Dave Chappelle at Pioneer Courthouse Square at midnight?
That's the crazy rumor. There's a stage set up, and a crowd is gathering.
UPDATE, 7/15, 12:58 a.m.: Chappelle is on the scene. Alas, apparently his sound system is one small VOX amp.
UPDATE, 1:16 a.m.: Now people are getting naked on the Starbucks roof, and they're negotiating setting up a legit sound system. Dieselboi tweets it all here.
UPDATE, 1:34 a.m.: A sound system has arrived.
UPDATE, 1:41 a.m.: Earlier video here.
UPDATE, 1:51 a.m.: Whatever Chappelle actually does in his show, it's obvious that he thought he'd have a few hundred people, not several thousand. In the internet age, everything is viral, Dave.
UPDATE, 2:01 a.m.: Now there's no power, and so they're reportedly going to get a generator. Where are our city leaders when we need them the most? Anybody who showed up down there right now with a key to the office and the electrical system would have guaranteed lifetime tenure in elective office around here. But I think Dan Saltzman's parents tuck him in at 10:00.
At two hours past the "scheduled" (sort of) showtime, by now Chappelle could have told everyone a joke or two personally in groups of 10, without a mike.
UPDATE, 2:07 a.m.: Here's the real news of the night. Check out this complete bungling of the story by the Oregonian.
They're about five blocks away and they can't get it right. Classic!
UPDATE, 2:16 a.m.: Looks like Dave's given up. This proves that the internet is beyond powerful. Sometimes it's muscle-bound.
UPDATE, 3:32 a.m.: WW has the money quote from Chappelle: "I don’t know how I can tell four people, and 4,000 people can show up. Next time I’m just going to think about this s**t, and maybe 200 people will show up." Typical Chappelle: funny, and true.
UPDATE, 4:10 a.m.: Bunch o' photos here.
| Posted at 11:17 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (27)
And I left about 30 minutes too early. How about me.
#loser
Posted by Bean | July 15, 2009 1:14 AM
That is nuts, I thought for sure that it was just a hoax! Looks like a bunch of people are still in the square.
Listening to the Oregonlive Police scanner right now and it sounds like the cops are not too happy.
Posted by WestsideGuy | July 15, 2009 1:15 AM
Officer Humphreys is on his fourth energy drink of the night.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 15, 2009 1:15 AM
...probably right after shooting up with some steroids.
The cops are gonna have to tread lightly on this one tonight unless they want all hell to break loose.
Posted by WestsideGuy | July 15, 2009 1:18 AM
Good thing the mayor is in Taiwan.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 15, 2009 1:24 AM
This could go down as one of the legendary nights of standup comedy. Have you ever heard of anything like it? I thought I understood Twitter after Iran but now I really get it. I was reading the incoming messages on another site and the effect was unprecedented. It wasn't like being there, but what a way to monitor something. I stepped away and there were 68 new Tweets.
I'm betting this is a national story and it will be mentioned forever in the Hall of Fame of Spontaneous Craziness: Dave Chappelle at Pioneer Square.
Let's hope things remain within safe levels of anarchy. A few nude people on Starbucks - not a problem. I also hope his set is on YouTube by tomorrow.
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 15, 2009 1:49 AM
Heck, I hope they get sound by tomorrow.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 15, 2009 2:00 AM
2 a.m. Still no power. They've sent for a generator according to the Tweets. If I were 10 or 20 years younger...maybe 30....I'd head down there. But I'm not.
Tomorrow Paul McCartney returns to the Ed Sullivan Theater. It's been 45 years. Ouch.
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 15, 2009 2:03 AM
2:13 a.m.
KGW could be the hero here too although I could see the lawyers saying steer clear of this thing at all costs.
Oh well, I can't knock it. It's not like Woodstock was organized.
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 15, 2009 2:13 AM
Looking at the KGW cam it looks like things are winding down. Portland is a one of kind place...sometimes good, sometimes bad.
Posted by WestsideGuy | July 15, 2009 2:17 AM
I blame Merritt Paulson.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 15, 2009 2:19 AM
And it also looks like a bunch of litter was left at the square. How un-Portland like! lol
Posted by WestsideGuy | July 15, 2009 2:21 AM
First Sarah Palin quits, now this.
My favorite Tweet of the night:
rlramage: #chappelle show is over... Let the drum circles begin!
I just hope all this still seems funny by tomorrow morning.
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 15, 2009 2:21 AM
Who's Dave Chappelle? Is he French?
Posted by Mister Tee | July 15, 2009 5:32 AM
Revolution!
I love it!!!
Posted by portland native | July 15, 2009 7:56 AM
Maybe MP should call him, looks like he gets better attendance than half of the MLS teams.
