My New Best Friend

There used to be this great little band called hHead. Quite a few years ago they beat out The Lowest of the Low in the CFNY New Music Search. It was a big deal (for those of us who cared about that kind of stuff). They ended up nabbing something like fifty-grand to make a record. The result was the band's second release called 'Jerk'. It was angry, honest and no doubt fueled by more than a little sexual frustration and it just kind of made sense to me at the time (I still sneak a listen now and then, when I'm feeling a little sexually frustrated).

Fast forward to Wednesday, May 24th, 2006 at Le Transbordeur in Lyon, France. Broken Social Scene have finished a nice little intimate and improvised show for maybe 120 fans. Kevin Drew is out mingling and Mister Brendan Canning is tearing down. After some gentle persuasion from LaChatte I went over to say hello. The conversation went something like this (I had had many beers):

"Hey Brendan!"
(Brendan turns, walks over to me).
"Just wanted to say thanks for the show tonight. I think you guys are great"
"Thanks alot. What's you name?"
"Chris... We're from Toronto. I used to be a big hHead fan."
"Really? What are you doing in Lyon?"
"Came here to see you guys. My girlfriend and I live in Grenoble which is about an hour and a half from here. We saw you guys in Paris in December too."
"That was quite a different show than tonight."
"Yeah, but equally good. I was telling my girlfriend earlier it's been a long time since I've been a groupie."
(Brendan kind of laughs). "It's taken us a long time to get here."
"Well, I'll let you get back to work. Thanks again man. Keep doing what you're doing."
"Thanks Chris."

After that La Chatte wanted to get a photo of the two of us. I didn't want to bother him again, so she went over to ask him herself. We posed for the photo, the three of us chatted a little more and then we split.

Great guy. Great girl. Great band. Great night.