god, so much to try an remember. like I had planned, my plane landed in LA on sat. afternoon, and I was picked up at the airport by Melinda, Roy, and Vu we went to a "tea" and met a few askers on that Friday at the west way inn. sat. night I was so damn giddy about the day to follow that I found it hard to sleep. I got to sleep at 4 and we woke up at 8 because somebody (ahem) thought that we really needed to get up that early :)

We got to the convention at about Noon and got in line, the doors opened at a think 1:30 (way behind scheduled which threw everything off) our ID that we had paid for entry to the con. was a cool wristband that read "property of stangeways prison" very cool, and I managed to get my off without having to rip it! I walked in and my first impression was "why this huge center for the smiths con" it seemed we would not take up that space at all but boy was I wrong. There was one main room that had the stage for the cover band and a dance floor, a room for the people selling Moz things and a room to view the "rare" smiths video.

First thing I did was rush to the convention merchandise counter which was in the main room. I bought the Smiths Con. '97 T-shirt and I then jaunted off to the room with all the people selling Moz stuff. I walked in and gazed in aw! I believe I had a Moz-Gasm too. I could not believe all the stuff I saw for sale. Anything from T-Shirts-Poster-Coffee Mugs-Flashlights(theres a light that never goes out) I bought a solo Morrissey shirt that on the back has a variation of the Vauxhall pendant. It says 1 Moz. Since I had already used up my money that quick, yes, I didn't have much, I then went to the "smiths theater" to watch the first showing of the "rare smiths footage". It was 1h 20m long and was two things, the whole Hacienda Dec '82 (I think) concert with Johnny and backing vox for "what difference does it make" and "hand that rocks the cradles" no, you couldn't hear his voice at all, and a home made type behind the scenes thing for the Meat is Murder tour. If they would have edited out all the crap that there was between cool things then it would have been much better. We actually got the see the video of Johnny giving the Mozzer a guitar lesson, the second that was on the screen EVERYONE'S cameras started going off, rightly so.

Next was waiting for Andy and Mike to come out on the stage to answer questions that the audience wrote down. Mike is very funny and talkative and Andy was quiet content with Mike stealing the show. Questions ranged from "is Moz celibate?" to "Andy, did you write the bass lines" and yes, he did. This was quite enjoyable and Mike even hopped behind the drum kit and played about 7 sec. of the queen is dead! we loved it! and he even jokingly said "that was girlfriend in a coma". They then signed autographs (this was one of many times) the lines was so damn long for it.

Next was the cover band "the sweet and tender hooligans" they were very good, the leader singer looked and dressed like the Mozzer of course and did a very good job of using the exact movements that Morrissey would us. They even played Well I wonder and Wonderful Woman! here is my brush with mozzness. Though, of course, it wasn't the real Mozzer, the fems up front ripped his shirt off (like Richard blad the DJ told them to) so I tossed by brand new shirt up there and he put it on, wore it for two songs, and through it back to me! it was very cool! so, I am really gonna want a copy of the Smiths Con. video from who ever preordered it, I wasn't able to, not enough money. So, the cover band was very good, good guitarist ("burbanks answer to Johnny Marr") good Bassist (five string) and a drummer who looked very young but was very good, he was not their normal guy. Right before the final song the fake Mozzer said we like to end with a special song and asked if Mike would come up and play with them, I really thought he would, everyone was chanting "mike mike mike" , very cool, but he did not, so instead of ending with Queen is dead they finished the show with Bigmouth. This is when everyone went crazy! for the first 30 sec. it was the ultimate concert hop but that unfortunately turned into a most pit, though it didn't look like anyone got hurt so that was cool.

Next was the auction of stuff like Mike's cymbals and Andy record from Rough Trade telling him that it had gone, one was silver, one was gold. They also had like four signed copies of Meat is murder (yes, Moz and Marr were on their too) and a hand written set list from Meat Tour. This stuff went for what I considered to be too much money, some one has the exact amount, sorry, I forget names :) but I am sure they will post it.

Next was the smiths dance party! this was very cool because all the songs were by request and so we didn't just hear singles, yes, they did play solo Moz songs , but it's okay because by that time most of the days events were over. Next was the raffle of dinner with Mike and Andy two of our very own askers are eating with Mike and Andy as we speak! so I will let them share with you, their excitement. They also raffled off a HUGE painting of the cover for the "this charming man" single and everyone joked of how they would have no way of transporting it since it was so damn large. okay, after the raffle it went back to the dance party! this was so cool! no one seemed seem to shy to dance so everyone was having and awesome time grooving to the smiths and Moz songs! though when they played "the rarest Morrissey song" "You've had her" off of "certain people I know" nearly everyone left the dance floor because it is almost impossible to dance to since there are next to no drums. and I guess no one felt like slow dancing :) oh, throughout the con there were picks up on the walls of the smiths sights in Manchester as how they appear now so that was cool to!

Thanks very much to my dear friend Elliot I got the chance to have mike and Andy sign by smiths shirt (that on one else has :) and I even got to chat with them! oh yeah, they also played a track off of the album by Andy's new band Delicious, I liked it alot, the drummer used to be in the happy Mondays. all in all the convention itself was a great time to be had by all! I just couldn't believe that was surrounded by about 2,500 people who all loved the same songs as me, It was such a great feeling! but the night was still young! the after party was to come still!

We had three rooms to conduct our fun in, and we were very quite but a sing along to "jeane" with some who is not on ask, got out of control and that room was forced to turn in their keys and hand over the room, but no reason to fret, there were two other rooms that they could stay in! I counted at one time and there were 50 askers at the WestWay Inn! amazing! I told everyone we should alert Guinness because that had to be a ASK record! It was so much fun meeting other askers, I will now read everyone's post in their voices! everyone was so nice to each other too (even jay!) Angela and jay videoed some of the ask party events (I decided not to) so you will have to get in touch with them if you would like a copy I presume. I am gonna try and name some that I meet though I know I will leave out so many. Mel, Jay, Michelle, Chris, Ed, Shirley, Katie(WIR), Cohen, Adam(just kidding :), Angela, Xtine, Bo, Don, Loren, Typhoid Mary, Mozmonger and many others that I am very sorry but I cannot remember their names right now. that is my report for now, I am sure I will remember things later, if I do, I will be sure and post! hope you enjoyed!

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Torr