johnny, grant...
i couldn't agree more. i'm 31 myself and purchased the old smiths releases the day they came out, too (i can still remember my friends and i ditching school, buying "meat is murder" the afternoon it came out, and listening to it at my house while we rifled through dear old dad's liquor cabinet).
although i'm still into every release and bit or legitimate news story as i ever was, it gets harder and harder to go to morrissey/smiths related events with every passing year. come to think of it, i quit going to the conventions after the first year and only followed morrissey’s last tour because i was able to do so from the side of the stage as opposed to fighting the crowds up front.
now, concerts have turned into modern-day versions of a "guys & dolls" convention (pseudo-gangsters and their tarted-up girlfriends), people fawning over smith look-a-likes, and those who discovered morrissey during the “your arsenal” era when he flirted with the rockabilly look that these fans are still clutching onto.
eh, who gives a f*** – they’re the ones who are paying $30 for domestic copies of “the queen is dead” on ebay – why should i care?
this whole “then and now” debate has been beaten to the ground before and it’s very, very boring, but it’s still valid – the entire climate has changed – at least on the west coast.