Always True Part 1: Staples Center

Morrissey Listening to Words of Love and Loyalty

The life of a rock star is tough, especially if you are NOT a rock star.

 What a weekend! It began at the Staples Center in Los Angeles (or Moz Angeles as they say), and ended Saturday night at Hollywood High in the auditorium. I have spent Sunday and part of today, Monday, recovering from the excitement and the exertion from all of it.

I found school quite difficult to live through on Friday. Don't get me wrong. Despite complaining a bit I love my students. And since I have thus far failed at becoming a writer, I feel like teaching is the next best thing. Still, the golden lights of the performance world sometimes lures us into the night life. Thus, was my passion on Friday.

The Drive

I was on the freeway singing to Patti Smith (Horses) at 4:30 and arrived around 6 at the Staples Center which is pretty good for a Friday night. I parked the car, and quickly found my friend Jasmine (@Morrizzy) waiting first in line. I realized my dozen of red roses was not going to make it into the venue so I quickly wrapped them into my Smiths sweater after decimating the stems. If you did not know, the roses were for Morrissey. I feel naked if I don't have at least one to bring with me to his performances. Of course, blue roses would have been better (Blue Rose Society) but they are not easy to get last minute and hey, red is better than dead!

Arrival

We quickly made our way to be first in line on the floor level. I just wanted to know what my seat was like. I had floor seating but it was not at the very front so I was just curious. As we waited we could hear the sound check and it was "How Soon is Now?" which made my excitement even more palpable. Once the security let us in, I found my seat which was pretty far back and I realized that after people filled in the floor, it would not be easy to see anything. There was a security check for the Floor 1, which was just in front of my section. I just thought I'd have to give it time. I sat there contemplating things with my heart racing with excitement and realized I should get a beer. What the hell!

Merchandise

After getting my beer I ran into Johnny (@johnnyinacoma) and Mauricio (I don't know his Twitter name-which is kind of ironic). We looked over the merchandise and I ended up getting a shirt with Morrissey and the cat on his head on a stamp. Then also, I purchased a Morrissey bracelet. 

 Johnny, Mauricio, and I decided to walk around just to get a feel for what was going on and we stopped again for a beer. It was then I realized that I did not have my ticket. I could easily envision someone wandering into my section on the floor seating. Grrr. But following Johnny and Mauricio's advice I asked security person who eventually located my lost ticket. That was a huge relief. Security had found it on the floor! I was very grateful.

Go Veggie

Also, it was a huge night for PETA people and other animal rights advocates as The Staples Center was meat-free as per Morrissey's request. I heard that there were some vendors upstairs selling food with meat but McDonald's was closed and that in itself was HUGE. Morrissey scored BIG points this weekend!!

The Performances

I met some Morrissey fans I had not met before including Roy's Keith (FB) and then we went in since Patti was up. I ran into the K/Crystals in my section about two rows ahead of me. We said hi and it was then that I heard Patti begin her set. I couldn't believe how close she was and how few people were at the stage. I quickly said, "See you later," and made a bee line to the stage forgetting, ignoring, and passing security. I was up at the stage. I was so excited, I waved to Patti and she waved back!!! I was over the moon. I can't even begin to put words into how much I admire Patti Smith. I read a book she wrote (Just Kids) about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe (photographer) and her voice is still with me. I just could NOT believe it!

I like the way Patti takes a swig of water and spits it out on the stage. Its just so punk rock! 

I was actually losing my ability to breathe! I kept smiling looking around, really relishing the time. I cannot find her set list so I apologize but I sang along to "Because the Night" (which was dedicated to Fred "Sonic" Smith on what would have been their anniversary), "People Have the Power," and "Gloria" among many others. Perhaps I looked the fool to her but I was over the moon! 

Quietly, ever so quietly, I began to realize that I had done a difficult thing in such an easy way. Security began to slowly move people to either side of Patti at the rail and it was then I lost my key spot, dead center. It sucked because we (the people in the audience and near the stage), were just singing our hearts out and all of a sudden her audience is being parted like Moses parted the Red Sea. She was brilliant but all I remember of her departing song was trying to hang onto my great spot at the front rail.

