In the last 4 years or so not a week has gone by without some sort of news update on the front page - there have always been a lot of trivial facts on this site along with the bigger news items, but in the last few weeks trivial items are all there seem to have been.

Do you mind the more trivial updates or should they only happen when there is some actual news? This could mean breaks of 2 weeks or longer between updates. Personally I have always been interested in the trivial stuff but I can see how it can be annoying to some people also.

During this time I have kept busy working on upgrading the site to the new version 2.0 of slash (the code backend which this site uses) which will be released shortly. There are a couple of new features but for the most part I think the major changes are in the architecture which will make adding new features to the site much easier. As always, suggestions and constructive criticism regarding the site are welcome. Once the new code is in place (it will take a while, maybe a month or two) I will then be looking to spread some of the responsibilities of the site, like posting news items and polls. I've got some people in mind already but if anyone else has a strong interest in helping out, let me know. Otherwise, I appreciate those who have continued to contribute to the site in any way they can, by continuing to submit stories and interesting comments.

Joemoz writes:

This is what Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys says about a couple of his songs ('Miserablism' and 'Getting Away With It') in the liner notes to the reissue of their album Behaviour. Reissues of all their albums excluding the latest will be out next month.

Miserablism:
"I think we wrote this in the beginning of 1990, during the shoe-gazing period, when Morrissey was huge as a solo artist. It's another song sort of written from the point of view of being Morrissey - the first song like that being 'Getting away with it', The Electronic single, which I wrote most of the words of. 'Getting away with it' is looking at Morrissey's persona of being miserable and all the rest of it, and saying that he's been getting away with it for years. It's meant to be humorous. 'Miserablism' is a satire, a little like 'How can you expect to be taken seriously?' What bugged me about the shoe-gazers always looking really miserable is that people think someone like that is really serious. It's something that endlessly bugs me in pop music - that someone with the style of being serious is always accepted as being serious. And also that anyone being playful is then not taken seriously, whereas actually being playful is actually more difficult than being 'serious', and possibly can end up being a lot more serious at the same time. The words to this song were inspired by someone telling me that they asked their father on his deathbed what it was like, and he said: 'is is, isn't isn't'. And I thought that was a great quote, and a very kind of miserablist way of looking at the world. There's no romance - the only thing that exists is what really exists."

Lyrics for the two songs:
Miserablism
Getting Away With It

An anonymous person writes:

The new edition of UNCUT magazine features an interview with Ian McCulloch of ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN. He makes a few comments about The Smiths, some good, some a bit cheeky. He refers to Morrissey as "him and his flowers"!

TrblLuvsMe writes:

This is from the "Lost In Music" section of the May 2001 Q Magazine (page 29)

Life's Big Moments all come with songs attached, tracks that beam you back in time whenever they're replayed. We all have them. Even pop stars. This month: Neil Finn

How Soon Is Now by The Smiths
"Someone vomited on me . . ."
"For me, the definitive London song is How Soon Is Now. At the beginning of Crowded House, me and Paul (Hester, drummer) came to London with our demo tapes and that song was a big hit at the time. I'd been to London before as a kid, and then it was always Waterloo Sunset that made me think of the place, cos it evoked a load of romantic dreamy notions of the city. Back then there was still a part of the New Zealand that clung to the UK - you grew up reading Roy of the Rovers and watching Coronation Street. When did the scales fall from my eyes? On that trip, actually. I went to the Marquee and someone vomited on me."

Richard writes:

Last night (May 1) I was watching "Dharma and Greg" when in one of the last senes of the show where darma goes to her parents house to babysit her little brother, she has on this pink denim jackett that has an Elvis button on the front that says "Shoplifters" on the bottom of the button. And if none of you guys out there have the button it's the cover of "Shoplifters of the World Unite".

Charles writes:

Los Angeles based Smiths tribute band The Sweet And Tender Hooligans will appear on The Indie Shop for a chat, a chance to play some of their favorite cds and an in studio performance....

The show will be Wednesday, May 9, 8-10 pm pacific time.

Questions to be forwarded to the band can be sent to "[email protected]

An anonymous writes:

There's a tribute song to Morrissey called "Dear Morrissey" by Jonathan Ian Mathers at www.mp3.com/mathersj

You have to scroll down a bit but it's there *_*

Jack The Hipper writes:

New site for the Swedish tribute night MORRISSEYISM that took place in Lund 2 march. The venue was sold out and crammed with people. Some nice pictures of the djs and guests artists is out now. The front page shows Per Sunding (Eggstone) and Nina Persson (The Cardigans).

The cool poster(90x35cm) shown on the page can be ordered from the Swedish record store http://www.doolittle.m.se Their telephone number is on the middle of the page. The poster costs 100 SEK (ca $10) plus postage.

UnsleepableFrnd writes:

A&E Biography will be airing a one hour special on the life of Oscar Wilde. It is to be broadcast on May 23rd (in the U.S.) from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. (or 7:00 to 8:00 central). It will be shown again at 12:00 a.m. (11:00 p.m. central). This should be an excellent follow up to all of the Moz celebrating that will be happening on the 22nd!

shoplifterromo writes:

Help us celebrate Morrissey's birthday Tuesday May 22nd with a "Moz B-day Bash" at Club Dedo, corner of Mesa and Rio Grande, in El Paso, Texas. Join us for plenty of Morrissey/Smiths music, party favors, live covers, and birthday cake.