Prepare to bundle up at the Blockley
 I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it just got friggin’ cold outside. So even though the official onslaught of the old man known as Winter is still two weeks away, it seems like an apt time to start drinking winter beers. There will be plenty on hand this Saturday at West Philly’s Blockley for their Philadelphia Winter Beer Festival. Some of your favorite local brewers (Victory and Yards, for example) will be on hand, as will folks from Ithaca Beer Co., Brooklyn Brewery, and Vermont’s Magic Hat, just to name a few. The VIP entry is sold out, but you can still pick up $30 general admission tickets, which include some light food, live music, and, of course, your good friend beer. Go here to buy your tickets now.
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Head north for All-You-Can-Drink Yards
 If you’re just not ready to go home after happy houring this evening, I suggest you head over to popular Northern Liberties watering hole The Abbaye at 7 p.m. If you’ve got $10 in your pocket (though I suspect you should probably have a little tip money on hand as well), they’ll sell you a commemorative Yards Brewing Company mug. Then you’ve got two hours to fill it with as much I.P.A., Love Stout, and Brawler as you can handle. I’m not exactly sure about the legality of all this – I’m pretty sure that those bastards at the PLCB have something to say about serving an unlimited amount of alcoholic beverage for any period of time, with the exception of New Years Eve – but, hey, I’m all for sticking it to the man if there’s beer involved. Drink up!
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A respectable chef features a disreputable drink
 You probably heard recently that the caffeine-meets-malt-liquor “energy” drink Four Loko is on notice from the Feds and is being banned all over the place, which is, of course, just plain stupid. After all, we all know what happens when the government moves in and bans things that make us stupid. In any event, in an act of intoxicating defiance, Matt Levin, the former Lacroix chef who has been making lots of noise with his quirky Queen Village eatery Adsum, has announced a Four Loko dinner for this Monday at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. $35 gets you a four course meal made with the beverage, with each course accompanied by, yes, a different flavor of Four Loko. To make a reservation, call 267-888-7002. Just be sure to take Tuesday morning off.
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Victor's picks for tonight
 Hopefully, you’re not toting some tween to see Justin Bieber and those wretched “Hey, Soul Sister” people-that-have-invaded-your-brain at the sold out Q102 Jingle Ball tonight in Camden. If you are, God help you. If not, some other concert options to consider: join all the Jewish hipsters at the TLA, where they’ll be celebrating the Holidays in true Jewish hipster style with Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu ($42); but if you think all those hipster guys need shaves and haircuts, consider the unforgivably unkempt Chad Stokes (click here to see what I mean) of State Radio semi-fame, who plays World Cafe Live ($20-$25); and local lovely Meg Baird joins the recently-recovered-from-lung-cancer British folkster Bert Jansch at Johnny Brenda’s (a steal at $15). And if you have a prog rock fan on your shopping list, know that Yes/King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford doing a little talk and then signing copies of his new autobiography at the KOP Borders starting at 7 p.m.
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Victor's picks for Tuesday
 William T. Coleman has been around. The Philly-born attorney worked Brown vs. Board of Education. He was involved in the Warren Commission. And he oversaw the country’s first interstate highway system (as he explains in this Q&A with Rich Rys), meaning you can hold him responsible, at least to some extent, for the Conshohocken Curve. Tonight at 7:30 p.m., he’s at the Library talking about his fascinating life. Admission is free, but if you want space, you better get there early. Meanwhile, Badly Drawn Boy, who just released his 7th album, It’s What I’m Thinking Part I, is at the First Unitarian Church for $25 (a special seated show); Bryn Mawr Film hosts a screening of Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown; and it’s the return of The Battle of the Bowls (think ceramics) at the Philadelphia Art Alliance.
