Natalie / 10,000 Maniacs and REM for the summer

So it's summer and I'm listening to Natalie Merchant's debut Tigerlily which was such a good album. This track is a great tune to relax to on a lazy summer day. My favorite.



San Andreas Fault

A couple of REMs for your summer mix:



Take a break and listen to Driver 8. Skip to 50 to get to the song already.



Gardening at Night



10,000 Maniacs performing a really good cover of REM's Don't Go Back to Rockville.



Another cover from the same CD - 10,000 Maniacs performing an equally great cover of Morrissey's Everyday Is Like Sunday.

HULMERIST - Re-Visited

So last night I was feeling extremely Morrissey. Meaning I was sad, lost, alone and could not "find my place in this world." I could feel pretty high about life one day, such as being at a great concert and the next day I could be reminded how I still have far to go to be considered a "person."

And I said "V...Lots of things make you want to pop open a vein... But let's see if we can find something to replace that. Who knows what tomorrow brings.." You know the bullshit.

I was thinking about the early days of Morrissey solo bits and so I took a look into my box-o-video tapes and wondered "hmm.. which will it be? Live in Dallas? The Malady Lingers On? Introducing Morrissey? Ah, Hulmerist, that's the first one, let's re-live that moment."

I remember watching this a lot during its release in 1990. Moz was still so young, MTV was still showing music videos and 120 Minutes was airing. So music wise, it was still an exciting time.

In between the videos to the singles, you can a glimpse of adoring Moz fans going to the show. It's like Moz saying "I want the world to see how much I am adored and loved." From what I remember, when Moz first went solo and was to perform his first show, you got to go in for free and only if you were wearing a Smiths T-shirt. You see this in the video when people are lining up to go through security. There is one live performance in Hulmerist, that of "Sister I'm a Poet." Fans are constantly swimming through the audience to get to the stage and give their hero a hug, all the while Moz is showered in flowers from the audience. It was like The Smiths without Marr as Andy and Mike were also present in the videos.

I can't say whether watching this again since I don't know when the last time I watched it - made me feel any better. I know I smiled a few times and at times I felt like letting the flood gates open.

I've read lately that Marr is not opposed to a Smiths reunion. But much of that reunion rests on Morrissey which I feel will probably not want to do it. But think of the excitement this will cause among Moz fans if this were ever to happen. I think it would be big news in the music industry that The Smiths would reform if only for some live shows. Moz already performs the Smiths stuff during his live shows, but that's just a few select songs sandwiched between his solo stuff. Imagine a two hour Smiths concert! If it was one show one night in England, I might go out there just to be a part of it.

No: I've Changed my mind again (aaaaw!)

The Red Radio a pretty cool music blog has a nice rundown on the new Smiths compilation (The Sound of The Smiths). About every couple of years a new Smiths compilation comes out, but this one is different because both Moz and Marr have teamed up to put it together. Love the cover. I would get this one. It's not a bad idea because Moz is still actively recording and touring. There's just no stopping him. And in recent tours, Moz has performed quite a lot of Smiths songs during his concerts. I think during "Quarry" Moz gained a lot of new fans and this is a way for the new guys to get more familiar with The Smiths.

And over at Middle Eight, XO had a pretty nice post about all the new Moz/Smiths activity and he gave us a chance to "voice" out our list of 10 favorite Smiths tunes. I always love the opportunity to give a list of my favorite artist tunes. Get the details from Red Radio and Middle Eight.

Good Night and Than You.

Live from the Frankenstein Ballroom - Morrissey 10/23/07

Actually, more like Hammerstein Ballroom. But you know Morrissey. And why am I using the famous "Salford Lads" picture instead of something more current from Moz? Because if you had bought the "Queen is Dead" album which had a gatefold sleeve, and opened it up, you would see this same picture. The same album containing the picture which contained the single "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" which he performed last night to the delight of many an old Smiths fans. One song in particular "Stretch Out And Wait" had transformed me back to those days in the mid 80s. A young V not going to school, but dreaming on the streets of New York City, walking in the rain listening to said songs.

