Students start club to remember 1980s

The recent celebration of 1980s pop culture in America -- from last year's hit Adam Sandler movie The Wedding Singer to the emergence of '80s theme nights at local dance clubs -- has spread to Penn's campus with the founding of the Children of the Eighties club. The club held its first meeting Wednesday night at the Xando coffeehouse and bar near 36th and Sansom streets. College freshman Adam Sussman officiated the gathering of about a dozen students. Sussman introduced himself to the attendants of the meeting as "founder of the COTE club and a proud child of 1980." His claim to fame, he said, is that he and singer Debbie Gibson had the same orthodontist. The idea for the club "started out as a joke this summer on America Online," Sussman said. "But I'm very serious about this." Sussman hopes that the leadership board, to be elected at the next COTE meeting, will help him organize events focusing on '80s culture appreciation. Suggestions for such events included movie theme nights, such as the "Brat Pack" or Molly Ringwald, karaoke night, an '80s dance party and pop culture trivia night. A loyal Kevin Bacon fan, Sussman posed the idea of holding a "Bacon-fest" featuring many of the actor's earlier films. A "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" tournament is in the works as well, based on the game that tries to link all actors back to Bacon through his many movies. The most elaborate undertaking Sussman suggested at the meeting involves a trip to New York to see the Broadway adaptation of the 1984 movie Footloose. When his idea was met with skeptical snickers, he responded, "Hey, it could happen." The meeting concluded with a short reminiscing session where everyone shared his or her favorite '80s pop-culture memory. "Definitely Rainbow Brite and She-ra, princess of power," College freshman Caroline O'Reilly said. "I had all the toys and whatnot that came with them." Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to do With It?" was Engineering and Wharton freshman Eileen Mccarthy's favorite memory. "Joan Collins and Linda Evans duking it out," said Dental School freshman Elli Saba in reference to the prime-time soap opera Dynasty. "Classic television." Sussman was very excited about the success of the meeting, which actually ended up serving as a forum to exchange memories of his favorite -- and first -- decade. The next meeting, he said, would be held at 7 p.m., October 5 at Xando. "The Wonder Years was definitely the greatest show," he said. "I also love? The Goonies, Saved by the Bell and Thundercats." When students interested in the COTE club asked for a phone number at which to contact Sussman, a smile burst across his face. "I had hoped to get 7-5309," he explained, referring to the Tommy Tutone hit single "867-5309 (Jenny)" He settled, instead, for the number assigned to him by Penntrex.

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