The past few weeks
have been exciting for Morrissey fans, especially
if you’re a Canadian Morrissey fan. Recently
we have learned that Moz and the band are working on a covers
album, which currently seems to be recorded as those who don’t live
in LA have now left. A number of California tour dates have also been
announced, including an LA date with special guest Joan Jett, a San
Diego date with guests Starcrawler, a festival date in
Long Beach, and a Halloween
gig in Ventura. Halloween Morrissey
gigs are always special, as often band and audience members dress up
in costumes,
and since Halloween seems to be the only holiday I get excited about
these days, I’m over the moon.
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| Morrissey in Portland, 2017 |
Last
year, Morrissey opened his Low In High School
US tour with a Halloween concert
in Portland, which is, incidentally, where I am right now. Portland
has quickly become one of my favourite cities in the world, due to
its spectacular range of decadent vegan food and the fact that it
houses the largest used and new bookstore in the world (my
bookshelves and wallet shake
and quake). Portland
is also a touch spooky,
as on the outskirts of town lies a Victorian cemetery and, previously unbeknownst to me, there is a haunted
hotel, which is where I am sitting at
the time of writing.
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| Lone Fir Cemetery, Portland |
Yes
I’m about to go on
a (massive)
tangent here, but I need to get this story
out of my system. On Sunday night,
I had happily returned from a book shopping binge and had just laid down
on my bed, when strange sounds started infiltrating my senses. Random thumps poured through the ceiling and walls - perhaps someone was moving furniture. Vaguely, the sounds were reminiscent of tap dancing, yet in iron clogs... but arrhytmically, intermittently. Was it from above - or beside? “Ugh... people are so annoying.” I rolled my eyes, as travelling
is the only time I can find peace, due to my unpleasant neighbours at
home. Then... grinding started, what
on earth was that?... Like creaking rusty gears churning and turning. Was someone
washing windows? Doing renovations? The front desk said “no,” they would send a repair man to investigate.
The
thumps grew louder, menacingly heavy hardcore industrial metallic, followed by eerie
nothingness for a few moments... and then, the creaking gears would return. I tried to gauge from whereabouts the sound came... and it seemed to move...
sometimes it was adjacent, but mostly from above. The
repairman arrived – and we waited for the sound to return – and waited... nothing. After nearly an hour of bizarreness, as soon as he entered my suite, the noise vanished. I
tried to describe it – he checked the air conditioning, the
elevator – silence. Finally the words came out - “It sounds like
someone slamming CHAINS – heavy chains – like that Dickens ghost
or something!” I then half-jokingly
added, “Perhaps I’m being haunted.” He
giggled nervously, which segued into a ponderously awkward silence,
and then, he added, quite
seriously, “Well I have heard stories.” He told me I could call
him if the sound returned... and it hasn’t – yet.
I
still have no clue what was causing the noise, but a google search
informed me that I am, in fact, staying in a haunted hotel. Guests
have reported strange sounds, ghostly faces in mirrors, and apparitions running from closets, sobbing
in chairs, and even trying to get into bed with them (not sure I
fancy that one!) Psychics
have visited the spirits, and sadly,
some say the ghost is of a person who threw themselves from
a window on the 7th floor. Thus, the ghost is
likely a tormented soul,
searching for some semblance
of peace in death, so elusive
in life, and has
been unable to find that place
of eternal solace.
After the initial jolt
of learning a ghost
could be sharing my quarters, I felt a strange kinship with the
phantom,
and apologized that life had
been so dire that death’s pull became unavoidably irresistible,
whether due to sudden grief-fueled impulse or to years of dragging
pain. Somewhere,
someone perhaps knows the entire story. Anecdotes say that, in spite of whatever he went through in life and death, the ghost is rather mischievous, and from my experience, he is. Further, hanging out with a ghost is
dramatically more appealing
than being at home and dealing with my inconsiderate landlords and
their tantrum prone children, anyway.
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| Cemetery in Praha, Texas |
This
wouldn’t be my first experience with ghosts, as I felt one's
presence before at a cemetery in Texas,
among other momentary visitations. In
general I am not afraid of them, as I believe they rarely mean harm,
and in some cases may even be visiting to comfort us.
From Morrissey’s
Autobiography, we can see he too has had experiences with ghosts;
for example, in the Moors passage, which
is one of the most beautifully written, page turning sections of the
book:
“We know this
[that they have seen a ghost] to be true and our hearts sink. In
fact, we knew this to be true as soon as the vision hit our eyeline,
and this was why we were all so instantly overcome with
grief.” p. 237
“There may very
well be spirits of 1780 who still roam, begging for release by
prayer, buried without ceremony, out of the way, beyond gaze, blotted
out of creation just for knowing too much, or for saying too much, or
for being witness to some dark crime; rent boys and runaways, troubled teens and latchkey kids, motherless druggies and hastily pregnant
Carol Annes, now silenced good and proper, deliberately dumped so far
from their homes that even a most determined spirit could not find
its way back” pp. 238-239
According
to Goddard’s Mozipedia, Morrissey
has also spoken of ghostly presences in his family home on Kings Road, his flat in Kensington, and a studio called Hook End Manor near
Reading. (pp 143-144). In a
2007 interview with LA Weekly, “Moz The Cat," (one of my favourite EVER interviews) Morrissey expressed interest
in staying in a haunted castle: “I wouldn’t think twice about
spending a weekend in a haunted castle, with no electricity, no
lights, no air. I’d be very happy to do that. Doesn’t it all
depend upon how receptive the brain is, how open the brain is?”
