Last night I went to see my favourite band.

They’re from my hometown, and now they live here too.

For some reason they were playing way the hell out in the burbs, even though they all live a few blocks from me.

They're called NoMeansNo, and most people haven’t heard of them, despite the fact they’ve been playing for 25 years. They’re better-known in Europe. I saw them in Amsterdam in 1996 and the place was sold out...and everyone knew every last word.

They’re not young. The bassist is 51. But they still play the shit out of their songs. They have never pursued fame. They don’t have a website. They subsist on the money from their recordings, and that’s enough for them. That is the best brand of fame, I think.

In the Spring I went to meet a woman I met on the internet. She's originally from my hometown as well, and still lives on the Island. She was housesitting for a friend right near my house, so I went over for some beers. As I entered her friend’s apartment, I realized that I was in the apartment with the flags! I’d wondered for a long time just who the hell would put up these particular flags in their window as curtains. Turkmenistan, Botswana, Malta and the Isle of Man (I collected flags as a kid, and probably still would if I ever had the wherewithal to travel anywhere!). Kind of an odd assemblage. As I’m sitting in the apartment looking around at all her friend’s eerily familiar stuff, I ask “whose place is this?” and she says “my friend Tom’s.” It is Tom frickin' Holliston, guitarist for NoMeansNo.

So I‘m sitting in the home of one of my heroes, looking around at all the things that inspire someone who has vastly inspired me! In the hallway are framed setlists from the Show Business Giants, Tom's other band and pet project. Tom appears to be a bit of a packrat. A couple of months back I went through some old boxes of my crap and found a setlist from about 1991. Last night I gave it to him, and he was pretty excited about it...asked me all kinds of questions about where I got it and who was on stage with him for the show I got it at, trying to narrow down when I might have acquired it. It’s not often you get to return a tiny bit of the joy one gets from a favourite artist.

The show was loud, and filled with crusty punks young and old. Most of them seemed to be fans. And the Good-Natured Skinhead was there. Punk shows always have one. He’s usually about 6’3” and 250lbs, and bumbles around the crowd trying to get people to mosh. Also there was a cute girl who knew all the words, even to a more obscure song from about 1980. I fell in love a little bit. Perhaps I’ll see her again at a future NoMeansNo show.

I went home satisfied and slightly deafer than when I began...those old dudes sure can play, I’ll tell ya.

I woke up this morning late for work and threw my duvet off. It felt lumpy. The biggest lump was moving. Somehow my kitten had managed to insinuate herself inside my duvet cover and fallen asleep.

I wish I was still in bed too.

I also wish I had another NoMeansNo show to go to.