I thought it may be of interest to let you know who I bumped into in HMV in Grafton Street this evening... I was wandering around the aisles when I noticed a familiar-looking figure, wearing a snugly-fitting tweed cap (the type that Bob Geldof wore at Live 8).
On second glance, yes, it was the great man, Morrissey, perusing some Stevie Wonder albums. I approached him, and trotted out some stock pleasantries about being a big fan. He was polite but very shy. I complemented him on his animal rights activism and told him that he had been an inspiration for my vegetarianism. Then I said "I'm sure this isn't the first time you've heard that". He replied "No, it's the second actually". Classic quick-wit!
A few minutes later he exited HMV, giving me a big smile on the way out, and ambled down Grafton Street. A bright spot on an otherwise miserable, aptly-Mancunian day in Dublin!
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Awww! that's lovely (Score:0)
Good luck to you!! (Score:0)
Sheridan
The New York Dolls........ (Score:1)
(User #15039 Info)
Thanks for sharing (Score:1, Insightful)
Good stuff.
(User #14586 Info)
that moz (Score:1)
thanks for sharing! i envy your experience.
(User #17550 Info)
moz was at new york dolls tonite in dublin (Score:2, Informative)
(User #6724 Info)
S. Kane, New York Dolls & Morrissey. (Score:1, Flamebait)
After summarizing the band’s background, she speaks about the impact of Morrissey’s interest.
“The band is so important, influencing a whole era of musicians, who in turn would influence a whole other era. You can see their presence within Blondie and The Ramones and they were seen as single-handedly kick-starting that local, vibrant New York scene. They have been invoked from Sex Pistols to Guns ‘n’ Roses, and that is all before mentioning The Smiths and in particular Morrissey who once ran their fan-club. It is no faint praise to say that Morrissey brought their essence to a wider audience and that he was the architect of their return. Tragically, when he set about doing this for the Meltdown Festival in London in 2004, only three of the band members survived; Johansen, Sylvain and Kane. Johansen said that they had been approached before by “stubby-fingered vulgarians. With Morrissey, it was different. We had such good fun playing at Meltdown that we toured a few festivals, started writing songs at soundchecks, and suddenly – whaddya know? We’d made an album!”
The poetic part of this is that it gave renewed vigour to a band that had provided that vigour to others. The performance produced a live record and DVD on Morrissey’s Attack label and Greg Whiteley’s documentary “New York Doll”. The film worked from the point of view of Arthur “Killer” Kane whose story is both gragic and uplifting, and contrasts his conversion to Mormonism against a reunion of the band and ultimately their performance at Meltdown. Kane died of leukaemia only a month after the gig (Sylvain said: “he waited his entire life for the Dolls to reform. He was a sweetheart. He died happy.”), and this, along with the band’s already emotionally charged reunion made the recent developments (their new album and tour) all the more meaningful.
The band now contains guitarist Steve Conte, bassist Sami Yaffa (of Hanoi Rocks), drummer Brian Delaney and keyboardist Brian Koonin. Johansen has said: “It won’t be very long that we’ll be together longer than the original band was”. But, as Sylvain points out, they are not ‘replacing’ anyone, for how could they? “We’re talking about the deceased here, not the dismissed, after all”.
It is not just Morrissey who is pleased to see them back; many others understand their impact, such as Malcolm McLaren – “The fundamental belief in the strength and purity of the amateur over the slickness of the professional (and the eternal devotion to an uncontrollable youthful urge to behave irresponsibly and be everything this society haves) became the legacy of the New York Dolls. It remains the war cry of the outlaw spirit of anything new in pop culture today”.
Thurstone Moore of Sonic Youth remembers harressing his mother to buy him their record, “I remember her looking at it and saying ‘who are these people?’; and John O’ Neill’s, of The Undertones, favourite albums are the Dolls’ first and second, which lifted him out of the bleakness of Derry in the 1970’s – “nothing has ever affected me like hearing that record ever since; absolute perfection.” Or as Glen Matlock of Sex Pistols has put it – “It was a big eye-opener in terms of attitude. They really didn’t give a shit”. And they still don’t – but you’ll have to experience them for yourselves”.
(User #12673 Info)
how lovely... (Score:0)
A moment you will surely cherish for the rest of your life xxx
Dublin* (Score:0)
Forevermore-
I love you Moz so hoping you love me too.
X
a point (Score:0)
Jesus, some "fans" are cunts, really. The internet has to be guilty of parading a non stop procession of fucking cretins. Congratulations, you listen to his music, you "get" his lyrics, you are therefore related.
clap, clap, clap...........
Appalling Vista (Score:1)
I'm sure Morrissey would appreciate the anti-Irish or gay-baiting crap that is appearing here, seeing as how his parents are Irish and he has sung and spoken about the need not to box people in because of their sexuality.
For shame...
(User #16107 Info)
Re:Morrissey in Micksville (Score:0)
Parent
Jesus Christ. (Score:1)
Are you sure they were Stevie Wonder albums? not, I dunno'
P.S- Just for the record, Bono's a dick.
(User #13749 Info | http://somedizzywhore.com/)
Parent
Re:Stevie Wonder cds (Score:0)
Parent
Re:Gay issues in Ireland (Score:1)
Are you the guy who shouts my name at three in the morning then runs off, in that case, I want my other Ted Baker sock back, you can have any sock, just return that sock.
(User #13749 Info | http://somedizzywhore.com/)
Parent