As one commenter (Macker) stated taken from the Brooklyn Vegan Site:

"Being at a Morrissey concert is like playing 'this is your life' - each song brings me back to a specific time in my life and last night it was fun to go back to being 16... "

Other Smiths songs included:

Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
Death Of A Disco Dancer
How Soon Is Now?


Early Moz solo fans would have enjoyed:

The Loop
Sister, I'm a Poet
Disappointed
Billy Budd
Jack The Ripper
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
Tomorrow

And most recent ones:

Iris Blood, English Heart
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
First Of The Gang To Die

And the only song he sang from Ringleader: Dear God, Please Help Me

New York Dolls Cover: Human Being

New Songs: All You Need Is Me, I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris, That's How People Grow Up, One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell.

It would have been ideal for me to just give you the one setlist, but this isn't an ideal world.

And would you believe I was not about to go to this show? I got up yesterday morning and felt the beginning of headaches and figured it was going to last me the whole day. The mood shifted to me not wanting to take part in this show. I reasoned that I had seen Morrissey in Atlantic City only a few months ago. But an exchange of E-mails from one Celibate to another convinced me that I should indeed go. I'm so glad I did. The setlist was entirely different from the one in Atlantic City so it felt like a completely new show. The audience was better and so was the venue. As always, Moz shows get so much more exciting towards the end of the show as die-hard fans try to outmanoeuvre the security guards and try to make it on stage. I always want to cheer them on. You can't beat all this entertainment for just under $25.

Here are pictures of the show from some Flckr site.

Moz - Fall tour

Looks like Moz will be returning to NYC for some fall dates. And this time, he's playing at the smaller venues. In NYC it will be the Hammerstein Ballroom. And it won't be for just the one evening. He'll be doing shows for five nights (October 22-28). They are also offering season tickets for $200 which means you get to go in first and take your place right in front of the stage. I'll probably go for one of the nights. Los Angeles fans will get to pick from one of ten evenings he'll be playing at the Palladium. Imagine the price of the season tickets for THAT one. Got to True To You for the full deal.

The Cure have postponed their September 23 show at Madison Square Garden.

Morrissey - Atlantic City "of all places"

OK, so Morrissey did not re-schedule the MSG concert and canceled it altogether. This could be because of poor ticket sales. And after seeing him live yesterday at the Borgata Hotel & Casino (oh for Pet's sake) - I kinda got a feeling that that was it. The Borgata is less than half the space of the MSG and there were plenty of empty seats. And the floor was not all that crowded. I think he would have fared well by playing Radio City again Beacon Theater or The Apollo. Though hid did play The Apollo in 2004 for an entire week and sold out every show. So what's the deal? I figured a lot of fans from NYC like myself would make the trip out to Atlantic City to catch the show, but I guess a lot of people were maybe pretty pissed off at the man right now.

Moz put on a fantastic show, I thought. Opening with "Panic." Most of the songs came from his last two albums with some classic Smiths and solo stuff like Panic, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side, How Soon is Now, Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (lyrics changed to "let me get who I want"), The Last of The International Playboys, Disappointed, Everyday Is Like Sunday. He introduced two new songs. One about Paris and one about growing up with lyrics like, and I'm trying to remember something about falling down, breaking your spine and that there are worst things that could happen rather than being some one's sweetie! Good one.
His voice was excellent and in good form. He chatted with the audience quite a bit and off course the die-hard fans that come by for every show are mentioned by names. Questions are asked to the super fan such as "Why do people scream?" During Irish Blood, the lyrics were changed to "Americans being sick to death of Republicans." It brought loud cheers from the crowd.

During encore a few people managed to get up on the stage and were hurried off the stage. At one point it seemed to get out of control as Moz egging on the fans to get to the stage as the guards are scrambling all over the place to catch them. One guy got up and as he made a run for Moz, he was stopped half way by a guard with some kind of security-guard blocking motion and the guy just flipped back and fell slamming back.

