ComiX-Fan had the opportunity to interview Grant Morrison after his controversial run on New X-Men ended a few months ago. Not surprisingly, his most drastic plotlines are already in the process of being undone by the new creative teams (Magneto beheaded? No problem, that was… just an imposter! Yeah! The REAL Magneto is still alive… Feh) but he’s not surprised. He also goes into what he was trying to accomplish with the Sea Guy miniseries, which is good because I just picked up the last issue and like much of his work, it’s utterly incomprehensible on first read. But as I’ve learned over the years since his early days on Animal Man and Doom Patrol, there’s two very important things to remember about Grant Morrison – firstly, he doesn’t just write stories – he writes in elaborate metaphors, allegories and abstractions. What may initially come off as inscrutable will eventually reveal the depths of his artistic expression and social commentary. Secondly, he’s probably completely out of his mind.

And while on the topic of genius/demented British comic book writers – Salon gets Alan Moore’s opinions on the state of the world.

And just because three is a nice round number and he’s always a good read, we’ll finish up the theme with Neil Gaiman’s blog. And it looks like the Death movie is slowly moving out of development hell?.

The Globe & Mail profiles The Hidden Cameras. The Cameras release Mississauga Goddam August 3 and play Trinity-St. Paul’s tonight ($10 at the door) as well as Harbourfront Centre on August 28 for free.

The Raleigh Independent celebrates fifteen years of Merge by talking to head honchos Mac and Laura. From Largehearted Boy.

Pitchfork reports that Broken Social Scene hope to have their third album, tenatively titled Windsurfing Nation, out in February of next year. Don’t forget their free show on the 27th of August at Harbourfront Centre!

Because Fridays rhymes with ‘funny’… except that it doesn’t, really:

Matthew Sweet’s new album Living Things will finally be coming out September 7, some three months after it was initially slated to be released. Home-recorded and self-produced, fingers are crossed that it yields as good results as 2003’s Kimi Ga Suki * Raifu. It would also be great if the Fall touring plans with Velvet Crush go off as rumoured – Matthew playing guitar with the Crush and then them acting as the backing band for his set.

I’ve gushed about Kimi Ga Suki in the past, but for those unfamiliar with it, it’s a Japan-only album Matthew wrote and recorded at home over the course of a week utilizing much of the same lineup from the Girlfriend era, that is – Ric Menck, Richard Lloyd and Greg Leisz. It’s rawer than anything he’s done in years and is also better than anything he’s done in years. Originally only available in North America as a Japanese import, it was given a very limited domestic release this past January and was seemingly available only from Parasol at domestic prices. They’re giving the domestic release another go-around on October 5 though, obviously to go along with the release of Living Things. Definitely worth seeking out.

Elvis Costello’s September 21 Lost Highway release with The Imposters has a title – The Delivery Man. Yes, that’s it. Scintillating, no?

Pitchfork is saying that Luna’s Rendezvous has been pushed back from September 28 to October 26. This makes me angry. How angry? So angry that right now I am TYPING VERY HARD. That angry.

Rhino’s Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From the ’80s Underground box set, due out October 4, is a pretty compelling argument against anyone who ever said the 80s sucked. Check out the tracklisting – over the course of the four discs, it offers an excellent primer of the great music coming out of the American, British and Australian alternative/college/indie scenes over the much-reviled decade. It’s pretty mainstream, relatively speaking, but impressive in its comprehensiveness. I’ll bet the liner notes are a great read as well. I couldn’t justify the purchase myself, as I already own a lot of the material on their original albums, but it’s a great starting point for anyone who thinks the 80s were only about The Thompson Twins, Men Without Hats and Wang Chung.

Jim White has been added as support to the Wilco show at the Mod Club August 3. Who is Jim White?

Flagpole talks to the busiest man in pop, Ken Stringfellow about his current on-the-go projects (a new solo record, a new Posies record, a new Big Star record, a new R.E.M. record…) From LHB.

The Songs: Ohia website (run by No Love For Ned recently conducted a big long Q&A with Jason Molina. Here’s the outcome. The new incarnation of the band, The Magnolia Electric Co., play the Horseshoe October 2.

NOW does journalistic battle with Camera Obscura, and by ‘battle’ I mean they talk to them nicely about their show tomorrow night at the Horseshoe. The Toronto Star gets round two.

Glorious Noise reports back on the all-star (relatively speaking) Neil Young tribute in NYC last month. I can only hope that there are bootlegs from this show circulating, I would love to hear some of these performances. Can anyone point me to a copy?

NOW compiles a list of their top 10 comic book adaptation films of all time.

