…That’s a line from Pop Will Eat Itself’s “Can U Dig It?”. I first heard that song on MuchMusic of all places in like 1989 or 1990, and comic book geek that I was (was? Am, more like), I thought, “wow, comic book reference” and felt all warm inside.

But you know, it’s true. I am reading Alan Moore’s Voice Of The Fire, his first novel (originally published in 1996 and reprinted just recently), and am struck by how natural, how accomplished his storytelling acumen is – even without the aid of an illustrator. Especially when compared with my nearest frame of reference for comic book scribe-turned-prose writer, sentimental fave Neil Gaiman, whom I felt needed a few novels to start feeling really comfortable in the medium. Even now his writing still feels like it could be an adaptation of a comic book or television script. That’s not a criticism as much as an observation. Moore, though… he’s got the ideas and style to be a truly heavy hitter in either format.

In brief, Voice Of The Fire is a collection of stories all centered around Northampton, England, spanning thousands of years. Each chapter is set in a specific timeframe, from 4000 BC through late 20th Century, and even written in a style you imagine to be representative of the era. And while on the surface the stories seem to have little in common, threads and ideas from the past creep into the future. It’s subtle – if you’re not paying attention you may miss it, but it’s quite masterful. I’m not done yet, just about to start the AD 1705 chapter, but I’m very anxious to see how it all comes together.

While reading this book, I came to marvel that this was the same guy who wrote some of the greatest works in comic books of the modern era: Watchemen, V For Vendetta, Miracleman, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Swamp Thing (which I’ve never actually read, but which I’ll be investigating soon). To say he’s the most influential writer in the medium over the past two decades is an understatement. I use Gaiman as a point of comparison only because he’s a writer whose stuff I’ve followed since his earlier days on Sandman and whose voice I have a pretty good ear for – I’ve read almost everything he’s written, I’d say. Gaiman has a tendancy to reuse the same themes and archetypes in his work – it’s almost all uniformly excellent, but I can spot his work a mile off. He’s like a guy with an almost unhittable slider. Moore can throw everything masterfully – he can fool you with a change-up, overpower you with a fastball or confound you with a knuckler. The man’s imagination seems to have no bounds, and it’s something to experience. Okay, maybe I’m being a little effusive in my praise (and baseball analogies), but I’ve just now been struck by how big this guy’s shadow is. And not just literally.

Obviously I’m not telling any comic fans anything they don’t already know, but I just needed to stand up and say, “yeah”. I’ve got a stack of books to get through after this one, but I’m anxious to revisit Watchmen again. Can anyone fill me in on other essential reading from the man’s bibliography? As mentioned earlier, I haven’t read any Swamp Thing. Or From Hell. How is his recent work under the America’s Best Comics imprint? I hear good things about Top Ten. I don’t know. I need guidance. And I need to get my Miracleman collection back from home.

And in more comic book news, Joss Whedon will not be taking over New X-Men from Grant Morrison – instead he’s getting his own title, Astonishing X-Men, while New X-Men will be dropping the prefix and be back to just X-Men with Chuck Austen taking over that title (what a turnaround in creative teams – from the best X-Men writer in years to the worst) and Chris Claremont returning to the book that made him famous, Uncanny X-Men. Confusing? Yeah, which is why I’m not paying any attention to any of them except Astonishing and if that doesn’t grab me right away, then my shopping list will just get that much shorter.

Batman: Intimidation casting news – Liam Neeson is in as villain Ra’s Al-Ghul, and Morgan Freeman is Lucius Fox, a high-ranking employee of Wayne Enterprises. In other words, Neeson = bad guy, Freeman = good guy. Filming starts next month. Update: Variety has made a correction – Neeson will not be playing Ra’s Al-Ghul. He has been cast as Henri Ducard, a friend and mentor to Bruce Wayne. Which leaves the role of villain still open…

Post Parlo will be re-releasing Volume IV of thier Home series, which featured new tracks from Britt Daniel of Spoon and Conor Orbest of Bright Eyes. It’s short – only four tracks – but they’re good. Not good enough for the gougers prices the out of print disc had been getting on eBay, but good.

