Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know! In honor of kicking off our new sex column (write in!), I wanted to share my top 10 songs for your La Perla pleasure. A quick glance at this list might make you......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers market......

Portugal The Man isn't a country or a person; it's a classic 3-piece band from Alaska whose latest album, Church Mouth, is a collection of indie music with a rich classic rock flavor. Their website says that bands referenced on the disc include the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the White Stripes, the Mars Volta and Santana, and... yep, we can hear all of those in there. Especially the White Stripes, since lead singer John Baldwin Gourley......

This is going to be a short post. We basically just wanted to tell you that there exists in the world an all-girl Led Zeppelin tribute band called Lez Zeppelin, and that they're playing World Cafe Live tomorrow night. If you don't already want to see them, we're not sure we understand you. Lez Zeppelin may be one of the best band names ever, especially given the fact that it's being applied to four women......

I'm just going to come out and say it: I loved Shrek the Third. I didn't want to. I was worried that it'd be disappointing. The original was brilliant, and the second was a very strong sequel, but the Tomatoes had me convinced that the third would be less-than-stellar. The third installment of the popular series didn't equal the first two, but it had more of what made the first two so enjoyable: adult......

Bands I Caught: Illinois, Bardo Pond, The Spinto Band, Dr. Dog Venue: Starlight Ballroom When I saw a newspaper ad with the POPPED! lineup several weeks ago, the Starlight Ballroom show, especially, enticed me. Not only because that was my favorite venue south of Girard but because I was a big fan of Dr. Dog and enjoyed what I had heard of Illinois and The Spinto Band. And right from jump the event exceeded my......

At the Galactic show on Thursday night, the attitude was "What smoking ban?" New friends became old friends who passed the bowl without thinking about TLA security guards trying to blend in with the crowd in their maroon t-shirts. The room, about three-quarters full, moved intently, sometimes languidly for those with grey beards and wedding rings; more jerkily for those with bare chests and new curly cues. Maybe it's the whole New Orleans thing. When......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Pan's Labyrinth - Ofelia and her pregnant mother move in with the girl's stepfather, a Fascist officer named Captain Vidal, in Navarra in post-Civil War Spain. As Vidal works to get rid of the rebels, Ofelia retreats into a fantasy world: a labyrinth behind the mill, which harbors a creature named Pan who claims to know her secret destiny. Directed by the......

Man, are we going to an awesome show tonight. Wolfmother's in town, people. They're playing the Electric Factory with like-sounding "retro-rock" act Dead Meadow and indie pop rock outfit Silversun Pickups. We're putting "retro-rock" in quotes because these bands aren't just retreads; they're starting with some old sounds, yes, but they're making them fresh and new. Wolfmother is one of our favorite contemporary bands. They're Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, somehow preserved at the height......

My preview for Saturday night's Dylan show at the Wachovia Spectrum was pretty enthusiastic, but I'll level with you: I'd heard the stories, and I wasn't expecting all that much from his performance. But even with my relatively low expectations, I was still a little disappointed. A number of times during Dylan's set, I thought I'd stumbled into an easy listening/soft rock concert by mistake, or that he'd been replaced by a froggy William......

Yesterday, local radio station WXPN finally finished their playback of their list of the 885 Greatest Artists of All Time, as voted by the XPN community. You can see the entire list here, and make sure to check out this awesome entry on XPN's blog, which is packed with YouTube videos featuring vintage concert footage of the artists who made the top ten. Speaking of the top ten, here they are: The Beatles Bob......

What's interesting on TV this week. Kyle XY (Mon; 8PM-9PM; ABC Family) - The first episode of a new series about a mysterious young man who's discovered and then taken in by a psychologist and her family. The teen has no memories, no emotions, and no bellybutton! $10 says he turns out to be some kind of robot. (Official site) How Art Made the World (Mon; 10PM-11PM; PBS) - The first episode of a new......

How would you describe the typical Jethro Tull fan? Well, middle-aged, for one. Phillyist has been able to drink legally for several years now, but we were still probably the youngest fan in the audience not dragged there by their parents. And white -- definitely white. We counted three ethnic minorities in the audience, ourselves included, and two of them were in our party. The band is composed of middle-aged white guys, so it's......