The room is full of flashing lights, pounding bass, and over a hundred people well over the age of eighteen in prom finery grinding on each other and unabashedly singing along to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back. Not what one would expect to find at an art museum, but this is the Crocker’s Art Mix so really, all bets are off. This month’s edition had a lively well dressed crowd, as people took the prom theme to heart and showed up in everything from a short flouncy green nineties dress [complete with giant cell phone] to a seventies maroon suit and tails with ruffled shirt, bolo tie, and topped off with one of the “I got laid at prom” buttons that were being given out.
If one was tired of dancing anytime through the night, there were a bunch of side events you could sneak off to. You could make yourself or your date a corsage or boutonniere at the RAM Designs crafting table, take a prom photo at the Giggle and Riot booth, make your own button at the table by the entrance, see the amazing gowns shown in the galleries in one of the ten minute art tours, pick up some candy from the table of sweets by Andy’s Candy Apothecary, or head to the ‘make out spot’ and watch terrifyingly outdated videos on prom etiquette dug up by the A/V Geeks.
The night started out slowly, but by six o’clock, people were arriving in earnest. DJ Bryan Hawk reeled them into the dance floor with his hour-long set of seventies hits, mixing ABBA with Grease and the Commodores. At seven o’clock the kings and queens of the seventies, eighties, and nineties were picked and the prom king and queen were crowned. After that dancing recommenced to eighties hits DJ’d by Eddie Edul, along with a surprise lip synching performance by Kima LaRue and Susie Swallows to songs like Pat Benatar’s Heartbreaker. At a little past eight thirty, The Best Summer Ever Band, covering bands like Blondie and No Doubt took the stage to bring the night home to the nineties.
The Crocker Art Mix takes place at 5 pm on the second Thursday of every month. Next month’s theme is Funk Springs Eternal. Tube will see you there.
Photos by Ryan Stewart of Floatagrafic Inc.