The Dave Chappelle Experience

So on Tuesday, July 14th, at about 10:15PM I get a call from a friend. He asks me if I heard about Dave Chappelle, and I told him no. He follows up by saying there's rumors flying everywhere that he's going to do an impromptu performance at Pioneer Square in downtown Portland at midnight that night. I told him I'd call a few friends to see what the deal is, and call him back. Only one of 3 people knew anything about it, and they just knew it was all rumors. Around 10:35PM I decide to hop in the 'backseat' of a pickup truck with my friend and his, and head for Portland in hopes of this twitter-fueled rumor being true..regardless of the fact that I had a midterm the very next day that I had only studied ~30 minutes for at that point.

As we're on our way North, I'm consistently staring at my phone, checking for updates, confirmations from reliable sources, or any sort of news at all. By 11:15PM I see literally over 2,000 people packed into Pioneer Square via KGW's live webcam of downtown. The clock strikes 12:00AM and there's no Chappelle. 12:15, still not Dave. 12:30..no signs of any famous comedians. We get to downtown about 12:35AM, and find parking around 12:45AM. There are probably at least 3,000 people there by that time, cops blocking off streets everywhere, and ambulances stationed nearby. By that time hundreds of people were walking away, saying it wasn't going to happen. I got up to about 5-10ft away from the stage with my friends, and we just stand wait patiently with everyone else. Around 12:55AM I see people swarming a small section, and that section is slowly making its way towards the stage.



Sure enough, it's Rick James himself. He's armed with zero bodyguards, some annoying loudmouthed girl, a girl with a guitar and mic, and another guy holding his speaker. That's right, the only sound system he has setup is a portable speaker probably about 10" tall at most, attached to the microphone by a cable. No amp, not even a power cable to plug into an outlet.

This obviously wasn't enough power to reach what was now over 5,000 people. If the speakerman pointed the speaker in your direction, and you were within the first 20 feet, and people around you were quiet, and you were listening extra hard, you could hear him. Otherwise the only thing you could hear were people's reactions to what he was saying. He said he only expected about 200 people, not over 5,000, which was the reason he didn't bring a better setup. After seeing so many people there, he attempted to get a better sound system, and so we waited patiently with Dave, crossing our fingers. They slowly pulled several speakers up onto the stage, which ended up being useless after the city shut off the power to the Square.

Next on the list of finger crossings was hoping that they would be able to get a generator up and running to power the speakers on hand. Dave was very relaxed, calm, and more than willing to work with everyone and wait patiently. During this time he took pictures, greeted people, conversed with people in the crowd, watched a girl strip naked on top of the roof of Starbucks, and thank the people and the Portland City Police for being so calm and patient. Around 2:15-2:30, he finally packed up and decided to go back to his hotel, but not before my friend could run up and say whats up to him and slap him on the back. I got home around 4:15AM, slept around 6:30AM and then woke up at 9:00AM for my classes that day.

Was it worth it? For the spur of the moment experience, and just being able to see Dave Chappelle, yes. I didn't get to see his set, and only a little of random improv, but I got to see Dave Chappelle the person, just hanging out with 5,000 people, talking casually and waiting just like the rest of us. It definitely made me appreciate him more as a person and as a celebrity/comedian. And also just going for the possibility of seeing him was fun.



How It All Began:
So Dave Chappelle was staying in Portland for the day, for no confirmed reason. He had been in LA for the past few days, making unannounced, unplanned and unmarketed performances at small locations...with sets lasting four hours. People talked with him casually as he went around Portland going to grab a bite to eat and just explore the City of Roses. Then he went to a store and rented out speaker equipment, and when asked what it was for, he responded with 'a free show in Portland.' The entire city took to Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, local forums, and emails and the rumors started. Where was this show? When was it? How much would it cost? Would he really be there? Why was he doing this? No credible source could confirm this, even the people who manage Pioneer Square said Dave had never rented out the venue or even asked to use it. Dave was in Portland, but why? And why would he throw a show for free out of no where? People asked him about it throughout the day as they ran into him, and he said there was going to be a show at midnight, but these stories all came from unreliable sources. It seemed like a huge stretch that this was real, let alone free. Around 8:00PM something credible happened. A stage was being put together at Pioneer Square. The rumor mill had just been doused in gasoline and the internet's main topic became Dave Chappelle in Portland Oregon. It flew up to the top TWitter Trend, and the number one Google Trend. If you typed in 'Dave C' into Google, it would finish it with 'happelle in Portland' followed by 'Chappelle Pioneer Square' and finished off with 'Chapelle Free Concert.' Over 5,000 people joined in on the flash mob which was a 100% rumor, even after the rumored concert start time. That's more than the amount who attended Greg Oden's draft pick, more than the Rip City event and other events for the Blazer's being in the playoffs this past season. I've never seen that many people in Portland in such a small space before, let alone based on pure rumor courtesy of Twitter.

Randy Couture also made an appearance to do a meet and greet promo for UFC102, and Carmelo Anthony decided to throw a party in Portland of all places. Rumor is he wants to be a blazer????? Shall I cross my fingers again?

Homie Tell Me What's Good

The heavy hitters in the rap game are all coming out of hiding and announcing their return to the game for this fall. In the word's of Diddy, LET'S GO PEOPLE!


