>>> Best case scenario for Larry Mendte today: He walks with probation. Worst case scenario: Five years in the hoosegow. Whichever it is, we can guarantee you’ll be sick of hearing about it by Wednesday. Unless our readers start sending in Prison Bitch LOL-Larrys, in which case it’ll be by the end of today. [KYW] [...]

From Saturday’s muy muy chilly event. Hat tip to John Davidson/PlanPhilly.

We gave it a brief mention in Weekend Picks, but to be honest, we were taken off guard by the understated greatness of Benjy Ferree and his band’s set at The M Room last night; so much so that we feel we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention it. Ferree has always been a songwriter [...]

Sure, the city’s going to hell in a handbasket and you keep getting emails telling everybody not to buy gift cards this Christmas because all retail is going to die, die, die, but let’s be the first out of the gate to say it: This is the kind of War On Christmas we’ve been hoping [...]

FRIDAY: >>> Steven Bloodbath and Mike Tee, we could say we hardly knew ye, but in reality, we knew ye both really well and loved everything about the both of you. But now you are both leaving — but not together; Bloodbath is off to lead celebrity webinars in Los Angeles and Tee is heading [...]

NYT: Clinton to Accept Secretary of State Job

· Thanksgiving Whine: Collin’s Picks That Aren’t More #$%ing Riesling And Zinfandel · catFood: Thanksgiving Week 3 · Philly Replaces Cheesesteak With Steakhouse As Trademark Icon · Dept. Of Recession Bangers: Seafood Unlimited’s Prices Are In-sane · The Once-Over: Prohibition Taproom All this and more — plus the Phoodie Restaurant Guide and Phoodie Calendar on [...]

Little birdies are telling us that none other than George Walker Bush will be in town on December 6 to receive a special award at that oasis for all that wield power in Philly, The Union League. Award, you say? For everloving what? “They give it out every year to a dignitary for their service [...]

>>> They desperately don’t want to identify themselves at the present time, but could the heavy glam rock of this new Philly band Modern Mothers have some kind of Interpreters lineage? Maybe Uptown Bones, too? There’s an album’s worth of tunes for download off their cryptic website, but no gigs or tell-tale contact info. Hmm. [...]

Via XLR8TRTV.

Already? Oh who are we kidding, we’re already jonesing for ABCFamily’s month-plus of non-stop Rudolph. Bring it on. KYW Christmas Player: There Better Be Some Wham Up In This Bitch

This is gonna be fun. In this corner, we have Center City jeweler Benjamin Sorkin, who recently pleaded no contest to videotaping six female customers as they used his loo. Classy. And after a visit to the Criminal Justice Center yesterday, where Sorkin did his duty to register for probation, he met his opponent, NBC10 [...]

Noelle Adams at the Philadelphia zoo looking at a peacock, May 1958. Photographer: Loomis Dean. GoogleImages: The Philly Life Archives

This is one of those posts that we hate to make — almost as much as an R.I.P. post — because it not only contains bad news but also the portent for even more bad news. Fans of local band The Absinthe Drinkers, brace yourselves: Chris McDonough [pictured, vocalist in said Absinthe Drinkers] and Kim [...]

You may have heard about the Roots bus crash en route to Paris yesterday; if you haven’t, don’t freak out, everyone is fine. (Except for the bus, pictured at right. The bus is not fine.) Reports are coming out all over the place, but the definitive account is told by ?uestlove himself, who took time [...]

· The Once-Over: Prohibition Taproom · New For Thanksgiving 2008: Turkey In Your Texts · Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrivé! · The Pabbit Will Be Firkin Up Your Friday · Specials: More Of ‘Em Than You Can Shake A Stick At All this and more — plus the Phoodie Restaurant Guide and Phoodie Calendar on [...]

You may recall, Phillies fans, that Chase Utley had the best start of his young career this season. He even arguably had the best opening of the 2008 season in baseball. He led the MLB in homers in April (11), including a five-game homer streak, and batted .360. He earned National League Player of the [...]

The Philadelphia Inquirer will launch a glossy lifestyle magazine insert that will appear six times a year, the newspaper’s owner said Wednesday. The magazine, which will be known as “I,” will launch Thursday and be distributed free with newspapers to 115,000 households and newsstands in affluent areas. [...] The publication will cover fashion, home décor, [...]

In the words of the immortal Notorious B.I.G., if you don’t know, now you know.

· Manayunk has a new fashion print and design company, Lobo Mau. That’s “Big Bad Wolf” in Portugese. It’s a small group of designers headed by Nicole Haddadand Renata Certo-Ware, working with a new method of textile printing with digital ink-jet printers. The process allows for an unlimited array of colors to be used in [...]