but I hope that my DVD is sent out before Morrissey's legal team can shut them down. Then I hope Morrissey gets my $29.

I mean no disrespect to Moz, but I have purchased bootlegs before, and I am more than happy to do it again. I'm just too hungry for new material to want it to work out any differently.

If thhis turns into a mess. it may be a while before we see our $29 or DVD. I think im gonna wait this one out. that or hopefully someone will sell some on ebay. i knew this was too good to be true!

then why was this guy allowed on the tour? Obviously there was something meant to be done with the video footage, but what was it?

*sigh*

Well, my dear Mozziness, the timeliness of my laziness has meant that our bootlegger won't be seeing my money....although many of us were indeed perked up by seeing your bright smile once again.

i was a bit bemused by the whole strutting around like Elvis in the department store.

When the right time comes for its release, it will undoubtedly be more stylishly presented by the man himself, rather than by whoever this person is who
is trying to put it out now for his own personal gain. If we are patient, it will be completely worth the wait. I'm glad Morrissey found out about it- after all, it's only fair that he should be in control of his own music.

I also think that it is only right for Morrissey to be in control of his music and his image.And if something is going to be done with this footage it should be with Morrissey`s blessing .But as Suzanne said seeing your bright smile did make me happy!Tibby:-):-):-):-)

I never thought I'd say this, but nothing of this ("Very Best Of...", "South with...") would be happening if our lazy man had released something of "real" interest (a live CD, Troy Tate demos, a new album for God's sake!, etc) during the last four years.
Again, I don't agree with this release, but we can not "blame" Barry Derbyshire for understanding the law of Offer vs. Demand better than the man himself.
I hope that the next time it'd be Moz and not those bastards at WEA or B.D the one who's earning money with his art.... but it all depends on HIM.

I sent my money off for the damn thing. I don't much care if Morrissey is offended by it or not. I've always been for artists' rights (especially in this digital age) but I really don't see this as any different than any bootleg video or cd that I could go into my local record store right now and buy. Bootlegs exist and are something only hardcore fans are interested in. I don't think they necessarily hurt artists in the same way that Napster did.

Of course now I probably won't get my dvd and have to worry about getting my 29 bucks back.

Wouldn't it just be easier, Morrissey, to release something yourself?

Maybe if this spokesperson talked a little more for Morrissey, this sort of thing would not happen. Yeah, this person might not be to blame for this, but if they might have just bought the rights to the film & not been against it as this spokesperson said Morrissey was, everything might be okay.

I hope everyone's shipment goes through okay before this force of the inevitable legal action just because they aren't getting any royalties from it. That is why it is called, well now, not this morning, a Bootleg.

The transaction I made went smoothly. . . but if I were YOU, the innocent fan, I'd keep those emails that they sent regarding your purchase in print & in my email.

re-reading this, it basically says that Morrissey owns the rights to the film. Does this mean it's supposed to be released another way later on down the road?

Well, if Morrissey says "DON'T" then I won't. I respect his feelings enough that it won't bother me one way or the other. I know he'll have something out for us one day.

i've been starving, just like all of you, for anything new from Moz. So this afternoon I sign on from work and read about the DVD. Of course I order it before even finishing the entire article.

Now I sign on this evening only to discover the DVD's release is against Morrissey's wishes.

Please him, please us, no one is satisfied. Oh the dilema. Do i enjoy this DVD if it shows up or do i harbor major guilt for buying it against his wishes?

It would have been nice to have been given ALL of the facts in the initial post so i as consumer could have made a truly informed decision whether or not to buy it. But then being a Morrissey fan, nothing is supposed to be easy.

This is the most annoying thing that happened here in a while.......damndamndamndamndamn!!

But not because Morrissey or his reps asked. I love him and his music dearly but he does not dictate what i buy or don't. At least for me, there would be more things to consider.

My only concern is how personal this footage and pics seem. Moz knew he was being filmed. Was this only meant as a personal memento? Was this to be used later for an eventual release? If I knew this was strictly a bootleg, no guilt whatsover.

Either way, I'll wait and see.

