Morrissey knows what he likes, and it isn't Damien Hirst

Morrissey doesn't like Damien Hirst:

Discussing the artists work with artist Linder Sterling, he said: "I dislike the 'use' of animals in art, such as in the work of Damien Hirst. Do you agree that Hirst's head should be kept in a bag for the way he's utilized-and sold-dead animals?"

Charles Saatchi has already expressed interest in buying Morrissey's Hirst head in hessian sack should it ever come on the market.

Actually, that wouldn't please Morrissey, either:

Morrissey also claimed the wealth accrued by Damien - reputed to be the world's richest living artist, whose works have sold for over £10 million pounds - "reduces him to mere factory outlet".

Morrissey is famous for never charging for his gigs, and giving his records away for free.

Gordon in the morning: Confusing victory with bungling

Back when Alex James was running a record label with Joe Strummer and Damien Hirst, he had a look at Coldplay, and decided not to sign them. That makes sense. Not to Gordon, though, who confuses this with an error:

THERE are dozens of ex-music bosses around the country drowning their sorrows in the boozer over how they “almost” signed a huge band.
[...]
Now ALEX JAMES from BLUR has revealed he is in the bungling music bigwig’s club for failing to sign COLDPLAY when he had a record label for a short time in the late Nineties.
[...]
If he had signed Coldplay, Alex would now be basking in the glory of being a member of one of the country’s best Britpop bands AND finding their replacement.

You can see the problem here - Gordon has seen that Blur sold lots of records, and Coldplay sell lots of records, and so they're pretty much the same sort of thing.

A more appropriate way of looking at it would be that Alex James came dangerously close to churning out soulless-but-pleasant records, but luckily avoided it.

He saw Coldplay, he saw nothing special. I don't see any bungling.

By the way: Yes, he did run a label with Hirst and Strummer - and, of course, Keith Allen. Keith was keen for the label, Turtleneck, to sign Lily. They didn't do that, either, in the end. Let's hope Gordon doesn't find out about that one, eh?

Meanwhile, Gordon has a chat with Lady GaGa:

LADY GAGA rang Bizarre yesterday to stake her claim as the figurehead for a new generation of Girl Power.

Really? Lady GaGa is comparing herself to the Spice Girls, is she?

She said: “When JOHN LENNON was talking about YOKO ONO he used to say that women possessed a wisdom that no man could have.
[...]
“[Madonna] not a bad comparison but I want to be respected as an artist in my own right.

“BOWIE, PRINCE and GRACE JONES were all famous for their style and fashion, so I think it’s a tradition pop stars should maintain.”

The one act she clearly isn't comparing herself to is The Spice Girls.

At least it's not John Lennon's piano

George Michael and Kenny Goss are showing Texas a huge chunk of their private art collection, funded by George Michael's muscial career and Kenny Gosses' ... well, his income.

The Goss-Michael Foundation is displaying the works; Goss has been elected to discuss them with the media:

"We want to expose the Dallas art community to work that they've quite potentially never seen if they weren't able to travel, these works that in some ways may be a little controversial for one thing, a little strong."

The works which Texans unable to travel have potentially never seen before (although, who knows, they might have) include Damien Hirst's Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain.

Goss explains what the cow-and-arrow work means:

"Most people initially freak a little bit about Sebastian, then they stare and stare at it and they say, 'That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.'"

Or potentially ever seen.

"Let's face it, art a lot of times is about sex, love, death, loss."

At other times, let's face it, art is about pictures of red-jacketed huntsmen chasing foxes and dogs playing pool.

Goss is excited by exposing young people to art:

"They sit in front of these pieces. They sketch it. They write about it. They think about their thoughts. I've come here before and I've seen four or five students just sitting on the floor writing," he said.

Thinking about thoughts, eh? No wonder they need to sit down when their minds are working on such an elevated plane.

Seriously, it's a lovely, generous gesture to share art with the world; it's just a pity that Kenny was left to try and put the unsayable into words.

George Michael wants to get head

Who, you wonder, would be likely to pay fifty million pounds for Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull, which looks like the sort of thing Elizabeth Duke would flog if they could find enough cubit zirconia?

Step forward, George Michael, who has apparently had a private viewing of the artwork (actually, they're all private viewings, aren't they?).

It might seem odd for George to be considering burning through piles of cash for an exquisitely turned-out empty head with a rictus grin and nothing whatsoever to say for itself, but he did used to split the Wham money with Andrew, so it's not unprecedented.

Filmstar

TMFTML suggested that it might be a bit early for a Live Forever - a retrospective movie on Britpop, but, of course, has the advantage of being American and so avoided seeing the "I Love..." franchise eat its own butt with a nostalgia show for 1999 in the year 2001. ("Do you remember..." Of course I do, do you think I'm Audrey Bloody Roberts?).

We like the way Damon now claims that his participation in the chart war with Oasis left him feeling "stupid and very confused" - yeah, Damon, that's right - you were being ironic, weren't you?

Obviously, we've not seen the film - we don't go to London unless we absolutely have to - but it sounds like a well-meaning attempt to join up completely the wrong dots. The chart battle isn't interesting for the chart battle, but the way Justine Frischmann was treated as a lump of meat by both sides; the Damien Hirst video and the extent to which cheesecake Benny Hill-esque images really can keep their ironic detachment; the bitterness that Blur was turning on former mentor Dave Balfe and... we're sure there must be something interesting about the Oasis tune, too. The... um... words or something.