Image: Flickr/Jmcar
All this afternoon, rumors were flying about comedian Dave Chappelle being in Portland. On Twitter, people claimed to see him in the same spot hours apart. He ate at Masu last night, he’s staying at the Heathman, he’s near Zach’s Shack, still there…and then the doozy, from the clothing boutique Local 35: A Twitter announcement that Chappelle would host a secret midnight show…in Portland’s living room Pioneer Square Plaza, at midnight.
Up until 11:30pm, I didn’t believe it enough to go, even after the Portland Mercury called Local 35 owner Justin and confirmed that Chappelle had been in the store. The language was a little fishy, no one said “Chappelle said there will be a secret show” at any time, so primary sources were obscured. But then @Local35Store posted this picture of thousands of people in the square on Twitter, and I just had to go.
That first Twitter announcement from Local 35? That was the original catalyst for those thousands to come down. Hoax or no, I could meet my friends and be a part of, well, at worst a Twitter hoax. That’s a digital novelty well worth the 9 minute bike downtown.
I arrived just before midnight to a mass of people, about 5 thousand at my estimate. And then we waited. And waited. At around 12:45 people started jumping on the stage (set up for summer concerts) in hoodies, making the crowd go wild before they revealed themselves to be all of 15 years old.
Teenagers were hanging from the rafters in every way: on top of bus shelters, on top of Starbucks, 30 feet off the ground on art trellises. It was wild. It was fun. It was alarmingly young (particularly when they took their tops off later). I was drinking wine, and every third group was sending up big plumes of pot. And at 1am, we assumed it was done, and turned to leave.
That’s when Dave showed up. This video is pretty much how the night went for him:
We merged back into the crowd and I was situated right next to that photo, maybe 15 deep, but Chappelle had brought only a tiny Vox amp and it was very, very difficult to hear him. We all hung tight, yahooing and picking up a few words, until nearly 2am. My favorite Chappelle quotes: I didn’t realize I was still famous. 2nd: This is the greatest show that almost happened. And then of course: What I’ve learned is, don’t tell a secret in Portland.
Even standing right there, I heard maybe 5 full sentences, and at least one was telling us to be quiet, and one was telling us an amp was on the way. That amp showed, gloriously, but they couldn’t get a power source, despite running several extension cords around through the crowd, kind of desperately hoping to hit an outlet. Chappelle was in a tough spot, barely audible to a massive audience who had been waiting excitedly for him, which must be a comedian’s nightmare.
He eventually told everyone to leave peacefully and quietly because the cops–who were surrounding the square block two squad cars deep–were “seriously stressing” and the sound just wasn’t happening. Check your sources tomorrow, he said, for something else he’d come up with.
I’ll be interested to hear how the Portland Police react to this, and also the local media. I saw most traditional media outlets post the rumor, but did any of their people hang out in the square until 1am for the show? We’ll see, goodness knows lots of local figures were there and everyone tweeted and twitpiced the heck out of it, there were phones and cameras in the air like lighters for a ballad.
We’ll all be checking Twitter all day tomorrow for the scoop on another show, but the secret’s already out.
Update: The Oregonian covered it at OregonLive, using primarily @Local35Store’s tweets…new territory for them. Well done, O.
Tags: ideas about fun