This is total bullshit. I hope David keeps the advertisement and the link up--Morrissey doesn't own this site, and we should use our own judgement when it comes to whether or not to buy this DVD.

Look at this a different way--this indie filmmaker has an original (and perhaps tasteful) piece of art that HE made about a certain aging rock star. This may be his big break? I mean, just because Morrissey doesn't like the footage doesn't mean that he can stand in the way of this artist. We've given morrissey leeway on what he has to say about race, gender and class--even when others' claimed that he had no right to do so. How many of us stood by him when he waved the Union Jack or flaunted his gender bending lyrics in the face of an uptight british system? I support J. Barry just as I've supported morrissey in the past.

pats

Lets see, a project is set up ,developed and suddenly the" Artist "disavows knowledge of it. Do you honestly think someone would go through all this trouble if they weren't allowed at one point to proceed? Only to have the "artist" change his mind and deny anything was ever Ok'ed? Propably the same thing happened to Warners with the Very best comp!

I find it troubling, to say the least, that this "artist" would deny his devoted fans a glimpse of his tour that most of us could not see in person. As long as there is nothing disparaging in the video, why shouldn't the fans be allowed to purchase the video produced by an independent party. If our "artist" was not so lazy and full of himself, maybe I would see his point of view (if he has one). His arrogance and empty threats of legal action are a slap to the true devoted fans. I think I'll buy as many copies of this video and sell them to other devoted fans that wish to purchase them. If for some reason we can no longer purchase the video, I'll put a new link somewhere where fans can discretely purchase the video at COST (maybe even a dollar below cost since it's really nothing to me).

This is no different than any other bootleg and I have no problem with bootlegs.

Who buys bootlegs? Diehard fans who are willing to part with their money. So long as the quality of the boot is good, the exchange is a fair one.

Think about it, most bootleg cd's are around $30. Only a diehard who has already purchased every "legit" release is into the artist enough to pay that.

Who is being hurt here? Morrissey? Give me a break, he's not exactly financially strapped and even if he were it wouldn't be cutting into his sales!

  Now, if this were available in a "legit" format, and someone was undercutting that sale with a cheaper bootlegged version, then I would have a problem with it but otherwise I'm fine.

It is not disrespectful to purchase a bootleg--it's the ultimate form of flatter.

Paul Weller said it best when responding to the following question on his site:

Nicorme asks; ‘I was wondering what you think of sites like napster and if you yourself ever used it? I find it useful for bootleg stuff’.

Pail replys; ‘ Bootlegs are one thing and all well and good but I’m against ‘official’ recorded works going out for nothing, this is my livelihood after all!’.

SOOOO, my only question is: is the DVD region 1 or 2?

in the reactions of most people here. I'll speak for myself now: I've spent lots of time trying to think what I could to help him, and trying to hear FROM Morrissey, because I thought that being here was part of caring for him, and trying to help him, for you know, he has made decisions in his life that didn't make things easy for him, and isn't it the reason I admire him so much after all? And when he speaks, and when he says what is a good way to help him, and that is in some way an answer for the problems I was facing, for if somebody wants to help then she/he must know what to do, well, I was glad and ready to write a post telling that I'd follow what he said. But I got SHOCKED to say the least by the posts that I found here in the threads already written. I don't believe that people who does not like Morrissey has any right to be here and to say they don't care if he is harmed, as long as they have what they want. Because if this forum is going against what he wishes, you'd better change the name of this site, you can't use his name and still harm him.
To Morrissey or to his spokeperson now: my dear, the more I grow the more I understand you and the problems you face. You give me strenght. I'm with you and I'll do my best to protect your wishes, to do things right is never easy, because one then has to say things that won't please most, but much like you I prefer to keep my dignity. And now I have to run away from the stones thrown against me, life WAS never easy here. But then, they just cared about themselves, no?

I'll start with the good thing.
This site is closely watched by the Morrissey entourage. Very well.

The bad points?
a) what about some happy quips from the Morrissey camp?

b) This wonder of a site is used to promote illegal footage. Really, "J. Barry" has no shame. As much as people (and rightly so) complained about the horribly-looking TVB of The Smiths, illegal material deserves no promotion as well.

