He dedicated the award to one ‘John Marr of Wythenshawe’... Mmmm...

Small interview

Thanks to Ross for the following:

Here is a small interview from Radio 1 (UK) from the Ivor Novello Awards today [5/28] (by an interviewer who admitted to having a ‘crush’ on Moz):

Moz: I don't really get awards and this is a very, very nice award.

Interviewer: And this is a lifetime achievement award, that is something else isn't it?
M: Yeah, I don't know, it's quite nice, it makes... it could possibly make you feel as if your dead or something, I don't know, but yeah it's nice.

I: What do you think of the other people who are here tonight. I spoke to Radiohead who said they were GREATLY inspired by you, how do ya feel about that?
M: They never say that in the press do they! So smack on the head to Radiohead.

Link / audio

Thanks to Naomi for this link to the BBC coverage of the Novello awards. On this page is a RealAudio report, which includes the above small interview.

WANK

Thanks to Darren McCloskey for the following:

...I thought I would pass along a Morrissey magazine mention from HITS Magazine, a music radio/retail industry magazine. On page 35, in the May 22, 1998 issue, a small black and white photo (approx 3"X2") of Morrissey and the Maverick Records group WANK appears. The caption of this notoriously sarcastic/ humorous magazine is as follows:

"WANK & WANKER: Maverick group WANK greet visitors at L.A.’s House of Blues to celebrate the release of their label bow, "Get a Grip On Yourself" before learning half their advance went to Guy Oseary and Adam Sandler’s bar tab and the other half went towards providing security for backstage well-wisher Morrissey. Shown after finding out their wristbands were only good for the Whisky-A-Go-Go are (l-r) the band’s Bobby Amodeo, Morrissey and the group’s Spider & Danny Walker, who told the singer how much he enjoyed his work in the Doors."

Hits is industry/subscription only - I'll try to get a scan of the photo soon.

Alexandrea Seminara and Scott Shelley

Fans' story on front page of The Wall Street Journal

Thanks to Terry McEvoy and Lisa Murer for reporting that this story: "Love Story in Bad Form: How a Canadian Married an American — and Got Deported" appeared in today's (5/28) edition of The Wall Street Journal. Click the above link for the full story.

A short summary of the article:

Alexandrea Seminara is an American who married a Canadian, Scott Shelley, and went with him to visit his folks in Toronto. Before leaving, Mr. Shelley forgot to fill out a two-page form that would have let him return to the U.S. By failing to complete the form, he fell within an immigration law's sweep.
...

Alexandrea and Scott first met at the Smiths Convention in Los Angeles, Feb. 1997 (not at a Smiths concert as the article mentions) and have contributed to this page in the past. I just heard from Scott and he said both he and Alex are doing fine, but the 'immigration nightmare' has caused obvious frustrations and financial burdens. He also let me know that phones have been ringing off the hook today as various news and media agencies are trying to set up interviews, but he had time to tell me an anecdote about the picture styled in classic WSJ format:

"...they actually have someone paint a large (5 foot square) dot diagram of a photograph, and then reduce it... the strangest part of the picture is that they put a nice collared shirt and jacket on me (which I wasn't wearing) but didn't airbrush out the nosering..."

If anyone wishes to reach Scott, his e-mail is [email protected]

Morrissey presented with the "PRS Outstanding Contribution To British Music" award

Thanks to Bill Stevens and also to Torr who sent details about the award as reported on NME.com:

RADIOHEAD SCOOP THE POOL AT IVORS

RADIOHEAD triumphed in the categories of Best Contemporary Song and Best Song Musically And Lyrically at the Ivor Novello Awards For 1997 in London held this afternoon (Thursday, May 28) in London.

The band, who accepted their awards in person at the ceremony, won the first award for last year's epic single 'Paranoid Android' and Best Contemporary Song for 'Karma Police'.

THE VERVE's RICHARD ASHCROFT took the gong for Best Songwriter, while the PRS Outstanding Contribution To British Music award went to MORRISSEY. The Best Dance Music category was won by Tim Kellet and Robin Taylor-Firth from OLIVE, for 'Not Alone'.

The annual awards ceremony, the songwriting equivalent of The Brits, took place at The Grosvenor House Hotel.

This is the esteemed Ivor Novello award reported here a couple months ago.

Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas - big Smiths fans

Thanks to d.andrew.yoon for the following details:

I read this article from www.garylucas.com that talked about Gary Lucas’ connection with Jeff Buckley as a collaborator and friend. In the article, it goes on about how they met and their first conversations about music in which Gary Lucas said:

"Jeff grew up fascinated by Led Zeppelin. We were both big fans of the Doors and the Smiths."

