and he is an absolute gentleman.

and he is an absolute gentleman.

And how did you manage that one? :D

And how did you manage that one? :D

To be with him. or for him to remain "a complete gentleman"?

And how did you manage that one? :D
Well, Amy, he was presented with a medal by the Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin.
So there was a big interview and a Q and A session.
Then he signed "Strangeways" for me and the eponymous "Electronic" album. Plus a photo that my mate made a ruin of.
He is a lovely guy.
Some Morrissey and Smiths references during the interview.

lol, it's nice that he signed 'Strangeways', I wouldn't have expected that. Did he say anything nice about Moz?

and he is an absolute gentleman.

I want to hear everything about it, ghost, and don't leave out a thing. Ithankyou. :D

You should know "us" better than that to provide such little details. C'mon.....details...details!

I'll try and remember as much as I can...
One of his first remarks was that he was happy to be in Trinity, site of an early Smiths gig, and "ONE of the band members was thrilled "cos Oscar Wilde studied there"!

Someone asked him if he was ever disappointed with a Morrissey lyric for music he had provided and he mentioned again "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" as a piece he was proud of, but the lyrics worked.

Mentioned the Smiths box set. No new songs, just good mixes, but great live recordings of gigs which might be issued. But "political stuff" going on that might prevent the set being issued.

Someone asked him "Have you forgiven Jesus"? Pause. Laughter from all. Wry smile, then "Yes, totally." More laughter.

He was asked again about the legendary Marr/Moz first meeting. Someone said it was rumoured that Morrissey was eating muffins when they met. Then a girl said "So is Morrissey a muffin eater then"? more laughter. But he basically gave the well-known account of the first meeting, the bus journey, the Marvelettes record, all the usual. But he made the famous "Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" comment of "print the legend". Mentioned that M and M wrote "Suffer Little Children" that first night.

referenced Tony Wilson and factory and The Smiths were never going to sign for Factory as they regarded them as the old guard. The mythical story about Wilson not liking them because of the way they stood was pure crap.

spoke warmly of Wilson and after The Smiths first TOTP appearence travelling back to the Hacienda for a manic Beatles like gig withWilson introducing them.

Spoke of Kirsty McCall and all his collaborators, including Morrissey.

Mostly the interview was about all but Morrissey and The Smiths. When that period came up, he was happy to talk about it. But moreso Modest Mouse, David Byrne and Talking Heads, the The etc.

i will recall more tomorrow, now I'm tired.

But he is a top bloke.

I'll try and remember as much as I can...
One of his first remarks was that he was happy to be in Trinity, site of an early Smiths gig, and "ONE of the band members was thrilled "cos Oscar Wilde studied there"!

Someone asked him if he was ever disappointed with a Morrissey lyric for music he had provided and he mentioned again "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" as a piece he was proud of, but the lyrics worked.

Mentioned the Smiths box set. No new songs, just good mixes, but great live recordings of gigs which might be issued. But "political stuff" going on that might prevent the set being issued.

Someone asked him "Have you forgiven Jesus"? Pause. Laughter from all. Wry smile, then "Yes, totally." More laughter.

He was asked again about the legendary Marr/Moz first meeting. Someone said it was rumoured that Morrissey was eating muffins when they met. Then a girl said "So is Morrissey a muffin eater then"? more laughter. But he basically gave the well-known account of the first meeting, the bus journey, the Marvelettes record, all the usual. But he made the famous "Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" comment of "print the legend". Mentioned that M and M wrote "Suffer Little Children" that first night.

referenced Tony Wilson and factory and The Smiths were never going to sign for Factory as they regarded them as the old guard. The mythical story about Wilson not liking them because of the way they stood was pure crap.

spoke warmly of Wilson and after The Smiths first TOTP appearence travelling back to the Hacienda for a manic Beatles like gig withWilson introducing them.

Spoke of Kirsty McCall and all his collaborators, including Morrissey.

Mostly the interview was about all but Morrissey and The Smiths. When that period came up, he was happy to talk about it. But moreso Modest Mouse, David Byrne and Talking Heads, the The etc.

i will recall more tomorrow, now I'm tired.

But he is a top bloke.

aw, thanks ghost, it was sweet of you to type all of this up for us and tell us the story. :) I enjoyed it.

Shhish I thought you meant the Buzzcocks' drummer then.
Only jokin'. Although I am a huge 'cocks fan.
Brilliant read. Cheers for posting it;)

Don't like the political bit 'bout the impending release though.:confused:

FUCKIN AWESOME!! Hands down, Johnny really is the cool/super nice guitar heroe. Ghost kudos for the play by play of this interview with the man himself. I met him back during his Boomslang tour and after his gig at the VIP party, he just parked it at my table, singed a ton a shit for me, and chatted about everything under the moon and stars, like Id known him for years. I assure all of you, Mr. Marr is the real deal....Power to the people Johnny :cool:

Ghost

Can I join the others in thanking you for sharing this with us.

