Looks like Merck read my post on Tim and took notes. Way to go Merck...

When does it all stop...it's now getting pretty old.Make it stop,please.

Nice one Merck. I'm glad you're taking them to court because the way they seem to have acted, seems they deserve it. They need to apologise in print and in full, else they do deserve what's coming to them.

And as has been covered in a news item below, it seems almost every Morrissey fan is right behind you and Moz on this one.

Time to pop some more popcorn.....

Merck, I think you're doing a fabulous job. Morrissey, you've got all my support!!! Please don't let this situation get you down too much...those little boys at the NME didn't know who they were messing with. Go Team Moz!

enough already! no more posts on this subject from either camps until Tuessday(after we hear from moz)
this is getting us nowhere and is frankly risible.
grow the fuck up everyone.
saying that , Merck is a fucking legend , nice to see some integrity in Moz's camp for once.

Tim Jonze = Pawn. :)

-DavidismyHero

I don't know if i'd go far enough to say that music journalism deserves that label. It's a land of puff pieces even if a lot of money is at stake.

However, Tim has shown himself as a person who will do whatever is necessary to to party his way through NYC on somebody else's dime and get a free ride for his friends in the process. Good for you for standing up for the downtrodden immigrants, Tim! Wait until that paycheck clears to say anything.

I don't know much about music media, more specifically their press, but, curiously, I was watching a British program, two or three weeks ago, about what goes on behind the scenes. The program was just fiction, a film series, but fiction cannot build itself totally on disconneted imagination. I

n the film, a woman, who was very competent, but who was going through a divorce, and doing some drinking, was about to become a victim of verbal lynching in her own workplace, to be done through the publication of an article saying the most horrible things about her, twisting facts about her life, exagerating others.

That was all because one of her workmates was very financially motivated to denigrate her, yearning for a big promotion, and saw this sad situation as a perfect occasion for it.

I thought to myself, hmmm, there must be, then a lot of Tims in the real press world, since somebody went to the trouble of even making a whole series of films inspired by it, and it was even a little too innocent of Morrissey to have entrusted his words to NME after all that happened back in 1991.

In 2004, he was actually convinced that all the viperous breed of this magazine was long gone. Not that I blame him for longing to trust.

It must be terrible for him to see he can't.

Surely thats the big news here gang...Wonder what he will say?. A lot of people saying he was hiding behind Merck but I am delighted he is going to release a statement himself

Kudos to Merck for putting up a decent fight, and allowing these guys to hang themselves.

If they had been a bit more sophisticated, they could have gotten their story without all the fuss, but that was not what they wanted, obviously.

I hope Morrissey's comments on Tuesday put an end to all this, and we can get back to the music.

Congratulations, Davidt, on your persistence with Solo(w). It really is one of the most fascinating fansites on the web (if that is actually a compliment).

 

Three? Four?

Others sang your life...
now is your chance to shine and have the pleasure of saying what you mean, have the pleasure of meaning what you sing!

Thanks Moz.

Yes, I'm very interested in knowing what Morrissey has to say. You know, this whole fiasco...well, really, the fact that Morrissey has been plagued by rumors of being a racist for, what, 15 years now, is absurd. When he was in Myrtle Beach over the summer, he made a comment about how Bush has ruined the country...I can't remember exactly what he said...but I do remember him saying, "Just move to Europe or something".

He IS NOT a racist and his music clearly states that...LISTEN to the lyrics.

What this boils down to is a nasty magazine that never let go of a half baked rumor in the first place and who would love to exploit Morrissey for their own gain and nothing more. "Just because..."

Good job, Merck. Rip them to shreds.

Tim Jonze: Just shut the hell up, already. You're making my blood boil.

To this Merck guy, he really seems to know how to handle a situation like this and fight for Moz to the end. I do not believe Morrissey is racist at all, the comments were completely taken the wrong way ... however old Moz sometimes doesn't choose the best of words when making his point and it's just awesome he has someone like this to really put the boot in for him!

"It would be easy to feel sorry for Tim Jonze. "

No, sorry, Merck, I think you've overestimated my ability to give Jonze the benefit of the doubt. It's not at all easy to feel sorry for him. Maybe I am unkind, but so it is.

Best wishes to you and Moz, too.

"We won't know until we get to court and start picking them apart."

