Welcome to... _________________________________________________ | \ | S T R A N G E W A Y S > |________________________________________________/ A forum for Morrissey and The Smiths. Volume 1, Issue #17 To post to Strangeways, please send mail to Kevin at kkawado@bonnie.ics.uci.edu. To join the mailing list, please send mail to Michael at Michael.C.Massengale% mac.dartmouth.edu. <-----> Greetings Strangeways Members. This mailing list has calmed down dramatically over the past few weeks and I haven't gotten a single post. I assume a number of people are going to be leaving for summer (if they haven't already) or are going through finals now. Anyway, I've decided to officially close Strangeways for the Summer. The next post will be in the Fall sometime, probably in August. Feel free to send me mail that will go into this first issue of the new school year. This brings me to a new topic. Are there people out there that are going to be around for the summer? If there's enough support, I'm thinking about creating a temporary summer list for those interested. Since the Morrissey tour is getting into gear, I think there are a few people out there that are interested. If you are one of those, please send me mail as soon as possible. This list will disappear in the fall. If you are not going to be around, please don't subscribe. I'm expecting no more than about twenty people to take me up on this offer. If there are more, we might as well just keep the entire list up for the summer. Summer transcripts (if they come about) will be available through our ftp site (quartz.rutgers.edu). So, have a good summer and let me know if you want to be on this small summer list. Please be sure to let Michael know if you won't have network access next year or will be changing addresses. I'm sure the last thing he needs is 50 mail messages bouncing because of no longer valid addresses. If there are enough posts, I'll send out another issue before June 1 (the last day Michael is here). Thanks! It's been a fun year! =K= <-----> From: Simon Hughes Date: Wed, 15 May 91 15:01:59 BST Subject: Strangeways: Moz interview Following on from the Marr interview a few weeks back, this weeks NME (dated 18 May) has a Moz interview. More of that below but first some bits & bobs. Moz has an eight week US tour lined up culminating in a Madison Square Gardens finalli. Apparently the LA forum (15000 seats) sold out in 14 minutes while the Pacific Amphitheatre (18000) lasted just two hours! Hey, do you Americans like this Moz dude or what?! Moving on, the next single (Pregnant For The Last Time/My Love Life/Skin Storm) is due out 10 June. Now the interview.... Following Marr's revelations recently I expected Moz to fight back but he seems disinclined. Extracts follow... At the moment I look on The Smiths as a dead cat that must be buried in a shoebox at the bottom of the garden.... my past is almost denying me a future. Everything I've worked for these past 24 months has come right, and the core of that is the four individuals I'm working with... they are the best musicians I've had the joy of working with. [!!!!!!!] [Are you a different person from the young man who sang `Hand In Glove'?] Yes I am. I am much more self-reliant. I have, shall we say, been through a great deal. I put an enormous emotional investment into The Smiths and something... well something went slightly wrong... I think my solo situation and achievements have been outrageously undervalued, whilst that of certain other ex-Smiths have been outrageously over-valued. When I consider the whole shebang that surrounds me, it seems that the whole world thinks I was The Smiths. [And is that a reasonable assumption to make?] Yes, I think it is. Later on in the piece it is revealed that the new Nolans single is a cover of Panic and that Chrissie Hynde is doing a version of Every Day Is Like Sunday. Hmm! Simon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Simon Hughes, Dept. of Computing, Imperial College. Email: sph@doc.ic.ac.uk [ Yep..ticket sales flew out the window. The Forum show supposedly will support 17000 people and TicketMaster just sold out in no time flat. The Pacific Amp. show (19000 cap) took longer to sell out just because there are only six or seven places that sell tickets (Ticketron), including the box office. If TicketMaster had handled both shows, they would both be sold out in no time. Ticketron really sucks. Hope to see some of you at the shows :-). =K= ] <-----> Subject: strangeways Date: Wed, 15 May 91 13:58:46 PDT From: Bernard Baker I picked up my Morrissey tickets on Sunday to his June 8th show at the Berkeley Theatre. I guess it sold out on Sunday--the first day tickets went on sale. I'm looking forward to finally seeing him live. Just some info: There is an article in the June 1991 issue of Details magazine regarding Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr of Electronic. It is a fairly decent article that goes into a little detail on the Morrissey - Marr clash. Overall, it's a good article about how Electronic came about, and where it's headed to now. Well, that's all for now. Keep the discussion going--I enjoy reading it. bernie bernie@sc.hp.com -- <-----> Date: 18 May 91 20:49:36 From: Michael.C.Massengale@mac.dartmouth.edu Subject: Re: Strangeways Greetings Strangeways! Here's some random observations since my last post: 1. The packaging on the US Our Frank single sucks! It's got different artwork than the UK single (close-up face shot in blue tones) and it's in one of those cardboard digipaks. Curiously enough, the US cassette single and 12" have the UK cover. I plan to get the UK CD single to have the other cover and a durable package. 