...I emailed Boz about these Irish dates and it appears that they have been talked about and they aren't going to happen, so I thought I'd better let you know.

In the March issue of Alternative Press... Bona Drag ranked #27 by readers (p.6, "Everybody's Got One). Also... on same page... contest winner picked Your Arsenal as Decade's No.1 album.

Some months ago, a local San Francisco station "Channel 104.9", (format is 80s + popular 90s like Dave Matthews, etc.) asked its listeners to vote for the top "104.9" songs of the 80s. They counted them down this weekend. The results were pleasantly surprising:

5. Dexy's Midnight Runners "Come On Eileen"
4. The Cure "Just Like Heaven"
3. New Order "Blue Monday"
2. New Order "Bizarre Love Triangle"
1. The Smiths "How Soon is Now?"

What makes this so shocking is that although I have heard #s 5-2 ad infinitum on this station, I had NEVER heard any Smiths. These 80s type stations, who will play boatloads of the Cure, Depeche Mode, U2, and (only popular) New Order, are finally realizing that the Smiths deserve to top the list of best 80s acts.

As for HSIN, well, in 1989, WFNX, a decent alternative radio in Boston (which plays a heaping helping of the Mozzer whenever it can, it even once tricked all of Boston that it had a telephone interview with Morrissey scheduled on April 1, 1995 that got "cancelled" in the last minute - I'll admit, I was duped as well) called HSIN the best song of the decade then as well.

It's still unfortunate that for most popular stations, HSIN is the only song they play, if any, and it's not even my favorite Smiths song, but it's a start. The dedicated 80s format is getting very popular in US radio - we will only hear more of the Smiths in the coming couple of years.