Late last year, in a piece I wrote for the Portland Mercury on The Weakerthans, I observed that both they and the Constantines had recently titled albums or songs after the Tournament of Hearts.

 …visions of a massive pro-curling congress among one’s favorite Canadian rock bands begin to arise…

…I wrote, tongue in cheek, and thought that was it.

In today’s mail was a review copy of Kensington Heights, the Constantines’ latest.  I took a look at the bio, in which the author referred to the Toronto five-piece as his favorite band, and then noticed the byline: John K. Samson.

Mind blown, I’m holding out hope for a secret handshake.

(Addendum: I’d be remiss if I didn’t also throw in a plug for End Hits, the Mercury’s fine music blog…)