Then security began to check for pink bracelets which meant you were in the first few rows. If you did not have a bracelet, they told you to go back in a rather rude manner. Afraid they'd ask to see my ticket, I tried to hide. I made temporary friends with a German lady named Anita and a rockabilly guy and his girlfriend who complemented my style. In fact, they told me they'd hide me from security, and they tried but a gruff woman basically pushed me back where I joined the other people who had "illegally" entered the border of Section 1. 

While the music videos of various artists such as Nico, Shocking Blue and the New York Dolls were playing, I moved to the far right side of the stage (my right) and sat in an empty seat about two rows from the front. I bided my time until the lights went out and Morrissey and his band appeared. Then I somewhat clumsily climbed over chairs to get to the rail finally losing my balance on the last one, but regained my footing just in time for the first song.

 Here is the set list:

"Shoplifters of the World" 

"Irish Blood, English Heart"

"Alma Matters"

"You Have Killed Me"

"You're the One for Me, Fatty"

"Action is My Middle Name"

"That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore"

"I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris"

"Speedway"

"Meat is Murder"

"Ouija Board, Ouija Board"

"November Spawned a Monster"

"To Give (the Reason I Live)" Frankie Valli Cover

"How Soon is Now?"

"Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want"

"Everyday is Like Sunday"

"Let Me Kiss You"

"First of the Gang to Die"

Encore:

"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side"

Hand in (Latex) Glove

I had a dozen red roses with me in the hopes that Morrissey would take one. I had this idea of wearing a blue latex glove on the hand that passed him the rose. Its kind of lame but it was meant to make him notice my hand among the sea of hands grasping for him in the shadows. I also thought that it kind of went with Morrissey's illness theme. But the chasm between the stage and the rail was simply too wide and I was so far on the side near the PA or some large speaker-type thing that I could not reach him. Nor could he reach me or anyone else. The "hand in glove" made no difference. In an attempt at a humorous gesture, I simply put the rose in my teeth and smiled up at him, reaching into the air below him. 

Blue Rose Society Gives Morrissey THE RING!

The highlight for me was when Morrissey gave my friends Jasmine and Angie (who I had not yet met) the mic. She said, "In honor of The Blue Rose Society will you accept this gift?" Morrissey said yes. They gave him a ring that has been traveling around via other Blue Rose Society members. He then asked for the flowers which Jasmine had smuggled in but were now dead. Thinking quickly she handed him her blue rose hair clip. Bear in mind, I could only hear what was going on as could 20,000 people. I just was on the other side of the stage. As soon as "November Spawned a Monster" began Morrissey began tossing Jasmine's blue rose clip in the air to the beat of the music.

During the concert as I faced the excitement of the stage, I looked out among the thousands of people, everyone-even the ones up in the "rafters." I thought that they must have been wondering what it was like to be so close to the stage. I certainly felt lucky! I felt sorry for the folk who didn't get the sensation of feeling like their skin was falling off until all that was left was a skeleton from pure joy and elation.

Morrissey's voice was amazing, stronger than ever, which did not surprise me. He was looking well-not like one who had some serious medical issues for the past few weeks. One fan asked him how he was and he said, "Okay."

 Another thanked him for keeping us sane. He said, "Thank you for keeping me sane."

The chasm between the stage and the floor was so wide, only one guy made it up on the stage. 

The concert went by so fast, and every song was one I loudly sang along with, as did so many people in the arena. It was actually a bit of a communal experience. Everyone around me was pretty cordial and I surely hope the guy in front of me at the rail knew that I did not intentionally repeatedly touch his butt.

I saw a throng of people screaming and gathering around a section as we departed. I heard someone say that it was Quentin Tarentino. I've mentioned my inability to recognize famous people before. I guess I may have known it was him though since he reportedly was wearing an Inglorious Bastards jacket. Wonder if he'll include any Morrissey songs in a film. 