I was going to ask why he was invited to attend your event but have just found a bit of info on the TCB site - about the society being a debating forum etc, and "not particularly philosophical in orientation."

So, was the medal for something specific, and did he take part in a formal debate - i.e. proposing and opposing a motion - or was the interview and Q&A the official part of his visit?

Sorry to push you on this, but like KissMyShades says, every detail is required.

Thank you in advance.

and he is an absolute gentleman.

Show off! ;)

Thanks for the report!

What was the medal for? Obviously some kind of honorary award but I'm curious about the details. Why is the Philosophical Society honoring Johnny Marr?

Ghost, thanks for your post. JM is a top bloke. Any pics to share?

Thanks for the report!

What was the medal for? Obviously some kind of honorary award but I'm curious about the details. Why is the Philosophical Society honoring Johnny Marr?

Yeah, I'm curious too.
I'm so happy. :)

my mate made a complete balls of the pic of me and johnny, the one i took of him was ok though. plus some long shots of johnny, i'll try and post them off me phone tomorrow.
the medal is just an honoroary thing. helen mirren is on on thursday!
they had al pacino last year.
there was no proposing of motions stuff in regard to johnny.
there was an award of a personally signed guitar by johnny to the winner of a guitar competition who played a little. all very nice.
i have nothing to do with trinity. i'm surprised they even let a working class lad like me over the threshold :)
i will remember more details and post them here later.
glad the post is appreciated, thanks for the thanks :)

Oooh, sounds like a great time. Any pics to post?

Peter

Oooh, sounds like a great time. Any pics to post?

Peter

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but...Pete - I'm back, by the way - I'm very disappointed in you.

Your signature now belies your new professional domicile, does it not?

It should now read: "Bradford? Surely not!"

At least, we got the letter saying everything's 'upped sticks' and gone to Horsforth at your place. Is it too strong to call you a loiner now?!!

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but...Pete - I'm back, by the way - I'm very disappointed in you.

Your signature now belies your new professional domicile, does it not?

It should now read: "Bradford? Surely not!"

At least, we got the letter saying everything's 'upped sticks' and gone to Horsforth at your place. Is it too strong to call you a loiner now?!!

Oooohhh, I feel wounded. WOUNDED. Just because someone who pays me money decided to leave your jurisdiction. I might change that signature, though. Beer sometime though.

Peter

Oooohhh, I feel wounded. WOUNDED. Just because someone who pays me money decided to leave your jurisdiction. I might change that signature, though. Beer sometime though.

Peter

Your avatar has a bigger frown than usual, I must say.

Anyway, how can I talk? My home has an LS postcode, but I'll never be a loiner.

A beer or 7 would be good - don't quite know when to fit it in though. As you may have gathered recently, my absence has been due to distractions - you know, the usual stuff, court appearances, time in the big house, that kind of thing....anyway, I'll let you suggest dates, but we better continue this via email I guess.

Cheers for the SLC pics + links too - a great day it seems.

To be with him. or for him to remain "a complete gentleman"?

Omygawd, I was laughing out loud at this :D Folks in the office are probably wondering about my sanity at this point ...

Hey Ghost, are you the man whose wife met Morrissey several years back in a Dublin store?

BUMP!

Where are you, Ghost?
We'd like to know more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in Dublin.
And yes, it was Mrs.Ghost who met Morrissey back in 1997.
Some more stuff I am recalling from the interview, not 100% accurate, just relying on aging memory cells...

JM had no time for Britpop. He said there was a snobbish element amongst the British or English press towards American music. And anything that involved flag-waving was not a good idea.

His favourite current music is mostly American/Canadian. Mentioned Broken Social Scene, Feist etc.

Was asked about "Morrissey & Marr:The Severed Alliance" and
Morrissey's famous "motorway pile-up" comment. He read the book and described it as "cynical". Said he and people connected to him were asked questions by Rogan and they were uniformly "cynical". He used this word QUITE a lot in reference to Rogan! Also, something along the lines of the book not celebrating the great times The Smiths had as a band.

He spoke a lot about his Irish heritage. How he would stay here a lot as a child. His parents. There was always music in his house. His parents were young people, didn't really go for the stereotypical Irish music, they were into the pop music of the day. How they were practically teenagers when raising Johnny, as in very young parents.