Over and out. Beam me up, Scotty.

Was that Morrissey had bought the rights to the film. If he hadn't, J. Barry would be able to do what he wanted to with the recording as long as people who appeared signed a release. If you think about it, whenever you see Morrissey's mug anywhere, he can't run up to the cameraman, pop out the tape and run screaming down the street "it's ALL mine! it's ALL mine!" as it isn't his.

Maybe it means at some point Morrissey was going to use this footage to produce a video of his own. Of course, we don't know what he meant to do with it, or if he took a look at it and found he was unhappy with it and shelved it. He may have released the thing as an hour long concert video. But this director willingly signed and sold away his rights to what he filmed. He agreed ahead of time to not do what he had done, so it's his fault that Morrissey is after him.

Worried about going against Morrissey's wishes?-Don't be. Do you think for a moment that Morrissey, during his long years as a fan wouldn't have done anything to get hold of such an item by one of HIS heroes.He'd have been in like a shot and would have laughed at anyone who said otherwise.
          Secondly, if you worry about depriving a multi-millionaire of a few £/$ then you need your head examining. There are enough people in poverty in the world, try helping them. Morrissey's never going to go hungry.

at the end of the day,this will sell because the great man himself has left us with nothing for the last four years and people still need to cling to him in any way they can,which includes buying this dvd. it seems people are starting to feel slightly let down my morrissey,from the other posts ive read.i hope he gives us something official soon.is that too much to ask?

i am a new fan of morrissey's, i have been a fan for only about two months, yet i have a lot of his albums (and smiths albums) already. i truly think he is a genius and that his is the definition of brilliant music. but now, in response to this, i just have one thing to say...

being a morrissey fan is very, very hard.

If you read the comments from the other message board, you may remember that I was having problems ordering the DVD using Netscape. Well, I just got an email, and it seems like "South With Morrissey" is still in business. This only complicates matters for those who are still sitting on the fence about whether they should order or not, but I figured that the news would be of interest to those of us that already ordered.

The problem with Netscape is fixed. by the way.

Seems Morrissey is really getig the hang of being a Califorian.Sueing everyone and sitting on his lazy ass, producing nothing.

Morrissey is becoming a joke!

Perhaps if Moz released something NEW people wouldn't feel like buying bootleg material. And one more thing I've had just about ENOUGH with all of the BEST OF Cd's. If you don't want someone else to take money away from you Moz, please give us something new and something GOOD. Think back to the Viva Hate era.. maybe if enough of us buy the DVD, Moz will get all depressed (the way we love him) and give us new material.

It's been ages since Maladjusted. It's been ages since his last record company collapsed and he had to make his way out of it. It's been ages since we heard there were many songs ready to be recorded. Waiting is the story of Morrissey fans.
Now we see a new item that seems attractive enough to get hold of. We buy it on the spot. I don't care if it is authorised or not. I love Morrissey since 1985. Morrissey is not thinking of us now. Leave us alone now. We can buy what we please. Let's remember how expensive Tshirts, scarves, hats, magnets, bracelets, comdomd and other official items were. SPEND SPEND SPEND

oh great....more controversy for you people to yip about...between the best of crap and this i am quickly losing faith.

...don't eat meat!
But I do.

...don't buy this DVD!
I already have.

I respect Morrissey as an artist and a great influence on my life
but he doesn't influence every single bit of it.

So go ahead and do whatever YOU want (until his lawyers get you )!

I believe Barry received verbal permission for his shoot(s), but never took it to a professional level of obtaining releases. This would mean that Barry would own the footage, but could be blocked from profiting by it with Morrissey not having to "buy" the rights of the film (assuming he owns the rights to the use of his name and image, which the spokesperson's message suggests).

While Morrissey may legally block Barry's actions, I believe that granting permission for a "fan" to shoot footage, is to risk that fan "sharing" his results. Morrissey should have known that to do so was a mistake and should not impede Barry's release of the footage BUT, Barry should realize the implications of doing so and should probably release this in a less profitable manner to stay under the radar.

