** ORIGINAL REPORT: (April 21, 2019)
The Purple One — yeah that one — was surely smiling down on the crowd dancing shoulder-to-shoulder at Dave Chappelle's marathon of a barn bash Saturday night in a tech-ed out Yellow Springs barn.
Superstar comic Chris Rock and Chappelle, who lives near Yellow Springs, shared stories about Prince, who died three years ago today, April 21, during the first of two Juke Joints this weekend on Saturday, April 20.
>> RELATED: Dave Chappelle’s 2019 Juke Joint sells out again
Dave Chappelle’s Juke Joint, which the entertainer explained to the crowd gets its name from the parties black people threw during the Prohibition Era, continues at 8p.m. tonight with a sold-out bash in the barn at Whitehall Farms in the Tecumseh Land Trust.
>> Purple reign: Remembering how world mourned Prince’s death
Saturday night’s dance party was littered with references to 4/20, a marijuana smokers unofficial holiday.
It kicked off shortly after 8 p.m. with music from DJ Trauma and lasted until after 3 a.m. with Chappelle leading the crowd in sing-a-longs to songs that included Dawn Penn's reggae classic "No, No No" and, on the last stretch of the party, Prince's "Ballad of Dorothy Parker," "Pop Life" and "1999."
WHO WAS THERE?
>> RELATED: How 4/20 was celebrated in Dayton
Other celebrities in attendance included Saturday Night Live's Michael Che, A Tribe Called Quest member Jarobi White, comedian Michelle Wolf, Dave ( Trugoy the Dove) from De La Soul, Bobby Z from Prince's the Revolution, jazz musician Robert Glasper and David Banner, who did a freestyle rap through the audience.
The Mississippi rapper's performance came shortly after Chappelle parted the crowd to allow the horn section for the Band with No Name led by Frederic Yonnet, Prince's former harmonica player and a Juke Joint mainstay, to make their way to the stage.
LOVE FOR YELLOW SPRINGS AND THE DAYTON AREA
During the tail end of the night, Rock joined Chappelle in a mashup of The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Papa" and Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do for Love," singing "Love makes you live in Yellow Springs."
Moments later, Chappelle sang, “I have a thing for Yellow Springs and I can’t let go.”
At the start of the night, he gave a shout-out to the village, his adopted hometown, all of the Miami Valley, his wife and son, who designed the show’s T-shirt.
“Shout out to us,” he said.
Much later, he and Rock led a chant of O-H-I-O.
The show included a mix of musical styles from blues to rock to hip-hop and musical play between the band and DJ with "California Love" by 2Pac featuring Dr. Dre and Dayton funk star Roger Troutman and other songs.
.RELATED: Bradley Cooper in town for private screening of 'A Star is Born' with his friend Dave Chappelle
Rock's girlfriend, actress Megalyn Echikunwoke, commanded the stage with her rendition of "Summertime" from George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess."
Chappelle inserted his classic line “I’m rich b**tch” when she sang the line “your daddy's rich.”
Before that, Echikunwoke — whom Chappelle says well compliments Rock — sang the Fugees’ version of “Killing Me Softly.”
The song was made famous by Roberta Flack, who Chappelle said once went on a date with his father, former Antioch College professor William David Chappelle III.
A native of Washington, where Flack got her start, Chappelle named his 2000 HBO special “Killin' Them Softly.”
>> Amy Schumer among the celebrities spotted Yellow Springs in 2018
MEMORIES OF PRINCE
Much of the party’s last leg was a tribute to Prince.
Chappelle said he, Rock, A Tribe Called Quest member Jarobi White and several others had tickets to Prince's last show held in Atlanta, but missed it to mourn the loss of Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest, who died a short time before the show in April 2016.
Credit: Kevin Winter
Credit: Kevin Winter
>> A Tribe Called Quest pays tribute to Phife Dawg
The Grammy award winner told the crowd at Saturday's Juke Joint that he will go next time one of his friends has a show.
“There may not be a next time, so I do everything this time,” Chappelle said.
The comedian famously played Prince making pancakes and playing basketball in a sketch on his Comedy Central show in 2004.
>>RELATED: EVERY LAST celebrity was in Yellow Springs for Dave Chappelle's 2018 Juke Joint
“God damn it, do I miss my friend,” Chappelle said Saturday.
He recounted how he once gave Prince a box of Bisquick pancake batter and how Prince said he would play a Juke Joint in Yellow Springs when Chappelle got his “(expletive) together.”
Rock recalled the night Prince hosted an after party at Paisley Park, his compound in Minneapolis, following Rock’s show there. Prince called his wife at the time from the party attended by about 300 and pretended he was having a quiet night.
Chappelle, who said his sister Felicia Chappelle was the first in his family to be a Prince fan, conjured the spirit of Prince's Paisley Park parties at the Juke Joint from his no cell phone policy to his tendency to shine the spotlight on musicians.
Last night, Chappelle shined the light on vocalist and upright bassist Miles Mosley, giving him a solo during the show. The musician was the focus of a sing-a-long to "I'll Take You there" by the Staple Singers.
WHAT IS THE JUKE JOINT AND WHO HAS BEEN THERE?
Chappelle, a music lover, had his first Juke Joint barn party in Yellow Springs in 2015. He has since had similar bashes all around the country.
Amy Schumer, Jill Scott, Jarobi White, Doug E. Fresh, Hannibal Buress and Martin Luther McCoy were at the 2018 Juke Joint in Yellow Springs.
>>RELATED: Dave Chappelle on Yellow Springs: “I have time to think about things”
At the 2016 Juke Joint at the barn, local residents danced the house down with a list of celebs that included rappers Talib Kweli and Q-Tip, CBS News' Gayle King, actor Bradley Cooper, model/actress Naomi Campbell, comedian Donnell Rawlings and magician David Blaine.
About the Author