He is such a nice guy.

Morrissey always likes to do things his way --so why should the 39-year old self-proclaimed eccentric begin changing things now? That's why no one challenged him when he told them that he wanted to celebrate the release of his albumful of rarities and b-sides, My Early Burglary Years, in Albuquerque, New Mexico yesterday. No, not because he's a devotee of Tommy Hillerman novels, but because, as he told interviewer Julie Forman from station KTEG, this where he felt the greatest welcome when he toured the US last year. Besides a two hour live interview on the station on Sunday, the usually irascible singer also consented to an in-store session at Blockbuster Music at the stroke of 11 p.m. -- where he graciously signed autographs and chatted with fans from as far away as Iceland who came in for the event. How did they know? Morrissey's quasi-official website, www.morrissey-solo.com, printed the news last week, and since then fans have been flooding the great southwest in droves. "There was a line outside the door when I opened up the store at 7 a.m.," said store manager Lem Sylvest. "They've driven in as far away as Rhode Island, with fans coming from all over the country. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Salt Lake City, Houston, Dallas, and San Francisco. It's just incredible."

When Morrissey pulled up to the radio station, he had to walk through a phalanx of adoring fans. "It was like something out of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, said one industry watcher." They were on a pilgrimage to see their hero, and they were content just to watch him as he walked by." But Morrissey did more than that. He stopped along the way to grasp a hand, sign a piece of paper, or accept a bouquet of flowers. And the new- and-improved Stephen Patrick Morrissey also extended his charm to the listening audience. Forman tells us he was "forthright, candid, and very polite, " and even went so far as to explain his last days in the Smiths. "I left because they kicked me out of the band," he claimed. "So you see, I was forced to become a solo artist."

While Morrissey has been writing songs for a new studio album, it's unclear what label the record will be released on. The musician is adamant that he no longer wants to be associated with current label, Mercury Records, even though he still owes the company another record, and it may come to a court battle to extricate him from their clutches -- something he claims wouldn't bother him, just as long as he is free. Freedom, in fact, is something that seems foremost in Morrissey's mind, even on the subconscious level. He took a number of calls from listeners on Sunday, and one of them seemed to engage him when she asked what he dreamed about. "I have really, really vivid dreams" he enthused. "I just had a dream about rescuing some ferrets who were locked in a cage. I managed to get to them, and free them all. But as soon as I did that, some people came and tried to kill them, so I had to rescue the ferrets all over again."
-Jaan Uhelszki