It was a bit surreal stepping inside Buckhead’s Gold Room nightclub Friday night.
For starters, the dance floor had been turned into a blinged out bingo parlor with drag queens distributing hot pink ink daubers.
One of the hundreds of attendees milling about was wearing a fish costume and carrying a stuffed lobster. Other club-goers lugged canned hams around with them.
Krystal burgers, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and soft pretzels were available for those feeling peckish.
Up in the DJ booth overseeing the lunacy was B-52’s co-founder Fred Schneider, taking it all in while spinning Cyndi Lauper’s dancefloor anthem, “Into the Nightlife.”
In other words, the Schneider-hosted “Spring Thang” benefit for Pets Are Loving Support and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame was in full swing.
Swang?
The ham purchases were a tribute to “Who Threw That Ham at Me?” Schneider’s latest “dance craze sweeping the nation” single with side band The Superions (the band’s EP has just come out via Athens Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records).
Schneider’s longtime pal Cathy Smith helped to organize the evening.
More importantly, she wrangled the luxe bingo prizes from high-end retailers, including Jeffrey Atlanta, Saks Fifth Avenue and Valentino (Smith secured so many luxury prizes, Schneider had begun referring to the evening as “Blingo…”).
Smith’s company, Dixie Dog Wear has also created Georgia Music Hall of Fame-themed hoodies and leashes for pets to benefit the Macon tourist attraction (the Bs were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000).
Schneider called numbers with PALS Bingo hostess Bubba D. Licious.
Which naturally turned bawdy at times.
At one point Schneider playfully scolded the crowd, saying: “Please don’t yell out unless you have bingo or you’re having an orgasm.”
Earlier in the day during a visit to Dave FM midday goddess Mara Davis‘ show, Schneider told us he had to be cajoled onto Facebook and Twitter by his Superions bandmates Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall.
“I don’t want to abandon by MySpace fans,” Schneider explained.
Laughing, Davis replied: “Fred, you’re like the only person left on there!”
Schneider credits Brodie and Marshall’s savvy use of social media in helping to get the buzz going for the new EP.
“They’re amazing,” he says. “I think they have their house set up to update their Facebook status when the garage door goes up. I’m still trying to figure out how to use my phone!”
Still, the staunch vegetarian drew the line at autographing hams Friday night, citing cruelty to animals.
Sighed one dejected fan walking away with a Hormel Black Label canned pork product: “It’s not like I killed it. I had to walk down aisles of the grocery store I’d never been down before to find this too!”
At the time Intel departed the party out of bounds, said ham had not yet become airborne. . .