Posted by Steve | July 15, 2009 8:14 AM
In mom-of-sick-toddler fashion, I heard about this on OPB this morning. The capper was the comment from the reporter, "And no one was arrested." My husband and I looked at each other in complete confusion. Is the ordinary outcome of a peaceful citizens' gathering in Pioneer Square arrests?
Posted by Shelley | July 15, 2009 8:27 AM
Such a fun night. Crowd was good except for a few (there are always a few) and Dave Chappelle was truly amazed. We could hear him, but...
See you Friday...
Posted by dieselboi | July 15, 2009 10:02 AM
Mr. T & me: What's a Chappelle?
(Although that downplays my 'hipness' -- I do enuf Chapl-aware to make mention of Him in order to win the hearts and minds of my kids ... if not affection, devotion, and fifty more years skimming ten percent of their Official United States paystubs into FICA -- 'Soc.Sec. it to me?')
But, basically, who da hell is D Chappelle? When I want jokes I look in mirrors. I'm likely regularly to be downtown waaay after midnight, too, (and I happen to carry a 3500W Kubota generator in the car trunk, gassed and ready to go), but if I was there last night I would have been in a dance club dancing ... until the drum circles started, then I'd go dance there. and drum some too. (which is number 9 with a bullet on this week's top 40 Chinese carryout playlist -- drum some too)
That is, I wouldn't cross the street to see, nevermind join, four thousand identity- and entertainment-deprived standup groupie wannabes, no matter if it was Johnny Carson himself (whoever he was), but I might go meet-n-greet if it was Will Smith or Eddie Murphy, or even nutjob Snoop Dogg who nobody likes but I do, sorry, I just think they're cool (whatever that means). However, dancing naked on top of Starbucks, heckbutt, I'm there, no matter if the Featured Attraction is tonya harding (whoever she was).
Shoo-oo-weee, if other cities wannabe PDX and send delegations here to prowl around and document our secrets of success, yeah, do themselves some trams and trains and boats and planes and stuff, but mostly: get your Pioneer Sqare on!
Posted by Tenskwatawa | July 15, 2009 10:20 AM
Hardly a revolution. Awesome, for sure. It was really just a bunch of young folks hoping to be entertained. When they start showing up in those numbers for political corruption...well, don't hold your breath.
And yes, Shelley, the normal outcome of most everything in Amerikka is arrests.
Posted by Mizzzz | July 15, 2009 10:22 AM
I'm confused. Don't you need a permit of some kind to have a gathering this large downtown? If so and none was applied for then the handling by PPB was very tame, given they never give up a chance to employ full riot gear, pepper spray, and nightsticks.
Posted by notapottedplant | July 15, 2009 10:53 AM
Jack - For what its worth, the O had the best video of the event I've seen yet. Actual audio from Chappelle. All the new media youngsters must have been asleep.
Posted by Mizzzzz | July 15, 2009 11:36 AM
I don't know what the O has up right now. Last night they had a completely inaccurate story and a video of Chappelle leaving his hotel.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 15, 2009 12:00 PM
So the big question, of which I haven't heard answered, is "why did he do this". Just for s**ts and giggles?
Posted by Justin | July 15, 2009 5:15 PM
do we have to be so nasty to the O guy? it appears killen was alone trying to keep up with an event in flux during what is basically after hours for The O. On a bigger story the O could call out teams of reporters and photographers, but this was what? an event that was either going to happen or not going to happen.
And the mom of sick toddler is either new in town or has forgotten the new years eve a few years back when people were disappointed that a fireworks show that was never planned (imagine the reasoning power of someone who expected a big fireworks display in Pioneer Square). They ended up fighting with the cops who tried to get them to go home, and maybe were rougher than necessary. Before it was over some windows were broken out. bottles were thrown at the police and a few of the big concrete barrels were overturned and rolled down the street at the cops. The officers had no trouble dodging them, but it was pretty reckless behavior with so many drunks and innocents walking around. So no arrests is indeed newsworthy.
Posted by peteonthebeach | July 15, 2009 10:56 PM
Yeah, I shouldn't have ridden him so hard. But here he was 40 minutes after the guy showed up, posting "He's not there." There were 4,000 people and probably 2,000 iPhones in the crowd. Could he have made friends with somebody out there and called for an update before posting? Besides, in this day and age, why wasn't he out there with a laptop and wireless connection posting from the square itself?
He also could have written "As of [time Killen left], he wasn't there." Oh well. With better Twitter skills and more resources, he could have gotten it right. But times are tough indeed.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 15, 2009 11:23 PM
Dave who?
Posted by Mark | July 16, 2009 4:27 PM