(aside from the garylucas.com article, Jeff cited "How Soon Is Now?" as one of the top 5 most important songs of his life. He was also known to have done a cover of "I Know It’s Over" which is very scarcely found on bootlegged tapes.)

Smiths in Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame (sort of)

Thanks to Mason Eubank for this:

There is a short film called "Last Train To Memphis" in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland that has a short section with The Smiths, while "How Soon Is Now?" is playing in the background. Imagine my surprise!

As you know, with the internet connecting everyone so well, tape trading has become quite popular.

When I started trading in October, I found it hard to get started because I had difficulty find people to trade with.

In April I decided to start a website. (the address is below) It was initially just to list my tapes, but has now expanded to a trading resource page. It has a list of current Smiths and Morrissey tape traders (about 25 right now), a trading FAQ and a list of ALL the concerts that are out there (about 300).

http://members.tripod.com/~davestapes/home.html

David Grohl, a Smiths fan?

From Per Strandberg:

Is David Grohl, the Nirvana ex-drummer a Morrissey/Smith fan? My son is a great Foo Fighters fan and found this the other night:

In the Boston concert 12th of May at the Avalon, Dave Grohl made fun of the Smiths before the number "See You". And later he tried to imitate Morrissey, when singing "Up in Arms" he threw in the line:"I am human and I need to be loved" (How Soon Is Now?).

The concert was taped by [email protected] whose bootleg list is at

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/2973/

"Sussing out Rufus"

Another Morrissey comparison used in an album review, from Pernice:

James Hannaham, in his review of Rufus Wainwright’s self-titled debut LP (Village Voice, 5/26):

"It’s impossible to think of another rock vocalist whose voice-alternating between a pinched nose and a honeyed falsetto-is at once so impeded and accurate. . . . Wainwright isn’t devoid of irony. . . (b)ut he doesn’t have the saving grace of his vocal predecessor Morrissey-a real sense of humor about himself. . . . ‘Matinee Idol’ finds him in Morrisseyland, in a postmortem ‘Little Man, What Now,’ lamenting the premature death of a beautiful and untalented hero. . . ."

Who is now "The World's Greatest Entertainer"?

In a sane world, maybe... From Frank Bouchier-Hayes:

In 1916 Al Jolson, known as "The World’s Greatest Entertainer", put on a show entitled Robinson Crusoe Jnr. in which he sang 'Where the Black Eyed Susans grow' Morrissey, as we all know, has a song entitled 'Black Eyed Susan'. In addition, on the first Smiths album Morrissey sings a portion of 'Sonny Boy' as a refrain to the song 'The Hand That Rocks The Cradle'. 'Sonny Boy' was a huge hit for Jolson. Finally, perhaps, now that Frank Sinatra is dead, Morrissey can assume the mantle of "The World’s Greatest Entertainer" which Jolson bequeathed to Sinatra.

Voters accept Irish peace accord, May 22

Ok, now we're really pushing coincidences... From Pierre-Michel:

Is it really a coincidence that the referendum on peace in Northern Ireland took place on May 22, i.e. Morrissey’s birthday? Or did the song, ‘This Is Not Your Country’, play a major role in the peace talks?

Funny, innit?

Saturday, May 23rd @ "The Gig" in West L.A.
Morrissey/Smiths cover band "Sweet And Tender Hooligans" will be playing followed by Ukraine Rock’n’Rollers "The Red Elvises".

Curtain will be 9:00pm @ 11637 Pico Blvd. (310)444-9870

"The L-Shaped Room" this weekend on Bravo

From Tim:

I don’t know how big of a news item this is, but the Bravo cable channel is showing "The L-Shaped Room" this weekend. Here are the dates (times Eastern), and the channel’s description of the film.

May 25 - 3 PM
May 26 - 11 AM

The L-Shaped Room (1963)
Oscar Nominee Leslie Caron stars as a French country girl living in London who falls in love with a fellow boarding house tenant but finds herself pregnant by another man. Dir: Bryan Forbes. (2:05)

Given the timing, it makes you wonder if someone in the programming department is a Morrissey fan.

(The "Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty" sample in "The Queen Is Dead" is taken from this film.)

* Tradition (well, at least last year) for those who want to leave birthday messages is to leave them on the Morrissey-solo guestbook. Or do whatever you want... I'm out of town for a few days.

PS for 'newbies' - his birthday is on the 22nd!