I woke up this morning to find out that Dave Chapelle was in my hometown last night! And the crazy thing is, I ran into him on Saturday! I was downtown Sat night for the Tori Amos concert (amazing!) when Dave Chapelle whizzed past me on his skateboard, followed by his sons and his wife.  I said “That was Dave Chapelle!”. But I never thought I was actually right, because why would Dave Chapelle be riding his skateboard down Broadway?  So I didn’t tell anyone, thinking I was wrong.  But I was right! I should trust my celebrity instincts! I found pictures of him and his family – and they are EXACTLY who I saw on Broadway!

I looked up why Dave was in town, and turns out I missed a free performance!!

“Dave Chappelle is in town — free at Courthouse Square at midnight.”

That was the message on the tweets of Portland Tuesday as word spread of a free, impromptu performance from comedian Dave Chappelle, a comic icon akin to Richard Pryor for those who grew up with Comedy Central.

By twilight Tuesday a crowd of young faces had begun to coalesce at Pioneer Courthouse Square. A few hours later, thousands were on the Square, all self-organized via social networking, text messaging, Facebook updates and Twitter.