Dec 31 97 - Wednesday
Moz on The Jack Docherty Show (UK) --
twice!
This is a surprise -- just when I thought we'd gone through the whole year without missing
anything... thanks to Rachel Mckeon for
the report:
Happy New Year to those of us who have already
entered 1998.
I’ve just been watching The Jack Docherty Show (the show which took Channel 5 into
the New Year). Morrissey and the band were on shortly after midnight - performing
"Roy’s Keen" (for some reason), amidst a set of huge dangling Christmas
baubles and with a Christmas tree at the side of the stage to add that final festive
touch. Why Moz would choose this song over the current single, I have no idea. Someone
mentioned to me last night that they thought Moz was going to be on the Jack Docherty Show
on that night (the 30th) rather than on New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day. I assumed
that either they were mistaken or that it was just a repeat of his "Alma
Matters" appearance from earlier in the year (I think they have been showing some
compilations of highlights from the series recently). However, I asked my Dad to tape it
for me just in case (and he informs me that Moz was on) so I’ll see if I can find the
tape as I’m wondering whether he performed "Satan" last night.
The Cure were also on tonight’s show (*two* songs AND an interview - why don’t
we Moz fans get the same?). Robert Smith was asked whether he’d bumped into Morrissey
backstage and he said that he’d tried to but ‘he evaded me’. Having only
watched the BBC on previous New Years (well, there was no Channel 5 this time last year),
I had had visions of Morrissey and Robert Smith joining hands for an enthusiastic renditon
of Auld Lang Syne when Big Ben struck 12 - but, sadly, it was not to be...
. . .
Just been watching the previous night’s Jack Docherty Show which Moz did indeed
appear on. At the beginning of the show when they announced the guests we saw a brief clip
of Mozzer wiping his brow and a little later he performed "Satan Rejected My
Soul". The stage was identically decorated and I would guess the two performances
were probably recorded at the same time, although Morrissey was differently attired - For
"Roy’s Keen" he was wearing a dark-coloured shirt but for "Satan"
he was wearing a pin-stripe jacket and white shirt.
L'Indic interview translation, coming soon (?)
Two people from France are currently working on it. Here is a
little teaser from Guillaume Delaurence:
"L’indic : By avoiding talking to
the media, you play with mystery. That kind of mystery which is creating myths.
Morrissey : I don’t want to create a Morrissey myth. Things happen naturally, and I
have no influence on them. I know that I’m not talking much to the media, but
there’s still my records. I know also that I sell few records, that radios don’t
broadcast my songs and that here, in the USA, MTV has never shown any of my video clips.
Curiously, everybody knows about Morrissey. I’ve always decided to go on with my own
means. With whichever record company I’ve worked with, no one ever came to tell me :
« Listen, Morrissey. We’re going to work hard for your new single. We’re
going to do this, that... We’re going to use all means. » Today, making a
record or planning a tour is still a personal affair. Maybe that’s the best way to
last and to not disappear."
Dec 29 97 - Monday
Montreal, Boston, Providence - tour info additions
Going back in time, all the way back to September. Montreal, Boston
and Providence info have now been added, with
more to follow. Thanks to Daniel Cox, Thomas Mcguire, Jim McDonald, Emily and Paul for the
info.
I would also like to give credit to a couple other contributors but somehow I lost their
names/e-mails while transferring e-mails during that first week of the tour. If you see a
question mark by your contribution, please let me know so I can give proper credit.
"Satan Rejected My Soul" in the UK today
With the b-sides "This Is Not Your Country" and "I Am
Now A Was". I am looking forward to hearing them... it will probably be a while
before we hear any new material.
Morrissey in CD Headquarters
Not really news, but Morrissey is featured in the current issue of CD
Headquarters/Columbia House, which has some mainstream appeal. Thanks to Martha Gomez and Steve Cutter for the news. Here's a scan by Martha of the brief profile.
Morrissey in "USS Utopia"
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Thanks to Daniel Cox for sending a comic
called USS Utopia, which he clipped
from the (Boulder) Colorodo Daily a year ago. You can probably guess where the comic is
leading to by the first frame... but click on it if you want to see the whole thing. |
Dec 25 97 - Christmas
From "Meat Is Murder" To
"Being A Veggie Was Murder"
A few days ago Naomi sent me an article from the Independent
(English newspaper) titled "Being A Veggie Was Murder" in which a person named
Tim Samuels accounts the very moment he turns from vegetarian into carnivore. The
relevance here is that Tim co-interviewed Morrissey back in 1989 for Greenscene, a
magazine for young vegetarians, on the subject of vegetarianism.
