See James Maker's MySpace site for extracts from his autobiography, this one featuring his Manchester friend...

As posted by Cossy on the forums (original post).

Eoin Devereux (Limerick University) writes about The Smiths & Morrissey ahead of the upcoming Irish dates...

Also, there's Q&As with tribute bands from around the world...

Eoin Devereux has supplied a PDF version of the Sunday Trubune article.

Death Cab for Cutie played an acoustic version of "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" for a radio session at Philadelphia's Radio 104.5.
It can be downloaded here:

Listen to Death Cab For Cutie On KCRW Monday 6.22 - Sonic Itch Music

‘There is A Light That Never Goes Out’ (mp3)

I noticed a link on my MSN home page under entertainment: The 10 Saddest Rock Stars.

Guess who's number one?

I stand by exactly what I said in the original post. I wanted to clear up the confusion that I receive ALL Smiths royalties from Warners. That is untrue.

The only reason I felt obliged to send you a posting in the first place was due to an article in the forums regarding how much of the Smiths income I receive from Warner Bros. I wanted to clarify the situation that I do not receive ALL royalties from Warners music, that is all. Merck is correct. I did receive, in the past, Morrissey's share of royalties from Warners, but if Morrissey had paid me the money that was owed to me in the first place, the same way that Johnny has done, then I would not have had to be forced to go down the route I had taken. In retrospect, I think this probably wasn't the place to vent my frusration regarding the matter, but it was brought to my attention that people were under the impression that I receive 100% of all Smiths royalties. That is untrue. It was posted on your site, therefore I felt obliged to make the people who come here aware of the facts.

..."Mike Joyce takes great pleasure in being a thorn in Morrissey's side - it is perhaps his only purpose."

How more offensive and untrue could this sentence possibly be. This is the situation. When I eventually receive the money that's owed to me, then the "thorn" will be removed immediately.

To everyone on Solo.

Assuming this post is genuinely from Joyce he should be ashamed of himself as it is dishonest and clearly meant to inflame you against Morrissey.

As most of you will know Morrissey and I have parted company so I am not speaking on his behalf nor is he aware that I am posting this. My only agenda is to let you know the truth about Joyce's claim regarding Smiths' royalties. I should also qualify this by saying that I have nothing personal against Mike Joyce but I am in the business of protecting artists and it is offensive to me, not to mention, immoral that Mike Joyce should be getting paid for Morrissey's share of Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead et al. It is the equivalent of the easel getting paid for Van Gogh's paintings ie it is ridiculous and no one with a conscience could accept the cheques regardless of what a court may say. Not if you really loved and respected the music.

The fact is Mike Joyce applies to the court every 6 months and on the basis of his historic judgement - which arguably he has now been paid many times over! - he asks the court to award him Morrissey's Smiths' royalties. As a result of the judgement the court orders Warner UK to pay 100% of Morrissey's Smiths' royalties to Joyce. For Joyce to say that he has not received Morrissey's Smiths' record royalties from the UK - and everywhere in the world for that matter - is as far from the truth as you can possibly get but I am sure he will hide behind his carefully chosen ambiguous words.

Mike Joyce takes great pleasure in being a thorn in Morrissey's side - it is perhaps his only purpose - and one of the downsides of my not working with Morrissey, in the future, will be not having the pleasure of being the person who eventually takes him out. It will happen and if you are a genuine Smiths or Moz fan and you want a target for the irritation you sometimes feel there is no one worthier.

Best wishes,
Merck

From the CMU Newsletter today (June 20 08):

"IS MERCK BACK WITH MORRISSEY?

Gossipers say that Morrissey has already asked his long time manager Merck Mercuriadis to start working for him again, just weeks after the two parted company ahead of Mozza's new management agreement with ie:music's US outpost."