Melissa Lane

Ten years ago, Sam Jennings started a monthly Prince Night at Berlin Nightclub. The Prince fans, who sometimes travel from as far as Japan, gather on the dancefloor to get down to their favorite artist and meet other people just as crazy for his Royal Highness. Jennings says that while there is now ten years worth of additional music to play, and software that empowers him to mix it himself, the 300-person community this event formed at its inception has remained consistent, and as such is a hallmark of the monthly night.

"We have a core group of regulars who have made Prince Night at Berlin a part of their monthly routine. They are like family who look forward to seeing old and new friends each month. Several have been coming the entire ten years," explains Jennings.

Ten years in club world is a virtual lifetime. It is remarkable to see any night survive that long, even more so one exclusively devoted to a single artist. That it has engendered a community of sorts is an inspiring testament--and important reminder--to the humanistic power of music to tear down walls.

"A person from the South Side wearing hip-hop gear can come to Prince Night and know that he has something in common with the person from Wicker Park with pink hair and a black leather jacket. They may dress or speak or date differently from you, but we are all moving to the same beat and singing the same lyrics to "Raspberry Beret" and having a good time together. The music makes it easy to see our commonalities as opposed to our differences."

The near religious tones he employs to speak of the power of Prince's music echo the sentiment that once moved Franzo King to create San Francisco's legendary Church of Saint John Coltrane. During an interview with the SF Weekly, King identifies the reasons that moved him to proselytize on the jazz musician's behalf: "I realized that the music of John Coltrane was representative beyond culture. And it wasn't just a cultural or ethnic thing. It was something that was higher," adding that Coltrane himself had stated, "the whole of the globe is community for us." Before the high rents of the tech boom drove it out, King's endeavor had grown into a storefront church that drew people from all over the world.

In parallel fashion, Jennings extols the power of Prince's music to bring people together in a way that is authentic and too rarely seen in our everyday world.

"If you look out into the audience at a Prince concert, you are going to see a very even mix of race, gender, class and age. He attracts people from all walks of life because his music defies categories. When people feel a strong connection to an artistic expression like music, it creates a powerful bond among them. His audience reflects that and the same can be said for the people who attend Prince Night."

Whereas the Church of Saint John Coltrane encouraged people to shake their tambourines or any other instrument that moved them--Prince Night culls music from more than thirty albums worth of material released by Prince to get their flock shaking on the dancefloor.

Typically, a movie like "Purple Rain" or "Graffiti Bridge" kicks the night off around 8:30pm. Then, Jennings and his DJ-partner, Chad, blend music from every phase of Prince's career--from his first album in 1978, "For You," to last year's "Musicology"--into original mixes they create specially for the night. They also include Sheila E, The Time, Appolonia/Vanity 6, The Family, and any other work written by Prince.

Four years after he started the night, Jennings started working for Prince's website, then named Love4OneAnother.com. It has since been renamed npgmusicclub.com and reformatted into a place where fans can directly purchase music, videos and concert-tickets. Jennings decided to make the night an extension of the online music club, but free to the public. He officially named the night the NPG Music Club (although he says it's still informally known as Prince Night) and now supplies the monthly event with music and videos that are exclusive to where he works and thus can't be heard anywhere else.

With nothing else like it in the world, the night has become a destination point for fans from as far as Europe, Australia, and Asia as well as for loyalists who regularly make the pilgrimage from Detroit, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, New York City and yes, even Minneapolis.

One night, and one encounter, stands out in particular for Jennings. A woman named Kris, having just moved here from Detroit, came to Prince Night by herself in hopes of making friends. Not only did she easily engage in the event's open camaraderie, but regular attendance led to an introduction to Jennings. As he tells it, love immediately ensued and the two have now been blissfully married for five years and are the proud parents of a three-year-old daughter.

The NPG Music Club takes place 8pm-4am every last Sunday of the month at Berlin Nightclub, 954 West Belmont, (773)348-4975.

(2005-08-23)

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