Last night in Chelsea, Dave Chappelle no-showed at a fundraiser he was slated to headline for the congressional campaign of Kevin "Real World" Powell. After waiting around for over three hours, the crowd of a few hundred was told that Chappelle had missed not one, but two planes out of Ohio. To add insult to injury, Powell mentioned more than once that Chris Rock was in the building, but did not want to take the......

Everything’s connected: Kevin Powell was a star in MTV’s very first season of The Real World – now he’s campaigning to be the congressional representative for a district that includes the location of the new Real World apartment in downtown Brooklyn. And not only that, Powell is enlisting the help of comedian Dave Chappelle, who once lampooned the reality series in a hilarious skit called The Mad Real World. Go ahead and take a minute......

timely, by jakedobkin at flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unconscious baby on Ralph Ave. in Brooklyn, a construction accident on Bedford Ave. and Crown St. in Brooklyn, and a found grenade at 54th Ave. and Junction Blvd. in Queens. Dave Chappelle made an unannounced appearance at a comedy club, where Radar learned he "took the stage at approximately 12:30 a.m. and didn't leave until club management turned off the lights at 4:20......

With Labor Day weekend well under way, the season of block parties is about to come to an end. The NY Times has a story today on 4 of the 225 block parties that took place in the city last weekend (overall most take place in Brooklyn). That high number is courtesy of the mayor’s street activity permitting office. To get approval one must fill out an “application for street activity permit,” pay $15 in......

Middle College High School in Queens decided not to leave things to chance when a senior wrote a note saying, "So you think Virginia Tech was bad? Just wait for the MCHS Prom! Unlike VTech there won't be any injured, I'll get the job done." The student, 17-year-old Michael DiGiovanni, was found out because the note and fliers made from it were found in the school computer lab on Monday. And the city wants us......

An interesting update about fund-raising efforts for Broken Angel in New York magazine's Intelligencer: It seems that Dave Chappelle and director Michel Gondry have been contacted about doing a benefit at Pratt, but Chris Wood, the son of Broken Angel owners Arthur and Cindy Wood, hadn't heard anything from Chappelle and only "vague" things from Gondry. Gondry's rep, though, tells New York, “Michel would be willing to be of any assistance for the Broken Angel’s......

Okay, so it's been 2007 for the last four days but since everyone's doing it from the critics circles to the awards nominating pools, it seemed worth it to weigh in on last year's movies. However, constructing end of the year top ten lists can be both painful and thrilling. Looking at a long list of the year's movie releases reminds you how many films passed you by in the theaters and playing favorites amongst......

Brownstoner reports that the beautiful and strange Broken Angel building and lot are for sale. While the listing for Broken Angel and an adjacent lot is not online, Brownstoner saw a tearsheet:The Angel itself is at 4-6 Downing Street and sits on a 40-by-100-foot lot zoned for R6. At 13,000 square feet, the current building is actually overbuilt by about 4,000 square feet. The empty lot next door at 8 Downing is 20-by-100-feet. The......

Christopher Wood, son of Broken Angel owners/creators Arthur and Cindy Wood, updates what is happening with the 4 Downing Street building in Brooklyn. As the Woods are working with Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture to bring the building to code, there is still a court hearing tomorrow to see if the Department of Buildings has been justified in its actions (the DOB has threatened demolition and removed the Woods from the house). The Woods are......

André 3000 and Big Boi bring their Grammy-winning mojo to the big screen this week with their much anticipated musical, Idlewild. Set in a '30s speakeasy complete with marcel wave hairdos and juke joint stepping, the movie also coincides with the release of a new OutKast record featuring songs from the flick. Hopefully director Bryan Barber has made something be more substantial than one terribly long, theme music video. Some might argue drinking lots of......

MUSIC: Propect Park. TV on the Radio. Matt Pond PA. Voxtrot. Free. Need we say more? Bring a blanket. Friday // 6:30pm // Prospect Park Bandshell // Free READING: On of our favorite New Yorkers, Joan Didion, will be reading from her masterful book, The Year of Magical Thinking, tonight in Central Park. The book, which chronicles the year after Pulitzer-prize-winning Didion lost her husband John Gregory Dunne to a heart attack, was a taut,......

Can't you just feel the Oscar buzz in the air? The jangling of borrowed jewels and the buzzing of nominees nerves is like a cacophony even on this coast. Gothamist is excitedly anticipating the telecast like June Carter Cash before a duet with Johnny. In the meantime though, there are movies to be watched. As for the new releases, if you like movies where Bruce Willis takes charge with his sensitive but still ass-kicking masculinity,......

Variety (subscription required, sadly) reports that the new Chapelle's Show segments that were meant to be for season three (you know, the season that was supposed to air earlier this year, only to crumble amidst production delays, rumors of a mental hospital stay, and Chappelle in South Africa) will be shown online first (on the Motherload) and then on cable in 2006. And Comedy Central is calling it season three. At a taping of Last......

Dave Rubin, Comedian ...

The long-awaited return of the third season of Chappelle's Show will actually be an even longer-awaited return, as Comedy Central has yanked the premiere and stopped production. Augh!! Even though it's funny, seeing "The Niggas" for the literally 50th time is wearing on us! But enough about us, as we'll take The Mad Real World any day. Variety's article (registration req'd) said Chappelle had to "seek treatment for unspecified personal issues." Personal issues after getting......