The After Party

I met the K/Crystals by the restroom and we attempted to meet the band as they had done last year in San Diego. Yes, I felt like a stalker. It was kind of awkward but we had fun. Then I grabbed what was left of my roses in one hand and a stick (for protection) in the other and walked to my car. So, yeah, our after party was kind of "high school" but I had more fun than if we'd gone to a bar-although the C/Krystals did end up going to Mal's Bar where Jose (Maldonado) was spinning some records. 

Concert friends are kind of funny because we hang out and experience this great thing together or simply at the same time and then once the concert is over we just leave. Sometimes you don't even say good-bye. But by saying that, I'm not complaining! It simplifies things. You are there for the same reason and its really about the music in the end, isn't it?

I had a long drive home but was filled with excitement for the concert on Saturday. 

Part 2 will be posted soon. Sorry for such a long blog but it was a MEGA MOZ weekend. So much to tell. Also, apart from the Patti Smith photos, they are from my collection I took on Saturday, March 3 at Hollywood High.

Also, for a full explanation and account of The Blue Rose Society, please visit www.followingthemozziah.blogspot.com.

Well, I Wonder

Me circa 1995 when I started teaching and still had one foot out the door.  

Being an artist is the noblest thing one can do: finding beauty and meaning where none exist. Art is a sublime delusion. MorrisseysWorld via Twitter


My friend Rafe recently sent me this picture he took when we shared a flat. He's an excellent photographer so we messed around a bit with photos during that time. But it made me think about the fact that it was taken pretty close to the time when I began my career as a teacher.


I Hoarsely Cry, Why . . .
It's amazing that I stayed in the profession after my first two weeks of teaching in a rough neighborhood in Los Angeles. My second week of work I had a fight in my classroom with two middle school girls both taller than me-I am 5'10"-and a drive by shooting. All on the same day!

Although I no longer teach under those conditions, teaching is a sensitive subject. I have avoided writing much about it for various reasons. One, its kind of boring. Two, there are numerous frustrations associated with it. Three, its dangerous in that teachers have lost jobs over what they put out there in the cyber world. Do I need to list numbers four through ten?


Gasping But Somehow Still Alive
I, like perhaps many other people on this planet, long to join the nobility of creators. Teaching does allow you to create. The teacher is the writer, the producer the actor the bouncer and sometimes even their own audience. And yeah, the audience is quite literally "captive." 


More about the audience: try finding a more critical and discerning group of people than teenagers. 


However, most of the time it is not art.


I will be brutally honest and say that teaching is not my passion. I am passionate about teaching. But I'd rather be writing. I've always had one foot out the door.


I admire those artists who were willing to starve themselves rather than settle for a more secure occupation. Patti Smith is one.I read her memoir  Just Kids during the summer A great book called Pan and another called Hunger in which the author, Knut Hamson, describes in great detail the sacrifices a true artist makes to pursue his or her craft puts into perspective the heroics of holding fast to your dreams.


I just wonder if we all strive for more? Is it just a few of us? Are there people in the world who long to be accountants or customer service representatives in their wildest dreams?


As I spend more and more time in the Twitterdilly Arms with my kindred souls, do they feel a longing? Are we reaching out for Morrissey's hand or lapel because it represents the greatness that we could not attain? By holding onto them are we vicariously "great."?


Please Keep Me in Mind
I would venture to say that in all likelihood, the Twitterdillians are a talented group. I don't know what each of their passions are.  In fact, for all I know they could already be doing what they are passionate about.


Mr. Rat at http://followingthemozziah.blogspot.com/ has written a parody that is quite entertaining and of course if you like poetry and literature you will want to check out
biblioecubyan.wordpress.com-also created by a Twitterdillian.


But by the mere fact that they appreciate art through Moz, then I know that they must be able to recognize true art elsewhere as well. I think, too, they dream of more.

Let Me Take You Down

Me at Strawberry Fields (in case you hadn't guessed)

Trying to squeeze detail in describing our month long holiday is like trying to eat a seven layer sandwich. It looks and sounds really good but impossible to actually eat. So you have to break it apart.

