Most of the people at work have no idea about
my life as the "Mexican Morrissey."
The Mexican Morrissey
Dude, I wouldn't go anywhere else in L.A.to find out what's going on
than Jose Maldonado, he is number one.
I don't mind the label 'fan'
I think it's... it's short for 'fanatic'.
He's in Morrissey mode, sort of, constantly.
In between radio shows, Morrissey night DJ gigs,
the occasional acoustic show...
In between the Sweet and Tender Hooligans show,
He is talking to people that are
associated with Morrissey and Morrissey's band...
It really doesn't stop.
Even when we show up to rehearsals,
he pulls up in his car, rolls his window down,
and you hear Morrissey and The Smiths blasting out his car.
My day job is L.A. county lifeguard
I've been employed with the county now over 25 years
It's a fantastic job.
I have been a Morrissey fan since high school
It wasn't enough for me to just buy every record
and every single, I had to go further
and find every magazine article, and every interview that had
ever been done, and after that, it was
learning who his influences are,
who is Oscar Wilde? Who were the New York Dolls?
Who were The Velvet Underground?
Indie 103.1, Los Angeles, California,
Hi everyone, I'm Jose Maldonado, lead singer of
the tribute band Sweet and Tender Hooligans.
Time now for the programme that we call:
'Breakfast with The Smiths: The World of Morrissey'
Two full hours of the songs that made you smile,
the songs that made you cry,
and the songs that saved your life.
There is some kind of a parallel
growing up Latino in Southern California
is not unlike the experience
growing up the son of Irish immigrants in Northern England.
Growing up in the Seventies and Eighties, around my Anglo friends
I wasn't quite Anglo enough,
and around my Latino friends, I wasn't quite Latino enough.
So, I was an outsider in two different communities
One of our best selling t-shirts that our band has,
says: 'Mexican Blood, American Heart'
and that about sums it up.
Everybody's always asking different Latinos, they always have a different
answer for it, but for me, it's music in Spanish
because the men are putting themselves out there
are vulnerable, are really speaking what they're feeling.
The very first time I met Morrissey, was in 1993,
mustered up the courage and I walked up to him
and that's when I looked him in the eye and I said:
Everyday of my life,
is always just *that* much better
because your songs are always a part of it.
I got most of that out before I started crying,
and he signed my CD,
'To Jose, Good luck forever, Morrissey'
Before I cut you loose, my tribute band
Sweet and Tender Hooligans will be performing
this Saturday at Romano's in Riverside.
Hope you guys can make it out there
I got the idea for having us do the tribute
in 1992, when there was a fan convention being held
here in Los Angeles.
I thought, wouldn't it be great if we could play at that fan convention
and just do a whole set of nothing but Morrissey and The Smiths, and
I could do my hair like him, and I could dress like him
yeah, wouldn't that be fun?!
Yeah, it was a lot of fun!
Give it up for Sweet and Tender Hooligans!
I love playing with these guys, it's never going to get old,
and I just want to keep doing it forever and ever.
As long as my body says 'Yep, I can still do it'
I'm going to keep on doing it.
In 2004, there was this great moment
where I was in the audience at one of his shows here in L.A.
The lights come on, and the curtains open up
and Morrissey gets on the microphone and he says,
'Hello, we are the Sweet and Tender Hooligans. I am Jose.'
And I sat there, catatonic, going, I gotta be dreaming!
And everyone around me was shaking me going, 'Did you hear? Did you hear?'
And I said, 'I know, I know, don't wake me up!'