WHAT RECENT GROUPS HAVE MEANT MOST TO YOU?
Nirvana are one of the most important groups to have emerged on the scene in recent years. Kurt Cobain's songwriting will be an absolute reference point with time. Otherwise I have lot of respect for Supergrass and the Beta band (a group who are very representative of what is happening in music today. The Beta band for me are pushing back the limits of different genres of music and harmonising perfectly music from different eras - such as Can, Velvet Underground and psychedelic rock). At the moment I am not listening to anything new. I prefer to listen to old records such as Fela (artist from either Niger or Nigeria), Ananda Shanker - son of Ravi who did mad sitar versions of "Jumping Jack Flash" in the seventies. I also listen to obscure jazz.

DOES CINEMA OCCUPY A PARTICULAR PLACE IN YOUR HEART?
No. My life is totally dedicated to music and I get easily bored at the cinema. The one time when I've been desperate to see a film was for the music that Ennio Morricone composed for the soundtrack of The Mission. I greatly liked Southern Comfort, especially the music by Ry Cooder. In both cases I concluded that, for me, a good film must have a good soundtrack. Otherwise I have fairly ordinary tastes. I mostly prefer American films such as Altered States and Sunset Boulevard.

...in "La Voz De Galicia", the local newspaper (20 May), something about Djalminha, a Brazilian football (soccer) playing at Deportivo de La Coruņa, a Spanish league. He also played a few times with Brazilian team.

(I'll try to translate this the best I can):

...he is also interested in music. His favourite band is The Smiths, for sure the best British band of the eighties. "What Morrissey is about now?", he asks. He is talking about the dandy singer of that English band. Last year his house in A Zapateira was ransacked by thieves. "They took away the TV, the video, several things, but the thing that hurt me most was that they took my Smiths records". Djalma has old records of this group only obtainable by collectors. "Years ago some friends of mine went to England and they were at Morrissey's house. They jumped the wall, but couldnīt see him", he tells with admiration."

In the same paper it was an article about Los Piratas, a band from Vigo (Spain). They have a song at Batman Forever Soundtrack. The article was about their cover of Sinatra's "My Way". The singer, a reported punk follower, was wearing a Moz T-Shirt.

With all this talk about John Cale producing Morrissey, I found this in a great biography on Lou Reed by Victor Bockris:

"By 1985, British bands ranging from the Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, and Simple Minds to a host of other chart-toppers paid tribute to Reed and the Velvets. Morrissey, then lead singer of the Smiths, for example, was called a 'reasonable postliberation version of the early Lou Reed.'"

Makes me wonder if The Smiths ever considered doing a Velvet or Lou Reed cover. Imagine .. Morrissey singing "Lady Day" .. or even the entire Berlin album. That would be wonderful.

The following was stated on the official Violent Femmes web ("Believe it or Not" section):

Smiths singer Morrissey attended a Femmes show in London. Informed of his presence the Femmes came out for the encore and sang the Smiths song, "I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear" CLAD ONLY IN THEIR UNDERWEAR!!!