Robbie writes: The Kirsty MacColl tribute on BBC2 last night was excellent. Bono, Billy Bragg, Johnny Marr, Mark Nevin, Steve Lillywhite all said really lovely things. Some really great performances of Kirsty's songs by Eddi Reader, Jools Holland, etc. No sign of Morrissey though (apart from a photo of the two of them in the studio and a picture of Morrissey that Kirsty had in her kitchen).
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Hazard also writes: The following photograph appeared on the Kirsty MacColl Tribute show on BBC TV this weekend. It was strange, but quite sad, to note that Morrissey had either been unable to contribute to the program or he had his own scenes edited out by the producers of the show.

From my own point of view, I found this rather sad but totally understandable. For many music lovers in the UK it was Kirsty's energetic backing vocals with The Smiths that had announced her return to UK music.

Scan from Hazard

Photograph of the jukebox in Kirsty's house also from the show. Scan from Hazard

Additional information and reports were posted in the comments section of the previous news item, "Morrissey, Marr feature in BBC Tribute to Kirsty MacColl (Mar. 3)".

Glenn Cooper writes:

Smiths live in ‘84 Web Exclusive – First Ever Broadcast!

Monday 5th March 2001, London

Previously unseen footage of The Smiths recorded live in concert at Sheffield Town Hall and backstage at various venues during their 1984 UK tour receives its world premiere on the Web today as an endpiece to the Rough Trade Shops 25th Anniversary celebrations.

The video, ‘Reel Around The Fountain (The Smiths Live in ’84)’ was filmed as a souvenir for the band and roadies on the tour and the sole surviving copy has existed in VHS format for 17 years. Brief excerpts from it were used on the video for ‘How Soon Is Now?’.

Fifty-two minutes in length, the video captures a powerful moment in 20th century pop history when Smiths mania first caught light and the band were on the cusp of fame. Now fans worldwide can relive those thrilling times as the video is broadcast on www.deo.com/roughtrade - a joint Web production between Rough Trade Shops and pure music site deo.com.

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I did not confirm the original rumor but should probably be a bit more careful nowadays. Daniel sends:

Morrissey Turns Down Jade Tree
No, wait, that was Emo-rrissey

Josh Slobin reports:
Admit it. You love Morrissey. You own every Smiths LP. You quoted "I feel black on the outside/ 'Cause black is how I feel on the inside" in your high school yearbook, and you've even seen him live a few times. Yeah, we saw you sulking in the cheap seats. But now that you've found indie rock, there's no room in your life for a much-maligned (see 1997's Maladjusted) celebate crooner. Fortunately, Morrissey doesn't want you anymore, either.

Though not officially confirmed by the indie label, a comprehensive Morrissey fansite is claiming that the former Smiths frontman recently turned down a record deal from Jade Tree, which should be familiar to Pitchfork readers as the label for the Promise Ring, Pedro the Lion, Jets to Brazil, and Joan of Arc, among others. Morrissey hasn't spoken out about his latest recording plans since a 1999 article in The Irish Times, in which he claimed that he'd written songs for an album entitled Irish Blood, English Heart, but that he wouldn't begin recording without a contract. Too bad the Jade Tree deal didn't happen-- we would have looked forward to that Morrissey/The Explosion split seven-inch. Seriously.

The Boy With The Thorn writes:

Tony Wilson and Morrissey both featured on the 1st March BBC Radio 2 programme on Factory Records and the Manchester music scene presented by Mark Radcliffe (very funny Mancunian radio DJ, who also has a weekday afternoon show on Radio 1 which I highly recommend), explaining why The Smiths were never signed to the label.

Nothing startling here - Wilson's comments are pretty much a protracted regurgitation of what he says in The Severed Alliance, while Moz's contribution is presumably old. But interesting nevertheless.

[From the show]

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Holy Name writes:

This week's edition of the British equivalent of "Sixty Minutes", "Panorama", is about the Foot-and-Mouth-disease disaster. This animal disease is sweeping through British farms and means that the entire British livestock industry is in turmoil and tens of thousands of pigs, cows and sheep are being incinerated in mass fires every day. Rather appropriately the music accompanying the trailer on BBC1 is "Meat is Murder". (Mar. 2)

An anonymous person writes:

Linder Sterling piece at the 'Dead' exhibition at London Roundhouse for next 2 weeks, then Ulverston in Lake District for c. 3 months. Features piece of music.

David Alice writes:

PART 2 of THE DIANA-MORRISSEY PHENOMENON deals exclusively with Morrissey's lyrics on THE QUEEN IS DEAD. You'll find the link on my new front page at http://home.cogeco.ca/~veganmozfan/