Tonight Morrissey played a wonderful show at the 02 Arena in London. I wish I could have been there but unfortunately I live in the USA. I am so happy for all the lovely fans who were able to attend. Bravo Mozza!!!
Mozza in his all white attire.
The Queen is Dead!!
Music for the masses.
The 02 as the patrons begin to file in
YAY!!
The people are excited to see Moz!
A Lovely Setlist
My only comment... THIS IS AWESOME!!
I hope Moz and all the patrons enjoyed this enchanting evening in London!
Is this any way to treat an animal? Living tightly packed in a large warehouse. What kind of life is this? Fattened up and slaughtered for "Thanksgiving". Morrissey announced at his concert in Essen, Germany that the holiday should be called "Thankskilling" because of the slaughter of all the turkeys. I totally agree with Mozza. I see no problem having a holiday to give thanks. Why do people need to kill and eat turkeys to celebrate it? The symbol of the holiday is the turkey. So the result is the symbol is killed and eaten? That is so hypocritical and disgusting.
Speaking of killing, the grand jury in the Ferguson, Missouri police shooting of unarmed Michael Brown decided not to indict Police Officer, Darren Wilson. I am very disappointed to hear this. The whole process was wrong. This should have been handled by a special prosecutor. The local DA works too closely with the police and could be biased. The grand jury is just a body to indict. This DA used it almost like a trial to exonerate the policeman. He decided who the credible witnesses were and allowed the policeman to testify for 4 hours. This needed to go to a regular jury trial so it could be transparent. The grand jury proceedings are secret which makes it looks like the fix was in. I don't know every detail of the case but an unarmed young black man was shot and killed by a white police officer. There are too many conflicting statements by witnesses and the officer for this not to go to a trial. There are too many cases like this in this country. Young black men are presumed guilty. As long as this type of thing continues to go on, we are never going to be able to move forward. Race relations will never get better. Mistrust will continue and there will be more of these tragic incidents.
At his concert in Antwerp, Belgium, Our Moz waded in to the discussion of the Michael Brown shooting. He commented about being upset that the police officer was not charged. He also said "Is Obama really black? I don't think so." Mozza!! I don't think President Obama can really do anything but ask for calm at this time in this situation. He is not the dictator. I know he had the Attorney General and the Justice department start an independent investigation. Their findings have not been released yet. It is still possible the policeman could be charged with a crime.
American Dream? Are you kidding me? Its definitely an American Nightmare these days. The elected government is dysfunctional. The idea of our government, is to be of assistance to better the lives of the citizens and to protect common folks from large entities. That's not happening today. Big money, the wealthy and large corporations rule the roost in Washington. The Republican party bows at the feet of their masters and does their bidding. Instead of cooperating with The President, they have done nothing but obstruct any kind of positive way forward. Governing is compromise. These crooked charlatans are serving themselves and big money, the little guy gets squashed. Plus the Republicans just can't stand the fact the Commander in Chief is a black man. Those old white bastards hate that a black man is in charge.
The nightmare continues; endless wars, gun deaths, racism, fear mongering, be scared of everything and everybody, corruption, inequality, misogyny, animal cruelty, greed, cheating, stealing, etc. There is no more American dream, only an American nightmare.
Company's downsizing, inflation's rising
I took this picture Friday morning on my way to work at the VA hospital in Pittsburgh. The beauty of a pristine sunrise. The sadness that day was seeing all the old broken down Vets at the hospital. They served this country in war, the least we can do is give them the best care possible at home.
As I sat at the Hairdresser's today, I thought of several things. I was sad to hear of the death of Warren Clarke who was Tony, the Master of Ceremonies in the classic movie "Blow Dry". He had roles in many Movies and TV shows, including "A Clockwork Orange". His Elvis imitation at the end of "Blow Dry" is quite hilarious.
RIP Warren Clarke
I also thought of the wonderful Morrissey song "Hairdresser On Fire". This song has always been one of my favorites. Especially the line "Can you squeeze me into an empty page of your diary and psychologically save me, I've got faith in you." Unfortunately, not too many care to or have had the time to squeeze me into their diaries but that's ok. Maybe some day someone will supernaturally change me? I doubt it. As always, round, round rhythm of life goes round.
Hairdresser on Fire
Our Moz is continuing with his lovely tour of Europe and has been in Scandinavia lately.
He played 2 shows in Helsinki, Finland. A bearded man not only got on stage, he lifted Mozza. I would think Our Moz was surprised at this unusual stage invasion. He responded to the bearded man with a smile.
Morrissey is raised up by a bearded man
When I am down and, oh, my soul, so weary;
I am so thankful for the lyrics and music of Morrissey, which have comforted my troubled heart and soul. They have many a time raised me up from the depths of despair and enabled me to go on with life. For that I am eternally grateful to Our Moz.
