicagoans will remember the awesome "Boil Your Own Skull" emporium (The Noggin Steamer) that used to be down on 45th and Western near the Stockyards (or Der Kopfenbubble up in Lincoln Square).
Of course, that was back in the day when a boy and his dad could bond with a little skull simmering session; before outsourcing and imitation cranium companies ruined the Home Skull Hobbyist movement.
Good Old Jo Jo!
Back when Wicker Park was cool, I rented the house Jo Jo and his partner lived in on St. Paul Street.Their parties were legend. When his partner died of AIDS in the house, Jo Jo moved out three months later.
My downstairs neighbor (it was a two flat A-frame) told me that before his partner died
Jo Jo half carried that dude up Mt. Kilimanjaro because it was what his partner wanted before he cashed out his life chips
The apartment was totally tricked out. Burnt orange living room with silver ceiling, dark lime green kitchen, blue bathroom painted with crazy fish, blood red bed room. I was right outta a conservative school so it was a nice place to land back in the Chi.
His partner's ghost remained, on the real! I could hear him in the attic sometimes at night.
I see Jo Jo still rocks and he summed up “The Taste of Chicago”! Next time I see him at his studio at Around the Coyote. I will introduce myself this time
Keep it real Jo Jo keep in real!
I used to get all my skulls boiled at Marshall Fields.
Sigh.
With this story Jess D'Amico has officially become the most valuable Chicagoan at Chicagoist. Brilliantine.
I totally agree JMC this is Pulitzer material!
and yea E, I too have found memories of ordering a boiled skull at the Walnut room at Marshallfields at Christmas with my family!
(sigh) Me too, Spook. Me too...