Good Lord, how I love this cult favorite about a ne’er-do-well indie band from North Carolina. It came out when I was living and working in Winston-Salem. N.C., and just seemed to sum up everything I loved about the late 1990s indie scene.

If you’ve never seen it, here’s a quick summary from IMDB and a clip:

“Tony gets fired from his job. He’s not really sad about this because he prefers writing songs and playing the guitar. He meets the drummer Charlie and they decide to start a band, although Tony is afraid of playing in front of other people. He can’t even play in front of Charlie. They find another guitarist, Wynn, who enjoys fishing if he’s not playing the guitar. The final member of the band is Eric, the bass-player who is often unpredictable in his actions. They name the band Circus Monkey and want to get famous and rich. However, after some successful gigs, they begin to realize what all the big music and show business is about.”

Here’s the one and only video from Circus Monkey, the fictional band at the heart of the movie. The song is called “It Couldn’t Be Ann.” It’s amazing.