An anonymous person writes:

I have an inside source that as of yesterday 7/28/04 Morrissey at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, CA. USA has been confirmed. The date will be Sept 17th, hopefully this will lead up to a Los Angeles show as well. No on-sale date has been confirmed.

Torr writes:

From Hits Daily Double:

Morrissey
Attack/Sanctuary
album: You Are The Quarry
track: First Of The Gang To Die

Headlining the KROQ Inland Invasion concert!

Added to KROQ & WHTG. Already spinning on WBUZ, 99X, WJSE, 91X.

LP out since 5/18. 300k shipped.

Finished sold-out Euro dates. U.S. dates in the fall.

AV Club directed video on VH1 Classics.

Just did two Kilborn shows.

Upcoming: Blender feature and People.

Mgmt: Merck Mercuriadis, Jed Weitzman/Sanctuary Mgmt

Ossie writes:

The TOTP website reports the following:

Lord Morrissey belied his Lord of the Grump image during rehearsals for the show. After each run- through of his new single, 'First Of The Gang To Die' he happily loitered on stage, dressed in a Lord of the Manor tweed jacket, shaking hands with punters in the audience, joking and signing autographs. Who'd have thought, Morrissey smiling?! If only we'd had our camera!

Torr Leonard writes:

Nancy's album will be released in the U.S. on Attack/Sanctuary, Sept. 28, 2004. The name has also changed, it will now be self-titled.

Nancy's "Let Me Kiss You" CD single will get a u.s. release September 14, 2004.
---
Abrahán Garza sends the link to the news at Billboard.com:

Sinatra Plants A New 'Kiss'

Globetrekker writes:

Let Me Kiss You is now being advertised on Amazon.co.uk (link) with a release date of September 20th. Nancy Sinatra's version is also on there with the same release date. Both versions are on seperate CD's though and not just one as had been suggested by a few folks.

Miranda_Grey writes:

On L.A. radio station, Indie 103.1's "Punk Rock Minute," it was mentioned that The Killers set their amps on fire during the Chicago House Of Blues show when they were opening for Morrissey, which allegedly pissed off Moz royally.

Sheridan writes:

In The Age on Saturday (Victoria, Australia) Keane state how they feel "stupid" at holding Morrissey off the Number one spot. (link to article, from an anonymous person).

As follows (excerpt):

Last May, Morrissey, the singer in 1980s English cult heroes the Smiths, was enjoying the benefits of a surprise career resurgence. After years in the wilderness, his album You Are The Quarry was brushing aside competitors in a steady climb into the British top 10. The top spot was looking inevitably Morrissey's right up until May 17, when something unexpected happened.

An unassuming band from Sussex named Keane released Hopes And Fears.

"I feel almost stupid that we were at No.1 and he was at No.2," says Tim Rice-Oxley, songwriter for the trio, who have no guitarist, just piano, bass and drums. "He's such a great man and such a big influence on us. But I think he's one of those people that doesn't need No.1s, he's such a legend anyway. It's not about chart positions, it's about writing songs that last forever."

Easy to say when you're in the top position, and probably scant comfort for Morrissey himself, who is purported to have said at a live show around the time, "Could anyone named Keane please leave the building?"

Stephanie writes:

Just heard on my local NPR station that on this upcoming week's edition of the program Latino USA, they are doing a story on the appeal Morrissey has to his hispanic audience.

A trailer for the upcoming week's show can be found here.

Miranda_Grey writes:

Apparently; as reported by this week's People magazine; Jack Wild, the inspiration for the song, "Little Man What Now," is very sick with throat cancer, so sick that he will soon have his vocal chords and tongue removed. It was reported that he was a heavy drinker and smoker, which contributed to his current cancer situation. Talk about Moz's favorite people "biting it" lately!
---
Update: 08/01 07:22 GMT: Malcolm McFee was the inspiration for "Little Man, What Now?", not Jack Wild (link to article).

pinstripe writes:

Rage is ABC Australia's late night music video show, shown on the weekends, and usually puts the most recent video clips online.

This week you can watch the video for First Of The Gang To Die online here (Real format).