This is really the last straw, in my opinion. Morrissey is Dead. His fame, his cham, his looks, his band, his credibility, even his wit is gone. Time to consider a move to Las Vegas, Old Man, and settle in to the lounges with the other washed-up has beens.. Your day is over, your 15 minutes long up. You're no fun, anymore, you've grown oh-so tedious and tiresome. You're bloated face is only exceeded by your bloated sense of self importance and self righteousness.
Goodbye Moz Forever.
(PS, well you do still have some fanatical fan named Cindy who pollutes this website's guestbook... so take heart in that, you kook.)

This is excellant stuff. If no one does this sort of thing it takes ages to get anything in the shops.

To this day, the music i once considered, to be the end of the good period, and the beginning, my brothers, of our of pretty much anything that's released before 1995..yeah, including film footage, mutta fuckas. See, My boys in chino got a little question for the big mozzy poof- when ya gonna get some new blow for the homies to mask their so overt Lonely pain with? word on the street is you got a lot of blow up in your cottage on the hill. But you watch your back, cos they talkin a lot of things, and some of what they sayin don't have you lookin too pretty when it's over.....

In the grand scheme of things, the sale of this DVD/video will only run around a few thousand copies AT BEST. Furthermore, these sales are only going to be from the most loyal fans. From this point-of view, I don't see any reason why this DVD should be treated any differently than any other bootleg (which don't seem to get much of a legal fight). It looks like good material and I am sure a lot of devoted fans (only) are excited about seeing it, legally or illegally.

On the other hand, I think Moz understands the above rationale but he does not want something like this DVD to set precedence for future efforts by highly skilled bootleggers. I am sure Moz want's everyone who is interested to enjoy the footage so long as he approves the end product and is compensated for it (not to mention compensation for the band and crew!).

Moz is not being Metallica-esque...he is being reasonable and is practicing smart business.

Is there a percentage of the earnings that will be given to Moz's camp?

Can Team Morrissey buy the film and distributed it themselves?

Whatever happens, there is going to be someone left with the short end of the stick.

PS: For fans who are looking to buy the film using a credit card....be warned....the site is NOT secure and can easily be hacked for credit card numbers.

you guyz paid $29 for a 30 minute DVD? what dummies! here's a better idea for whoever owns this "film," just send it to VH1, they'll play it, you'll get promotion, you'll release your new album to tons of joyous listeners. peace.

Really, this is just about all the Mozz Angeles Morrissey I can stomach.

DeB of the West Sider Riders

What a joke he has become.

I can stomach him no longer

The last thing I care about is what a "spokesperson" for anyone says. Address us personally if you have something to say and expect us to give it consideration.

He says nothing to me about my life anymore.

The question: Is it immoral to buy bootlegs? I guess, not really, 'cause, as somebody said before, bootlegs are being bought by upper 5 percentile of the particular artist fandom... For example, over years, I bought about 10 Tori Amos bootlegs, but I bought them after I managed to snatch all her "legal" stuff... Somebody who is casual Tori fan, would never pay 20 to 30 bucks for something like "Tori, Earthquakes tour, Toronto 1993".... So, dear Moz, don't worry, I'm not buying your bootlegs... not anymore... Moz, maybe you outta to enroll at UCLA Law school, I guess that's his new passion in life... :-( :-( :-(

P.S. Now, let's talk about another musician, who is a cult by himself... And who, unlike some others, don't mind bootlegs... And they are numerous... Iggy Pop will release his punk rock trip "Beat 'em up" at July 17... I talked with somebody who managed to listen to it, he told me Iggy's last effort is fantastic, up to the Funhause level...

Are you sure, Coronel?
-
Have you got something to lose, my boy?
-
My house in Los Angeles.
-
Oh that.