Gothamist learns something new about city ordinances everyday! The Supreme Court ruled that if the KKK wants to protest in NYC, they'll have to unhood themselves. It turns out that there's a city ordinance that "forbids gatherings of three or more masked or hooded people - unless they are attending 'a masquerade party or like entertainment.'" Brilliant! A KKK "offshoot group" (in Gothamist's opinion, the KKK itself is an offshoot group) was trying to appeal......

Aha - it all comes together. So Saturday's Dave Chappelle's Block Party was the setting for the Wattstax-like documentary film he was making with Michel Gondry. But who knew that it was going to be a reunion of the Fugees? Could only Dave Chappelle pull that off? The NY Times' reviews the concert, noting Lauryn Hill's crazy episode during an Unplugged set that helped keep the Fugees apart and how people were bused into the......

Excellent news: Dave Chappelle will be working on a film with director Michel Gondry! Variety reports that the film is inspired by Wattstax, a documentary about a musical event hosted by Richard Pryor, and will combine music and comedy. And since Chappelle will be starring (as well as producing), Gothamist imagines he'll be the event's emcee, and perhaps have other roles as performers. The idea of Dave Chappelle and Michel Gondry, who directed The Eternal......

There's something we left off of our Sell Outs list, because it deserves its very own post. First because it's FREE and second because it's DAVE CHAPPELLE. Actually, there's a third too, and that is it's a BLOCK PARTY! Gothamist was just discussing the lack of block parties in this city. We'd imagine nothing better than closing down a street and drinking with friends on stoops. But we digress. Get your free tickets for this......

Gothamist has been trying to follow the bribery trial of aides of state Supreme Court Justice, Gerald Garson, because it's possibly the most insane display of nuttery from a judge since the judge who masturbated in court. Garson himself will be on trial later on, but for now, as his aides are accused of "steering cases" and "cash" his way, Garson's action are center stage. The NY Post notes a surveillance video of Garson accepting......

In some more tragic news this week, music legend, Rick James died today. There is little information available right now, but a breaking news banner on CNN.com said, "Singer Rick James was found dead in his home Friday by his caretaker, a Los Angeles police department spokesman said." More recent updates have James passing at 9:45 am of natural causes. James is of course best known for his "Super Freak" and had a career that......

When Joe Rogan walks the streets of New York City, it's not going to be accompanying Dave Chappelle for a sketch, it's going to be for Fear Factor's 100th episode, which will be set in the Big Apple, though for Fear Factor it'll have to be a decaying apple with a million mini worms in it, wading in a puddle near a curbcut. The NY Times' Randy Kennedy New York Region > A New York......

Slate, the online magazine published by Microsoft, is a daily stop in our web surfing and one thing that Ask Gothamist likes on the site is its regular Explainer column. Whenever we have a question about something in the news, Explainer is there to help us. But did we really need this week's explanation? On ESPN.com, Gary Miller writes that the Cubs' Moises Alou pees on his hands to harden them so that he......

A cartoon making fun of the Holocaust that appeared in a Rutgers student newspaper is causing unrest at the school. The Times describes the cartoon as such: The publication, The Medium - a journal of news and opinion that features humor, cultural items and sexual and scatological references - ran a cartoon depicting a bearded man wearing a hat and sitting on the edge of an open kitchen stove in a carnival setting. Under the......

If you want to own a place in New York City, to paraphrase Dave Chappelle, you've gotta be rich, bitch! Douglas Elliman and Corcoran release sale figures for the first three quarters, confirming that the market is hotter than ever. An apartment in Manhattan New York Region > Apartments Going Up, to an Average of $1 Million" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/15/nyregion/15price.html">averages at $1million (a 32% increase, up from $760,000 during the same time last year), with the median......

Gothamist knows that Virigin Airlines is supposed to be risque and everything, but the new lipsticked-mouth urinal at the Virgin Airways Clubhouse at JFK is really gross. While golden showers may be a part of people's sexual repertoire, Gothamist sees no need for them to be encouraged. However, if this is a way for men to act out the fantasy, well, pee on. But it's just gross. The Post reports Virgin Airways as saying, "We......

- The Yankees are Goliath and Alex Rodriguez needs help getting dressed - Carbon monoxide deaths in Murray Hill - Triumph upsets Canadians...he was keeding, but they didn't get it - The terrible story of the deliveryman murder in Queens - The Hasidic and hipsters are trying to coexist...not very well, though - Sirengate at the Mayor's Office! - Gothamist doesn't mind Christianity...we're just dubious of Baptists converting all of NY is all - It's......

It's a shame that Comedy Central programmed Chappelle's Show on Wednesday at 10:30PM against Law & Order, but luckily Comedy Central repeats their shows every five hours, so we're able to catch Dave Chappelle even if we miss it for some Lennie Briscoe. The Times has a feature about Chappelle and calls attention to how both blacks and whites might be uncomfortable by skits like a spoof of a 50s sitcom where a white family's......

The Hollywood Reporter says that Showtime has ordered a pilot for a show called, Make Me Cool: [A] squad of hip African Americans helps terminally uncool individuals -- not just Caucasians -- overcome their obstacles. Though a reality show, this sounds more like a public service, although there actually needs to be a S.W.A.T. team that stops white teenagers from copping too much hip-hop style, like Seth Green in Can't Hardly Wait. Fo' shizzle, my......

Attention! Jerry Orbach is going to be on the Late Show with Conan O'Brien tonight. Jerry is following Dave Chappelle, so we hope Chappelle sticks around to shoot the breeze with our favorite actor. We hear that Conan might be presenting Jerry with a surprise, but we'll know for sure by 1:30AM. And if you're in Toronto, here's how to get tickets to Conan's shows up north February 10-13 (the website says, "Hey All! We're......