Today for work, I went into a business. I was talking to the owner. In the middle of the conversation he said "The "N" word I had doesn't work here anymore". I was totally shocked and disgusted. I made a face and the guy asked what was wrong. I said I don't like that word and don't use it. He must have thought because I was white, it was ok. I had to tread very carefully because I can't upset a customer, so I moved the discussion away from that topic. It is such a sad testament to our society, there are still many cretins around that hate because of a person's skin color. I would like to see if that guy would have the stones to use the "N" word in a room full of black folks. Of course he wouldn't. Racists are nothing but bullies who are cowards (see the KKK). Its a shame, in the year 2014, we are still fighting the battles of the Civil War and the Civil Rights act. Racism is passed down from generation to generation. How can you put a stop to ignorance?
Today is Veteran's day in the USA. It was formerly known as Armistice day. This day was in celebration of the end of World War I, the war to end all wars. How many wars have happened since the war to end all wars? We should all thank our Veteran's for their service to our country. If it weren't for their sacrifice, we would not have the freedoms we do today. Unfortunately we do not treat our Vets well enough when they return home. They deserve the best medical care and whatever they need to make their lives whole. Typically those who are more than willing to send our boys and girls to war are those who skimp on funding when our Vets come home. Maybe they should send those chicken hawks who want to send our troops everywhere, to lead them into battle. If that happened, these phony "Patriots" wouldn't be so inclined to put our people in peril.
Old soldiers never die
They just fade away
It is time to end all wars. Attempt to work with one another to make this a better planet for all. Let us live to make men free.
“For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. During the parade a slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.” General George S. Patton
War is not glorious for the men who have to fight it. It is only glorious for the generals. For the common soldier, war is hell. Not knowing from day to day if one is going to live and having to do terrible deeds to other humans. We need to move beyond war before its too late and there is no more human race.
I saw this picture today on twitter. This poor, beautiful creature is on its way to be murdered. He knows. Can you see the fear and sadness in his eyes? Shame on us, shame on this society for murdering innocent animals. We humans think we have all the answers, maybe its the questions we have wrong.
Tick Tock, Tick Tock, if we don't change our time grows short.
Yesterday the voters of Pennsylvania overwhelmingly gave walking papers to now former Governor Tom Corbett. I am so pleased today to be part of the electorate that voted this asshole out of office. Corbett screwed over common folks for his ultra right wing agenda. My family was hugely impacted by this jerk's policies. In Corbett's first months in office he cut a program called Adult Basic which helped disabled folks pay for health care. My sister was on this program. My parents had to pick up the cost of her healthcare because of jerkwad Corbett. He never put a severance tax on marcellus shale gas because of the huge amount of money he received from Natural Gas companies. He tried to sell the state lottery to a foreign firm. He took a pre-election tour handing out multi millions of dollars in grants to big business. The typical republican screwing over common folks for big business. The new Governor is Tom Wolf. He is a political newcomer who ran a successful family business. One of the keys to that business is how well he treated his employees. I sincerely hope with Wolf in office the state government will be somewhat kind to those of modest and lesser means.
Welcome Tom Wolf
Goodbye Tom Corbett, don't let the door hit you
In other interesting developments, Our Moz's wonderful European tour resumed tonight in Hannover, Germany. The surprise is Solomon Walker was not on bass. A new man has replaced him, Mando Lopez. Nothing has been said if this is permanent or temporary.
Mozza is looking healthy, so hopefully the tour will go on and all will be well in the future.
My Dreamworld is just about to end. It's another dreaded Sunday evening. The ever looming threat of work is getting closer. There was no running today as it was roughly 40 with a 15 mph wind. No thanks to that, so I had to ride an hour on my exercise bike. Quite a boring way to spend an hour, eh? Unfortunately, this time of year brings an end to the possibilities of running outside for me. If it gets below 32, its a no go proposition. The weekend was dull as usual but that's nothing new. Hockey was very enjoyable Friday, as was the after party at the Club. Back to reality I will go tomorrow morning, kicking and screaming. If there was a King of Feckless, it would be me. How can I get to the place they say, the dreaming never ends?
Dreamworld
In other news, Our Moz has had to cancel his last 2 shows, Lyon and Lausanne due to illness in the band and crew. I sincerely hope all of the ill people get better soon. I hope Mozza is well and they can resume this fantastic tour soon.
Beautiful Lausanne, Switzerland
This Tuesday, November 4 is election day. I am looking to that day with anticipation it will be the end of the road for the crass Tom Corbett as Governor of Pennsylvania. The man who has no problem sticking it to common folks but can go around the state handing out millions of dollars to corporations. What a fucking hypocrite. But of course the greedy rich and deceitful big business fund the republican party to act as their benefactors. Tom Wolf should be a welcome change. He actually ran a business and made it the largest of its kind in the USA. He did it not by screwing over his workers but by paying them well along with profit sharing and partnership in the success of the business. Sounds like a man that would be a friend of the middle class to me.
