Morrissey mention in Richard Blades book, "World In My Eyes: The Autobiography"

The Seeker of Good Songs

Well-Known Member
Has anyone read this book?
The description on Amazon says,"...Richard shares stories that have until now remained secret. His unique perspective will take you on the road with Depeche Mode, to Australia with Spandau Ballet, into the recording studio with Morrissey, and onto the main stage at Live Aid with Duran Duran..."

Did he have a unique perspective on Morrissey?
 
Yes, reckon only a good read if you were living in LA and So-Cal in the 90's. Not a unique perspective on Uncle Steve. I reckon the "in studio" referenced the times Uncle Steve was in the KROQ studio playing live. He talks a lot about Depresh Mode and the Cat's 4 Heroin OD's in LA and too much about being a scuba diving instructor when he left KROQ. If you were at Uncle Steve's first solo concert in the USA in San Diego, you will like the behind the scenes review because at that time Uncle Steve was more popular than Axl Rose in the US.
 
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Has anyone read this book?
The description on Amazon says,"...Richard shares stories that have until now remained secret. His unique perspective will take you on the road with Depeche Mode, to Australia with Spandau Ballet, into the recording studio with Morrissey, and onto the main stage at Live Aid with Duran Duran..."

Did he have a unique perspective on Morrissey?
Culled from the book:
"FRIENDS OF MINE - Part One – SUEDEHEAD.
My on-again off-again friendship with Morrissey began in 1986. I’d just been signed by Andy Friendly to be one of the hosts of a network show on CBS called The Rock’n’Roll Evening News along with Steve Kmetkco and Eleanor Mondale. The show was to premiere on September 6, 1986 and featured live performances and recorded pieces that highlighted the biggest acts in music. It was all set to become a hip version of Entertainment Tonight, but instead of movies and TV we were all about rock’n’roll.
At our planning meeting for the premiere show I suggested that we interview The Smiths who were currently on tour in North America. That idea received a resounding yes from everyone so the band’s management was contacted and a date and location was set in stone. We would be doing the interview with Morrissey and The Smiths at the site of their concert in San Diego, August 29.
We started off early that Friday morning. It was the beginning of the long Labor Day weekend and we knew traffic would be horrendous on our 140 mile drive. With the network camera crew leading the way in their van, I followed behind and we began our drive down the 5 freeway to San Diego.
We arrived in plenty of time to shoot the soundcheck and following that we set up in a room backstage which we dressed and lit in preparation for the interview. With everything in place we sat and waited. And waited.
Ninety minutes later we received word that Morrissey wasn’t up for doing the interview after all and the whole thing was scraped. The expensive union crew was dismissed and as great as the concert was that night I couldn’t fully enjoy it knowing what we had missed out on.
Two weeks later The Rock’n’Roll Evening News premiered on 130 stations and I did a piece on The Smiths and their importance to modern music using footage from the soundcheck and a two minute standup that I wrote. I couldn’t help thinking how much bigger and better it would have been for both us and The Smiths if only Morrissey had followed through with that arranged on-camera interview.
Almost four years later Morrissey more than made up for it.
At the beginning of February, 1990, Howie Klein called from Morrissey’s record company and said that Moz wanted to come into the station and do an interview with me. I was thrilled, but also a little nervous that he might cancel again. Howie assured me that he would make sure that the interview happened so we immediately went on the air and started promoting it.
When February 9 rolled around there was a huge crowd of fans surrounding the KROQ building. They carried signs expressing their love along with pictures and album covers for Morrissey to autograph. Many had been there overnight to be close to the entrance so they wouldn’t miss their chance to glimpse their favorite singer.
As Morrissey’s car pulled up to the building, Moz saw the mob of fans waiting for him, but instead of sliding back in his seat, remaining concealed and being driven into the comparative safety of the underground parking lot, Morrissey asked the driver to stop and he got out and met the kids, taking pictures with them and walking through the crowd, saying hi.
A lot of people ask me what is the best interview I’ve ever done. My answer is always the same. The most fun to interview is Boy George, the hardest is Bono or Sting as many times they come across as far too serious, but the best, by far, is Morrissey.
Moz is intelligent, quick, and often very humorous. And he doesn’t suffer fools lightly. When you are sitting with Morrissey you had better be prepared and bring your A game; if not, he will rip you to pieces, but if you do your homework and preparation you will be rewarded by an incredible verbal tennis game from someone who is justifiably known as a wordsmith.
Our interview was scheduled for twenty minutes but that Friday as we went back and forth about his career, the way his fans loved him, his songwriting process, etc.., it became obvious that both of us were enjoying it so much that the clock on the wall was ignored and Morrissey stayed in the studio with me going one-on-one for more than an hour and a half.