He’s a Baldwin, she’s a Baldwin, wouldn’t you like to be a Baldwin too? Now you can! But for the love of God, spend a little extra and at least get a William. The world doesn’t need another Daniel.

np – Velvet Crush / Melody Freaks

The Toronto Star ran this piece yesterday about what it’s like to be a youth in my hometown of Oakville, Ontario. I found the article abso-freaking-lutely hilarious, as the culture described is still as familiar and alien to me as it was when I was a bored-as-hell 19-year old Jokevillian a decade ago. Familiar because I know well what it’s like to drive aimlessly through the city looking for something – anything – to do. Driving from Sharky’s to Arnold’s to the Oar House to Philthy’s for no discernable purpose. Just killing time, really. Oh yeah. And it’s alien because, well, the folks profiled in the article were not the crowd I ran with, not even close. We weren’t affluent, though I won’t insult my parents by implying we were from the wrong side of the tracks or anything – we certainly weren’t. It’s just that by Oakville standards, well-to-do is REALLY well-to-do.

It’s funny that the girl in the article went to the same high school as me, because it was just that clique-y when I was there and I can probably tell you what clique she was in… God, the roles in high school never change, do they? Just the names and faces. I was one of the clique-less, I think. Unless geeks count as a clique… which they probably do. The Geek Clique. Dear Lord. The demographics mentioned in the article surprised me – 87% European descent and only 2.3% Chinese? That’s amazing because when I first moved there, there were a helluva lot fewer Asians than that. In high school the Chinese population seemed to increase exponentially as the influx of folks fleeing Hong Kong before 1997 began.

I’m surprised a single fluffy article in the Life section of the paper could spark such a wave of nostalgia in me. Actually, nostalgia is probably the wrong word – I have only the faintest yearning for my salad days, and that’s only because at that point I hadn’t quite fucked up my life yet. I don’t miss Oakville itself hardly at all, and it’s only hardly because most of my high school friends have stayed in the Halton region for reasons unfathomable to me (yeah yeah, cheap houses – they all own homes and I rent a basement. Thanks for reminding me). It’s true, you know. You can’t go home again – and for that I’m eternally thankful.

But enough about me – let’s talk about …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – their new album is out September 21. This news comes on the heels of the announcement that bassist Neil Busch has left the band on account of poor health. They hope this situation is only temporary, but from the sounds of it his condition is fairly serious. Best wishes for his speedy recovery.

The worst-named band in the UK The Music will be at the Mod Club August 23, tickets $16. Have you ever tried to do a google search for “music”? Yikes.

Franz Ferdinand just won’t stop touring. The Mercury Prize nominees (and odds-on favourites) will be back in Toronto for a third go-around this year at an even worse venue than last time – catch them October 1 at The Docks, tickets $25. Apparently tickets were supposed to go on pre-sale through their website yesterday, but I can’t find anything about it.

VH1 has Tanya Donelly’s latest record Whiskey Tango Ghosts available to stream in its entirety right now. It hits stores official-like next Tuesday. From Stereogum.

The Washington Post has taken the time to catalog and document all the types of annoying concert-goers out there. Read these over and if any of these have EVER been you, hang your head in shame. SHAME. They did miss my personal bugbear, though – a local variant on The Stander. Namely, those three or four 6’4″ frat boy-looking guys who make a point of standing right in front of me no matter what show I’m at. What is that all about? What’d I ever do to you?

Scotsman.com reports on the amount of sex, drugs and booze that one can expect to go down in the Olympic Village in Athens this Summer. Apparently Australians take the god for most boozed-up partiers at the Summer Games and Canadians hold the title for the Winter Games. Canada, represent!

Blue Jays slugger Carlos Delgado is getting shit from certain quarters because he doesn’t support the Iraq War and won’t stand while they play “God Bless America” during the 7th inning stretch. For voicing his opinion, a Puerto Rican playing in Canada has been branded “un-American”, “a member of Al Queda” and “a terrorist”. For the love of God people, what’s wrong with you? Have you seen his numbers this season? He’s not even terrorizing baseballs, the way he’s swinging the bat. How are people so flippin’ stupid? How how how.

Oh – my photos from my trip are now online, thanks to the simplicity of Folderblog. Check them out here – I didn’t realize how many shots of wildlife I’d taken. I’ve rejigged all my non-concert photo galleries to use Folderblog. Quite handy – I might reskin them eventually to match the rest of the site, but probably not. Lazy, y’know.

np – The New Pornographers / Electric Version

Centro-Matic frontman Will Johnson’s new solo record Vultures Await will be out September 7. You can preview a couple tracks from Misra Records’ artist page. The solo stuff is generally more stripped-down and starker than Centro-Matic’s plugged-in guitar assault. I’m still working out how South San Gabriel (another Centro-Matic offshoot) stands in relation – probably somewhere in-between.

I’ve been moderately obsessed with the Austin, Texas band since picking up last year’s Love You Just The Same on a lark, note unheard, last Boxing Day. Their combination of raw, skronky guitars and raspy, world-worn vocals just do it for me – they’ve obviously done time in the Neil Young school of rock, but they have their own thing going on as well – it’s hard to put my finger on it, but they’re definitely more than just your standard alt-country act. Some have used The Flaming Lips as a reference point, and while I don’t really hear that, there is something deeper and trippier going on under the surface. There’s a slew of sample mp3s and some videos on their website – give a look/listen. My only gripe about the band is that they don’t tour up here. The closest they came was Buffalo this Spring… Why didn’t I go? Come on. BUFFALO.

