Everyone keeps wondering why Moz doesn't have a specific support act for this leg yet. something of interest that I did not know (and maybe others don't as well) is that it is expensive to be Moz's opener. I talked with Sack a lot during the shows in Germany, and LV and Martin said they had to pay Moz $10,000 to open. They also have to pay for their own transportation (airfare and city to city) and accommodations (hence why they rarely stay at the ritzy joints). For their $10,000 they get to use Moz's roadies and they eat the veggie catered food. Without a label Sack were really scraping by on this tour, so it is no wonder that they couldn't join this leg (I don't know if they were asked or not).

Just a tidbit I never knew before.

* Update (Feb. 5) from Alexandrea:

...I should have also written that Sack said that they were very grateful for the opportunity and thought that it was WELL worth their money. They were honored to do it... I wasn't putting judgment on Morrissey (all the comments afterward did that)... most bands probably do have to pay, I just never knew that and found it interesting.

THURSDAY 2/3
Morrissey (LIVE MUSIC)

Few figures in rock history polarize the culture as intensely as Morrissey. Fans adore him. Detractors deplore him. Even people who revere the Smiths are split. But one fact remains incontrovertible: Floor seats for this show are going for $100 a pop. Suck on that. Though conventional thinking dictates that none of his solo work (with the grudging exceptions of most of Viva Hate, half of Vauxhall & I, and all of Your Arsenal) is worth a tinker's damn, his loyal legion knows the truth. Last time he was in town, he busted out jaw-drop renditions of "Shoplifters of the World Unite" and "Paint a Vulgar Picture," which bodes well for the presence of Smiths songs tonight. But even if he just plays all of Kill Uncle, the faithful will lie prostrate at the altar, grateful for the opportunity. Damn right.

SEAN NELSON

Paramount Theater, 911 Pine St, 726-0777, 9 pm, $32.50.

Midlife jump-start for 'Moz'

by Mark Rahner
Seattle Times staff reporter

Put on your black clothes, groom your sideburns and prepare to mope.

The Disaffected One - a k a Morrissey - is here.

Promoters for the former Smiths frontman say there isn't any particular reason for his short - but still very forlorn - U.S. tour, which inexplicably kicked off Tuesday in Spokane. No new album, they say; he's just playing some dates, and without an opening act.

Morrissey's last album was 1998's "My Early Burglary Years," a collection of rarities, B-sides and other odds and ends. His last album of original material, 1997's "Maladjusted," vanished without so much as a whimper.

Meanwhile, the jangly-morose sounds of the Smiths have been popping up like hankies at an "English Patient"-"Terms of Endearment" double feature: in a movie or TV soundtrack here, a commercial there.

Morrissey - a k a Steven Patrick Morrissey or "Moz" to his cultish worshipers - has steadily cranked out solo albums since the Smiths' 1987 breakup. Critics suspected that whatever residual momentum the singer had carried from the Smiths into his solo career was exhausted, until 1992 and "Your Arsenal," which earned him, along with renewed respect, a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album. Two years later, he scored a hit with "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get," on "Vauxhall & I."

But the English pop star hasn't made droves of post-Smiths converts. Or, as one critic summed up his fans, "a shrinking demographic of sensitive, disaffected, sexually undecided middle-class popsters who caught a glimpse of Morrissey in his glory days with the Smiths and liked it enough to hang on, hoping for a few remaining morsels of genius."

Those Smiths glory days lasted for three years, six albums and about 17 memorable singles, including "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," "This Charming Man," "Girlfriend in a Coma," "Panic," and "Shoplifters of the World Unite."

But while those plaintive notes echoed in many a darkened dorm room in the States, the Smiths never achieved the status here that they did in the U.K. And by the time of Morrissey's Grammy nod, the rest of the world had caught up with him and judged his style passe. As if the Grammys themselves weren't a sure enough sign, a hilariously withering sendup the same year on cable's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" seemed to mark the crooner's transition into living cliche: Mike Nelson as a sullen Morrissey emerged from a container for keeping aging pop stars fresh, sing-song pontificating about how he cried that day.

Morrissey no doubt fueled the backlash with provocative interviews and behavior that even his own press material describes as "inscrutable": proclaiming himself celibate, forcing his vegetarianism on bandmates, trashing politicians as well as his musical peers.

But now, Morrissey may have worked up enough angst to give his career a second jump-start, particularly after these recent developments:

1) In November 1998, he lost a British High Court appeal against former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce, who wanted a bigger cut than the 10 percent of the band's royalties he and bassist Andy Rourke were getting. Morrissey and founding guitarist Johnny Marr were each getting 40 percent. (Rourke settled out of court.)

2) Moz is past 40 now. What causes more of a panic than a midlife crisis?


Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company

Douglas Coupland, the author of "Girlfriend in a Coma", read from his new book, "Miss Wyoming", here in Iowa City on 2/2/00. He was saying how the female protagonist in the new book was based roughly on Kristy McNichol and joked that he hoped she didn't hate his guts.

"My last book was oriented around a number of Smiths and Morrissey song bites," he started, then paused for effect. "How would you like to go through life knowing MORRISSEY hates you?!" A goodly portion of the audience clapped and laughed, seeming to know of Mozzer's occasional bouts of vindictive feelings.

"So, during the tour for that book," he continued, "the PRESIDENT of his US fan club came up to me in Boston, really quiet and not smiling.

And I asked (scrunches face, looks nervous): 'well....what does HE think?'"

"He was quite flattered," she said.

When I got my book signed, I told him that I was going to Chicago to see Morrissey next week. Coupland made a disappointed noise and said, "Oh, I'm so jealous!" Evidently, he knows about the tour and can't see it because of his own commitments.

By the way, his website, www.coupland.com, is really cool and worth checking out.

Recently Radio One DJ John Peel invited listeners to select their 3 all time favourite tracks. 3 Smiths songs appeared:

at no.7 "How Soon Is Now?" , no. 9 "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and "This Charming Man" at no.22

Here's the complete result of that poll.

50 Pavement - ' Here' (Big Cat)
49 P J Harvey - ' Sheela-na-gig' (Too Pure)
48 Culture - ' Lion Rock' (Strange Fruit)
47 Sundays - ' Can't Be Sure' (Rough Trade)
46 Beach Boys - ' Good Vibrations' (Capitol)
45 Beatles - ' I Am The Walrus' (Parlophone)
44 Bob Dylan - ' Visions Of Johanna' (CBS)
43 Nick Drake - ' Northern Sky' (Island)
42 Velvet Underground - ' Heroin' (MGM)
41 Beach Boys - ' God Only Knows' (Capitol)
40 Tim Buckley - ' Song To The Siren' (Straight)
39 Damned - ' New Rose' (Stiff)
38 Fall - ' The Classical' (Situation Two)
37 Jimi Hendrix Experience - ' All Along The Watchtower' (Polydor)
36 Stereolab - ' French Disko' (Duophonic)
35 Jam - ' Going Underground' (Polydor)
34 Fall - ' Totally Wired' (Rough Trade)
33 Clash - ' Complete Control' (CBS)
32 New Order - ' True Faith' (Factory)
31 Belle & Sebastian - ' Lazy Line Painter Jane' (Jeepster)
30 Pixies - ' Debaser' (4AD)
29 Sex Pistols - ' Pretty Vacant' (Virgin)
28 Joy Division - ' Transmission' (Factory)
27 My Bloody Valentine - ' You Made Me Realise' (Creation)
26 Delgados - ' Pull The Wires From the Wall' (Chemikal Underground)
25 Wedding Present - ' My Favourite Dress' (Reception)
24 Fall - ' How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'' (Rough Trade)
23 Sugarcubes - ' Birthday' (One Little Indian)
22 Smiths - ' This Charming Man' (WEA)
21 Wedding Present - ' Brassneck' (RCA)
20 Joy Division - ' She's Lost Control' (Factory)
19 New Order - ' Temptation' (Factory)
18 Only Ones - ' Another Girl, Another Planet' (CBS)
17 New Order - ' Ceremony' (Factory)
16 My Bloody Valentine - ' Soon' (Creation)
15 Joy Division - ' New Dawn Fades' (Factory)
14 Dead Kennedy's - ' Holiday In Cambodia' (Cherry Red)
13 Capt Beefheart & His Magic Band - ' Big Eyed Beans From Venus' (Reprise)
12 Pulp - ' Common People' (Island)
11 Robert Wyatt - ' Shipbuilding' (Rough Trade)
10 This Mortal Coil - ' Song To The Siren' (4AD)
09 Smiths - ' There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' (Rough Trade)
08 Nirvana - ' Smells Like Teen Spirit' (Geffen)
07 Smiths - ' How Soon Is Now?' (Rough Trade)
06 New Order - ' Blue Monday' (Factory)
05 Clash - '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais' (CBS)
04 Sex Pistols - ' Anarchy In The UK' (EMI)
03 Joy Division - ' Love Will Tear Us Apart' (Factory)
02 Undertones - ' Teenage Kicks' (Good Vibrations)
01 Joy Division - ' Atmosphere' (Factory)

I'm so pleased to say to you that the Moz party is definitely on 3rd March, 2000, Friday at 22h 30m here in Oporto/Portugal.

We also have live bands that they'll going to make some Smiths or Moz song covers, I think that this will be the real beginning for a Portuguese fan club...

Flyer