Here is the full Greenscene interview,
titled "Meat Is Murder". It's one of my favorite interviews -- thanks to Naomi
for giving me a reason to finally transcribe it.
Dec 24 97 - Wednesday
Battersea, Chester - additions
Additions to the Battersea report -
* thanks to Naomi for transcribing the review in Melody Maker (Dec. 20/27).
* and thanks to Mike Borland for his personal photos from Battersea (7 total).
Addition to the Chester report -
* thanks to Guy Wolach (who traveled from
Israel to England for the two concerts) for his personal photos from Chester (9 total).
"TFI Friday" - MP3 file available
Thanks to David Amor for
encoding the "Satan" performance on
"TFI Friday" (2.7 MB zipped) into MPEG layer 3 format. It's kind of a big
download, but worth it because MP3 is practically CD-quality audio. David suggests http://www.nullsoft.com/amp if you are looking for
an MP3 player. He is also looking for other Moz/Smiths rarities in MP3 format.
"London" - covered by Shrug
From Jim Loud:
There's a band in the
south west of England who do a fantastic cover of 'London'. They're called Shrug and some
of their tracks have a very Moz feel to them.
I saw them in Exeter and they were great.
Morrissey track on Polygram sampler
From Pantomime Horse:
Polygram records has put
out a free cd this Christmas in conjunction with the record store Newbury Comics. The
catch phrase for Newbury Comics is "A wicked good time."
For those not from the US or even the northeast, wicked is a colloquialism that means
"extremely".
The compilation record is called "A Wicked Good Sampler" and has the following
track listing (among 19 others):
5. Ambitious Outsiders / Morrissey
The record store has put little Snowman stickers on a lot of
the CD’s in the store. If you purchase one of those CD’s you get the sampler for
free. I just bought a CD as a gift for someone and they gave me the disc. I took a look to
see who was on it and there it was. A great song that most non-Morrissey fans will
probably never be able to appreciate.
Dec 22 97 - Monday
Pop Interview - translated
Thanks go to Eric Olsson for the translation of
the Pop interview from Swedish to English. Your
hard work is greatly appreciated.
Thanks also to Christian Arvidson for providing
the scans.
"Brit Girls" - Twinkle
From Naomi:
The last instalment of Brit Girls took a broad overview of
the girl singer phenomenon as well as profiles of some of the shorter-lived chart
successes. As such, there was a lot of ground to cover in half an hour and so not an awful
lot of Morrissey. He spoke briefly on Twinkle, but The Smiths' cover of "Golden
Lights" was not mentioned.
"The female singers seemed to be giving everything away and hiding nothing. That's
what made them more dramatic and more interesting to me."
"Twinkle was trouble and that's why she was so interesting... The so-called female
songwriter hadn't yet been invented."
[on "Terry"]
"Very unusual to have teenagers singing about death."
Not particularly illuminating, all told, but perhaps I've been spoilt by the comparative
Moz-fest of earlier episodes. Incidentally, it was revealed that Twinkle's childhood
nick-name was "Fatty" ... which is almost certainly a complete coincidence.
"A sponge and a rusty spanner"
From Andy Knowles:
In The Times newspaper
today (Saturday), there was a small column on the bloke who allegedly inspired the
‘broke into the palace with a sponge and a rusty spanner’ lyric. The article is
headed ‘Fagan Jailed’ and reads:
The man who broke into the Queen’s bedroom and
asked her for a cigarette was jailed for four years for dealing in heroin. Michael Fagan,
49, admitted three charges of supplying the drug at Winchester Crown Court. He broke into
Buckingham Palace in 1982.
"A sponge and a rusty spanner" again
From Amanda:
I was reading an interview (Glasgow University Guardian)
with Neil Hannon from Divine Comedy and when asked what his fav lyric is, he said "I
quite like ‘so I broke into the palace with a sponge and a rusty spanner / She said
'eh, I know you and you cannot sing’ / I said 'that's nothing, you should hear me
play the piano’". I thought that was pretty interesting!