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Morrissey and Canada
Now, let's rewind a few days to last Thursday, when Morrissey made an announcement that completely surprised me, as I’d never even really dreamed it would happen. I had just woken up and my phone began buzzing with a tornado of notifications... words flashing onto my screen... “Morrissey... Canada...” I blinked, trying to make sense of snippets of info, while still in that slight fog of slumber – and then, I saw the post on Morrissey Central.
My comprehension, dulled by sleepy excitement, stumbled at first, but then I realized...
Morrissey
is returning to Canada – my home country! I’ve never known a time
when I didn’t have to leave my country to see
Morrissey, so for me and many others this is huge. People have often asked me if I believed Moz would return to Canada one day, and I
genuinely didn’t know what to say, as for me it was too emotionally
intense to get my hopes up. I
have always respected his reasoning for not touring Canada, as the
ban was in protest of the
barbaric seal hunt, a
senseless bloodbath that
violently rips away hundreds of thousands of innocent lives a year
(the humane society estimates more than 1,000,000 seal
deaths in the last 5 years) Therefore,
I truly understood his protest, as I am personally disgusted that
such brutality occurs on my
country’s shores. Many
of us who live here do not want the seal hunt and write letters,
sign petitions, and protest such despicable
cruelty. The government
repeatedly turns a deaf ear, as politicians often do, when it comes
to concerns regarding animal
cruelty.
Morrissey’s
outspokenness about the seal hunt has, in the past, included a public
battle with former fisheries minister, 78% pork girth Gail Shea, who lost her riding in 2015 to a politician who is - coincidentally - also named Morrissey. While researching for an article about this around 2
years ago, I found a video of Shea taking a pie in the face by a
PETA activist, which I recommend as highly enjoyable viewing.
Morrissey
will be making donations to animal charities in each Canadian city he
visits, including Toronto Pig
Save, Ottawa Animal Save, St. John’s Chicken Save, and Vancouver
Chicken Save, stating “we are here to save as many lives as
possible.” The thought of all the precious Canadian animals
Morrissey’s donations, message, and activism will help is beautiful. With unthinkable horrors like factory farming, abuse, and hunting, animals need us more than ever, and I know all of our Canadian animal friends will be so thankful to Morrissey for his support. As of the day
of writing, no Canadian tour dates have been announced, but
anticipation is certainly in the air and flowing through our veins.
Meanwhile, out of interest, I thought I’d impart a touch of Morrissey-related Canadian trivia.
I should also add that yes, my face hurt from smiling (I
am not typically a BIG smiler)
for at least 12 hours straight upon hearing the news that my
favourite artist and human
would finally be visiting my
home country (a dream!)
Morrissey’s
Touring History of Canada:
According to Setlist FM, Morrissey has appeared live 9
times in Canada, with 5 dates in Ontario, 3 in British Columbia, and
1 in Quebec. His first ever Canadian tour date was on July 5th,
1991, at Kingswood Music Theatre in Vaughan, Ontario for the Kill
Uncle Tour, and the last time he appeared in Canada was
October 12, 2004 at Hummingbird Centre in Toronto for the You Are
The Quarry Tour.
Here is a chronological list of all 9 past dates:
July 5th, 1991: Vaughan, Ontario: Kingswood Music Theatre.
Kill Uncle Tour.
October 28th, 1991: Vancouver, British Columbia: Pacific
Coliseum. Kill Uncle Tour.
September 15th, 1992: Toronto, Ontario: Maple Leaf
Gardens. Your Arsenal Tour.
October 5th, 1992: Vancouver, British Columbia. Your
Arsenal Tour.
September 12th, 1997: Toronto, Ontario: Massey Hall.
Maladjusted Tour.
September 13th, 1997: Montreal, Quebec: Theatre St-Denis.
Maladjusted Tour.
October 2nd, 1997: Vancouver, British Columbia: Orpheum
Theatre. Maladjusted Tour.
February 16th, 2000: Hamilton, Ontario: Hamilton Place
Theatre. Oye! Esteban Tour.
October 12th, 2004: Toronto, Ontario: Humming Bird Centre.
You Are The Quarry Tour.
This means, at the time of writing, Morrissey hasn’t held a concert in Canada for nearly 14 years, and he hasn’t appeared in my
province, British Columbia, for almost 21 years. Morrissey’s return
is fantastic news for Canadian fans who cannot travel, and even for
those of us who can, it's an exhilarating thought that Morrissey will sing on our home soil.
More
Morrissey and Canada Trivia:
- Pamela Anderson, who appeared in Morrissey’s spoken word video
for Earth Is The Loneliest Planet, was born in Ladysmith,
British Columbia, Canada. Not only a beautiful actress and model, Anderson also
tirelessly campaigns for animal welfare and veganism with PETA. In an
interview for Hot Press, Morrissey once said of Anderson, “having met Pamela
Anderson and Patrick Dempsey, well, they’re both quite beautiful,
and if at least one of them doesn’t turn you on, then you're
probably dead.”
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| Morrissey with Pamela Anderson |
- Morrissey has expressed fondness for the novel, At Grand Central
Station I Sat Down And Wept, by Canadian author Elizabeth Smart
- Morrissey admires Canadian singer Buffy Sainte-Marie saying in a
1999 Q Magazine interview, “I can... appreciate people like
Buffy Sainte-Marie. I thought she had a great voice and great
passion.” Sainte-Marie was Morrissey’s
special guest for his 2015 Spring UK tour.
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| Morrissey and Buffy Sainte-Marie Source: TTY |
And – finally, I must add
- Canada is a very good place for wearing cardigans, as it can get
quite chilly (yes, I had to tie cardigans in somehow)
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| Photo by @mischievousnose |
For more information on Canadian animal charities, and for
information on how to contact the Canadian government regarding the seal
hunt, please visit the following links:
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| While in Canada, beware of raccoons stealing your toast |