Sing-Alongs Not Imaginary

The holiday spirit was in full-swing Friday night at The Crocodile, as Three Imaginary Girls hosted a jolly evening of karaoke, preceeded by a special performance from the U.K.'s Jim Noir and solo sets from members of Tiny Vipers and the Fruit Bats.

In short, it was a blast. Something about this event not being a a full-on rock show made it feel very casual, friendly, and a lot of fun. Seattlest arrived about halfway through the Fruit Bats' acoustic set, which sounded really good, but to be honest, we weren't paying too much attention as we were busy making our way to the back bar for drinks.

Around 9:30 or so, Jim Noir and his band took the stage and the fun got started. Jim Noir's songs are playful, innocent and as we found, fun to dance to. Maybe it was the band's light-hearted demeanor, or maybe it was was because we knew there was karaoke coming up, but everyone at the Croc seemed to be in genuinely great moods. People were chatting, laughing, singing along, and even (gasp) dancing openly! In fact, the only sourpuss we saw all night was the "behavior monitor" sitting high atop a speaker, wishing these happy people would hurry up and act a fool so he could crush a skull or two. But it wasn't meant to be. Even the drunkest of this crowd were of the silly variety, inciting nothing more than the occasional belly laugh.

Before diving into "Eanie Meany," Jim Noir proclaimed, "This will be the rock version of this song." It didn't sound any different from any version we've heard before, but whatever. We can't say the guy didn't have a sense of humor. Not to be flustered by the tipsy (read: drunk!) girls in the back demanding that he "get naked," he pulled up a pant leg to give them what they've always wanted: a pale, skinny ankle. Hot. Jim Noir and his bandmates played out the set with the rollicking tune "My Patch," getting pretty much everyone in the crowd to sing along -- a daunting task sometimes in Seattle.

Next up was the Three Imaginary Girls' Very Merry Karaoke Bash, where common Seattleites and local rock stars united under a singular goal: to rock us, perhaps even, like a hurricane. Imaginary Girl Dana started things off with Queen's "Fat Bottom Girls." Nicely done, Dana. Nicely done. Following that were performances by a guy who loves David Bowie, a touching Karen Carpenter song by Trevor Dickson of The Elephants, a rendition of "The Safety Dance" (you can dance if you want to), dubbed "The Santa Dance" by Head Like a Kite (while dressed in superman jammies no less), and so so much more.

Photo courtesy of quiet expatriate