Another location – The National Mall in Washington D.C., did not party with scheduled acts The Roots, Ne-Yo, and will.i.am. Despite a celebration of Earth, Mother Nature did not cooperate. Downpours brought thunder, lightening, and damage to the sound equipment. The day-long concert began at noon, but would not last much after. The only big act to perform a quick music set was American Idol runner-up Blake Lewis.
In yet another sign that this world is smaller than we all think, I ran into Lewis at the bar inside The Marriott on Pennsylvania Avenue later in the night. Turns out the Seattle-born singer did not find out that he would perform at the festival until 48 hours before hand. Of course, Lewis was disappointed that the dismal weather cut the event short.
“Like literally, right when I stepped on (stage), the rain started,” he told me over a beer. “It’s too bad, because there was a nice crowd too, and by the time I finished there was about 6,000 people there.”
Officials ended the event just after 3 pm. The large crowd never saw The Roots jam with will.i.am. or Doug E. Fresh. Even Lewis planned on jumping in on the action – but instead relegated back to his hotel room.
Meanwhile the lead emcee of The Black Eyed Peas packed his bags and hopped on the next first class flight to Los Angeles. After spending a mere few hours at home, will.i.am would jet off to London, supporting his CD, Songs About Girls, which is still receiving copious amounts of love overseas.
Lewis planned on spending the night in our nation’s capital – as unsexy as that might seem. After all, this was a Sunday night in a city filled with weekday warriors working the 9 to 5. A flight home awaited the Idol contestant in the morning.
And me? Well the weekend was a far cry from a disappointment. After an eventful Saturday evening in D.C. with one of my college roommates, I spend the early part of Sunday watching my Yankees defeat the Orioles in Baltimore.
Of course, the evening wasn’t so shabby either.
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