I could have been down on the floor, but I just sat watched the whole thing from a seat on the riser. Had a good time. I'd never been to Atlantic City before so thanks to Moz, I now know what it's like out there. So, I'm glad I headed out there. I have a feeling he'll come back in the fall, but with Moz you can never be too sure.

P.S.: You don't want to see the terrible pictures I took of the show with my phone cam. Can't make out a thing other than the James Dean back-drop.

Also... oh never mind.

Still Ill

Dear Valued Patron:

Please be advised that due to illness, the Morrissey concert performance originally scheduled for Saturday, June 30, 2007 at Madison Square Garden has been rescheduled.

A new date will be announced soon. Please retain your tickets. All tickets marked Saturday, June 30, 2007 will be honored at the new performance.

For more information regarding the new date of this show, please continue to monitor www.thegarden.com.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We look forward to your continued patronage of Madison Square Garden.

Sincerely,

Madison Square Garden

Well, at least it's not a complete cancellation of the show! Hopefully.

Just add water and stir

MOZ

Well, I've managed to get a good floor seating to the Moz concert despite the fact that I missed out on the pre-sales. I don't really feel that "Ringleader" is all that great but I'll go just to hear some of the old classics and Smiths stuff done live. It's was a great feeling the last time I saw him when he belted out those tunes. First time I went to see Moz was during his Kill Uncle tour in the early 90s. It wasn't until 97 that I saw him again. Moz somehow knew about me moving to New York and decided to do a Central Park summer concert for me during the Maladjusted tour. I saw him once more after that when he had nothing new going on but packed up the venue nonetheless and I think it was one of the best shows that I've been to. It was at the Roseland Ballroom so the place was small.

Planets

So we've discovered a new planet and this one is different than all the other 200 hundred or so planets we've been finding. I say "we" as if I had something to do with it when in fact I mean "we" as in the collective human species. It's a rocky planet orbiting a star in its habitable zone. It has an atmosphere which could mean that there might be water and where there's water, there's some kind of life. I think this is a great find and we need to find more of these planets. Because pretty soon, we're going to have to move and find another place to live.

People

Sometimes I just want to say to people: "You know, I didn't just come into being when you first met me. I've existed before. I've had eyes, ears and all other senses just as you in my younger years and I know what I see and hear.

But there's really nothing you can do about what people think about you. It sucks that they start painting this picture of you and when there's a real live contradiction, they start to rebel against what they have painted. They get angry because it wasn't what they thought about you, so you're at false or something.

One person once told me: "I can't see you ever being angry at anyone." He said this as if it was some sort of novelty. I mean what kind of a thing is that to say to someone? That they are incapable of displaying one of the most common of emotions.

Light Bulbs

I have to change my lights again in the living room. It's really starting to piss me off.

Siddhartha

Just finished reading this amazing book. Did you know there's a movie? I need to get it. Why don't you read it, if you haven't done so? You don't have to buy it, you can download for free and and print it out (60 pages) here!

Immortal Beloved

Just saw this movie yesterday. A friend lent me the DVD. It's an amazing film about the life of Beethoven. By the way, Alan Wilder does a wonderful Moonlight Sonata on the b-side of "Little 15" I've always loved that piece and is one of the most loved of Beethoven compositions.

To those guys

Thank you for smiling today!

So sleep and dream of love...because it's the closest you will get to love

It's been one of those weeks. So this is what I'm listening to now. I figured a Moz/Smiths playlist was appropriate. Let the music speak for itself.

Moz on tour

Morrissey to play here in NYC on June 30 at Madison Square Garden. I'm hoping it's at the Theatre at MSG and not the main arena. But I have a feeling it will be in the arena. In any case, I'm glad it's on a Saturday!

Check the True To You website for dates in your area. There are lots of dates.