Morrissey, the current tour, his Latino fanbase and why I love the man

"All reggae is vile."

I started on Morrissey while I was at a high school in southern Colorado that was about 40% Latino. Only later in life did I learn that not as many people as I thought were as taken with him as my social circle and I were. Oddly, though, I can only remember one Latino kid at that school who was into Morrissey, so I don't think that was in any way the source of it.

I could easily see this being an ILX post, actually -- and not a troll either.

Actually, his popularity with Chicanos doesn't surprise me at all. KROQ really was very important to Angelenos and Orange County-ites (although it's now in the nu-metal doldrums), and everyone "cool" listened to it. It actually really struck me in '94 when I was visiting back from Berkeley and went to a New Order concert at the Bowl. Every box was different. Some guys from East LA were passing the joint to some Asian kids Torrance, while my mostly white Valley friends were debating the merits of "Temptation" versions with the same two groups. In fact I don't think that Morrissey is the Latino Anglo-phile limit. All my Latino friends like the Cure more.

So I gather! I wasn't even aware of its existence until Damien showed me the copy in the used book store we were visiting. Another reason to go to NZ -- good bookstore finds! There was only the one copy, I'm afraid.

Is he, though? He's debuted some five or six 'new' songs on the tour all told (new in that they've not been formally released but they've been known about for some time).

he should team up with some young whipper-snapper to do some cross-polarization type thing...

He would regard that as an affront to his dignity, I suspect. ;-) And besides, you can only do "Interlude" once. ;-)

Anyway, I thought Morrissey looked fantastic on the Craig Kilbourne show,sort of like Dirk Bogarde crossed with the Childcatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That chin! It's enormous. As for the first night, you didn't miss much, Aaron. The interview was embarrassing--he seemed ill at ease and the questions were idiotic. And the new song he debuted, "The First of the Gang to Die" was a weak version of one of those sympathy-for-the-bad-boy numbers, this time set in the barrio. But really, he sang beautifully and I dig that aging fop look.

Mary, loved your little review, it's made me very pissed off at myself for missing the shows down here.

He's been listening to Martin Rossiter then.

Do not speak of heresies.

After never wanting to see him play solo (having missed him in the Smiths and at Wolverhampton, I just thought ah fuck it when he started touring again circa Kill Uncle) I'm now really envious og my friends who are going to the Albert Hall.

On a point of order, I distinctly remember JM saying how much he'd liked Last of the Famous International Playboys and had sent a note to that effect. But picking Morrissey up on such things is 'not the point', I have learned. Sometimes, he reminds me of Roy Keane.

Or some not-young whippersnapper: JARVIS.

Re the not-young Jarvis--thanks to one of the articles Ned was nice enough to post for us, M. can't even stand to listen to his music!

Does M. really think doing a cover is beneath him? Even at his concerts I guess he doesn't do covers(?) I think it would be fun! Especially since (I think this was in one of the articles Ned posted) when he was a young lad he bought all the 7 inches and played them in his room and sang along to the dismay of his neighbors...

I wish I saw the Craig Kilbourne show!!

Here's the San Francisco Chronicle review of the show I saw, with some commentary on the M/Jaguares phenomenom:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/16/DD21639.DTL

Morrissey has done several covers live -- N.Y. Dolls' Trash, The Jam's That's Entertainment, T. Rex's Cosmic Dancer, Suede's My Insatiable One, Bowie's Drive-In Saturday, uh, am I forgetting any others?

Being an obsessive know it all when it comes to Morrissey, I really shouldn't talk on this thread because it'll only raise the blood pressure.

Elvis was not on the intermission music. I should know...I went to every blessed show on this tour prior to London and the intermission cd is the same. See, I told you I am an okia. But I can't even think what song remotely sounds like Elvis... Oh, maybe that Old Shep song. It was a song that Elvis covered, but the version on the intermission cd is not the Elvis version. However, Morrissey did dedicate There Is a Light to Elvis at several of the shows in mid-August.

I lurve the preview write-up in the L.A. Weakly which begins with "Morrissey and the Eskimos who love him" because it takes the piss on that tired old lazy journalism on Latino fans. Actually, here it is...sorry for the Japanese characters that intrude...