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Victor's pick for tonight
 This lovely young woman is classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein (pronounced Simona Dinnersteen, in case you bump into her at Parc). In 2007, she made a name for herself (at least in the classical music world) by self-financing a CD featuring her interpretations of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which sound like this. Here’s what the New York Times had to say about the release, which was #1 on the Billboard Classical charts: “An utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation, Ms. Dinnerstein brings her own pianistic expressivity to the ‘Goldberg’ Variations, probing each variation as if it were something completely new. She learned them herself and recorded them herself, then Telarc picked up the album and it became one of the success stories of the year.” (I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve seen the phrase “pianistic expressivity” in print.) The reason I mention this is that she’s at Rittenhouse Square’s Church of the Holy Trinity tonight at 7:30 p.m. playing the Variations, and I seriously suggest you go see it. General tickets are $36, but if you’re a student under 30 with ID, it’s only $5. For more information on the performance, click here.
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Still don’t have your weekend figured out? No worries. Just check Wednesday’s edition of the Weekender for more great weekend ideas than you’d ever be able to handle. Go here to read it now. And if you want to get it delivered to your inbox each week, click here to sign up now.
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Victor's picks for Thursday
So here’s what happen. Yesterday, I get an email from a publicist telling me about tonight’s annual City Hall Christmas Tree Lighting with the Nutters. And the big news was that the Krispy Kreme truck would show up with coupons. And I’m like, Coupons? Coupons are nice and all, but if I’m going to stand out in the cold and watch the Mayor light a Christmas tree, I want some damn doughnuts. So she put in a couple of calls and, voila, Krispy Kreme will be giving out free doughnuts tonight (while supplies last) as the Mayor lights the tree at 5:30 p.m. I’ll see you there… Elsewhere, Fran Healy of Travis performs at World Cafe Live ($29-$39) in support of his solo debut, Wreckorder and Dwight grandson David Eisenhower talks about pop-pop at the Free Library.
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 I’m thinking of a number between 100 and 999. If you double and triple this number and write out a new number consisting of the digits of the original number, the digits of the original number doubled, and the digits of the original number tripled, you’re left with a number that contains all of the numbers from 1 to 9 once and only once. You can actually do this with four different numbers from 100 to 999. What is the sum of those four numbers? It’s easier than you think.
Know the answer? Don’t post it here. Email it to theweekenderpuzzle@gmail.com by noon on Thursday. I’ll pick one answer from the correct responses, and that lucky Weekender will get four tickets to this Friday’s Vienna Boys Choir performance at the Kimmel Center. (The one second from the right looks like a handful). I will only accept entries that include the correct answer in the subject line and a daytime phone number in the body.
The Vienna Boys Choir at the Kimmel Center, Friday, December 3rd at 7 p.m. Go here to buy tickets.
UPDATE: Congrats to Judy P., who is going to see the show tonight. The solution is 1,011. The four numbers are 192, 219, 273, and 327. Thanks for playing!
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The South Philly spot isn't just for eating
 Once you get tired of the margarita mayhem at Cantina, take a stroll down Passyunk Avenue and sit at the bar of one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Best of Philly-winning Le Virtu. Executive Chef Joe Cicala is a huge beer freak (of course, I’d be hard pressed to think of a self-respecting Philly chef who isn’t) and just debuted a new bar menu with beer pairings. Try the awesome Arancini (translation: fried rice balls with peas and pork ragu) with a Belhaven Scottish Ale or the house-cured salumi/antipasti platter with an Ommegang Rare Vos. Your best bet is to head down for their 25% Off Everything (and they do mean everything) Happy Hour, which runs Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Now if I could only get them the Saturday happy hour bandwagon.
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PHILLY
EVENTS
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it just got friggin’ cold outside. So even though the official onslaught of the old man known as Winter is still two weeks away, it seems like an apt time to start drinking winter beers. There will be plenty on hand this Saturday at West Philly’s Blockley for their Philadelphia Winter Beer Festival. Some of your favorite local brewers (Victory and Yards, for example) will be on hand, as will folks from Ithaca Beer Co., Brooklyn Brewery, and Vermont’s Magic Hat, just to name a few. The VIP entry is sold out, but you can still pick up $30 general admission tickets, which include some light food, live music, and, of course, your good friend beer. Go here to buy your tickets now.
