that rocked so much

and it was a country show. but it had to be the most kick-ass country music i have ever heard.

i went to see slim cessna's auto club with some friends, who told me that i'd love them based on what they knew about me and music to start with. they were right, and i was in love. munly seems to be in the band, or maybe he was part of last night, but since i've only seen them together i can't think of slim cessna without munly. i'm getting way ahead of myself.

there were two opening bands as well, starting with little darlings. cute name, yes? they were fairly good. for a few songs at the beginning they seemed to be warming up, but once they did i liked them. plus, they had this really tall guy with great sideburns who played the banjo (and he played it well) so i decided even if at times i didn't love them, i still liked them. next were the virginia sisters, who i really, really wanted to love. they had a cute t-shirt for sale, and just about everyone in my family is named virginia, but alas, they were sucky country rock. oh sure, they could rock, but every song sounded exactly like every other song, the lead singer wouldn't take off his knit hat which annoyed me because it was not cold on stage, and then of course he was balding and i thought "oh, that explains it," and the bassist looked like the love child of dean ween and al franken. i'm also fairly sure that southern rock is really only appealing to men. i admit to absent-mindedly doing some toe tapping, but my heart wasn't in it.

the crowd grew steadily during the first two bands, but the moment slim cessna came on-stage the place was suddenly packed and we had to stand up to see. it was like being at a revival show, or at a punk show. i'm not sure a seattle crowd would get it, i think they'd want them to be a lot more ironic and less earnest, but i liked that you couldn't tell if they were singing about jesus in a tounge-in-cheek way, or if they meant it. some audience members put their hands up like you see in big evangelical churches, and people were freaking out left and right. munly and slim were in matching black shirts and pants, big cowboy belt buckles, tan cowboy hats. slim was slender, but you could see where the bones came together in munly. he was like a finely articulated skeleton with a bit of skin thrown on so he wouldn't freak us out. he might have been thin, but he rocked out hard. eveyone did. i haven't seen a band look like they were having that much fun, or needed to rock so bad, in a very long time. the music was fantastic too; raucous and loud and rocking but with banjo! and one of those keyboards that sound like an organ with a section where you can pull a bow, like on a stringed instrument (i have no idea what this is called or where to even look it up). it was country, but it was faster and a lot more raw. i'm finding it hard to explain. you can go over here and download an mp3, and decide for yourself.

i guess the point is, i had a great time, the music was amazing, and i got to have fries afterward.

after some more research, you can find more information about slim cessna's auto club over at alternative tentacles, inlcluding a biography and more mp3s. and you can buy cd's! which i think i might have to do.