It’s a grainy picture taken with a sub-par phone camera, but the elegance and majesty of Prom Queen – her band, her backup singers, her setup, her light – undoubtedly and necessarily shines through. 

On Saturday night, Seattle had the good fortune to devour the fruit of so much artistic labor. Work done by Celene Ramadan, her videographer partner Danny Boulet, their musicians and all the actors who played the sultry, smoky, alluring roles in the series of music videos heretofore known as Midnight Veil. What amounted to a mixture of part Madmen, part Sin City, part I Dream of Genie, part magic symphony was on glorious display – capped off by a performance by Prom Queen clutching pink, bejeweled guitar in her purple-mauve-heart dress. Indeed, this – this voluminous energy that filled the room – is why people create art and why others maneuver through a city to congregate and witness.

Sitting underneath the bar (because every other good seat was taken), I watched Midnight Veil, flanked by my good friends Sean and Andy, with countless others of Seattle’s best in the audience. Incredible music videos – 12 in total – ran before our eyes. The cherry on the proverbial sundae was looking away (for just a moment) from the cinema projected on the looming white wall of Fred’s, into the audience at some several hundred elaborately and elegantly dressed, seeing them wide-mouthed, smiles slapped across their faces, admiring.

The night was a culmination seemingly of each and every year of the wonderful Celene Ramadan’s artistic career. Indeed, the night was her show, her parade, her ball, her, well, prom (a night she never had in high school, it should be noted) – and it was well earned. We were all guests and adorers. And when Celene took the stage, she held court – as any righteous queen should – with such grandeur and authority that every beating heart in the room blossomed.

While the picture above doesn’t do it justice, the picture I will keep in my mind after this inspiring night will remain, thankfully, crystal clear.