In Germany, MORRISSEY’s "Alma Matters" reached #2 in the "Aurum 97-The Rockers of the year 1997" (Top 100) at the local radio station HO*T FM in Bavaria
( http://www.hot-fm.de/charts/aurum97.htm ).

It was voted by the listeners’ alternative charts "Aurum Minus 30". MOZ was #1 for five weeks (!) in the summer of ‘97, for ten weeks he was in this Top 30 chart.

Greatest Living Englishmen, no. 43

Thanks to John McIntyre for the news:

In the February edition of men’s magazine "Loaded" which was released yesterday (Wed 14th Jan) reference was again made to Moz. Every month they devote a page to "Greatest Living Englishmen", this month it was Morrissey’s turn. While somewhat tongue in cheek, the article does heap praise on Moz’s time spent with the Smiths, and how the group changed musical history. On the down side they describe everything he has done since in less than glowing terms, with the current band lineup receiving particular attention as not being up to his standards.

The centrepiece of the article was a photo of Morrissey from the shoulders upwards taken from the long photo in the sleeve of Vauxhall & I.

This magazine frequently makes remarks about Morrissey whenever possible i.e. whenever anyone with a quiff is photographed. Later on in the issue the stall give a list of what they’ve been listening to, "The Smiths - all of it" was at no.3 in their list.

Johnny Rogan on the Phil Jupitus Show

Thanks to Robert Stagg for the report:

Just a note to tell you that Johnny Rogan was on the Phil Jupitus GLR radio show on Saturday 10th January primarily to plug his new book on the Byrds.

He talked briefly about Morrissey and the Smiths stating that at the Mike Joyce trial last year Morrissey approached him and they had a polite conversation. Rogan said at the end of the conversation he asked Morrissey if he still wanted him to die in a road accident on the M25, and Morrissey said "No", paused and then said "the M3" (or something like that).

Phil Jupitus went on to state his love for the Smiths and how loud they were as a live act. He said he saw them in Liverpool and a man at the venue said the Smiths had a much bigger PA than Motorhead, who played there the day before.

It’s no surprise Jupitus likes the Morrissey/Smiths because, as you know, so many comedians seem to be attracted to them and make references to him/them in their acts.

Back in Dublin

Thanks to Robert Holmes for this article titled "Morrissey's amid the Magill cheers" that appeared in the "Dubliners" section of the Irish Independent (Jan 13th).

Advice from Low

Thanks to Fabricio Muller for the news:

Not of great importance, but in the yesterday’s edition of Folha de Sao Paulo, the most important Brazilian newspaper, I read this in the Alvaro Pereira Jr. column (translated):

If you have any romantic doubts, follow the advice of the group Low’s Alan Sparhawk. Magazine Smug asked him what one should do to create a romantic atmosphere, dining with someone on a Friday night. The answer: ‘Put the music of The Smiths on. If she stays, she’s yours. If she goes, then it probably would not have worked out very well anyway.’

Some more subliminal Moz

From Cameron Smith:

While listening to the radio in my car the other day, X-96, an alternative station in Salt Lake City, played a promo for the film "Wag The Dog". The usual theme music for the movie is "Walking on The Sun" by Smashmouth, but this time it was "Journalists Who Lie" playing in the background. Very brilliant, yet slightly disguised humor as nobody but the avid Moz fan probably would have noticed.

MOZCon (?) in April?

I have no idea who is is doing this or anything about it but this is what I received from John Bond:

Hello! Hey I just wanted to let you know about a "MOZCon," or Morrissey Convention that’s happening on April 26 at the Palace in Hollywood,Ca. If you have any ?’s call (626) 967-7811.

* Notes -

- Melinda Hsu has offered a few translation suggestions which I have made to the L'Indic interview, now titled "My Gilded Prison".

- from Aidan Twomey, info that the band Bawl is actually from Dublin, and "they are very good too, and they do make very jingly-jangly Johnny Marr influenced pop."

- a note on the discussion boards - if they are not updating your visit times, you'll probably have to delete your cookie file. Here are some instructions -- sorry for the inconvenience.

