The following feature appears in this months issue of Q. A picture from Nottingham's Rock City accompanies it;

"I AM A VICTIM!"

In a rare interview, Morrissey lashes out at a High Court judge, his biographer and Britain itself.

Morrissey appears to be suffering from a full-blown persecution complex. The 40- year-old singer is still smarting from the decision of High Court Judge Mr Justice Weeks, who on December 1, 1996 ruled that Morrissey and The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr owed the band's ex-drummer, Mike Joyce, back-dated royalties.

Two years later, on November 6, 1998, Morrissey lost a high-profile appeal against the verdict, leaving him and Marr (who'd quietly accepted the initial court ruling) with a £1 million payout to Joyce, plus legal costs which ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Morrissey claims, " I was a victim of the judicial system in England," and outlines a personal opinion that the highly respected judge is "completely unintelligent" and "an appalling, public menace of a justice, ...He can destroy your life."

Without producing a shred of evidence, Morrissey also argues that he was the victim of a right-wing, class-conscious plot. "You are working class and you are made to feel like a peasant. We have to realise that this judge is a Lord of the Hunt and I have in the past said things about that. I have also said things about Thatcher who more than likely appointed him. I have also said things about the royal family. This judge wanted to grind me down."

Referring to Mr Weeks' description of Morrissey as "devious, truculent and unreliable" witness, the ex-Smiths frontman makes the allegation that, "His (Weeks') final judgement went to every length to strip me down and destroy me as a human being. If I can get somebody to examine his words and the case, I believe he'd have to step down." On November 6, 1998 the appeal court dismissed Morrissey's claim that Weeks' comments were an "unjust and gratuitous attack" on his character.

Morrissey's grudge against Smiths biographer Johnny Rogan (in 1990 the Smiths frontman said he hoped the author would "end his days very soon in an M3 pile-up") is still festering a decade later. The singer discusses Rogan's research for a follow-up book in terms of an intrusion. "People say, well, he's obviously gay and loves you," he says mirthlessly.

Now living in Los Angeles, the '80's bedsit icon has withdrawn into a claustrophobic world where everyone in Britain is out to get him.

"There is an extreme disregard for anything I do in Britain. People tell me about what I've done and the legacy but I don't feel it. I'm sitting here without a record company.

I'm not desperate," he adds.

Allow me to put these Mark Harris rumors to rest. First and foremost Mark Harris WILL NOT be opening for Morrissey at the Palladium, or in Vegas or anywhere else Moz happens to be playing.

Let me explain. I am semi-friendly with Mark Harris after meeting him at one of Howard Stern's birthday shows. He may very well be the gayest man in America, but he's a nice guy although a bit eccentric. We exchange e-mails from time to time, and that's about it. Anyway, anytime he goes on Howard's show he always asks if I want him to mention anything on the air. My reply is always no, but I thought it would be funny if Mark could mention the upcoming US Moz dates on the air. So I called his voice mail and told him about the Palladium and Vegas dates. I also wanted him to mention the band members names on the air with the plug since they never get the recognition they deserve. I thought it would be cool to have Moz shows promoted on Howard Stern, that's all.

Of course Mark didn't exactly say what I told him to say. He made it seem like he was opening for Morrissey, when all I asked him to do was simply read the dates. He went on the air and said things like "I don't know why this Morrissey band keeps calling me" referring to the call I made. He had emailed me the day before he went on the show and asked me if there was a way he could get in touch with Morrissey's people so he could sing his new song "Dear Senator McCain" live at one of the shows. I told him I had no idea how to contact "Morrissey's People" and that it would be very unlikely that Morrissey would be interested.

You can imagine my amazement when I saw that there was a big Mark Harris debate on your site. I had no idea it would turn into what it did. So I'm writing this to put the whole thing to rest.

So rest assured that Morrissey has no interest in getting Mark Harris to perform with him (although it would be a riot). Actually Mark Harris didn't even know who Morrissey was until I told him. So I hope this puts the whole thing to rest. I won't have Mark mention Moz anymore on the air, you can be sure of that. So I think that covers all the bases. All I wanted to do was promote the Moz shows... had no idea it would turn into what it did. Sorry for the confusion everybody!

A wonderful version with slight lyric changes - "he drew a swallow on my neck, there was no more to say, he drew a swallow on my neck and from then on I knew"

The Reprise Records "new release" section has put the release of the Smiths' "The Complete Picture" as February 22, 2000.

The "Oye Esteban" disc still is in the "in 2000" section.

In the Dec 2nd issue of NOW Magazine (a Toronto weekly) there is a brief interview with El Vez in which he mentions Morrissey a few times, here are the snippets:

"We (El Vez and Morrissey) only did a couple of shows together," offers Lopez (El Vez's real name) from his Los Angeles home, "and he was nice -- just very, very shy. Ridiculously shy. He didn't say much to me other than that he was at our first London show and he has all my records."

"In interviews, he kept telling everyone I was his favourite artist and he wanted to steal ideas from me. So near the end of his performances he'd put on a shirt with Mexico on it and he'd change the lyrics of a song and sing something about being a Mexican."

"He asked me to open for him in the UK, but I couldn't do it because dates conflicted with my Christmas shows."

"Great Morrissey gig cut early as fans storm stage" by Keith Barrett

The Galway Advertiser

Excerpt:

Morrissey, an icon from the 80s with the Smiths, and solo artist for the past number of years. He's been away from the press and the public eye of late, so when he played in the Black Box Theatre last week I didn't really know what to expect. What I didn't expect was the wave of fans bypassing all security and prancing about in the limelight...

I'd like to set the record straight. I was the Derry stage diver.

It seems I came out of this in a very bad light. What happened was, when I went to Morrissey I kissed him and thanked him for helping me on stage. I'd been caught and he said "Let him go, he's a good boy". I asked, "Can I have your T-shirt?" He shrugged in a way I read as a yes. Security grabbed me and I asked "Are you sure?". Same reply, same reading by me.

Security grabbed me holding onto his 'Canning Town' T-shirt and dragged us both to the side stage. I let go when someone gently tapped my wrist with a guitar and was let straight back in. I heard Morrissey's comments and went to the grey haired security guy that's been with Mozz a long time to check everything was ok and explain why I did what I did. I spoke to him again the next day in Belfast and he said Morrissey hadn't commented on it to him. After that gig, Alain told me to forget about it and just enjoy the concerts. I couldn't.

I would never dream of harming or upsetting him. If I did in Derry then I am truly sorry for the worse mistake in my life. I did it to create atmosphere (which Derry lacked) in the same way I jumped from the Glasgow concert hall to onstage speakers on the "Kill Uncle" tour. Belfast, Galway and Limerick came and went and I was still pouring tears. Did I read it wrong? Was he playing with me? This short moment in time had turned my world upside down. It seemed to me so unfair. During the Galway concert I reached out to him and security pushed me back down straight away, while Mozz said "Oh no you don't!". Was everything ok? Seems like it. The night before the Cork gig I walked into the bar the band were drinking in and spoke to them. Alain Whyte is such a nice guy and has made me feel so much better about the whole thing.

Even so, I've decided to retire from stage diving, unless Morrissey says otherwise.

Morrissey is listed as one of the 2000 queers of our century (Dec./Jan. 2000 GENRE Magazine).

2000 Years, 2000 Queers and our allies
a family tree

There's comfort in numbers and strength in unity - and if you play six degrees of separation, you may have had sex with every person on this list.

We're here ,we're queer and we are family.

from the list in alphabetical order:

MORRISSEY- singer
PAUL MORRISSEY - director
(director of TRASH, The Smiths debut sleeve)

so does this mean all of our questions are true?