When the interview wrapped up we both knew that something very special had just occurred. All across Southern California hundreds of thousands of fans had made their own personal recording of the interview on cassette and a limited-edition CD of the Morrissey interview was released. It was a moment in time that lives on.
A few months later I was hosting a Morrissey look-a-like contest at Fashions
Nightclub in Redondo Beach. The commercials for that Saturday evening ran every day on the radio and on the Thursday before the big night I received a call from Howie saying Morrissey was in town and had heard the ads on my show. What shocked me was that instead of being mad, Morrissey asked if he could join me at Fashions that night and judge the contest.
Of course I said yes without hesitation. The only caveat was that I keep it secret and not announce it on the air. That was no problem and we put the wheels in motion.
That Saturday Fashions was even more packed than usual. The club was located underneath Redondo Beach’s famed harbor pier and the only way in and out was down a single, wide staircase.
As Morrissey arrived and joined me in the DJ booth, Fashions was pumping. At least forty other Morrisseys were in the house all ready for their big moment on
stage which would be coming up in a couple of hours, around midnight.
There was a constant ebb and flow of dancers making their way through the crowd to the DJ booth to make requests. When they saw Morrissey standing with me they inevitably nodded their heads in approval and made comments like “Good job, you look just like him” or “You’re one of the best here tonight.”
Slowly a buzz began to develop in the club; you could feel it growing. Now it wasn’t just the dance floor that was packed; the area in front of the DJ booth had a large crowd standing, staring at the two of us.
Every time Morrissey would give his fans a shy wave through the low Perspex surround that ringed the booth they would wave back then turn to each other with a “Do you think that could be….?”
Moz and I talked and agreed I had to say something. I picked up the microphone and flipped it on.
“Hope you’re having a good time so far tonight here at Fashions. Thanks to everyone who came dressed up as Morrissey. It’s going to be a fantastic contest.” I paused for a second. “If you all promise to stay cool I’ll let you in on a secret. Who out there can be cool?”
I held the mic out and 500 people yelled back, “We can!”
I glanced at Moz and he nodded in approval. I continued on the mic, “Okay, cool people. We have a special judge for our look-a-like contest tonight. Remember, you are all cool, because this,” I pointed to the famous singer from Manchester standing next to me, “is Morrissey!”
A hush dropped over the crowd and I had never heard Fashions so silent, not even during the early evening hours when the club was still closed and the only people inside were me and the bartenders.
Amazingly everyone was being cool – for exactly one second!
Then a roar erupted. The crowd pushed forward as one and a tsunami of bodies surged at the DJ booth, shattering the Perspex surround and everywhere there were hands and arms reaching in, grabbing, pulling. The two security guards by the booth were overwhelmed and Morrissey leapt to the rear of the DJ area in an attempt to find shelter among the vinyl albums and record crates.
Two more security guards rushed downstairs from the door and together managed to hold back the crowds. Lance, the owner of Fashions, knew it would be impossible to get Morrissey up the stairs and out of the club so he yelled to the security, “Take him to my office now.”
The four burly guards encircled Moz and shoved their way through the crowd to the comparative safety of the windowless office.
A few minutes later I joined them there. There was a constant hammering on the door from desperate fans while we talked.
We came up with a plan. I would start the look-a-like contest right away and hopefully that would distract enough people for a couple of minutes that they would be able to safely get Morrissey extricated from the office and out of the club.
Morrissey and I exchanged glances right before I squeezed my way out of the door and back into the crowd; for all the chaos and mayhem we were actually both having fun.
The diversion worked and by the time the contest was over and the number-one Morrissey wannabe was crowned the real article was safely on his way, virtually unscathed, heading north back to his place in West Hollywood.
Just over a year later, Morrissey and I would be thrown together again after
another crazy mob situation, this one at Pauley Pavilion on November 1, 1991.
Morrissey was on the road on tour supporting his brilliant Kill Uncle album and decided to do a special show at UCLA. Normally Moz would play –and sell out – venues like the Hollywood Bowl or the Forum, but on that night he decided on a much more intimate show on an indoor basketball court at Westwood’s famed university campus.
The packed crowd had been on their feet since the opening number, “November Spawned A Monster,” an ironic choice to start with considering the date and what happened, and as Morrissey tore into the ninth song of his set, “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful,” he was feeling the love from his fans and said into the microphone “Get up out of your seats and come on down here.” Unwittingly it was an invitation to unleash the Gods of Chaos.
Regards,
FWD.
 
