Purple Reign

[August 15th, 2007]

I’ve long been of the opinion that 1984 is the coolest year ever, and it turns out I’m not alone. Matt Sessler, a local beer rep who began booking tribute nights at the Doug Fir about a year ago, is devoting an entire evening to the year. And when you look at the rash of awesomeness released in ’84, it’s not hard to see why.

Over a few brewskis at Angelo’s, Sessler and I discussed the year’s merits, and the interview basically consisted of the two of us enthusiastically barking out names of albums and movies from those fateful 365 days. Here’s a brief, mind-blowing rundown: Ghostbusters , Thriller , Van Halen’s 1984 , Dune , Run-D.M.C. , Stop Making Sense , Footloose , Repo Man , Born in the U.S.A. , Purple Rain , Terminator , the list goes on.

“You had MTV pop—Cyndi Lauper and Michael Jackson and Prince and Bruce Springsteen and the Cars and Billy Idol,” Sessler rambled, “but the flip part was this incredible post-punk scene: Hüsker Dü did New Day Rising , the Replacements did Let It Be, and the Minutemen did Double Nickels on the Dime .” Briefly gasping for air, he continued: “I mean, it was freakishly good.”

And he’s right. It was freakishly good. So good that a long list of notable PDX-ers—shoegazing psych-rockers the High Violets, local legend Sean Croghan, folkie extraordinaire Jim Brunberg and bubbly pop gals the Jolenes, to name a few—have happily agreed pay homage to it. But none of this would’ve come to fruition without Croghan, a few beers and a bespectacled pop genius named Elvis Costello.

“It was totally me being up my own ass,” said Sessler, who, at 39, looks like a meatier, gray-haired Kiefer Sutherland. “I was drunk in Billy Ray’s with Sean Croghan, and [we] were talking about Elvis Costello. I was like, ‘I would kill to hear Sean play Elvis Costello.’ That was the genesis of it.”

Since then, Sessler’s hosted two more tribute nights, one for the Clash and one for David Bowie. “I think the Bowie one was really when people started going, ‘I’m gonna turn this into a super-group,’ he speculated. “The Sort Ofs brought on Rachel Taylor Brown and did ‘Under Pressure,’ and she killed the Freddie Mercury part. It was literally one of those ‘oh fuck’ moments.”

While Bowie inspired the theatrical, Sessler thinks 1984 will inspire ”some really crazy creative stuff.” He says tribute nights offer an outlet for bands that, after countless months working their own material, are sick of playing their own songs. “I know there’s a rash of tribute nights,” he admits, “but it’s just been awesome.”

As for his own ’84 faves, Sessler said, “It was all about Prince to me.” So why not have a Prince tribute? “I sent a couple emails out…and the general consensus was, ‘I love him, but I would probably fail miserably,’” he explained. “I mean, it’s been 23 years—[you] can sit in the basement and figure out the end to ‘Let’s Go Crazy,’ but to hit the high note? That’s tough.”

Though Sessler was reluctant to spill the beans, he did say: “I’m throwing the show, I get to pick at least one or two songs.” But his ultimate goal is simply to turn people on to the things he loves: “If somebody gets blown away by one of the artists doing something from Double Nickels on the Dime , and it makes someone go out and buy Double Nickels on the Dime ,” he says in earnest, “mission accomplished.”