Of for fuck's sake. What are you going to take him to court over - the fact that he republished comments that Morrissey made in an interview??! You yanks are hilarious.. you'd probably take the bus driver to court when the bus turns up 1 minute late... get over it!

the wife of the future King of the Netherlands,
Princess Maxima officially spoke [in front of
a crowd, a crowd with people who find themselves important ]said that she searched for the Dutch
identity, but didn't found it, cause it isn't there

I bet Morrissey meant the same, or spoke in the
same way, our future Kings wife meant and spoke

Why is our future King's wife not internationally
slag down for saying this.

I know, cause it was Morrissey, and Morrissey
is doing too wel last years, so time for the final knock out, and once agasin they put a story together where they used some words Morrissey said to a reporter, whose editor made
it a piece of garbage from it, focusing on some
words Morrissey said, and labeled him again as
rascist

I hope once the courtsystem in England is intelligent enough, to prove and judge in favour
of Morrissey this time

I'm a little bored of the whole thing now. The fact that Morrissey hasn't been burnt at the stake in any quarter of the media or public domain, really sums up how people feel. The NME clearly misread how this one would pan out, this time round. 'Has the world changed or has he changed?'. Well er, yes, the world's changed and you seem to have missed the fact. Yamaha

...and yet...I don't.

Nope. Not a sausage.

According to Wikipedia, Conor M is a cunt. Seriously.

With all the positive exposure David has Given Moz, and the fact that Merck is completely bypassing True to You, I wonder if this will mend old wounds, lets face it, true to you is useless, she never updates it, there are far better fan sites Moz could use.

I can't believe Tim Jonze is doing this... to himself. He's made himself look SO bad. There's not enough money in the world to get me to make myself look like such a two-faced and ethically challenged person in public... even if that were true of me. I really wonder what the NME has promised him.

I'm very excited to read Morrissey's statement on Tuesday. I'm sure it's going to be scrutinized by lawyers and made bland with rewording, but Morrissey's brain very rarely disappoints. We're all bound to be pleased.

Has anyone reread the offending article just to make sure that you still agree with yourself? I've done it twice now. I still can't find any racism.

I don't think they should take the NME to court. Morrissey has a very unlucky court history, what if it's in his karma?

From what I've read so far, most of public opinion is behind him. Moz should just lean back and enjoy the show, it'll be over soon enough. If he takes the NME to court and loses, the whole thing could backfire.

My instinct is to hope that Morrissey’s team does not overstate their case.

“Wise men talk, because they have something to say; fools do, because they have to say something” – Plato

If they reflect on why they are making the statement and who they want to address primarily, that should guide them. They might beware leaning too much on the advice of lawyers who can be inclined to fan the flames to secure fees for themselves from the run-on of a dispute. It is very significant that having been effectively tried by the public, Morrissey has not been found in the main to be guilty of a misdemeanour. It would be sensible not to play into the hands of the NME, by sticking to clarifying only the necessary points, and by minimizing an adversarial tone. Let others stoop to that level; dignity, assurance of non-discrimination, regret for the unrepresentative portrayal, and quiet confidence in returning to business as usual soon, are the ingredients for the way forward.

“To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it” - Confusius

Any temptation to preach can be replaced with a trust that the readers are capable of making up their own minds. Every word used in the statement will be subjected to very close scrutiny; the more succinct and gracious the better.

“Measure a thousand times and cut once” - Proverb

‘Hear the gang say’…’and here I am, and here I am’… : )

Weeeeell, it's Tuesday!

I'm already at work; Moz, yuh listening?

Set this issue to rest, already, so that these eejuts will leave us alone. :)

'But where the president is never -BLACK-, female or gay!'

Come on, for God's sake. A perfect example of how left-wing (apparently) newspapers/magazines are just as guilty of sensationalism as the tabloids. Absolute madness.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=us er.viewprofile&friendid=34163432

Having seen Conor McNicholas being interviewed a few times and read some statements he's made on various issues, I came to the conclusion that he was a slippery individual who is not particlaulary eloquent and has largely chanced it up to now.

Strangely enough, I found myself wondering whether he would at some point (ab)use his position for his own gain. So in that respect I can wholly subscribe to Merck's assertion that 'Tim Jonze has just been a pawn in Conor McNicholas' zeal to make a name for himself at Morrissey's expense'.

However, it still remains unclear to what extent Conor McNicholas's Talking Dog Sancho
http://www.audiojunkies.net/adventures/ep4/ep4.htm
has played in the proceedings.

