Morrissey mentions:
Boy George later fully embraced acid house when it exploded and he used to go to the early days of Danny Rampling’s Shooom when it was still held in a basement fitness centre, and lots of the other really early acid house clubs. He then reinvented himself as a house DJ, after the first of many hiatuses from Culture Club. I’ve booked him a few times over the years, but I never had a chance to talk to him till recently, when I went to see Morrissey at Hammersmith Apollo. I was invited to some drinks in the green room before the gig and Boy George was there, too, so we got chatting and I told him I remembered that Top of the Pops performance as a kid, although I imagine he gets people telling him that every day of his life, as it was such an iconic moment. He was actually really nice, we chatted about him playing at Sankeys and I asked if he remembered playing my event at Granada Studios. He said he did, but I think he was just being kind. Before Morrissey walked on stage, they played ‘Johnny Reggae’ by The Piglets, and George stood up and started singing along. He also knew all the words throughout Morrissey’s set and sang along.
I’m fully aware that Morrissey was referring to far less salubrious Mancunian education establishments than my first school, a preparatory in south Manchester, when he sang those words about ‘belligerent ghouls’ running Manchester schools in ‘The Headmaster Ritual’, the opening track from Meat is Murder. I’m also sure a few tiny violins will come out if I say my esteemed school could be quite tough, but the teachers there could actually be just as sadistic as any other school.
Celia was another person who really turned me on to alternative music, especially The Smiths. Celia was absolutely obsessed with The Smiths, and a huge Morrissey fan. At the time Morrissey lived with his mum in Hale Barns, a stone’s throw from where I live now, and Celia would go round to Morrissey’s mum’s house on his birthday, knock on the door and give him a birthday card and a small gift of sorts. Morrissey was always really pleasant to her. His sister, Jacky, still lives in that same house now with her sons, Sam and Johnny. I presume she is the Jacky from Morrissey’s 2017 album Low in High School on the track, ‘Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up on the Stage’. And that was the same house that Smiths’ band member, Mike Joyce, tried to have repossessed during the court case over band royalties. I’ve been a huge fan of The Smiths and Morrissey ever since, and Johnny Marr is one of my friends now, but I’m not a huge fan of Mike Joyce, after an incident on social media.
Around 2009, Mike Joyce started following me on Twitter. I didn’t have many followers at the time, as Twitter was quite new, and I was like, f***ing hell! One of The Smiths is following me! I immediately followed him back, obviously, and the next day he sent me a DM saying, ‘Any chance my daughter can come to The Warehouse Project this weekend?’ I replied, ‘Yes, of course! Send me her name and her mates’ names and I’ll make sure we really look after them.’ His daughter and her friends came down to the club that weekend and, as promised, I made sure they were given VIP treatment. They had a great time. But first thing the following Monday morning, Mike Joyce unfollowed me. I couldn’t believe it! I was fuming.
One of Lowry’s paintings of the area, Ancoats Hospital Outpatient’s Hall, depicts the hall where Michael went to be treated after being mugged when he was only eight, and sadly lost his eye as a result. The Smiths also made a reference to the area, when Morrissey’s pitched-up backing vocals on their 1986 single ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ were accredited to the nom de plume Ann Coates.
Demi and I were out one night in a place called One Central in Altrincham. It’s a place that opened during the pandemic, it was outdoors with lots of good street-food traders, and DJs. Morrissey’s nephews Alex and Jay, who I know, used to DJ there, so Demi and I used to pop down with Pickle, our dog, quite often.
PM->
Regards,
FWD.
