Salford Lassie writes:

The San Francisco Chronicle's Daily Dish column reports that Morrissey is giving thought to retiring. The following is the narrative copied in its entirety.

Interesting food for thought.

MORRISSEY 'PLANNING' TO RETIRE
British singer Morrissey is reportedly planning to retire next year after hinting to fans his current world tour could be his last.

His first album in four years, You Are the Quarry, has proved a hit with fans and critics alike, but he is not happy in the business.

A source says, "Morrissey has been making hints during his shows, telling fans that this could be his last tour. The word is, he'll release his final single early next year.

"He has never wanted to become an ageing rocker."

Morrissey's spokesperson adds, "I honestly don't know. The fans probably know more than we do."
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Tammy sends a link to the same article at contactmusic.com.

Anthony D. writes:

My wife and I attended the Oct 22 show at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA. We had never been there before so we went straight ahead into the central doors leading to what we later realized was the Cotton Club. There were only a handful of people there and we actually found this group were the winners of a radio contest to MEET Morrissey!!! We went through the motions and MET THE MAN!!! He backed up to the wall to take a photo with the group and found my hand accidentally between his butt and the wall!!! I told him I was sorry and we proceeded with the photo. Looking at the photo that was posted on the radio station Morrissey almost had a grin...

Photos From the 99X Morrissey Meatless Meet & Greet 10.22.04
Photos courtesy of Robb D. Cohen Photography and Design

BlueGirl writes:

The NME Cool List for 2004 has been revealed and Morrissey scored 6th place! Shouldn't Morrissey and Kim Deal automatically be higher on this list since they influenced most of the other artists on it?

...the NME Cool List 2004 includes those who reached out and touched us: either intellectually (Mozzer,Franz), emotionally (The Streets), politically (Eminem), personally (The Libertines, Razorlight ) or, um, gynaecologically (Carlos from Interpol). While wearing the right trousers, obviously.

The Times Online article debating Pete Doherty's place on the NME's Cool List for 2004 shows the full list:

THE COOL LIST

1 Pete Doherty (ex-Libertines) and Carl Barat (The Libertines)
2 Mike Skinner (The Streets)
3 Eminem
4 Johnny Borrell (Razorlight)
5 Nick McCarthy (Franz Ferdinand)
6 Morrissey
7 Kelle Okereke (Bloc Party)
8 Martin Tomlinson (Selfish C***)
9 Brandon Flowers (The Killers)
10 Ana Matronic (Scissor Sisters)
11 Dominic Masters (The Others)
12 The Maggot (Goldie Lookin’ Chain)
13 Andre 3000 (OutKast)
14 Kim Deal (Pixies)
15 Kyp Malone (TV On The Radio)
16 Carlos D (Interpol)
17 Devendra Banhart (solo artist)
18 Meg White (The White Stripes)
19 Gwen Stefani
20 Serge Pizzio (Kasabian)

MBB321 writes:

Although this interview was conducted months ago, here is the transcript of the Dean Butterworth interview, care of worldwithoutborders.com. Some interesting questions were asked concerning the kit Dean uses and future work with Morrissey. Thanks to 'Danny' also for listing the link on the boards.

Enjoy!
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• Related item: Dean Butterworth online chat (July 20) - July 19, 2004

mr_quixotic writes:

Our beloved has appeared twice in this year's NME yearbook - not including once on the cover (and looking rather dashing, might I add)!

Click for picture that goes with this article!
Return of indie's extraordinary boy

Not in his wildest dreams could the Mozfather have predicted a better year. Sold-out homecoming shows, his first NME cover in 12 years and, with 'Irish Blood, English Heart', the highest chart single in his entire career (including his time with The Smiths). And, as if the seal of approval were needed, Franz and the Libertines couldn't get enough of him. No wonder he returned the favour by playing indie dancefloor classic 'How Soon is Now?' at the Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds festivals.

