Len Brown writes:
Update: 05/28 00:37 GMT: YouTube link posted by an anonymous person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtNNXYZcSmw
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Kewpie sends the link to the post in the forums by Ben Chill (via Morrissey reddit):

J.Marr / Mani / Edwyn Collins
Marr (Smiths)
Mani (Stone Roses, Primal Scream)
Edwyn Collins (Orange Juice)

The above are talking about working together..Edwyn's idea. Might be interesting.

-Robert writes:

Kewpie sends the link (via Morrissey reddit), originally posted by lottie and DAVIE in the forums (original post):

Marmite musicians by Rob Morgan, MSN Music
Very few artists are universally adored but there are some who are loved and hated in equal measure. Rob Morgan looks at this strange subset of popular musician…

The Smiths

Probably the ultimate cult band, The Smiths have always inspired devotion and derision in equal measure. To the fans, Morrissey will always be the eloquent, fascinating poet genius; to others (their mothers) he's a preening, whining fool. It's best summed up by your attitude to the song Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now. If you're a fan, it's a throwaway ditty that's unlikely to be a favourite. If you're a normal, it encapsulates everything you can't bear.

goinghome sends the link / excerpt:

Morrissey and The Smiths brought back to life on the Melbourne stage

Half a Person: My Life as Told by the Smiths, playing in Melbourne after successful seasons in Sydney and Adelaide, is poised for a British tour. This makes Broun happy, an antidote to the rather grim time he had writing the play.

The lead character, the young and elegantly dejected William, and much of the play's action were inspired by Broun's own grumpy youth as a wannabe writer. But the play is also a tribute to his late, great friend and mentor, Boy from Oz playwright Nick Enright, who died in 2003.

"It's a difficult process to revisit a painful time in your life; it's going back to a time when things seemed to hurt more," says Broun, now in his mid-40s, the founder of the national Short and Sweet play festival and writer of more than 60 short plays.

"It was incredibly sad to revisit Nick's death. He was a fantastic craftsman. He was always very much at me to 'write a well-made play'. I would have been an absolute pain in the neck at the age of 18. But although I was rebellious and didn't listen as much as I should have, he was very giving."

Despite actor Mark Taylor's Wayfarer-clad cool, and music arrangements by Colin Berwick of '80s pop band Big Country, Half a Person "is not an '80s renaissance show", says Broun.

"I think there is a tremendous humanity and truth that Morrissey captures; there is a poetry and beauty in his lyrics that transcends time, gender, boundaries and borders," he says.

"It was wrist-slashing music, supposedly. But listening to their music made people feel less alone and less despairing, and it made them feel there was someone who understood what they were going through. It captures something about adolescence, growing up, changing, maturing. In the end it gives you hope."

Broun now has interest from British producers to tour the play to London, Liverpool and the Smiths' home, Manchester.

"I would absolutely love to do that. It would give the English an Australian perspective on the Smiths."
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• Related item: "Half A Person: My Life as Told by The Smiths" returns (May 20-30, Melbourne, AU) - Apr. 15, 2010

goinghome writes:

Photos: Morrissey Birthday Tribute at Great Scott - The Boston Phoenix
Bands celebrate Morrissey's birthday, May 22, 2010
By DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN | May 24, 2010
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• "Unhappy birthday" - Boston tribute feature by Michael Brodeur, The Boston Phoenix - May 20, 2010

djcharlesbronson writes:

Ian Watson writes: