What happens at Dirty Soul

The Crown, a venue of eclectic taste and good vibes, sits just beyond the peripheries of where the Blue Jay Shuttle will pick you up. Here — when you enter, swoop around the corner and walk up the stairs — you’re confronted with a choice: the red room or the blue room.

If you venture to your left into the red room you’ll find every sort of person engaged in all types of activities, all carefree and communal — dancing, socializing, ruminating.

Just in front of the glittery streamers that fill the wall behind the stage, I’ve seen a myriad of performers — from rock bands to soulful DJs — vitalize a crowd for hours, all without a cover charge.

The room radiates with red light and neon, but it’s definitely a blue pill — a type of wonderland where people come together under no specific circumstance in wistful escapism. Located on N. Charles and 20th Streets, it’s a great place to start or end the night on your way to Mount Vernon, Fells or the Inner Harbor.

When The Crown hosts its free, monthly event,  “Dirty Soul Dance Party,” you know it’s going to be a good time. DJs Landis Expandis and Mikie Love spin soulful sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s and make it their own.

Expandis and Love’s sets extended across decades and incorporated tunes from greats such as Funkadelic, Rufus Thomas and Betty Davis. Like funky apothecaries, they add the right amount of this and that to liven the music up and maximize the dancing. Since it’s not that spacious, all the constant movement heats the room so that you think clouds are going to start appearing on the ceiling.

This night attracts a diverse crowd: You have your hip-hop paterfamilias, the presumed art student in a kilt, the middle-aged woman and the huddled group of Hopkins students. Not to be hyperbolic, but there’s harmony: Everyone is doing his or her own unabashed thing. The archetypes intermingle, and pretty soon a certain social fluidity moves throughout the place.

Everyone stays until the end, which is when The Crown closes at 2 a.m. when we slowly trickle out feeling exasperated and fulfilled. Events like these give an authentic taste of what the Baltimore scene is like — diverse, surreal and fun.

You can catch the next one by following The Crown’s Facebook page where they announce upcoming shows via Events. Just last Thursday, WJHU & Baltimore Curators hosted a show there featuring Rye Rye. They have a host of other awesome going-ons (there’s something for everyone) that you can catch almost every weekend.

Grab your friends, leave your inhibitions at the door and be sure to catch the Dirty Soul Dance Party at The Crown as well as Four Hours of Funk at the Wind-Up Space for your monthly groove session.