...fine line between insanity and genius

for whatever reason, i decided that on the third day of lollapalooza, the most exhausting day, the hottest day... i'd get the most jacked. here are some highlights, although some of the shows passed by me in a daze... rodrigo y gabriela myspace.com/rodrigoygabriela you can't deny the talent that these two guitarists possess. the absence of vocals forces you to concentrate on technique and sound, which comes across flawless. sometimes using the body of the guitar for percussion, you soon forget that there are only two people on the stage. the best part was hearing gabriela pronounce the f-word in between songs, as in " is everyone fuckin' drinking? " to which the crowd would respond with various shouts and laughter. amy winehouse myspace.com/amywinehouse yes, amy winehouse is hot. yes, she is the real deal. yes, when she sings, it's like she's not even trying. she's got an incredible voice and a unique singing style, but you know what? not much of a s...

matt & kim the headline on their myspace site reads: " an onstage pizza party ", and fuck if that's not dead on. it's likely you've never heard 'em before, so please check them out at myspace.com/mattandkim . it's just two kids from brooklyn, jamming and having a great time. their stage presence is legendary, and i guarantee that anyone who watches them perform will become an instant fan. after they played, they actually came off the stage and out into the crowd to meet the fans, take pictures, and sign autographs... awesome. kim is a tomboy, but she's a hot tomboy. they're playing chicago again, on october 2 @ logan square auditorium. get a ticket... let's go! i'm from barcelona "i have built a treehouse, i have built a treehouse, nobody can see us, it's a you and me house." myspace.com/imfrombarcelona if there was one band that was the surprise unknown of lollapalooza, it was this band. with an ensemble cast of musician...

way i see it, waiting to buy that ticket was a gift and a curse. gift because of the price; curse because of the agony of waiting to see if it would work at the gate. as soon as i got past the ticket collectors, i was struck with an overwhelming sense of relief. arms outstretched and high, i ran to tim and either punched him in the arm or gave him a manly hug. i don't remember which. i'll opt for the punch. my schedule didn't pan out. i couldn't get up early enough to make it to tim's by 11:00am. even if i did, we still had a debate over public versus private transport. we elected private and parked in mark's parking spot off of lake and something. we took a cab from there and made it just in time to buy a beer and watch the start of ted leo . ted leo was great, especially with tim there to tell me song titles and albums associated. i swore that i saw cheryl , but i was too caught up in the madness to try to make it to her. from there it was polyphonic spree ,...

" the way she used to look at me made me a thousand feet high, the meaning of the word cool... " one of the greatest songs ever written is "pretty pathetic" by the smoking popes . but don't go listening to the album version, because it doesn't give justice to hearing it live. i guarantee that if you listen to the song live, you will never miss another smoking popes show again. you'll go to shows just waiting for them to play it... like i did last night. but " let's take it from the start... " francesca's forno dan and i drove to al's house, and she drove the three of us to meet up with roy at francesca's forno . located in the old spot where soul kitchen used to be, forno has apparently been there since august 2005 ! jesus. i guess that i haven't been keeping a watchful eye on the neighborhood since chuck moved out of wicker park in 2004 . we used to have sunday brunches at soul kitchen, with the miscellaneous hangover ...