Today (May 12) I was in a mall with Natan (here in Mexico City) and it was about 8pm. Then we listened the first chords and lines of «Boy racer» (live!!! from the "Oye Esteban" tour) so we tried to find where it was played... it was in a big screen at the fast food zone!!! We stayed there because we couldn’t believe it! The MUCH MUSIC CHANNEL was transmitting A MORRISSEY SPECIAL!!! The first song we caught was «Boy Racer» (live), then «How Soon Is Now?» (Siths video), «Alma Matters» (live), «This Charming Man» (Smiths video), «November Spawned A Monster» (live), «Everyday Is Like Sunday» (video), «Hairdresser On Fire» (live), «Tomorrow» (video), «Ouija Board» (live) and finally and SPECTACULAR!: «Dagenham Dave» (video)... GREAT SPECIAL!

I would like to know if you knew about this special, because it was a big surprise for us! We laugh a lot when we noticed that all the time Morrissey’s name was written bad as often occurs: «Morrisey» with one S. ALL THE LIVE PERFORMANCES ARE FROM THE «OYE ESTEBAN TOUR»

The cover story from today's weekly Chicago Reader (May 12)  is 'The Pope Who Found Jesus,' an almost 13 page article which details the rise of the Smoking Popes, and how "Josh Caterer traded life in the spotlight for a spot in the choir." (The article is not available on the site ChiReader.com) Here is some of the text related to Morrissey:

In late October the Popes drove to Tucson to begin a five-week tour opening for Morrissey. The melancholy Mancunian hadn't released an album in two years, but he commanded a hysterical cult following, and he'd taken a shine to the Popes, praising an advance copy of Destination Failure during an interview on KROQ that summer. Josh had really wanted the tour: they'd be exposed to an older audience than the high school and college kids who usually turned out to see them, and they'd be playing large rooms, with crowds ranging from a thousand to nearly six thousand people.

But for once everyone was excited to be hitting the road, even though the drives were more brutal than before. With Daily in tow they now had seven people, so Josh bought a Taurus station wagon from Daily's father, a Ford dealer; Josh and Eli had quit smoking cigarettes too, so they and Daily rode in the wagon while the smokers took the van, pulling the gear behind them in a trailer. Morrissey's outfit had three tour buses: one for the band, one for the road crew, and one for the star. "We'd play a show and they'd hop on the bus and fall asleep and their bus driver would drive all night," Daily recalls. "But we'd have to stay up all night and follow the bus. We went from, like, the LA area to Salt Lake City the next day-that kind of thing, where it was like 800-mile drives. Trying to chase that bus all over the United States was really hard."

Morrissey chatted with Josh a few times and said hello to the band once, but he was extremely guarded when he was around at all. Usually his bus would pull up to the venue 15 minutes before his set, and he'd disappear again as soon as the show was over. "There was some weird, weird mayhem that went on at a lot of those shows," says Daily. "People throwing themselves up on the stage and grabbing his clothes and stuff, like he was Elvis." Sometimes they'd play in theaters, and the Popes would have to put their set across while the Morrissey fans were milling around and finding their seats, but other times they'd play to standing crowds and get a great reception.

The tour would bolster their career more than any other event; when Mike reviewed the SoundScan figures for the new album he found that sales were strongest in towns where they'd opened for Morrissey, and about 80 percent of the band's current E-mail list are people who discovered them on that tour. It would have been the perfect opportunity for Capitol to get behind the record and help them break through on the radio, but no one at the label was paying attention.

Related links

• KROQ Interview (7-6-97, part 4)
• Smoking Popes breakup (Feb. 19, 1999)

British actress Kathy Burke [Nil By Mouth, Elizabeth, Kevin & Perry] mentions Morrissey in this month's Uncut magazine. Talking about pop music she describes Paul Weller and Jarvis Cocker as "heroes", and while talking about the latter moves on to Mozzer.

"I love his [Cocker's] lyrics, I think his outlook on life is just brilliant - the best thing since Morrissey. Because I used to love The Smiths, they were the best thing that happened in the Eighties. I just thought he was hilarious, his lyrics were so simple, I just used to adore him. And I ended up in a Morrissey video, "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" - the only song that didn't get anywhere! Ha Ha! It was pretty bad, but I was so delighted to be in his video. But it was also quite disappointing as well because you get the phone call: "Morrissey wants you to be in one of his videos." I was like, "Great!" I had visions of being one of those gorgeous girls on a bike that he usually has. But no, he had me as some fucking Fifties bus conductor! And he had me chasing him through a battlefield - me chasing him, if you please! The fucking big poof! You should be chasing me, love!"

Once again an author borrows the genius of Morrissey. Keith Fleming's memoir that was just released is entitled "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side" published by William Morrow/Harper Collins.

Hi everybody!

It's Derek from The Upstairs Lounge in Boston. Just wanted to let you all know that we are throwing a birthday ball for Morrissey on Saturday, 20 May from 10 til 2. The Salford Lads are confirmed to play as well as Ken and myself spinning Smiths and Moz. The cover is $10 or $8 with a flyer before 11PM.

Here is the link to print out a $2 off admission pass.

Directions can be obtained via the website. Hope to see you there!

My name is Ryan and I'm a 22-year-old artist/writer/student in South Florida. I'm in the midst of writing a novel called THE UNRAVELING, part of which probes issues of pop-star crushes. It is inspired by my personal experience of letter-writing to Moz, but it actually goes a lot further, symbolizing a young woman's quest for her own notions of reality in a world often in favor of less imagination and more conformity. I would absolutely love your constructive input if you can relate to what I have written. Thanks

I am writing this to your website to put and end (hopefully) to the rumors that have been surfacing of late. I do not wish to give my name, but I am someone "in the know" that's for sure. First and foremost, let me say that the rumors of Moz and Johnny Depp are 110% untrue. It is true that Moz's LA home is next to Mr. Depp's estate; however the two have never met.

Furthermore; Gary Day does not presently own a computer (although he is looking to buy one). So, the  message posted a couple of weeks ago, was not posted by him (though I'm sure you probably knew that already).

Also, John Cale's name has been mentioned as a possible producer for the next album, but this is not ground-breaking news as this was announced almost a year ago via other channels. The same is true about the Maverick records deal, that had been mentioned months earlier.

There are no plans to have "old faces" returning behind the desk either. That includes the really old ones as well as recent ones. Morrissey has not written any duet period, not with Johnny Depp, Alain or anyone. I think he got his fill of duets last time around. And lastly; as for the "anonymously sent" email; I believe this person to be a fraud as well. First off, I cannot recall anyone who jumped on board with "Southpaw", where the author states he first worked with Moz. All the people that worked close to Moz on that album had worked with Moz previously. In all honestly, there is nothing to tell right now. All is quiet on the Morrissey front. I think that times like these are when the most untruths come out. A tour just ended... and everyone wants to know what Moz's next move will be... so people start making things up to toy with the masses. Nothing is going on right now, and nothing will happen for the next couple of months. There is a strong possibility of the tour picking up again this summer into the early fall, but again nothing is set in stone.