Maybe we'll discover that in the court case.

could've avoided so much trouble in the past.

Oh dear... this does not look good for Conor McNicholas.

NME tampers polls for 'COMMERCIAL AND POLITICAL' reasons

http://www.last.fm/group/NME/forum/17449/_/65524/0

and

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/culturevulture/archive s/2005/12/02/out_of_order.html

it seems to me that Timothy is too naive to see that he is being used by McNicholas.

ThatsAllFolks
Comment No. 815499
December 3 16:50
Cambridge/gbr

  I'm no Morrissey fan, Tim, so I have no particular axe to grind, but I do know when I'm being lied to and it's mightily insulting. What you and the NME's Nasty Minded Editor forget is that a whole generation has grown up with Morrissey and we understand full well that the notion of Englishness he espouses is the Englishness of kitchen sink dramas, Carry On films, grotty seaside towns, John Betjeman and the like. Quaint? Nostalgic? Reactionary? Possibly. Inflammatory? Racist? "The language of the BNP"? Who are you trying to kid??? Any arts journalist worth his salt immediately understands this socio-cultural context within which Morrissey places himself - and for you and/or the NME to attempt to repackage it and sell it to your readership as implicitly racist is not merely naivete, it's a Big Fat Lie. And you know it. And I'm afraid your recent posts here explaining/justifying your position do not ring true either (I'm not sure that even a child would be convinced by what you say): I smell more Big Fat Lies. And Big Fat Lies do have a nasty habit of being uncovered in court, Tim. Both you and the NME seem to have spectacularly misjudged the public mood, my friend. Though he'd no doubt be appalled to see it in print, it's evident from those recent Cultural Icon/Northern Personality polls (not to mention those people springing to his defence all over the net), that, like it or not, Morrissey occupies a place in the affections of a generation in much the same way that Cliff Richard and the Queen Mother did for our parents and grandparents... He's pop music's Alan Bennett, nothing more sinister than that. He's essentially critic-proof, Tim - his records sell well with minimal radio play, his concerts sell out quickly all over the world with very little advertising; so however much you sneer from the sidelines, I think it's clear that you ain't gonna damage Morrissey, that's for sure; but I dread to think what the might of his legal firepower can do to you. Why don't you just come clean, Tim? We'd all respect you a lot more! As it is, you're in danger of ending up playing Heather Mills to his Paul McCartney. Not a very dignified spectacle.

[Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment.]

I think it's time to stop the bickering...it's very high schoolish, myspace, tit for tat arguing.

They are both looking bad.

Is Merck Mercuriadis!

Is Merck Mercuriadis Greek!

Someone on Tim J's blog has posted a comment to the effect of "no wonder the BNP are posting on [Morrissey's] myspace page claiming him as one of their own". I see nothing of the kind on myspace - anyone know what this refers to? Anyone else hoping that Moz's statement will explicitly distance himself from the BNP as well as the eNeMEy??

Check out the Devil Has The Best Tuna blog at www.besttuna.blogspot.com for the Devil's thoughts on the debate.

I must say I think it's really refreshing to be informed by Merk as to everything that is going on, a real breath of fresh air. Good on you Merck now announce some more tour dates please!!

is on TTY now.

"I am writing this to apologise unreservedly for granting an interview to the NME.

Genius.

right lets all take a deep breath and look at this situation without our rose tinted spectacles shall we? 1)Moz has done, 2, interviews with the nme, who have done a hatchet job on him.
2)Moz's comments are more than likely not been changed, they are the usual heart-felt comments said by an ex pat who hasn't lived in England for over 5 years.
3) If the court case comes to the judicary then we shall all find that the complaint is the way his comments have been dressed by the prose of the journalist/editor. Not the actual comments moz has said.
4)chatting to a friendwho works on the NME, the journalist in question has recordings of the interview, which if needed will be played in court, from this information we can assume Moz has said what he's said.
5) Is Moz really that stupid to expect the NME not to do a hatchet job on him? There really is something a little fishy about the "convenience" of all this. lots of free publicity, "there's no such thing as bad publiciy", a new greatest hits coming out, more gigs announced. Surely not completely organised publicity stunt?
finally, Moz has brought up some interesting questions about british identity, but really no matter how much i love Stephen, the views of anyone who doesn't even live in this country now really has to be discounted. And as for the NME should we really have expected anything less?
The truth will out, but please all of you take off your rose tinted spectacles, as should Moz with his expat views on british culture.