L'Indic Interview - translated

Thanks to Laurence Fabien and Guillaume Deleurence for their joint efforts in translating last November's L'Indic interview from French to English. Thanks also to Laurence for pics taken from her site, and also to kitty for providing the large scans. Here is the translated interview, titled "My Golden Prison Cell".

"The Boxer" - an appearance by the boxer in "Boxers"

Marilyn So let me know that Cornelius Carr (cover star of "World Of Morrissey" and star in the "Boxers" video) appears in the movie "The Boxer".

6-track CD EP (Japan) in March

Thanks to John C. Hughes and Stefan Sahlander for the info from the Siren Disc future releases page. Comments from John:

Morrissey
Hair Aparent [I really hope they're just poor spellers] (6 tracks) JAPAN CD $22.99

Japanese mini album includes bonus tracks "I Can Have Both", "Lost", "No Longer Parallel", "Now I Am A Was" & "This Is Not Your Country" (New Version). Release Date: 9-Mar-98

I’m not sure what the deal is with "(New Version)" being added to "...Country". Maybe an edit, or a remix...or even a sped-up version, a la the live version of "There is a Place in Hell"?

Name-dropped the Bawl

From Alexandra Maus:

There is this band BAWL (from Scotland??), who has a song ("Parallel", which apparently is a b-side of one of their singles, don’t know which single though...) that mentions Morrissey. The song is about a relationship and features the line:

"Now I know everything about you, about your personal hygiene, what you think about Oscar Wilde and Morrissey..."

They also have a song by the title "Sticky rock" which takes the piss out of so called pop icons...the pic in the booklet to go with that song shows some NHS glasses... :)

It’s funny though that the sound of the band owes a lot to the Smiths...

(* Jan. 14 - info from Aidan Twomey - Bawl is actually from Dublin, Ireland.)

"Kenneth Williams Meets Elvis"...

From Naomi:

...is the title of an article on Morrissey printed in the Independent today [Friday]. There's nothing particularly new or fascinating, but it's always nice to stumble across a photo of the Moz during the morning's toast and jam:

Maladjusted is the latest [LP], as fascinating as anything he's made. It's also a record which, for all its sadness, makes you want to fight through the tears. It sounds beautiful."

More Smiths in sports

From Troy James:

To answer the question of what sport will be next to use the track "What Difference Does It Make", tonight (Jan. 8) the basketball game between the Sacramento Kings and the Dallas Mavericks (at Reunion Arena in Dallas, the same place as the hockey game) used it during a time-out. I was driving while listening to the game and thought I was getting interference with another station when it suddenly came in better and I about drove off the road...

* Before I get any complaints regarding the changes in design of these news pages - please check to see if you have the following fonts installed on your system - Verdana, Georgia, and Impact. They are available for free download on Microsoft's "Free TrueType fonts for the Web" page.

The Smiths / Morrissey FAQ

John Levon of "It May All End Tomorrow" and Scott Krajewski of Cemetry Gates have put together a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) regarding The Smiths and Morrissey. The FAQ is located at:

http://www.oz.net/~moz/faq/faq.htm

Thanks to Scott for letting me know -- I will be referring to it often as will many others, I'm sure. Information on how to contribute (questions / answers / corrections) is also on the page.

Report: Moz to do New York Dolls documentary

From Kate:

Thought I’d pass along this news bit. I found this on a site called "CyberSleaze" (Jan. 6):

ATTENTION MORRISSEY FANATICS: The well-coiffed one is reportedly in talks with British TV companies to direct and present a feature-length documentary on his musical heroes THE NEW YORK DOLLS.

From Richard Merrett:

In England this week Morrissey was mentioned on "Newsbeat", a news program on Radio 1. They described Morrissey's plans of doing a documentary program for BBC on the New York Dolls. A book is apparently also planned but I have no confirmation on this.

More Smiths in sports

Not too newsworthy, but somewhat interesting, from Xavier:

While at the Jan 7 Dallas Stars / Ottawa Senators game they played "What Difference Does It Make" during a penalty time out. First football uses the Smiths, then hockey, what next?