First up, formally known as Def Jam's allstar lineup, Jay-Z featuring Kanye West & Rihanna on Jay's second official single, Run This Town, from The Blueprint 3. On paper, I expected this to be an aggressive track, hard hitting beat, fairly uptempo, much like a Def Jam version of Swagger Like Us. Instead I was surprised with a slower, somber, marching beat. I can't deny that I don't like this song, but I feel like it definitely could've been better. Something on the execution of this track seems to be not quite right. It might be the tempo, it might be me not being too impressed with Jay's verses, it may be the beat itself, I'm not sure yet. Jay talks about making money as usual and being on top. His second verse comes in better than his first. Rihanna sings the hook, with Kanye closing out the song with the third verse. I think I like Kanye's verse more than Jay's. :/ I see this as an attempt at Hip-Hop's 2009 version of Queen's We Are The Champions with a twist. I expect this to get big partially just because of the lineup. I expect a good album from Jay, and this definitely isn't a bad track, but it hasn't sold me on BP3 being a classic album, or Jay's next album even holding the title Blueprint 3. To Jay's credit, I've had less than 12 hours to warm up to this track, so I might edit this and completely change my mind in a day or two. We'll see.



The Roots are back! Despite their almost daily commitment to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Rock The Bells, Melanie Fiona, OkayPlayer, and Twitter, they've managed to put together a new album. And with their first single, How I Got Over, it sounds like they haven't missed a step. Not only have they not missed a step, but Black Thought stepped up to the mic---to sing. He doesn't sound bad at all, and there is NO auto-tune involved, which makes it even better. They tackle raw real topics as usual. I may be semi-biased because I feel that not only have The Roots managed to outlast countless other hiphop artists, while do something no other group has done before, but they've continued to progress and get better and better with every album. After Game Theory I wasn't sure if they could put out something better than that, but they proved me wrong with Rising Down. Anyways, back on topic.. This song is a nice upbeat track, tackling the topic of the chorus 'Out on the streets, where I grew up. First thing they teach us, not to give a F***. That type of thinking can't get you no where, someone has to care.' It's 3:36 long, but for some reason it seems short to me, which isn't a bad thing. I've left the table with my stomach full of good, quality food, but wanting even more, unlike Jay's track, where I was only half-full of decent food.

This is going to be a great 2nd half of hte year for hip hop...Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Reflection Eternal, Jay-Z, crossing my fingers for Eminem and Kanye, even 50 Cent will be coming out the same day as Jay-Z. (I'm really hoping 50 can come with another classic like his first album...but thats another topic completely)

Last but not least..


You thought I was down..You thought I was gone..that I went around..thought I left you alone....But look up in the sky, just look up in the sky..see that I'm everywhere, shining down-on you...

Well well, is it our little author, coming back humming his hymns a little altered Lupe announces his return to the rap game with his first single, Shining Down, off of his upcoming album, Lasers (We Are Lasers? L.A.S.E.R.S? This album title has changed so many times I don't know what it is now..) This is the Lasers version of Superstar. Lupe uses auto-tune, then raps, "Now if we autotune that shit we can hear the songs from that opera grown fat b*tch," talking about how its the death of the game, (It's not over til the fat lady sings). I could write out this whole song and break it down and talk about the lines I like and dislike, but I'll just leave it at this: This track tackles relevant topics like he usually does, with a clever flow and good rock and electronica influenced beat, backed by Matthew Santos on the beat. It's not quite as good as Superstar, but I expect nothing but a third classic album from Lupe this fall, and I see this as just a short preview of whats to come.

Ready for the heat.

Ready to take on the 95 degree heat tomorrow in my new clothes.

Woke up quick, at about noon

Got a surprise knock on my door around noon today, and these were handed to me.







Reunited with one of his brothers..now the third and final brother needs to be rescued from someone's hands.



Let the package deliveries begin.

Once again I'm bored, and ended up here. I should be studying for my Econ midterm tomorrow..but oh well.

It finally turned into summer weather here..~90 degrees today :( I don't mind that weather, as long as I have an air conditioned home...which I don't.

I'm not sure how many people have already seen this article/story..I found it awhile ago, but just randomly saw it in my bookmarks a few minutes ago, and I think its worth sharing. It's about a girl's dying wish to see Pixar's movie, Up. Click Here to Read

If you haven't heard of Melanie Fiona by now and you like soulful R&B/pop voices/styles, I suggest you go look her up. I'll probably do an album review for her album once I get bored again.

In more Michael Jackson news, he took over the top 9 of the top 10 album spots on Billboard this week. :) He sold over 422,000 copies spread out over 9 albums. Nicely fitting, 'Number Ones' took the top spot with 108,000. Thats more than several new artists debuted at, and this album is six years old. The only non-Michael Jackson record to grab the 10th spot was a re-issue of the Woodstock movie soundtrack. From what I remember this was also the first time that a non-debuting album has taken the #1 spot and beaten out albums that released that week..Which means he kept the Black Eyed Peas' new album, 'The E.N.D' from debuting at number one, and not just by 1 spot, but by 3. What's also crazy is that even before he passed, his catalog still pulled in 297,000 album sales for the 2009 year up until June 21st. He owns 25 out of the top 75 Hot Digital Download sales. Thriller saw a 3,551.00% increase in sales. Just more evidence on how much of an impact he had on music and the people.

I definitely wouldn't mind seeing people actually request his music enough for it to break into top 10-40 radio countdown lists. His music was and still is better than most of the garbage that's flooded the radio over the last several years. I'd pick Smooth Criminal over Soulja Boy - Turn My Swag On any day of the week.

I think I'm going to see Public Enemies to escape the heat tomorrow, so expect a movie review shortly after :)