“Say what? Say what?... My Foot!”

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.

Moments later, it was time for the show to start. The first performer Olivia appeared on stage. She announced that Queens was her hometown and the crowd proceeded to give her a warm welcome. Her ballads about heartbreak had a few women on their feet swaying back and forth. She performed an up beat tempo song that had more of the crowd on their feet. Though it was apparent that that huge crowd was originally there to see Donell Jones, Olivia was able to win some of them over. When she sang “December”, the song that is currently on the radio, many of the women in atendance closed their eyes and mouthed the words. Though as I  expected, she had the audience sing the majority of the high notes in the song. She ended her performance by singing a gospel song A cappella which showcased some more of her vocal range. I was pleasantly surprised by her performance.

The highlight and low point of the night was Donell Jones. When it was his turn to perform the entire crowd stood and cheered louder than they did all night. He jumped on stage singing one of his more notable tracks. He sounded a bit winded, but I chalked it up to his energetic entrance. Five more minutes into the show I realized I was terribly mistaken.

I wanted to blame the microphone, I really did. I didn't want to believe that a man who sang some of my favorite songs could sound like "he was drinking and smoking instead of doing vocal exercises" as another concert-goer stated. The crowd who was brought to their feet in glee over having the opportunity to see Donell Jones perform for free was visibly disappointed by the third song. Everyone who had a chair or blanket no longer stood cheering him on enthusiastically.

The saddest part was when he tried to sing a song A cappella after seemingly forgetting some of the words. The first note was appalling and the following notes became progressively worse. He gave up on the song and cued the DJ to set up his next track but not before announcing that he had a new album. In my section, some members of the crowd laughed and others voiced their disbelief at his nerve to plug his "new album" during his unfortunate performance, which was actually released last year .

By this point it started to drizzle lightly but some of the crowd began to leave because of Mr. Jones, myself included. I wanted to stay. I was hoping it would get better. I wanted him to redeem himself. On my way to the exit, another disappointed concert-goer said "Say what? Say what?…My foot!", using the hook of his song “U Know What’s Up” to voice her disbelief of his sub par presentation. After receiving a quick laugh from others who agreed with her, she rolled her eyes in the direction of the stage and proceeded to exit the park.

I was looking forward to hearing one song. This was a song that told the story to two of my most memorable break ups almost word for word. When I would listen to the track "Where I Wanna Be", I felt every word of the chorus: "When you love someone, you just don't treat them bad. Oh how I feel so sad, now that I want to leave...”. They were painful words but I relished the opportunity to hear him sing them live. Unfortunately I heard them faintly from the parking lot.

Soon after we got into the car the rain started to pour. All I could think was that if the concert was still going on, then it getting washed out was not as sad as seeing Donell Jones who appeared to be washed up. I guess you really do get what you pay for.