Chappelle Block Party 2 in Yellow Springs?
Thursday, September 07, 2006
YELLOW SPRINGS — Remember how comedian Dave Chappelle put together a big musical block party in Brooklyn, inviting his Dayton-area friends to watch such national performers as Erykah Badu and Mos Def?
Well, he's apparently bringing a version of the party — minus cameras — home this weekend as part of the annual AACW Blues Fest at the Antioch College Amphitheater. The Blues Fest, which had been scheduled to run Friday and Saturday, is now expected to extend through Sunday to accommodate Chappelle "and some of his friends," AACW President Faith Patterson said on Wednesday.
Extras
R&B singer Erykah Badu is expected to headline the still-evolving event. Sunday's concert will begin at 6 p.m. with the locally based Nerak Roth Patterson Band. Neo-soul singer Goapele and jazz musician Frederic Yonnet are also slated. Badu is scheduled to take the stage at 8 p.m. for an hour-long set.
Yellow Springs' Patterson, who founded the local music festival nine years ago as an outreach of the African-American Cross-Cultural Works, was an original member, along with Chappelle's father, the late Bill Chappelle, of the nonprofit group. In the early 1990s, Dave Chappelle emceed several AACW-sponsored youth talent shows and has rejoined the organization, Patterson said.
Yellow Springs Police dispatcher Larry Campbell said the department won't expand its presence for the event.
For more information about the music festival, call (937) 767-9114 or go online to www.aacw.org.
