Second Avenue, 9:17 a.m., Dec. 23

Beware of Pandacon!

Been meaning to get a photo of the panda who has been hanging out on St. Mark's Place and Third Avenue (pop-up shop alert) in recent weeks ... By Bobby Williams...

Updated: I changed the headline to reflect Gojira's comment...

[Updated] Trailer Park Santa — deflated! (he's back!)

Oh no! Don't let the children see this over on First Avenue and East 14th Street...

...apparently the high winds caused the tree sellers to deflate the Santa... (and there are a lot of trees left for sale...)

Flashback to sort of better days:

Updated! Tonight! Via THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N.

This morning

A fine East Village morning. And not a drunken Santa in sight. twitter.com/evgrieve/statu…

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) December 22, 2012

Joe Strummer died 10 years ago today

[Bobby Williams]

And cutting and pasting essentially Tony Parsons' entire column from the UK Mirror today:

Joe was not the most famous rock star – but he was the best.

If you came of age in the Seventies, his death meant as much as losing John Lennon – an unbearable loss, leaving a gap that would never be filled.

Because Joe was unique.

Punk’s great humanitarian, he never stopped believing that the music had the power to change individual lives, and that those lives had the power to change the world.

As he got older, his idealism only increased, and his fire burned still brighter.

I knew him before he had a record deal and I saw him just before he died.

And in my entire life I never met anyone with a bigger heart than Joe Strummer.

“Without people, you’re nothing,” he once said.

May bloggers (or whatever they will be called) write about this mural on Seventh Street and Avenue A years and years from now... Meanwhile, Alex has this to say today about Joe at Flaming Pablum.

Also, East Village Radio has a great archived two-hour program on the co-founder of The Clash. Find East Village Radio here.

And a favorite, circa 1982...

Free slice for kids 10 and under for a time today at Lebrini's Pizzeria

Bobby Lebrini, proprietor of Lebrini's Pizzeria on Avenue C and East Third Street, passed along word of this deal:

Kids 10 and under get a free slice of .99-cent pizza (limit 2 per kid) today from 11 am to 2 pm.

Last Saturday for d.b.a.'s annual holiday fair

The annual holiday fair at d.b.a. on First Avenue wraps up today ...

Frame of mind

Here's Fucked Up with a new video, "Inside a Frame." And Fucked Up is playing at the Warsaw out on Driggs tonight...

Gruppo signage arrives at new Avenue B digs

As you may know, Gruppo is relocating to a new home down Avenue B... to 98 Avenue B between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street (at the former Layaly space) ... Dave on 7th notes the letters are up ...

No definite timeline for an opening date... you can see there's a little work left to do on the inside...

The latest on Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen's closure

On Tuesday, we brought the sad news that Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen at 130 St. Mark's Place was closing this month after nearly 34 years in business...

Donna, a friend of owner Peter Silvestri, just updated the Bakery's Facebook page:

Yesterday the Auctioneer changed the date to Sunday the 30th from the 27th so we have a few more days in the store. Keep the prayers coming and maybe the landlord will have a change of heart. : ). Several people are making good suggestions let’s see what happens.

Saturday the 29th will be the last day Whole Earth Bakery & Kitchen will be open for business. We will close around 6pm Saturday and that will be a good time for a party…come on by! Peter would love to see all his friends and fans any day up to closing really! Sunday the Auctioneer professionals come in to set up and the Auction is at 2pm that afternoon

Volunteers will be very much needed Weds, Thurs and Fri afternoons from 11am to whenever we get it done, hopefully early. Please consider coming by to help Peter get ready for the auction. We need to organize the store and the basement. That would be wonderful and so appreciated!

'For rent' signs arrive at Araman on Avenue B

As noted last month, Amaran is closing on Avenue B at East Seventh Street at the end of the holidays... And today, Dave on 7th noted that a "for rent" sign went up at the store that specializes in imported home goods ...

First discarded Christmas tree of the season

Well! Two weeks before Christmas and ... Wait. What? Shit. Four days before Christmas and we already have a tree that someone has dragged (presumably) to the corner... in this case, First Avenue at East 12th Street...

Perhaps someone decided that they no longer liked the tree... or, more likely, someone will be away during the holidays and didn't want to return to a deader tree in a few weeks. Or there's another logical explanation...