Wednesday night's fundraiser for Democratic congressional candidate and Real World alum Kevin Powell, billed as "An Evening with Dave Chappelle," was notable not only for the young, fresh crowd it drew, but also for two, more principle, sidenotes: the many well-placed whispers that Barack Obama might actually make an appearance, and the absence of Dave Chappelle.

But as a testament to Kevin's appeal to his would-be constituency, the crowd didn't show any outward signs of disapproval. While echoing Senator Obama's message for change, Powell still managed in a classic manner to berate (rightly) incumbent Ed Towns for being hopelessly out of touch with the shifting face of the New Brooklyn. Particularly effective was his shout out to all the 80's babies, and a pledge to bridge the gap between old and new hip-hop heads, which was preceded by an appearance by Fab Five Freddy. Other celeb sightings were Chris Rock, ?uestlove from The Roots, and The Great Debaters actress Jurnee Smollet. Which was great—exciting even. Only, where in the hell was Chappelle?!

As the evening wore on, Powell was forced to calmly address the crowd and announce that Dave had missed his flight, and that he'd reached out to Chris Rock to make a brief appearance. (Which was maybe a little weird.) Rock nixed the request citing the inappropriateness of taking advantage of the situation. (Which was not weird.) To a tremendous applause, Powell assured all paying attendees free access to a rescheduled event—it's clear the dude does have charm and passion to spare. The question is, of course, whether that charm, mixed with his noted grassroots and community-based résumé will be enough to win the vote ... without the help of Chappelle.