It was after seven when we got to Booker T. Washington Park at 400 N. High Ave. in Oklahoma City. We—that being myself, a friend, and, of course, my dog Sean—braved the high humidity and hungry mosquitos to see DeadCenter’s exclusive offering, a screening of Questlove’s first documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
A film about the mostly-forgotten soul festival that took place in Harlem back in summer 1969, it was to start around 9:30 or so, so that gave us a couple of hours to make sure we got a good spot on the moist lawn, have a little leftover food and walk around the still-lighted park to see what was going on that night, especially at the stage way back behind us where music appeared to be coming from.
Walking on the grass that had a solid rain the previous night, Sean and I made our way to the concrete sidewalk and went to the area where there was not only a DeadCenter booth filled with various mementos and such, but a few food trucks and, honestly, the most glamorous portable toilets that I had ever seen; I actually felt bad relieving myself in them. I probably didn’t deserve to.
There was a stage out front where area singer Koolie High—his name a homage to a 1970’s classic flick—performed energetically. While the attendees of his show were few, they at least showed a passionate response, which is better, at least to me; I’d rather have one solid fan than a 1000 bored patrons. Sean and I stood there from a couple of minutes, absorbing his words.