Morrissey, Jaguares

"Morrissey and the Eskimos who love him" ?Eanother possible topic the next time Spin and the L.A. Times pointlessly marvel at Moz fans of a different shade. "Tattoed Hispanic L.A. gangs," as London’s Independent simply put it, who sing along to lyrics like "Keats and Yeats are on your side." These kids might sound bizarre in dreary old England, where dirt is routinely shoveled over Morrissey’s career, but SoCal is a Morrisseydom perhaps unparalleled anywhere else (except maybe Texas). Here’s an entire subculture of kids from all ZIP codes who climax at reports of new songs (he’s been unleashing four during the tour) just as they would to Smiths selections. So think of this bill with one of Mexico’s best rock bands simply as the union of two great acts who musically don’t have a blessed thing in common. If you’ve been in the dark about Jaguares?E15-year career, start easy with the compilation La Historia by Caifanes (Jaguares?Efirst incarnation) and move up to the current Cuando la Sangre Galopa (When the Blood Races): Oldies like the synth-reggae-tinged "La Negra Tomasa" and the mystic percussiveness of the recent "La Vida No Es Igual" are all the translation you need. Also with Jumbo. Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, 2695 E. Katella Ave.; Fri., Sept. 13, 6 p.m. (213) 480-3232.

---

BTW, Jumbo were good fun. They're like a Mexican Weezer but less dorky and more interesting musically. I wished I had run into them at the airport. Instead, I ran into the Jaguares. They had to go through security screening, hah hah! I thought the Jaguares were okay when I heard their cd. But the first time I saw them in Anaheim, they struck me as a repulsive hair band. But they probably have more talent than GnR.

I thought Jumbo were good too. Actually, I thought that Jumbo were Jaguares until Jaguares came out after M. The lead singer of Jumbo is very fanciable...

Melissa--what do you do in Japan? (I taught English in Chiba.)

That's a great Eskimo joke in the article...

Anyone go to Royal Albert Hall?

It's on some crappy B-side.

I shouldn't go, but I'll be depressed if I stay here on my 32nd burfday. Har har, no really. I am feeling my years, and I am ashamed of how little I have accomplished -- I am the wayward sister, the underachieving loser in my family.

Oh yeah, Mary, I corrupt the youth at a uni in Chiba prefecture. Great gig! Ostensibly I teach English literature and language.

If you're not in the UK or don't have digital radio you can listen a RealAudio feed here if you want.

The new responses on this thread reminded me to check when they were reairing first part of the 'Smiths at the Beeb' programme, which I have a so-so tape of from when it first went out. So I checked and it was on from 9-9.30, meaning there was only 10 minutes left of it to go. I ejected my minidisc, ran to put it in the one connected to the digital box and pressed record. Only to find that the one thing I really wanted a better copy of (the Jensen version of Reel Around The Fountain, the best version) had started 20 seconds previously.

Second part tomorrow at 8PM GMT. Details of all the programmes here.

Mary, no, give your money to the poor children instead.

Just wanted to point out that the mp3 of this is now available at poor old morrissey-solo.com.

(Ned, he apologized in Philly for the increase in ticket prices. Apparently the skyrocketing price of NiQuil is to blame.

Hah, the current tour referred to in the title of this thread was five years ago!

So Mozzer is doing an unprecedented 10 date residency at the Hollywood Palladium and a fewer date residency at the Hammerstein in NYC, plus some other dates in Mexico and the U.S.

There's a big ole drama queen press release at the people's ministry of information:
http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news_070822_01

The most interesting part, once I wrapped my head around the notion that it's not necessarily retirement, was that he can boast of turning down $75 MILLION to turn up on a stage 50x with Johnny Marr and not neccessarily have to share it with Joyce or Rourke.

Hey Curtis he's doing another GA date! You can see him twice in one year!

This makes no sense. Morrissey is exhausted from touring, so he decides to . . . add 30+ more dates, mostly revisiting the places he's already been.

http://www.avclub.com/content/files/images/front.homepage_featured_55.jpg

!!!

that is not Morrissey

It is Ferris Bueller looking very vaguely like Morrissey!

he's absolutely looking mozzalicious there

We hate it when our friends become successful.

would smash

i look more like morrissey than him, look!
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/04/23/Lang.jpg

broderick -> ferris bueller's day off -> dream academy covering please please please let me get what i want -> smiths -> morrissey

kd lang (does she still use lower case?) looks like a Vegas lounge singer there.

The wise Mary said

[he should do a covers album like Bryan Ferry circa 70s (or present) as my sister says he has such a beautiful voice and if he's running a little dry on the material end why not?]

and I agree!

so what 10 songs should he sing?

Let's see - I'm going to start with ... 'The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side'. He does actually drive a car, after all.

or 'Candy': "I know you'll find a better man / they're oh so easy to find"

In fact, for crying out loud, let's just have a Morrissey Covers Merritt LP.

This is the greatest idea I've had since ... since ... somebody else will have to tell me since what.

I'd like to see him do something outside of his usual range, like Led Zeppelin maybe? Something from the third album would be good.

does the moz not think latinos in the US are eroding american identity?

Morrissey Sings Merritt