Event Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The City Parks Foundation along with AT&T sponsored this year's SummerStage, which hosts hundreds of free concerts throughout eighteen parks, in New York City’s five boroughs during the summer. When my friend stopped by my office to tell me that the performer for the night was R&B singer Donell Jones, I jumped at the chance to tag along. Singer Olivia was also scheduled to perform. This concert was partly sponsored by the WBLS radio station.
I arrived at Springfield Park in Queens thirty minutes before the show was slated to begin. The lawn in front of the stage was covered with hundreds of people sitting on blankets and fold out chairs. My friend and I found our spots on the grass. We listened to the DJ who set the mood with his mixture of songs that made the crowd bop their heads as we waited, and then made the crowd get up and dance as the time drew nearer for the performers to grace the stage.
Donnell Jones is best known for his platinum selling album released in 1999 with hits such as, “Where I Wanna Be”, "U Know What's Up", which featured Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes, "Shorty Got Her Eyes on Me" and "This Luv”. Olivia may be remembered by some as the girl who sang the hook on the hit song by rapper 50 cent “Candy Shop” in 2004 though she has been recording music since 2000. Back then I’m not sure if people knew whether or not she was a rapper or a singer. She has used her new gig as one of the stars of VH1’s reality show “Love and Hip Hop” to set the record straight. The first season of the show followed her as she tried to make a memorable R&B album.
