Can anyone confirm or deny this rumor that I've heard on different occasions about crew members and band from last year's tour not being paid yet? Does this have anything to do with the rumored February East Coast US dates and perhaps the UK festival dates not coming together?

An anonymous person writes:

This weekend Andy Rourke was guest-dj at the indie-club Step On in Stockholm, Sweden.

I got to meet him a bit, have a pint together and a little chat. We talked a bit about his days with The Smiths, he signed a few of my records and was dead nice.

Then I led the conversation into what I've always been curious about; what Rourke thought of Morrissey's solo stuff.

He claimed not to have heard a great deal of it, but he added something interesting: Rourke said that he still hadn't received royalties for the songs he's written with Morrissey ("Yes, I Am Blind" and "Girl Least Likely To"), at least not for the appearance of the latter on what he called "that My Pickpocket Days-record or whatever it was called". He also added that: "but then again, that's Morrissey for ya. It doesn't surprise me though, he's never been that kind of person to reach into his pocket and pay the people around him".

Thought this might be of interest.

Saw this in the Marketplace -- offers are being taken for pulled Smiths artwork at Morrisseymadness.co.uk.

Among the items:

• "There Is A Light" pulled sleeve used for "Bigmouth" instead
• "Sheila" pulled proof sleeve, 4 tone coloured cover
• "Stop Me" pulled sleeve used for "I Started Something"
• "Shoplifters" with Craig Gannon on back credits

paulybob writes:

They're having a Mick Ronson day. The newsletter says...

Liz Kershaw will be talking to BERNARD BUTLER about Mick Ronson's lasting influence and Morrissey cohort ALAIN WHYTE will also join Liz to recall the recording of Your Arsenal, which turned out to be the last album Mick produced.http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

Jaime writes:

They Might Be Giants played last night (Apr. 24) at UCLA Royce Hall. They had a special first hour with three different authors reading poetry. Dave Egar had a story about a boy who, during the reading, listened to The Smiths song "Well I Wonder." While reading this story, They Might Be Giants played the music to "Well I Wonder" and John Flansburgh sang it! It was a great show and just another surprise "tribute" to The Smiths.

charles byron writes:

I think nobody can consider it real news by now, but Morrissey's name slipped from King of Cool's mouth briefly in an interview he recently had with SX.

this is what Ian McCulloch has to say about him:

"And Morrissey, that other erudite cunt. I had the displeasure of being co-interviewed with him and he mispronounced chasm."

seems like Mac The Mouth strikes again... this time when promoting "Sliding", his brilliant new album (out 28 April -UK- & 6 May -US- ).
---

• Related item: Ian McCulloch on Morrissey - Apr. 23, 1999

scenester renegade writes:

Seattle singer-songwriter Coulter announces the release of his new single, entitled "Aim Your Guns at Washington".... in protest of the Bush administration's current "war on terror". All proceeds from this single will be donated to the International Red Cross, and it can be sampled/purhased on the new (and much improved) Coulter website which can be found at www.coulterclub.com.

Morrissey/The Smiths tribute band Sweet and Tender Hooligans return to El Paso Texas this Saturday night.

Club 101
500 S. San Francisco
El Paso, Texas

Tickets on sale at the door and through the Club 101 website.

Sweet and Tender Hooligans - Yahoo! group