I caught Howard's conversation about gold star a while ago too. The other guitarist in my band is a gold star, so I've been able to bring it up a couple times in conversation light-heartedly and look like I know something about something.
In related news, one of her friends came to our show last January and liked our energy on stage. She asked my guitarist if we'd be willing to play an all-lesbian camping weekend out in western Massachusetts. After talking about it for a few minutes, and all agreeing we'd like to do it, I nicknamed the event "No-Wood Stock".