Last night the Strangercrombie Holiday party landed at the Showbox, and it was a smashing evening of live entertainment (Fruit Bats! Band of Horses! Vladimir the Polar Bear!), plentiful booze (special thanks to the champagne of beers Miller High Life and the champagne of tequilas Sauza), and rummy holiday figureheads (to give Santa Claus some company, we also invited Korny the Kwanzaa Korn and the Hanukah-hyping Dr. Dreidel).

My personal favorite moments:

*The opening performance by super-gifted Seattle hiphoppers Common Market, who made good on the promise of their exemplary debut CD (Common Market, which you should buy tomorrow) with a short but strong set.

*The closing performance by Wheedle’s Groove, a stage-filling collective of superstars from Seattle’s funk and soul scene of the 60s and 70s. With the performers amassing on stage incrementally, the show reminded me a bit of Stop Making Sense, and Wheedle’s Groove is at least as conceptually artsy as mid-’80s Talking Heads: Five women led by the Total Experience Gospel Choir’s Pat Wright dished out a slow and angular take on Soundgarden’s “Jesus Christ Pose,” while the show opened with a langorous “Hey Jude” that sounded like a mash-up between the Beatles standard and the Velvet’s “Oh, Sweet Nuthin’.”

*And, finally, the appearance of my favorite living performer Dina Martina, who trekked over after her Re-bar show to perform a couple old Christmas chestnuts (“Let it Snow” performed to “Let it Be,” “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” to the tune of “Hotel California”). But the most mind-blowing moments came from Ms. Martina’s co-habitation of the Showbox green room with the aforementioned women of Wheedle’s Groove, who had every right to be wigged out by the lumpy drag queen wearing vanadalism makeup and sporadically announcing things like “My shoes smell like Chinese food!”, but who were perfectly sweet and gracious about the whole thing.

Thanks to all who came, and especially to all who performed. And hurrah to everyone who helped make this year’s Strangercrombie our biggest ever—$39K and then some!