"My homecoming dance was over 40 years ago," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as he arrived at P.S. 1's homecoming-themed 30th anniversary gala on Sunday night. "I don't remember what I wore, who I went with, or even if I went at all."

The Queens contemporary art museum's soirée no doubt made a more lasting impression on the Mayor and his fellow guests, who included gala co-chair Cynthia Rowley and artists Rachel Feinstein Currin and Cecily Brown. Though tradition was maintained with a marching band, cheerleaders, and the crowning of a king (Lawrence Weiner) and queen (Marina Abramovic), performance artist Ann Magnuson's raunchy, expletive-ridden dinner revue was a major departure from the cover bands usually seen in high school gyms.

While Magnuson sang and howled (earplugs were passed out to front-row tables), burlesque performers in black fishnets and strategically placed feathers danced among the audience and humped the room's pillars. As if all that wasn't entertainment enough, surprise guest Rufus Wainwright emerged to sing two songs with Magnuson. The show-stealer of the evening, however, was the World Famous *BOB*. The so-called "female-female impersonator" cavorted onstage to the theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey with nothing but sequined nipple tassels to protect her modesty.

The attendees, who collectively contributed $450,000 to the museum, were decidedly more conservative in their demeanor, especially compared to their younger selves. "With my quarterback dates at high school dances, there was never any talking, only making out," said Yvonne Force Villareal, who wore a corsage of plastic white orchids lit with flickering pink lights made by her husband, Leo Villareal. "Tonight I've only talked, but I still get to go home and make out."

— Jessica Ramakrishnan