Pieces on Franz Ferdinand from eye and NOW. Isn’t it odd how one of Toronto’s entertainment weeklies spells its name in all caps while the other is all lower case? Weird. Franz Ferdinand are at the ‘Shoe this Monday. Anyone else going?

A reunited Sebadoh, comprising Lou Barlow and Jason Loewenstien, comes to the Horseshoe April 23 (Tickets $13.50) while Joel Plaskett plays Lee’s on the 16th of April, ducats $12.

Sorry about the late update. Technical difficulties.

np – Superchunk / On The Mouth

The Cardigans’ Long Gone Before Daylight, was released everywhere else in the world last year but finally comes out in the US May 25. It’s easy to dismiss them as twee one-hit wonders, but kitschy Sabbath covers and “Love Fool” aside (and that’s still a brilliant pop song – for the record), I think they’re still worthy of your attention. Their last album Gran Turismo was a bit of a snoozer, but the new one is very good. It’s very downbeat, residing on the right side of polish and sophistication, and carries over much of the country influence Nina Persson discovered with her A Camp project. It’s got some real heart to it. The production and musicianship is excellent – it sounds great – and Persson’s voice has got a very convincing weariness about it. Others have dismissed the record as bored and lifeless – and while I can understand that point of view, to each their own. Either it connects with you or it doesn’t, but I say it’s worth a listen to make your mind up yourself. Watch their video for “Live And Learn” here, if you like visuals. And with Nina, who doesn’t want visuals? Damn, almost made it through without commenting on Persson’s hottness. Oh well.

Calexico’s odds-and-sods EP Convict Pool is out April 6, and you can get their cover of Love’s “Alone Again Or” at Touch & Go’s website. Skinny from The Slatch.

Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow are busy fellows. In addition to their Posies reunion album out this Summer, Billboard reports they will also be getting together with Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens to record the first new Big Star album since 1978’s album-that’s-not-really-an-album, Third/Sister Lovers. And to top it off, Stringfellow’s solo follow-up to Touched is due out in July and Auer’s solo record Songs from the Year of Our Demise is still working out label details before it can be released. And oh yeah – Stringfellow is also working on the new REM album. The boy likes to work. Info from Coolfer.

Burned By The Sun has taken it upon himself to offer audio downloads of every band on the bill at Coachella. Awe-inspiring. Go listen.

Happy 1st anniversary to the hippest hipsters in Columbus, OH – Donewaiting.com.

Fontifier is a neat service that converts your own handwriting into Windows or Mac fonts for a reasonable $9. Or, if your handwriting is identical to Jonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev, you can download a font set of his handwriting here, gratis. Info from Derek.

Conan has apologized to the people of Quebec.

Twenty-Four – Hmm. Boring, boring, more boring, even more boring, excruciatingly boring, EXCITING! But then the only character responsible for making things exciting is dead. Which means more boring coming up. And Kim’s hair is looking even worse than before, if that’s possible.

np – Papas Fritas / Pop Has Freed Us

The Pixies are serious about this reunion business. How serious? They finally have a website. Whoo. It looks official, but there’s a strange air of third-partiness about it. From Burned By The Sun. Strange thing – I had a dream last night that the Pixies announced another tour date, April 1 in Toronto, and I had to decide if I wanted to pay $260 for tickets. This says two things two me – 1) My subconscious is trying to play April Fool’s day tricks on me and 2) my subconscious is really really bored. Who dreams about concert announcements? Gawd, maybe I do need to get out more.

Wheat are making their national television debut on March 1 on Last Call With Carson Daly and March 2 on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

Polaraid says: “Do not shake it like a Polaroid picture”. From Donewaiting.

Spent pretty much all of last night holed up in the rehearsal space recording. I think it went pretty damn well, with me taking about 50 takes not because I kept fucking up but because it wasn’t sounding exactly as I wanted. And while about 48 hours ago I wouldn’t dare claim that I could play slide… well, I can at least fake it now. Woo-hoo.

I am trying to grow my hair out, and haven’t been to a barber in over two months now. I think I’ve hit that infamous ‘looks shitty no matter what you do’ phase. Which is good in that at least now I have an excuse.

