Friday Lump (It's Probably Cancer)

Work, labor, exertion & ambition suck, but they've been burned into the sheepish brains of the western world of shit & pain. What in hell's wrong w/ most of you?

Next, Morrissey fandom among Hispanic/Latino/Mexican youth.

Which brings me to another musical phenomenon that is as embedded in the Mexican-American culture of East Los Angeles as bean and cheese burritos: Morrissey, lead singer of The Smiths, an English rock band that established a cult following in the 1980s.

Morrissey’s extremely melancholy ballads have been the theme music for breakups and lost love for decades. Songs like “Suedehead” and “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get” appealed to the angst of young people, especially those who live in L.A.’s Eastside communities.

Eastside Luv, a bar in Boyle Heights, hosts a free monthly Morrissey-themed karaoke night called MorrisseyOKE, where dozens of depressed Mexican-Americans sing Morrissey’s classics until they get kicked out of the bar. Echo Park’s popular Part Time Punks club hosts a quarterly Morrissey night. I just learned about a brand new Morrissey-themed night at the Melody Lounge in Chinatown. There is even an annual Morrissey convention hosted by the local alternative radio station KROQ. Los Angeles has two serious Morrissey/The Smiths tribute bands—Sweet and Tender Hooligans and These Handsome Devils—both of which have at least one lead Latino musician.

What is the appeal of Morrissey (or “Moz”)? The question has intrigued me since I first discovered punk rock, and found that behind every dude wearing a Crimson Skull shirt, there always seemed to be an older brother with a goatee, a Dickies jacket, and a Morrissey bumper sticker on his car. Hell, every other friend at my high school graduation (happiest day of my damn life, like an escape from Alcatraz), and my first couple of girlfriends, were “Level 10” Morrissey fans.

More in young people w/ Spanish surnames undergoing the American Experience here in Southern Upper California, via Weird Dave,

People & Events: The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943

The American Experience about 20 yrs. later in El Monte.Saw & heard the above schtick six months earlier at the Eagles Auditorium in Seattle.

Some say the Seattle Center Arena.

I dunno. No memory of Easy Chair, which featured Jeff Simmons, but they struck someone's fancy.

Easy Chair was then booked as the opening act for an August 24, 1968 concert by The Mothers of Invention at the Seattle Center Arena. During the sound check Zappa recognized that the group's musical and lyrical aesthetic and sense of humor was compatible with his own. The group followed Zappa back to Los Angeles.^[1]

Juggernaut, who knows, but I distinctly remember Alice Cooper (in silver lamé pants w/ lots o' props) was one of the opening acts. Wasn't impressed, either.

Must every attempt to dump some drivel from the parade of tabs turn into hrs. of digging for facts, learning things & questioning my own nostalgic reminiscing? Wknd.'s already ruined.