It’s not often that talented musicians find the right group of fellow artists to jam with. Fewer even are those bands that book gigs, play in front of people and manage to break even. And very fortunate are those who get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open up for a band they’ve liked for ages.

The Mighty Plastisols are mighty lucky.

Tonight, the Boone-based boys in black will get the crazy eight ball rolling for Mojo Nixon, who is set to rock the Love Shack in Des Moines.

For singer Donovan Miller and the Clemons brothers, T.J. on bass, Joe beatin’ the skins and Captain Troy doin’ the sound, a gig right in front of Mojo ranks right up there with free beer. They’ve been fans since feathered hair and Olivia Newton-John were popular.

“It was funny really, when [the Love Shack’s booking agency] called,” T.J. said. “I’ve been listening to Mojo since I was 15 years old during RAGBRAI. He was like the extra member of our RAGBRAI team.

“I’ve known Mojo since before he was big, back when he was on MTV. I called all my old friends [from RAGBRAI] in Chicago and all these places. Hopefully we’ll have a nice little reunion at the show.”

While Mojo might not be the ideal headlining musician for a lot of aspiring, trying-to-make-it bands, he and The Mighty Plastisols are a perfect fit.

“There are so many national acts you can open up for,” T.J. explained. “Mojo’s a different name, but for me, that’s even cooler. We’re on the same mentality as Mojo. He was wearing gas attendant shirts before

it was cool. You can tell from some of his songs: ‘Debbie Gibson is Carrying my Two-Headed Love Child.'”

The Des Moines gig hits in the middle of a plastisol explosion. Everything seems to be going swimmingly for these Boone boys, and they’re expanding their musical horizons beyond the Iowa borders.

“Everything is happening kinda quickly with school starting up again,” T.J. said.

“I hope it keeps rolling for us . . . Through the summertime, we’ve done a lot of changes to our show. Everything from new equipment, a new look, new songs, new jokes. It’s a new refreshed thing we’re doing now.””

Over Labor Day weekend, the poppy-rocky trio brought down the house at the Skylon Ballroom in Hardington, Neb. The Plastisols dug the chance to play in front of total strangers, and the crowd response shook up the floors and the guys in the band.

“People know us around here, but we actually had a chance to go where no one knew us over anybody,” T.J. said. “It’s nice to get out where no one knows you, to see how people react. You have to prove yourself again.”

“People were grabbing us, pulling us into the crowd,” T.J. continued. “It was nutso.”

“It went off without a hitch,” Miller added.

As if a fabulous response to a huge show (the crowd numbered 2,000) wasn’t enough, the guys ran into a publicity agent for a contest in Nebraska at the Skylon gig.

He liked what he heard and invited the band to compete in “Opening the Big O” (where the “O” stands for “original music”), sponsored by Crossroads, a music equipment store in Omaha, Miller said.

So the trio journeyed to the Ranch Bowl in Nebraska and rocked their way to the quarter-finals. Grand prize is studio time and a chance to shoot a video. Is that great luck — and a slew of talent — or what?

Back home in the Ames area, The Mighty Plastisols are scheduled to gear up an FAC crowd at People’s Bar and Grill for the weekend. They plan to shuffle their original material with some plastisoled covers.

“This week with the Iowa-Iowa State game, it’ll be a packed house,” Miller said. “It’s always fun to play in front of a crowd of people.

“I like to play our stuff, but it’s also fun to play stuff people recognize,” he continued. “When we do play covers, we kind of twist them around into something people aren’t expecting.”

Tickets for Mojo Nixon, with special guest The Mighty Plastisols, are $6 in advance and $7 at the door.

They’re available at Ticketmaster outlets or by phone at 243-1888 (Des Moines) or 233-1888 (Ames). Also, watch for TMP at People’s this Friday afternoon.