Slow news day, so I talk about my hair. Lets hope it doesn’t come to this again.

np – Old 97s / Too Far To Care

I re-watched my favorite film of 2003, Lost In Translation, on DVD last night. I was curious how it would hold up in a second viewing and the answer is ‘pretty well’. It seemed a lot shorter than when I saw it in the theatre – somehow, the slow pacing seemed a lot more pronounced on the big screen. I did a double take when the DVD reached the Santori commercial shoot and the time counter on the player hadn’t even hit the 10-minute mark. I was also better able to appreciate the depth and nuance of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson’s perfomances – they were both truly marvelous. While the DVD doesn’t have a director’s commentary, the making of featurette and interview with Murray and Coppola do a pretty good job of giving you and idea of what it was like behind the scenes. The deleted scenes are nice too, particularly Anna Farris’ extended airhead press conference for Midnight Velocity. If the film does well at the Oscars, I expect there’ll be another DVD release before two long with all the real goodies.

As a follow-up to the little Pavement SM vs SS debate last week, I went and got some Preston School Of Industry mp3s and you know what? I like it. It sounds more raucous like old-school Pavement, and not all laid-back and languid like Stephen Malkmus’ solo stuff. I’m now looking forward to the PSOI show at the ‘Shoe April 1.

FYI – I’ve now ‘affiliated’ my site with Truthflies.com, an online music dealer out of New York City associated with Jenyk.com, home of some great concert photography. They carry a small but very choice selection of CDs at pretty good prices and $5 shipping for any size order anywhere in the world? You can’t beat that with a stick. Periodically they offer promotions or deals on new releases that I might pass on the word about, mostly depending on my personal interest level in the promo. What’s in it for you? Maybe you’ll find something you’re looking for at a good price. What’s in it for me? Hookers and blow, my friends. Hookers and blow.

On a semi-related site news note, I’ve finally redone my links page to actually reflect some of the more well-travelled locales in my bookmarks. They’re even categorized. Who says I don’t do anything for you?

Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees? Words. Cannot. Describe. How much I HATE. The American League East. They really can’t. Someone move my Jays into the NL already.

Have you seen the commercial for an ‘erectile dysfunction’ drug called Cialis? There’s nothing remarkable about the spot itself, but check out this warning tacked onto the list of side effects.. “Erections lasting more than four hours require immediate medial attention”. I think that’s pretty good advice whether you’re on the medication or not. Or find yourself a hooker.

Hrmm, that’s a lot of hooker references for one post.

np – Calexico / Feast Of Wire

The Toronto Star‘s Ben Rayner investigates Canada’s growing ‘coolness’ on the international stage, and wonders about the backlash. And on a related note, I just watched the episode of The West Wing where Donna discovers that she is now a Canadian and they play our national anthem at a state dinner. Really rather absurd, but funny. The ‘shrooms make Aaron Sorkin dig Canada.

Carl Wilson of The Globe & Mail wrote this piece about The Music Gallery, Wavelength and the need for a ‘third place’ hangout in this town.

Cheers to Clay, heading out on a two week tour of the UK with Beneath Augusta alongside A Northern Chorus. If you’re in the UK near one of these dates/places, drop by and check out some Canadian talent. After all – we’re cool right now.

Retrocrush brings you the 50 coolest monkeys of all time. Pleased to see my man Curious George place at a heat-seeking #2. Link from Dirty Monkey Bugspray Fun, who surely rank somewhere from 51-60, along with my pirate monkey robot and Code Monkey t-shirts.

LHB brings you some live videos of Wilco live on Jools Holland.

Congratulations to Stereogum on the occasion of his engagement. On Valentine’s Day no less! Awwwww.

I haven’t mentioned much about my friend in the hospital lately, mainly because there’s been little to report. His body has been stitching itself up over the past three weeks but he’s remained comatose for the duration. On Thursday, however, there was a breakthrough as he began communicating with his hands – one or two fingers for yes or no, giving the thumbs up to friends and flipping his dad the bird. They also moved him out of the ICU into his own room, which I imagine is a much more positive environment. I went down to visit yesteday and while he drifting in and out of sleep while I was there, when told I had stopped by, he turned and looked at me, reached out for my hand and gave me a thumbs up. I can’t explain how good that felt. There’s obviously still so much about his condition that I don’t know or understand, but what I do know is that yesterday, he recognized me and said hello.