During our eleven hour plane ride home, I gave it a lot of thought-about how I was going to organize my blog. I thought that sections would be good because I have this theory that people don't really like reading long blogs. So if I were to break it up into sections, readers could just find the section they are interested in and skip or skim the rest.

Silly antics on the plane

A Very Good Place to Start
Let's start with the plane ride to London. Not much to tell except that Oliver and I had to fly separately from Roland and the boys. We got kind of lucky. We flew on Virgin Airlines in their 747 which has an upstairs economy area (just behind the envious first class). This meant several things: we were served food more quickly, it was warmer than the rest of the plane (which could be good or bad, depending on your personal needs) and this also meant that Oliver was excited simply because we were higher up. He also got a window seat thanks to a lady that was in our row of three seats. She could just see that Oliver wanted the window so she sat in the aisle and Oliver had a window.

I was able to read virtually more than half of Patti Smith's Just Kids while Oliver watched videos and cartoons. This book is an extremely well-written account of Patti's relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. I have to admire her artistic spirit. I mean, it takes a lot to believe in your craft so much that you are willing to sacrifice so much for it. Food, shelter, etc. It appears she has a supportive family though. That's got to help.The book also won the National Book Award so I am not the only one to sing its praises.

Jet Lagged Boys

                                 

Wightlink car ferry

Isle of Wight
We hired an estate car (a bigger car) at Heathrow and made our way to Portsmouth in order to catch the ferry to the island. If it doesn't sound exciting imagine you are a seven or twelve year old child. Its pretty cool. Even more cool was that Roland's parents, Nana and Pops, were at Portsmouth waiting for us and took the same ferry back to the island with us.

It took us a few days to get in the swing of things, so we had a day of rest and then Roland's sister, Debs, and her family, and Duncs, his brother and his family came over to Nana and Pops' (where we were staying) for a nice BBQ dinner. We had the chance to catch up and anticipate all the fun things we could do while we were there. I have to say that I love spending time with Roland's family. I know there are many people in the world who could not say that they enjoy their significant other's family. But its just like having friends round and you don't really want the evening to end-they are funny, cool and entertaining.

Oliver had not seen Libby, his cousin who is close in age, for a few years so they ran around like crazy and it was also a chance for  Miguel and Enrique to meet their new cousins, Charlie and Ben. In other words, it was an important evening that turned out to be a good time.

Brading Roman Villa
The first place we visited on the island was Brading Roman Villa. It was most likely the home of a wealthy farmer who lived on the Isle of Wight (the Romans called it Vectis) and who adopted much of the Roman style and way of life back in the day.

I think the most striking thing about it is the state of the mosaic tiles. They are still quite beautiful although they were constructed back around the second century AD. It had been discovered in 1879 and you may now visit the site and learn more about the British-Romano way of life.

Roman Tiles

I think the thing we enjoyed most however, was having a Minghella ice cream from the Minghella ice cream truck on the way to Brading. If you think you recognize the name-it may be that you remember a great movie director by the name of Anthony Minghella (Grange Hill, Inspector Morse, The English Patient, Talented Mr. Ripley). Well, he was from the island and it is his family who run the ice cream business. Fame and talent aside, they serve excellent ice cream in unusual flavors. For example, I had coconut (I know it isn't that unusual) and Roland had ginger flavor. I think the boys had something boring like chocolate but they raved about how good it was and every time we saw the truck they would longingly gaze at the little ice cream truck.

You scream I scream

Osborne House and Carisbrooke Castle

Osborne

Two other places we visited with significant historical value were Osborne House and Carisbrooke Castle. Osborne House was the vacation home of Queen Victoria and her family. In fact, she died there in 1902. I don't want to bore you with a lot of historical detail  but the grounds were beautiful and it has been lovingly cared for by English Heritage. It was a great opportunity for the boys to learn more about Queen Victoria.

Carisbrooke Castle was one of the boy's favorite places we visited. We walked to the castle from Duncan and Zara's house. It is an enjoyable, scenic ten minute stroll to the top of the hill where the castle is. Enrique managed to fall into the moat but luckily it has been dried up for at least a hundred years.