Click for picture that goes with this article!
The year according to Morrissey, by Alex Needham

Twenty years ago, on The Smiths' spectral 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want', Morrissey crooned "See, the luck I've had/can make a good man/turn bad". 2004 made a mockery of such claims. Five years ago, Morrissey was exiled in LA, didn't have a record deal and could barely get arrested. This year, his comeback single 'Irish Blood, English Heart' became his biggest ever hit, he triumphed at the Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds, curated an entire festival of his own - Meltdown, on London's South Bank - and was cited as an influence by every hot young band worth their sodium chloride.

After the best part of a decade away, Morrissey was back in the fold - a wolf in black sheep's clothing. He even buried the hatchet with NME after a 2-year feud so vicious it made our current spat with The Darkness look like a love-in, returning to the front cover in iconic style. Here we're proud to present an overview of the past 12 months from Morrissey's own unique perspective. And, of course, any review of the year we asked him to do was bound to begin with one subject...

(There is quite a bit more text after that - Morrissey talking about different things, but I figure that's all I should post. Anyway, have fun with this one, kids - the pictures are beautiful.)++
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broken also writes:

There's quite a bit of Morrissey content in the NME yearbook which should be out in a couple of days' time (wednesday).

There's a shot of Morrissey taken by David Bailey looking quite wrinkled, but very cheerful and affable.

There are quite a few pics of Morrissey with other artists and they salute his "extraordinary comeback."

There's a shot of Morrissey with the libertines at brixton 2002 with the caption, "the pupils are afraid of the teachers"

and finally, a short and sweet but unenlightening interview about 2004 from Moz's point of view.

A few choice cuts (these are a bit sketchy as I'm going from memory):

Guyom M Moz writes:

Hello,

A VERY GOOD review in French (sorry to long to translate) of the Gig in Paris at the Zénith by “Les INROCKUPTIBLES” the nov. 22

Title: Morrissey in the Zénith : Beethoven is still deaf

pasherNATEee writes:

Set for January 1, 2005:

Southpaw Grammer (Upgrade Version) [IMPORT]

Album Description
Japanese remastered reissue (upgrade version) of 1995 album is scheduled to include one bonus track. Details TBA. RCA.

Product Details
Audio CD (January 1, 2005)
Label: BMG
ASIN: B0001ZX4O8
List Price: $30.49

ANY IDEAS what bonus track will be???

BlueGirl writes:

Defamer.com reported on two celebrity sightings at Morrissey's Universal shows:

Defamer - Nov. 16, 2004

"Spotted Chloe Sevigny at the bathroom at the Morrissey show at Universal Amp in Los Angeles on November 12th. She wore a customized Morrissey jeans jacket over a barely there dress scrunched up with zippers and the highest/thinnest heeled boots I have ever seen. She looked blissed out and flushed after the show, even though she was scowling (funny how she can do that simultaneously). And walked away with her head down quickly when she saw that I recognized her."

Defamer - Nov. 23, 2004

"a little tidbit related to the Morrissey/Chloe phenomenom. In L.A. at the Universal Ampitheatre Thursday night Morrissey show, apparently Vincent Gallo was in the pit, gallantly fighting for a piece of the great one's shirt, which he had thrown to the crowd, who then pounced on it like a pack of wild hyenas. Not sure if Vince got a piece, but I don't think he did. I didn't see him myself (this is what other fans reported), though I see him on the LES often enough, as does everyone else--I was in the pit as well, but I only had eyes for Morrissey. Maybe he wanted to bring the scrap back for Chloe?"

Speedracermoz writes:

I was in San Diego on Sunday seeing "Green Day" at the Cox Arena, when out of the blue Billy Joe Armstrong (the singer and guitar player from Green Day) got on the mike as he was playing a song and said "This song goes out to Morrissey" and started playing "Boulevard of Broken dreams".

Shoplifter writes:

We celebrate Morrissey on November 26 with a whole night dedicated to him and The Smiths!

Venue: Restaurang Magnus Ladulås
Address: Österlånggatan 26, Stockholm
Time: 21-01
Admission: Free
Age: 20

Welcome!
www.magnusladulas.se