Spoke about the beauty of a 45 single, the black vinyl, label etc. How it was an object of almost magical proportions because of what came out of that little piece of vinyl.
He went into detail about the famous Kings Road first meeting. Nothing really new that we don't already know I don't think. Also about the way he was in a band from 15(?). Also, he made some remark about the formation of The Smiths along the lines of "It was MY band", which got cheers and applause.
A lot of conversation about MM, Isaac the lead singer, a bottling incident on Isaac in Manchester, his (Isaac's) face was injured and he was in casualty.
Also, about how much his home town Manchester means to him and how he felt playing there with Modest Mouse.

Now I wish I had got one of those fancy little recording devices on the night. But I'm still a bit of a Luddite in these matters.

I might recall a few more morsels. If so, will post.

Thank you very much Old Sib, we'd like to heear about more. :)


Pity none of you didn't inform us about the event in advance. :(

Thanks again for the recap.

Kind of disappointing to read that Johnny called The Smiths "my band", but at the same time I think a few years back Morrissey was quoted to the effect that he was playing The Smiths songs on his solo tours because in his mind they belonged to him and no one else.

Once again it's a striking reminder of how unlikely the pairing of Morrissey and Marr was to begin with.

Thank you very much Old Sib, we'd like to heear about more. :)


Pity none of you didn't inform us about the event in advance. :(

Are you in Dublin, Kewpie?
It was very much kept quiet, I don't think deliberately. It's just that it is a student society and, whilst they let the general public in if you join the society, it was 95 % students, I would estimate. I was amongst the oldest few there.
I only found out the weekend before the event. I should perhaps have posted it here. But I hardly ever post here these days. Apologies to those who could have attended.

I'm afraid I live in London.
If I knew about it in advance I'd travelled to Dublin.
This kind of events aren't normally publicised, you're very lucky.

Thanks again for the recap.

Kind of disappointing to read that Johnny called The Smiths "my band", but at the same time I think a few years back Morrissey was quoted to the effect that he was playing The Smiths songs on his solo tours because in his mind they belonged to him and no one else.

Once again it's a striking reminder of how unlikely the pairing of Morrissey and Marr was to begin with.

Morrissey actually said they were more his than anyone elses. Slightly different emphasis there.

I'm fortunate enough to have met Johnny at an Interpol gig in Manchester in December 2004 and true to form he was absolutely lovely.

We talked about 'The Queen Is Dead' and he agreed with me that it was their best work. Spoke about Moz's band and his thoughts on their live take on HSIN. He said they did a good job, but it was easier due to the technology these days. He signed a couple of scraps and wished me a happy christmas, and I was delighted.

Lovely bloke, for a city fan. :D

woah woah woah..your saying that johnny said it was his fault isaac got his face broke??

woah woah woah..your saying that johnny said it was his fault isaac got his face broke??

And I am saying that exactly where?

Bizarre.

not you..old sib..

A lot of conversation about MM, Isaac the lead singer, a bottling incident on Isaac in Manchester, his (Isaac's) face was injured and he was in casualty.

are you serious??

aww, so im assuming johnny also spoke about his collab with bernard sumner with electronic? :D

sounds like you has a very great time! thanks for sharing it with us. johnny is definitely one of a kind. :)

not you..old sib..



are you serious??

"old sib" and "I am a Ghost" are the same person.

"old sib" and "I am a Ghost" are the same person.


What makes you think they're the same person? :confused:

Ghost and Sib are friends to me.

I am of the honest opinion that Marr and Rourke would be more the guys that you could hang out with as a regular people. You could have regular conversations as if they were anyone else. I have this sneaking idea that Morrissey would be a little more boring unless he was good and drunk and talkative.

Glad I read this thread after reading the Q interview from Johnny's website (just yesterday!) Ghost actually had some interesting things to add to the article. Thanks for sharing!

I was also excited to read that the next Healers album would be more 'jingly-jangly'!

article from his website (http://www.jmarr.com/images/pdfs/Q-september-2007.pdf)

I was also excited to read that the next Healers album would be more 'jingly-jangly'!
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is there a new healers album planned? really?isnt he fully occupied with modest mouse now? didnt he move to america(portland)? he said so in one interview recently

Shhish I thought you meant the Buzzcocks' drummer then.
Only jokin'. Although I am a huge 'cocks fan.
Brilliant read. Cheers for posting it;)

Don't like the political bit 'bout the impending release though.:confused:

a huge cocks fan ......

a huge cocks fan ......
Im glad im not the only one to catch that!
we are both not right in the head...haha

Im glad im not the only one to catch that!
we are both not right in the head...haha


nor am i.


heh. this post made me laugh and laugh.