This castle is where Charles I was held before he was executed (beheaded). While imprisoned there the king tried to escape but got stuck in the window. That had to be pretty humiliating.

Carisbrooke Castle

Another interesting tidbit is that the castle has a working well operated by donkey power. Very cute and sweet donkeys.

Island Games Parade and Compton Bay
We happened to be on the island during the Island Games which is an athletic event kind of like a mini Olympics between different island nations all over the world. The parade featured children and some adults dressed up in clothing themed to cover the history of the Isle of Wight. For example,Romans and pirates were some of the historical peoples represented. It ended with the athletes from each island marching past for them to receive a warm welcome.

Fun digging at Compton Bay

We also managed to go to Compton. Now, if you live in the Los Angeles area, you probably think of drive-by shootings, houses with bars on windows and liquor stores-places you don't want to be after dark when you are lost trying to find the 91 freeway. However, since my first visit to the IOW, Compton has retained a much more positive image for me. Its a cliffy, sandy beach with lovely water and fun people. I don't personally know all the fun people but Zara does and she is the one to go to the beach with if you want to meet the cool people. I got to be cool by association. We actually got a bit sunburned one of the three days we went.

Our Bus Around the Island

Yarmouth and the Needles
We decided that sitting on top of a double-decker bus would be a great way to see part of the island. The bus has a recorded narration as you cruise the island. It was kind of rainy that day so we couldn't take advantage of the open top part of the bus so much. But it was fun all the same.

The Needles

Driving up to the Needles atop a double-decker bus is kind of scary. There were some twists and turns that were quite impressive. In case you were wondering why these cliffs are called The Needles, you should know that there was once a long, needle-shaped rock out there which was destroyed in a storm back in 1769.

Entrance to the castle

Near the Needles are the Old Battery which was used during war time as a watch to protect from enemy ships. There was a display of its usage during the wars which was very informative. The New Battery houses rocket displays regarding The Black Knight which was tested but never launched from The Needles. It was successfully launched in Australia. Oddly enough, the British government did not think that rockets and satilliates were a good investment and abandoned the project.

Yarmouth Castle was next. Compared to Carisbrooke, it was not as popular with the boys. It was built by Henry VIII to guard Yarmouth Harbour most likely against the French. Henry VIII, we discovered, figured prominantly in many of the historic sights. As Miguel stated, "He must have been a powerful and important king."

Appuldurcombe
Appuldurcombe is very deceiving. I thought it was a furnished  house much like Osborne. But instead, it is a shell. It has a beautiful exterior with lovely grounds perfect for taking photographs. In fact, I took quite a few shots of this house. It was a livable house back in 1100 AD as a priory until 1943. During World War 2, it had been used as a hospital. Supposedly it is the most haunted place on the island. And there are many haunted places on the Isle of Wight. The thing that lends to its creepiness factor is that it is in ruins and because it is deceiving. Its kind of like a scene from a horror movie where you hear beautiful organ music. You draw closer into a room where you see the back of  a womanly figure with long, blonde, beautiful hair playing the organ in the candlelight. The music stops. The figure turns around. It is a living skeleton. You scream in terror.

Appuldurcombe House

I think this house is that way. It looks so beautiful and lived in but as you get closer you discover it is only a skeleton of a building.

A Day Out in London
We took the ferry and train into London with Deb's and Stu. We just wanted the boys to get an overview of London.On my very first trip to London a hundred years ago, my friend, John, took me out atop a double decker bus tour and it has been something I do in a new town ever since. We thought (wisely) that when we returned to London later on our holiday, we could take them back to the places they wanted to see more of. They decided they like Trafalgar Square and The Globe. Oliver simply wanted to shop at Hamley's.

At Victoria Station, we saw the huge advertisement for the Hop Farm event. I know I had made my peace with the fact that I was not going to see Morrissey this trip. Yet seeing the sign was a cruel twist of fate.

So close, yet so far away

Hilariously, I also missed Morrissey televised live at the Glastonbury Festival.Stu told me about it. And then once I arrived back here in the US, I found it on YouTube.

I was just thinking that Morrissey is probably having a successful tour. But is he having as much fun without me?