2/1 Seattle, WA
2/? Spokane, WA
2/3 Boise, ID

Yet to be confirmed:

In NY at the Brooklyn Academy
In MA at Cambridge and Northampton
In Atlanta at a place called the Tabernacle
In Toronto at Hamilton
In Burlington, Maine
Madison, Wisconsin (Barrymore Theater)
Chicago Theater in Chicago
In Tallahassee, Florida
At the Akron Civic Center in Akron, OH
In TX in Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and El Paso

From Daniel:

I work at a fastixx ticket outlet in Oregon and recently saw a Morrissey posting. He will be playing at the Roseland Theatre Feb. 2 in Portland and the tickets go on sale Jan. 8. Now I wish I had waited instead of driving the 9 hours to see him in Fresno a few weeks back! I think fastixx can be reached at 1-800 fastixx or at any Fred Meyer store.

Morrissey confounds all but the most hard-core fans

By Mike Weatherford
Review-Journal

There's something about the man ...

Maybe it's the black leather suit. Or the pompadour. Or the way he swivels his hips.

OK. You probably know from the headline that we're not talking about Elvis, but Morrissey. Not the king of rock 'n' roll, but a rather fey British rocker with some tuneful pop and an apparent Elvis complex.

Of course, Elvis would never have shed his leather suit, no matter how hot it got underneath. But not too far into Sunday's concert -- the first of two at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay -- Morrissey drifted off-stage in the middle of "Hairdresser on Fire" to lighten his black leather load ("The only throbbing beast to come near this suit so far is me," he told the crowd.)

And no pork chops for Morrissey, who still gets a rise from the crowd by removing his shirt, and still gets your attention with the blunt "Meat Is Murder" from his days with the Smiths. (Now, a peanut butter and banana sandwich? Maybe.)

And anyone who crashed E's stage at the Las Vegas Hilton could have expected a swift karate kick in the pants. No such threat Sunday, when fans repeatedly rushed the stage until the encore, when Morrissey apparently had enough togetherness and put a sudden end to the 75-minute show after a close encounter with an admirer sent his microphone crashing to the stage.

Superficial tributes aside, Morrissey's does have an actual similarity to Elvis, and it isn't the least bit musical. It's the way his fans act around him; the fascination his followers hold for him even after years of little-to-no productivity, and the silly extremes they carry it to.

The tuneful but downbeat pop of the Smiths -- and Morrissey as a solo act -- made a brief but lasting impact on the beginnings of modern rock. On a Sunday night before Christmas the club was packed, and with an all-ages audience, though any fans who were current with the '80s heyday of the Smiths would be at least pushing 30 now.

Unlike his last visit to town in 1991, the four-piece band resisted the urge to rework the songs as rockabilly, and instead stuck to fairly faithful arrangements while the crowd sang along to favorites such as "Tomorrow."

Like the last time, however, just about any time a tune got interesting, either the crowd or the singer's glibness would derail it. Morrissey has written some compelling, offbeat songs, but it's as if he doesn't think he can get away with a serious performance. And his attitude, along with the chaotic conditions, makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Perhaps there's nothing wrong with a love-in if it satisfies the private club of the singer and his cult followers. For more casual fans, Morrissey's abrupt exit from the building prompted a shrug of the shoulders: "See you in eight years, maybe, if you're ready for the rest of us to take you seriously."

REVIEW
What: Morrissey
When: Sunday
Where: House of Blues
Rating: C+
Attendance: not available

Morrissey And I

I'll be honest here. In the beginning, my love and bond for the Smiths and Morrissey was not a magical experience. Their existence became known to me only when I was 17. Some old school friends were heavily into the music, and as a result I was exposed to those tunes and melodies that would later have so much relevance to and influence upon my heart, mind, body and soul. At first, I didn't particularly like the sound, largely due to my captivation within and teenage belonging to bands such as Soundgarden, Faith No More and Pearl Jam. The Smiths were at the time, far too outside and intellectual for my tastes and likings. Although, things were destined to change.

A number of years past and I began to attend university. It was the late nineties, a time of social, economic and political integration and disintegration, depending upon which perspective you take. These days saw the opening and broadening of my stance as an individual. My mind was being expanded by my degree, drugs, relationships and society. I was majoring in sociology which really brought substance to my ways of thinking and behaving. However, as my life progressed, so did my emotions, feelings and moods. Drugs and relationships had placed their toll upon my happiness, in turn molding depression into my personal landscape. I was becoming profoundly sensitive, gentle, delicate and even soft.

I remember the day I found Morrissey. I was at a market in outer Melbourne, strolling through a music stand, having just come down from one of my drug experiences the night before. I was sad, alone and depressed. However, it seems when looking back on this day, something was pre-determined for my future and I. My eyes wandered across the hundreds of CD's, laid flat across the stands. So many covers, faces, pictures and colours. But one, for some incredible reason stood out, glimmered and shined. It was Vauxhall and I. I remember reflecting upon my old friends at school and how they would confess their hearts to me about this fabulous idol and his magnificent mannerisms. All this was true. I bought Vauxhall and I, took it home to my bedroom, where I would listen and study it. We fell in love. Such relevance to my life, such association I gained with every tone, every sound, tune, melody, word and statement. It became my sun to warm the miserable grey skies of winter chilled Melbourne. I look back on this time as perhaps the most special and priceless time of my life.

Jobs have past, Lovers have come and gone, Drugs are no-longer with me, but Morrissey is still here, in my heart, telling me that Alma does matter in mind, body and soul. Thank you, for what you have given me, a sponge to purify my life, a blanket to shelter me from the cold and an anthem and voice from which to hold my head and eyes up high into the faces of world and its audiences, with the full intentions of living life to the fullest.

The local Washington, DC alternative rock station 99.1 WHFS has it's top 500 songs of the 90's countdown, as I'm sure all alternative rock stations around the country are having, and Morrissey is #225 with 'Tomorrow'.  The whole list is on their web site.

Nick Holmes, singer of British band "Paradise Lost" mentions Morrissey and The Smiths in an interview with German daily newspaper "Kölnische / Bonner Rundschau"; I tried to translate the relevant part to English: "My fear is the biggest source of inspiration", singer Nick Holmes says. That aside, the sad melancholy of his musical role models, Morrissey and The Smiths, are other focal points of his band´s work. As proof of their affection, Paradise Lost covered the Smiths-classic from 1984, "How Soon Is Now?"