We know you’ve all been waiting to hear the steamy details about this year’s Drag Ball…so here’s everything you need to know, straight from senior organizer Brad Walsh (a.k.a. Bradney Spears):

The theme of this year’s Drag Ball is “TackyKinkyTrash,” a somewhat apparent play on TLC’s “CrazySexyCool.” This theme allows for freedom as far as outfit choices. We want people who can’t afford expensive clothes of the opposite gender to feel welcome as well, so the tackier, the kinkier and the trashier you look, the more in-costume you’ll be. But coming in drag is a must – after all, it’s only fair to respect the space you’re in.

What makes Drag Ball 2004 special is the celebrity judges: singer/songwriter Poe (known for her 1995 album Hello and its 2000 follow-up Haunted), Jim Verraros, a finalist from the first season of American Idol and Melissa Howard from MTV’s Real World: New Orleans and the new series Girls Behaving Badly. Verraros will be performing a song from his new album to open the show at 11:30 p.m. in Wilder Main; Howard will give a lecture in West Lecture Hall earlier in the day at 7 p.m.

Faculty and staff members are still involved, although not judging onstage as in previous years. The pre-judging will be provided by ResLife staff members Kevin Williams (Interim Assistant Dean) and Marissa Tappy (RD of Burton and Zechiel), as well as Elizabeth Wilmer of the math department.

This year’s co-hosts will be Valerie Vallure from New York and Cleveland’s Denise Russell. Also performing onstage this year will be Cleveland’s Akasha.

This year’s Drag Ball committee is proud to announce that any profits from ticket sales this year will be donated to AIDS research.

Doors open at 9:30 p.m. and the main stage show begins promptly at 11:30 p.m. in Wilder Main. Before and after the main show, though, multiple dance floors will be operating in the transformed Student Union building; several DJs playing different types of music will be stationed around Wilder all night.

If you wish to compete for the grand prize of $200 (with cash runner-up prizes as well) in either the Drag King or Drag Queen categories, simply arrive between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. and find your way to the pre-judging room on the second floor. Only 30 people will be sent to the next round, which is competing onstage.

Drag Ball is the event of the year, and, barring a trip home for Easter weekend, nothing should stand in your way of attending!

OCID tickets will be sold all week at Wilder Desk. With an OCID you can purchase one $10 ticket for yourself, and one $12 for a non-student guest. All non-guest, non-OCID tickets must be purchased at Stitch By Stitch on Main Street.