Lazy Sunbather writes:
I'm sure it hasn't escaped your attention that 2002 is actually the 20th anniversary of Our Troubled Troubadour's foray into the world of songwriting and stage performance (according to "The Smiths - The Visual Documentary" by Johnny Rogan, the "mythological meeting of Morrissey and Maher" took place at 384 King's Road sometime in May, 1982). I think it would be quite touching for Steven, if all of us who regularly come in here to 'solo' could make some contribution to this well earned and overdue celebration.
"This Man's Work"
For me this is an important celebration. Lest we forget Our Steven was a profoundly shy, diffident, awkward young man in his teens and early twenties. For him to start performing on stage with a highly accomplished musician like Marr must have been a daunting task - but as we can now appreciate twenty years later, this challenge was surmounted admirably; he took to performance like a duck to water.
I have always found it eternally fascinating that someone so shy and retiring could become one of the greatest stage performers of their generation. The Boy Least Likely To ended up offering the full package: loveable good looks and unearthly charisma and stage presence, lyrics that could only be written by a genius touched by the hand of God, stage shows unsurpassed for sheer hysteria, glamour, AND that distinctive voice that is elegiac, plaintive and ever so ironic, not to mention those brilliant Celtic inflections he puts in his work e.g "Girlfriend In A Coma". And as for those those low cut gold lame blouses. Well need I say more?
I think all iconographers of Morrissey's work would agree that his output over the past two decades has been truly remarkable and fascinating. How impoverished our lives would be culturally if it wasn't for that that great showbiz entertainer himself - MR. STEVEN PATRICK MORRISSEY!
Many Thanks
Lazy Sunbather