"Satan" - early release?
Several people have e-mailed me this past weekend saying that the
"Satan" single is already appearing in stores around the U.S.
Also, details of the single and a UK tour next year were mentioned on Island's website.
Despite all the mentions of the tour, it sounds very doubtful, as I've heard from other
sources.
From Alistair McGown:
Latest update from that
mess of an Island Records website:
Flushed by the success of his US tour, Morrissey releases a new single for
Island Records on December 29, 1997. 'Satan' is taken from the acclaimed album
'Maladjusted' and features two previously unavailable b-sides, 'Now I am A Was',
co-written by drummer Spencer Cobrin and 'This Is Not Your Country', an epic, 71/2 minute
acoustic track co-written by guitarist Alain Whyte.
7" (also MC) ©IS686
12" 12IS686
CD CID686
Morrissey will play two UK shows only this year. Check the tour page for details.
Morrissey will be touring the UK in the new year. Dates to be announced.
It ain’t over til the... you get the picture.
"This Charming Man" in TV-movie
From Guillaume Deleurence:
The French and German
channel Arte broadcasted on Saturday night a TV movie called "This Charming
Man". This film tells the story of a German young man, very romantic and classical,
listening to Brahms, going to London to study. In one scene, he goes to the CD player, and
starts to listen to "This Charming Man". He doesn’t seem to know the song,
but appears quite pleased with the intro. He begins a Morrissey-an dance with a girl. The
song stops suddenly before the end. This film was shot by Werner Shröter. It lasts 30
minutes, and is not a masterpiece at all, but the filmmaker has good taste.
Small mention in Entertainment Weekly
From Q:
Thought you might be
interested to know that Morrissey is mentioned in the Dec. 26 issue of Entertainment
Weekly. It’s their "Best Of 1997" issue, and in it is mentioned the
following...
Under the heading "Titles So Good We Didn’t Need to Hear The Song" was, of
course, "Satan Rejected My Soul".
Harvard radio - Smiths tribute
in January
From Nitin Nayar:
In January WHRB 95.3FM,
Harvard University’s radio station, will be broadcasting a 12 hour tribute to the
Smiths. I am part organizer for this event. We were wondering if anyone had on tape any
rare interviews, concerts, demo sessions, etc. that listeners may appreciate hearing. I
would gladly pay postage and send audio tapes to people with rare items. If you are
interested, please e-mail me with a list of items you are willing to contribute, and I
will get in touch with you.
Thanks a lot!!!
Dec 20 97 - Saturday
Reports on "TFI Friday"
Thanks to Stephen.B, Naomi, Mike Borland and Smerrett for the "TFI Friday" reports/screen captures.
Dec 19 97 - Friday
More info on TFI Friday
From Naomi:
Morrissey finally makes an appearance on TFI Friday tonight
(on Channel 4 at 6pm, repeated at 11.15pm). Presumably, he will be performing "Satan
Rejected My Soul", and there may also be a short interview.
Actually, I'm not sure I'm entirely happy about this. I'm sure I've mentioned before what
execrable tosh this programme is. Oh well.
Return to NME?
From Iain
Harrison:
...Moz will eventually appear in Wednesday 31st Dec's
edition of NME. Although to advertise it is probably only going to put more money in the
coffers of the despicable rag.
Dec 18 97 - Thursday
Moz live on TFI Friday (UK - tomorrow)
Thanks to Jon Mcgrath for the following:
According to Chris Evans on this morning's Virgin Breakfast
radio show, Morrissey is on Evans' TV show, TFI Friday, tomorrow, playing "Satan
Rejected My Soul" live. Doubt we will get an interview though.
Chester - info
Thanks to Joubin, Taina Viitamäki, Dave Prior, R. Sanzgiri and Henry Gascon for the info on Chester.
Now that the tour is over for 1997, what do we have to look forward to for 1998? Just
today I received an e-mail from Aubry (from
"Nothing To Declare") stating that "It is now sure (confirmed by Island
France) that Morrissey will play 5 gigs in France in March. Towns and places are yet
unknown."
Until we see some confirmed dates, I would hesitate to say there is anything definite.
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