Mac McCaughan is making the rest of us slack motherfuckers look bad. Besides running Merge Records and its 15th anniversary celebrations, Superchunk will be putting out another Clambake-series live album. When We Were 10: Live at the Cats Cradle 1999 could be another limited edition like the first two Clambake live records, so pay attention to ‘Chunk land if you don’t want to miss out. Pitchfork has full details. Mac also says that fans’ll have to make do with the archival releases as there won’t be any new Superchunk material anytime soon – family commitments. But that’s not stopping him from starting work on another Portastatic album, working title of Every Generation Gets Bit in the Ass. And seeing as how Superchunk and Portastatic have gradually become almost the same band over the last few years, that’ll have to do.

A couple more concert bits – The Weakerthans will make up for their cancelled Bluesfest appearance with a show at the Mod Club this Friday, July 23 (doors at 7, show at 8), tickets $15 at the door only. They’ll be boasting an expanded lineup featuring Brian and Dave from The Fembots who will be contributing additional instrumental wackiness. This also applies to the shows in St Catherines and Hamilton on the 21st and 22nd respectively. Raising The Fawn open the Toronto show.

Scotland’s Trash Can Sinatras will be at Lee’s Palace on September 23. Their new album Weightlifting is out August 31.

Bryan Singer has signed on to direct the new Superman film. That’s right, no more McG behind the camera, no more J.J. Abrams script, no more Brendan Fraser in tights rumours, no more… X-Men 3? The powers-that-be want Supes on the screen for while the other powers-that-be want X3 in theatres by May 2006… Some are already writing off Singer from directing further mutant madness, others are saying that he’ll make the third X-Men film after Superman Returns (as the working title seems to now be). No official comments from Fox yet.

Just call him Shallow Hal Jordan – Jack Black has been confirmed to play the title role in a Green Lantern film. It’s going to played as a “zany comedy” in the spirit of The Mask. Oddly, my cousin and I were discussing just the other day how absurd a lot of DC heroes would play out on celluloid, and I guess the folks at Warner agree with us. And before the purists get any further up in arms, think for a minute – we’re talking about a guy who made giant green fists from a Cracker Jack prize and couldn’t affect anything yellow. That’s pretty silly.

Also silly – hit the snooze button twelve (12!) times this morning to get to work an hour late. I don’t remember a single one. I will blame the jet lag.

np – Loretta Lynn / Van Lear Rose

Monday Monday Monday. Let’s ease back into the routine with some lighter lifting… Who likes concert announcements? Everyone, that’s who.

Motown classic pop revivalists Saturday Looks Good To Me and Athens, GA psych-popsters The Sunshine Fix (featuring thebilldoss of The Olivia Tremor Control) will be at a to-be-determined Hogtown locale on October 20 for an evening of mirth and revelry. SLGTM’s new album Every Night comes out September 14 and The Sunshine Fix’s second long-player Green Imagination is out August 17. Download first single “Enjoy The Teeth” from SpinART.

More Elephant 6 alumni, Of Montreal and The Late BP Helium (also Of Montreal guitarist), are also coming to town – September 25, venue TBA. Of Montreal are supporting Satanic Panic In The Attic which came out this Spring. BP Helium’s debut album Amok is out on October 5.

Good news and bad news for everyone who missed out on The Fiery Furnaces’ sold-out show at the Mod Club last month – you’ll get another chance to see the buzziest band in buzzville. The good news is they’re doing two Toronto shows on September 12 and 13. The bad news is that they’re at the Drake Hotel, which by all accounts is even smaller than The Mod Club (I can’t confirm this as I haven’t ever been). Their Blueberry Boat just came out last week. I haven’t heard it, no idea if it’s worth the hubbub.

An evening of finer bleepy-bloopy music takes place October 27 at Lee’s Palace – German outfit Mouse On Mars are in town with Ratatat and Junior Boys to support.

NME has the video for my official favourite single of the Summer, Charlotte Hatherley’s “Summer”. I’m serious, I love this song like I love popcorn. I also approve of the patent leather dress Charlotte wear’s in the video…

REM will release their umpteenth album this October and have officially replaced departed drummer Bill Berry with Bill Rieflin, who used to play in Ministry. Full story here.

CMJ on Wilco. Nothing new here.

Rob Schnapf and Joanna Bolme talk about finishing Elliott Smith’s last record without him.

Rolling Stone has an excerpt from their rare interview with Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, the cover story of the latest issue. Trudeau was a student at Yale the same time as one George Doubleyou Bush back in the late 60s and has some interesting recollections about his former classmate.

I’ve come into work this morning and I have a new computer waiting for me, so that’s fun. Moving all my files over is a little bit less so, but I’ll get by. Didja miss me? I know you did.

np – Ken Stringfellow / Soft Commands