More:
The crowd yelled their approval and heaved forward, overturning the folding chairs that had been placed on the floor of the basketball court and trampling others as they charged the stage. Morrissey was visibly upset and rushed into the back of Pauley Pavilion for his own safety. Riot police and paramedics were called and in all, forty-eight people were injured.
Morrissey called me on the air the next day to say how sorry he was about the incident. The concert had been going so well up to that point and he had been overcome by the energy from the fans. Over the years so many had made their way onto the stage to hug him and give him flowers but never anything like this. He was truly shaken by what had occurred and distraught that anyone might have been hurt.
Five months prior to the ill-fated Pauley Pavilion show, Morrissey and I spent an
unforgettable evening together at the Capitol Records building in Hollywood.
Morrissey wanted to do something special for his fans in Southern California so he came up with the idea of putting together a special EP for his followers there. He contacted me at KROQ and said that the plan was that he and his band - Spencer Cobrin, Boz Boorer, Alain Whyte and Gary Day - would go into the studio at Capitol and record three tracks for the CD. He then wanted me to go on the air the next day and talk about the experience of being in-studio with Morrissey and produce a segment to be included on the CD that would feature listeners sharing their thoughts and feelings with me on Morrissey.
Scott Mason and I arrived at Capitol Records around 7:30 on that Monday evening of June 3, 1991. Scott made sure all the gear was hooked up correctly including multiple DAT machines for backup, and the very talented Ian Horne was on hand to mix the set. The amazing thing about that night was that as the band played, Ian would mix it live to tape. There would be no re-dos, overdubs and inserts; it had been decided that what went onto the CD would be exactly what they played and laid down on tape that night.
Morrissey and his band had come ready to rock and after a ninety-minute rehearsal and practice session they played the three songs live, “There’s A place In Hell For Me And My Friends,” “My Love Life” and “Sing Your Life,” as Ian worked the mixing board and Scott recorded the session.
When everything was done, we all hung out for about an hour afterwards, talking and slowly coming down from a natural high. None of us were in a hurry to leave; we knew that this had been a once-in-a-lifetime night that had just happened for us in the same Hollywood studio where legendary acts like Sinatra and the Beach Boys had recorded their own timeless music. After hearing the three tracks the record company knew they had something special on their hands and changed their plans on how they were going to release the CD. Instead of it being limited to Southern California it became an official Sire/ Reprise worldwide release and a part of Morrissey’s catalogue nationally and internationally complete with my eight-minute produced feature on it. And the live version of “Sing Your Life,” recorded that night, became the definitive version of the song for radio stations around the world.
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Regards,
FWD.
Should add: there are a lot more, but this is the biggest part.
 
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virtually unscathed, heading north back to his place in West Hollywood.

Bilkey m8. WTF? We all know Uncle Steve has lived in LA since 1996, now Rich says he lived there in 1991. Crykey! I have heard the rumors but even I didn't believe it. Were Steve and John Lydon sharing a condo?
 
"...A few months later I was hosting a Morrissey look-a-like contest at Fashions Nightclub in Redondo Beach...That Saturday Fashions was even more packed than usual. The club was located underneath Redondo Beach’s famed harbor pier and the only way in and out was down a single, wide staircase."

I remember that place well; I lived only a mile or so away from there, but somehow was out of touch and missed this night.
 
As an 80's KROQ kid I thoroughly enjoyed Richard's book. Richard Blade is sort of the Forrest Gump of 80's alternative music as he's at the right place at the right time for so many important bands of that era (Depeche Mode, INXS, Berlin, and so on). I posted the link earlier in this thread to the interview with Richard and Morrissey. It captures Morrissey at an interesting time, post-Viva Hate but before Kill Uncle and the massive tour he would start the next year.
 
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