What's black and white and red all over? "A machine-gunned nun" was always my favorite answer, but this past Monday, the correct response would have been "the dress code for Ceremony's 'Snow Ball in Hell.' "
Ceremony, An Tua Nua's long-running goth night, has a penchant for special theme events (like the annual "Goths Gone Wild" night, which involves Jell-O wrestling), so when it asked patrons to don their "slickest and most wicked duds" in the three aforementioned hues for "Snow Ball," attendees did not disappoint — the club was a sea of folks wearing crimson capes, realistically veiny devil wings, top hats, and even a tux or two. And, really, is there anything more fetching than a girl in a slinky red dress and black satin cocktail gloves stomping her brains out to Skinny Puppy? It was the details that made "Snow Ball" shine: complimentary sparkly devil horns, tiny cupcakes on the flyer table, and a dance floor festooned with red balloons (fun for punting while throwing down to the Revolting Cocks and Covenant).
Since Mothra, Darcy, and guest DJ End were on deck that evening, I spent the night hastily aborting conversations with exclamations of "Sorry, I have to go dance to this." And I wasn't the only one itching to get on the floor — when I was checking my coat, a girl waiting in line behind me pouted, "I'm missing a really good song right now!" (That would be "Blue Monday.")
Are Ceremony patrons corny enough to lose their collective shit to Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch"? Damn straight. Other cheeky crowd pleasers: JunkieXL's "A Little Less Conversation," "Jizz in My Pants" from SNL, Bigod 20's so-bad-it's-incredible cover of "Like a Prayer."
The kind of turmoil that made the last 12 months so shitty ends up being great fodder for goth nights — swaying forlornly to Siouxsie or thrashing to Funker Vogt is all the more cathartic if you just got laid off and your investments are tanking. Even if the new year flames out as badly as 2008 did, I know I can look forward to one thing: seeing what Mothra and company have up their fishnetted sleeves.