I know this won`t be a very popular opinion but that has never bothered me before.I just can`t believe all the unkind things being said about Morrissey.As someone else said I thought we all come here because we care about and admire and love Morrissey.First of all we don`t know all the facts about this video.Maybe Morrissey was planning to put something out himself and maybe the person putting out this video violated an agreement he had with Morrissey.The fact is we just don`t know.And it`s not like Morrissey is getting all metallica on us.I`ve never heard him make a fuss about all the bootlegs out there.Maybe he just feels betrayed.And another thing just because he is wealthy now is no reason to bash him if you felt someone had taken away something that was rightly yours would you be upset?.And Morrissey is not a washed up has been.And his beautiful looks have definetly not faded and neither have his charm and integrity.Just because you don`t agree with his stance on this is no reason to bash him.But I do understand why people do want this.I too am waiting patiently for our beautiful Mozzer to release something new because "Heaven Know`s We`re Missing Him Now".But until then Morrissey "I`ve Got Faith In You".

stop trash talking him. What angry little spites you are! harpies...get lives. hes not a president sending us to war or whatever. relax people.

well hey let's face it morrissey is not going to get signed to a record deal so the bootlegs will be released because we moz fans can't wait much longer. let's face the facts the bootlegs are all we have to keep his music alive i don't mean to be rude but let's be realistic here folks morrissey's best days are through now so don't dog on the bootlegs morrissey is worth millions isn't that enough already?

The strutting WAS disconcerting. Let's hope that it was in fact, self-conscious parody ...for his sake, that is.

I think it's great that Morrissey has released
his anger about this matter via a Spokesperson.

I think most people here are all missing the point - Morrissey is just warning his fans that it's unauthorised. This means that the quality could be
suspect. Not the fact that Morrissey is wondering
how to make money from this - that's just a very
cruel assumption.

Regards

Hazard

If Morrissey don't want us to buy crappy compilations and illegal videos then he'd better release some stuff soon. We are going crazy, damn it.

I just spent a minute or two rationalizing this entire debate, and I came up with a strange but interesting and quite possible theory about this Morrissey vs. Barry dilemma. Perhaps this is a very radical thought, but did anyone here get just the least little bit suspicious about this whole thing? Morrissey's spokesperson spoke pretty damn fast, n'est-ce pas? It was like Morrissey EXPECTED this to go down. Personally, I think that there's a possibility of Barry and Morrissey in some sort of alliance together. Maybe because of all of the trouble Moz has had with record companies, corporate whores and the like recently, he has decided to go WAY indie. So indie that this Barry person is someone close to Moz himself, a basically unknown but talented filmmaker who filmed the whole thing with Morrissey's permission. Maybe now they are going to create a stir by Morrissey threatening to "sue" Barry, which only peakes OUR interest even more. We rush to get our hands on this rarity which is seemingly going to be fully shut down (and soon). We buy this DVD which is so controversial, and Morrissey and Barry are splitting the profits 50/50 (or whatever), and ho-ho-ho-ing their way to the bank. It's an extreme idea, and within the conspiracy-theory vein..but hey- who can blame me for trying? Anyway- this would benefit ALL parties because 1) We get new Moz material, 2) Barry becomes a better-recognized filmmaker and gets 50% share of profits, and maybe he'll do further documentaries on various performers in the future, AND 3) Morrissey feels like he accomplished something, he helped his filmmaker friend and also gets 50% of profits earned. Plus, others have noticed the professionalism in the film itself, as if it couldn't have been made by some upstarting student amateur. Also, Morrissey seems comfortable with the camera on him, and most probably with who was behind the lens. I say that this "Barry" could be a filmmaker friend of Moz, and the two of them concocted a plan to make a bit of dough. Barry becomes more well-known, and Morrissey can take his sweet time to put out an album/get a label because our need has been partially satiated for the time being. Sorry so long, but hey, anything can happen, right? I know it sounds wild, but you never know. I guess I'm all about over-analyzing things tonight. BTW- I'm not going to purchase it myself, but then again I don't have a DVD player. And if my theory rings untrue(which it probably will), I still would respect Morrissey's wishes for us to not buy this. He must have some reason to withold this film from us. I just wish he'd fill us in on what the heck it is. We at least deserve an explanation. Then he would be more credible, and people wouldn't bash him so.
    Still swooning over that glorious man, although he may have bumped his noble head a few times, DWGT xoxoxox