2. I picked up the UK Sing Your Life single in Boston. I didn't wait for the domestic release since I figure that it will also have a digipak. That's Entertainment and The Loop are pretty good tunes, but nothing outstanding. 3. I've heard that Morrissey will be taking his show to my hometown (Dallas) sometime in the third week of June. No date as of yet. Anybody with information about the Morrissey shows here and in Europe should tell all to the group! That's all I've got for now. All I can say is I can't believe that I'm going to see the Mozmeister live! I'm sooooo excited! Later, Michael <-----> *** Extra Tickets to Morrissey Show *** Date: Mon, 20 May 1991 09:06:18 PDT Sender: Carla_Botton.ES_M6@xerox.com From: cb.es_m6@xerox.com Subject: 2 Extra Tickets for Morrissey I have 2 extra tickets for the June 2nd show at the Forum. please contact me if interested- Carla <-----> Date: 20 May 91 20:10:41 From: Michael.C.Massengale@mac.dartmouth.edu Subject: Strangeways Hello... I got copies of two Smiths boots today, both from cassettes. The first is labelled "Derby 7/12/83" (don't know if this means Aug 12 or Dec 7). The playlist: Handsome devil Still Ill This Charming Man Pretty Girls Make Graves Reel Around the Fountain What Difference Does It Make Miserable Lie This Night Has Open My Eyes Hand In Glove These Things Take Time You've Got Everything Now The other says "Great Woods Theatre, Mass." The listing on the cover is definitely wrong, but I've listened to most of it, and it goes... How Soon Is Now Hand In Glove I Want the One I Can't Have Still Ill Frankly, Mr. Shankly Panic Never Had No One Ever Stretch Out and Wait The Boy With the Thorn in His Side Cemetary Gates What She Said Is It Really So Strange ...and more. I'm curious as to whether or not this is the same as "Better Live Than Dead." Also, I'm suspicious of the labeling of "GWT, Mass." because some of the songs sound strikingly similar to those on Rank. Has anybody stumbled upon either of these? Also, I'm a bit suprised at such an early release of a non-Kill Uncle single (i.e., the one Simon mentioned). Is he playing any of these new songs on the tour? Finally, I plan to, well, let's say get a permanent souvenir of the show when I see Morrissey. Does anybody have tips on recoring techniques and equipment? Michael [ I think the whole forum is going to be filled with people recording the concert. Everyone I've talked to plans to try and record the concerts. Let me know if you get a good copy. =K= ] <-----> From: kkawado@bonnie.ics.uci.edu Subject: Morrissey interview in Option I just happened to be in the Music Market and saw Morrissey on the cover of Option (a little known obscure music magazine). I've never heard of it before, but I picked it up anyway. It seems like Morrissey is in all the magazines lately, doing interviews wherever he feels like. The thing I found interesting was his total lack of interest or support for any other bands from Manchester. I know he really despises the electronic pop music of New Order and Depeche Mode, but claims that all other Manchester bands are just imitating the past. A lot of people compare Manchester bands with the Smiths, but there are no bands that strive for something "new" in music like the Smiths did. "I still do believe that the Smiths were the best...I mean, in the general overview of contemporary Manchester music, examime the success of the Happy Mondays, and ... well, as far as I know they're not successful at all in America. Look at the _hysteria_ that surrounds the Stone Roses, and compared with the Smiths, they don't have the songs. None of those groups had the songs or the spirit that the Smiths had, and they don't present themselves in a new way. The Smiths were like nothing that had ever occurred before, and that's a hard thing to do" Morrissey also talks about a possible "collaboration" with R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe...the two biggest eccentrics in the world together :-). It would be pretty interesting since they both seem to operate on the same wavelenght (viewpoints on the world, etc.). Anyway, if you can, try to find this interview...it's significantly better than the one in Spin. There's a lot more information about the Smiths, Morrissey personally and his views on the uprising of Manchester music. =K= "I've always maintained that the human race is a great disappointment" -Morrissey