Former Smiths guitar slinger Johnny Marr today announced plans for a second round of touring in North America behind his third solo album, Call the Comet, following up dates last September and November with 19 new dates in the U.S. and Canada in April and May. See full dates here.

Morrissey today announced an eight-date tour of Canada this April, abandoning without explanation his 15-year boycott of the nation until its annual seal hunt is banned. That hasn’t happened, but Moz nevertheless will return, and part of the tour’s proceeds will go toward animal welfare charities across Canada. Dates here.

In August 1982, Johnny Marr and Steven Patrick Morrissey went into Manchester’s Decibelle Studios to record the first two songs they’d written together, “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle” and “Suffer Little Children,” both of which would appear on The Smiths’ debut two years later. Here some of that session here.

Last month, Johnny Marr brought his old friend Matt Johnson onstage in London to perform a cover of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s 1966 single “Summer in the City” — their first time onstage together in 25 years. Turns out they also recorded a version of the song at soundcheck that night, and now have released it digitally.

Johnny Marr took the stage at Southern California’s Ohana Festival today for a short set that featured a drop-in from one of the event’s organizers: Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, who sang The Smiths classic “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” with Marr and his band.  Check it out right here.

Johnny Marr this week debuted the second single off his upcoming third proper solo album Call the Comet, a gentle, mid-tempo rocker called “Hi Hello” that carries just a hint — via the accompanying strings — of The Smiths classic “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.” Check out the song right here.

Johnny Marr’s third proper solo album — a 12-song collection titled Call the Comet — will be released June 15, and fans can now get their first earful of the ex-Smiths guitar-slinger’s new sounds via first single “The Tracers,” which just hit streaming platforms. Stream the first single right here.

Johnny Marr has been documenting the recording of his third solo album on social media of late, and today the former guitarist for The Smiths revealed the upcoming LP’s title: Call the Comet. It’s not yet known when the album will arrive, though Marr tweeted “news coming soon.”

In a trainwreck that just keeps getting worse, Mike Joyce today announced that he, too, will not take part in the Classically Smiths live shows he began teasing last week, saying he’d been barred from revealing Andy Rourke wouldn’t be taking part when the project was announced Monday.

After cryptic hints Friday, the cat’s now out of the bag: The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, plus “fifth member” Craig Gannon, will perform the band’s beloved songs backed by a full orchestra in the U.K. this summer, the Manchester Evening News reported today. No dates have yet been announced.

It appears that Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke, the rhythm section of The Smiths, are planning something — a concert? a full tour? — this year with Craig Gannon, the onetime Aztec Camera member who toured with The Smiths as a second guitarist toward the end of the band’s life.

Morrissey’s cancellation as headliner of tonight’s KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show left The Killers as the evening’s closing act, and Brandon Flowers and Co. took the opportunity to give fans what they weren’t getting, covering both The Smiths’ “This Charming Man” and Moz’s own “Everyday is Like Sunday.”

Morrissey’s tour opener in Portland, Ore., this week featured at least one major setlist surprise: the singer’s first-ever live performance of “I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish,” the second single off The Smiths’ posthumously released final album Strangeways, Here We Come. Watch that performance here.