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?
No comments:
Post a Comment