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!

It sounds like Urban Outfitters is just about ready to open. One job at a time, sweet corporate overlords.

But really, what do I care. Shop where you want, do your own thing. I’m sure it’ll be a fun enough store, a successful little retail enclave in an otherwise underwhelming space. Stuff like this really doesn’t matter, does it?

While the typical Urban Outfitters shopper is likely to be liberal-minded–as is the province and privilege of youth–the fiftysomething [Richard] Hayne is mom-and-apple-pie conservative. He and his wife Margaret have contributed $13,150 to the campaign coffers of Paleolithic right-wing Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and his Political Action Committee over the years.

After all, we’re safely post-Santorum since he went down in ’06. Pennsylvania upgraded to Bob Casey Jr. (and his vote for health care). So no harm, no foul?

The new Urban Outfitters behind Great Scott (from zacxwolf via @wellington_lee).

Relatedly in less overt judgmentalism, from the last GS spam mail.

Not to be outdone in the pill-OGness, Emergency Music will cap off our 2009 live calendar with a comeback performance destined for the ages on Dec. 11. The next day, they help open the new Urban Outfitters that’s just behind us, and you can draw your own conclusions on all that…