07.27.05 - 10:33 p.m.

I have returned from my month-and-a-half break with a very important announcement: I am once again in deep love with Weezer and very disturbingly attracted to Les Claypool.

Things I missed about Chicago:

• The politeness of the disembodied El voice who tells us on which side the doors will open at the next stop. The MTA doesn't care - it figures New Yorkers can fend for themselves, but the CTA wants you to be prepared.
• The random friendliness of the drunks at the Green Mill, somehow less scary than drunks elsewhere.
• The public art! We're all obsessed with the millennium bean, of course, but there's also the crazy Dubuffet in front of the (spaceship) Thompson Center, the Chagall mural, the Tin Man in Oz Park...
• The way you can see the skyline views when you're still in the city. I get to see the beauty of New York every night because I live across the river, but those who live on the Upper East Side don't get to see squat.
• Oh, and while we're on the subject of the CTA, how about a single ride for $1.75 and a day-pass for $5? Of course, it seems like you can only buy the day-passes at the airport stations, but I bet there's a way around that.

Bass and I were amazed at how grown-up and well-behaved everyone was at Lollapalooza. It's like we got it all out of our system in the '90s and were content to just remain awash in nostalgia for the entire weekend. Or maybe we were all too lethargic from the heat to be rebellious. Seriously, 100+ degrees? What a great idea to stick a million people - and BEER - in the sun for 12 hours in that kind of heat. Still, we got through it, mostly because we were smart enough not to DRINK the beer and to crash under a tree for two hours listening to the awesome bands at Kidzapalooza. (Especially excellent: the "Farm Animal Plan" song by Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang.

The bands I chose to see:

• the end of Liz Phair's set (meh)
• Brian Jonestown Massacre/Dashboard Confessional (both, due to a wonky sound system, so we could hear the earnestness on one side and Anton's mean/hilarious comments simultaneously)
• Cake (meh again)
• Billy Idol (who is... sort of plastic, and scarily preserved with snarl intact)
• Primus (yaaaaay)
• Pixies (who graced us with a most kickass version of "Head On")
• Weezer (oh, the double bill of Pixies and Weezer - I was in high school heaven)
• Dinosaur Jr. (searing! guitar! as my legs sweated! It was amazing)
• -two hours of Kidzapalooza-
• The Arcade Fire (so many goosebumps)
• Spoon (how unfortunate to go on directly after the Arcade Fire - anything is bound to be a letdown after watching their set, but poor Spoon. At least they weren't as unlucky as the Walkmen, doomed to play against the Pixies)
• The Killers (oh, so good to sit for an hour)
• Death Cab for Cutie (sincere! and way more rockin' in person than the relative quietude of their albums.)

Would I do it again? Hell, yes.

And I FINALLY saw the woman in the baboon. How did I walk by that nearly every day and not see it from that angle?