Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city’s attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just…

>> OK, Joyce Carol Oates really IS going to be at Politics and Prose tonight, where she’ll read from and sign copies of her latest novel, The Gravedigger’s Daughter. Get there well before the 7 p.m. start time to stake out a seat. >> The Smithsonian Latino center presents From Mambo to Hip Hop: A Bronx Tale, a 55 minute documentary about how the South Bronx’ Boricua community makes its own brand of music…

By DCist contributor Abby Lavin Fans may know Keith Thompson as “Sinister 6000,” “Fly Ricky the Wine Taster,” “Funk Igniter Plus,” or another one of his 50-odd stage personas. But for his show last night at the Black Cat, he was billed simply as “Dr. Octagon,” Thompson’s most critically acclaimed alter-ego. Confused yet? As it turned out, the Bronx-born MC came to the stage not as Dr. Octagon, but as Kool Keith, his original…

FRIDAY: >> Nation really is going to shut its doors for good one of these nights, but not before stacking the calendar with old school giants like Grandmaster Flash. This is the guy who only, you know, defined Bronx rap and hip-hop in the 1970s with his “Quick Mix Theory.” Hell, it’s probably worth the price of admission if Flash only trots out two songs — just as long as those songs are “White Lines”…

Any blogger worth their salt should know that the -ist family’s executive editor, Jen Chung, loves pandas. So Jen, here you go. We know you can’t see pandas at the Bronx Zoo (but there are red pandas there — our red pandas here in D.C. died after eating rat poison buried in their enclosure), so here’s the next best thing. We’re sure pandas in their natural habitat don’t have to deal with the construction…