Congratulations to Deep Ellum for getting the reader’s pick for Best Bar from The Phoenix! It is well deserved.

Other Allston winners include: Brown Sugar won Best Thai, Common Ground won Best Trivia Night, Le’s for Best Vietnamese, Sunset for Best Bar for Beer Selection, the 379 Club for Best Men’s Haircut, The Pill at Great Scott for Best Dance Night and Urban Outfitters for Best Women’s Clothes.

Moving on to the making-stuff-up section: Myung Dong 1st Ave won Best Place to Detonate a Soju-Bomb. Paint Pens in Purses won for Best Artist, Graffiti/Performance/Street (specifically for what they did at Marty’s, but previously mentioned here re: LAB). Even the alley behind our new Kelly’s gets a curiously biographical nod of sorts. And lastly, Blanchard won Best Wine & Liquor Store (a year post-puppy stomp, the collective mind has forgiven).

Anyway, congratulations to all!

At the Allston Civic Association is meeting this coming Wednesday, one of the agenda items is a possible liquor store going in a 193 Harvard Ave. Presumably this would be sharing the large space that Marty’s used to occupy, rather than as a replacement for the forthcoming Kelly’s. I’m guessing this Glendale Liquors is owned by the same people that took over Best Cellars in Coolidge Corner – it looks like their home store is out in Waltham. Generally speaking I’m happy to have retail in the empty spaces on the block, liquor store or otherwise. And anything to give Blanchard’s a little competition is a good thing.

It appears as though Blanchard’s Liquors in Allston requested a youtube video showing an employee tormenting a dog be removed from Youtube.

This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Blanchard’s Inc.

Here’s a recap of the missing video from ohmidog-

The video shows a man stride past the register of a liquor store, kick a crate containing a small dog, then jump on the crate, partially crushing it, before walking away. A person in a baseball cap then goes to check on the puppy, before a younger man walks into the frame, grabs a leash from the counter, and takes the dog away.

Or, if you’re having too good of a day and would like to take that happiness down a notch, the boston channel still has their version online.

I understand wanting to protect a store’s reputation, particularly in these days of Yelp shakedowns. What we shouldn’t accept though is the misuse of a DMCA takedown notice to Youtube to block bad publicity. We’re living in a time when transparency is valued. If people in your store (be they employees, owners or customers) are going to torment a dog, people are going to be rightfully angry about it. And if you’re going to use questionable whitewash tactics on top of that you’re just buying yourself a whole new group of enemies.

PS. Read 10,000 angry comments here.