Margaret Thatcher - a comparison

Thanks to Lawrence Renee for this item:

In the 9th Feb edition of ‘Night & Day’ (The Mail On Sunday’s review section), Morrissey’s mentioned by Julie Burchill in a brief profile of the former (thank God!) British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was voted the most unpopular person out of 50 in Britain. In her piece she writes,

One of the most prolific Thatcher-haters of the 80’s was the pop singer Morrissey, who penned the hymn of hate, ‘Margaret On The Guillotine’. Morrissey was an ambitious, cruel-tongued northern outsider who, in later years, would wrap himself in the Union Jack so many times, while reciting lyrics like "Life is hard enough when you belong here" from the song ‘Bengali In Platforms’, that he would later be turned on by the pop press as a racist Little Englander. He later fell out with his cabinet - sorry, band - and was denounced as a power - crazed prima donna. He now spends much of his time in America. Remind you of anyone?

(a sarky reference to Mrs.T’s endless lecture tours in the U.S. sponsored by the makers of ‘Marlboro’ cigarettes).

"Stemingway And Heinbeck" soundclip

Thanks to John Morley for providing a soundclip of the aforementioned song by Joan Of Arc. The clip can be found on the sounds page of the site that John is a part of, Broken Neck, I believe it is called.

Joan Of Arc

Thanks to John Morley for the following:

There’s a band from Illinois who does a take off on "Bigmouth Strikes Again". The song is called "Stemingway And Heinbeck" and it’s by a band called Joan Of Arc. the words follow:

I’m "big mouth strikes again"
I’m  "last year’s man"
I’m Rosasharn
I’m Rosasharn

And now I know how Morrissey felt
now I know how Morrissey felt
as the flames rose to his Roman nose
and his walkman started to melt

I’m sorry
about my body
it’s all I’ve got and it’s gotten the best of me
I’m sorry
about my body
it’s all I’ve got and it’s gotten the best of me

The song is a b-side of "Busy Bus, Sunny Sun". The band is on Jadetree Records ( http://www.jadetree.com/ ) but the 7" with "Stemingway and Heinbeck" on it was released on Southern Records ( http://www.southern.com/ ). They also have a decent website with lots of band info etc at http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3098/

I find the song quite funny cause it’s Joan Of Arc singing about knowing how Morrissey felt after Morrissey sang about knowing how Joan Of Arc felt.

Total Guitar magazine

From Naomi:

"What Difference Does It Make" is the "classic track" featured in this month's Total Guitar magazine (with The Verve on the cover).   There's a free CD on the cover, and guitar tablature and an article on tunings and things inside.  If I'd actually understood it, I might have remembered more...

Logo submissions

Check out these new logos, on page 6.

...the question was under the category "Death in Pop".

"Hang the D.J." was the refrain of "Panic" by this defunct British pop group led by Morrissey.

Claudia, the music critic, correctly answered "Who are The Smiths?

It was the $1000 question (or answer), according to Alison Olcott.

These Charming Men - a tribute band

From Daniel Sikar:

We are "These Charming Men", a Smiths tribute band. We’ve been going for about five months. At the moment we only play Smiths’ numbers such as...

William, It Was Really Nothing, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, Still Ill, Ask, Sheila Take A Bow, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, Girlfriend In A Coma, Cemetry Gates, Frankly Mr Shankly, Hand In Glove, Shoplifters Of The World Unite, Panic, Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others, Back To The Old House, This Charming Man, What Difference Does It Make? Bigmouth Strikes Again, Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want...

but we are also working on some Morrissey-solo stuff and will try to have it ready for our next gig at the Royal Standard, Walthamstow, London E17 on Wednesday, the 18th of Feb. So if you’re in the area at the time why not pop in for a stage invasion? Our next plans include a "The Queen Is Dead" special gig further this year. If you know of any venues/promoters in your area that would accept ourselves please let us know. Comments and advice are also welcome.

Logo contest

... is still going on. I'll post what I have received soon -- thanks to those who have submitted something so far.

...I spotted this comment by Bob Geldof in The Irish Times, Ireland’s top broadsheet, today, Saturday 31st. Talking about Music Of The Millenium - The Final Countdown, a TV show about the best albums of all time as voted by the British public he said, "The other ridiculous thing was The Smiths getting about three albums in the chart. OK, they gave English pop a bit of a push, but they’re not a pivotal group - they’re just whiny bedsit music".

Obviously, he’s one of the few who feel that way.

European Tour - Summer 1998?

From Alexander Wendt:

Morrissey's German booking agency "IBD" announces on their Webpage at http://planetsound.com/agent/ibd/OnTour.html a possible Moz-Tour in the months of April/May in Germany, Austria + Switzerland.

I mailed them about this and got the following reply:

"Tour ist auf Juni & August verschoben...es gibt noch keine festen Daten" which means:

Tour is postponed to June & August (sic!) - there are no fixed dates yet.

"This Is Not Your Country" - probable source

Although it is used in a different context, this is the probably source. From Mark Deveney:

Just a small footnote: Re the B Side of "Satan" - "This Is Not Your Country".

The title of the track is the opening line from the Skinhead film "Romper Stomper", and is a by-line for the rest of the film.