..ended up lasting seven weeks.

My calves are still burning.

For those who are interested, the details are behind the cuts. For everyone else, the totality of the last two months can be summed up in three photos:

.. sorry, it's been a few weeks.

Chicago was amazing, as usual. Again, Caroline elected not to go this year -- because her man's birthday happened to fall on the same weekend as the Fest "and I know I'd give him hell if he missed *mine*.." Ah monogamy. Such a strange and annoying creature.

So Erica and I set out alone. We left Friday morning around 10 and got to the Day's Inn on Devon St. close to 4 p.m. I picked a different Day's Inn in Elk Grove Village than the one we stayed in last year because (being near the highway, turns out) it was about $20 cheaper than the on Higgins. Won't be making that mistake again -- getting to the Hyatt from Devon and back was like navigating a Bermuda triangle of odd side-streets, sharp turns and unlit streets. So Day's Inn on Higgins can look forward to seeing us again next year.

Oddly enough, while we -- and a lot of other 'fest attendees were heading east for the convention, Paul McCartney and his new lady were heading *west* on an extended tour of Route 66. They made the news in *Springfield, IL* when they stopped at a Circle K gas station and Paul got out and bought a coffee. O.O Leaving me to gasp and wring my hands: "why couldn't it have been a video store in St. Louis.... ?!?!" All weekend there were periodic updates about where they were. At one point, they camped out in Lebanon, MO. A town I only *passed through a million times* between UA and home... Life is so weird.

I took Erica to Rosati's Pizza -- not the nice hole-in-the-wall that was near Higgins, the standalone restaurant on Nerge. Perhaps they moved, I'm not sure. All I know is while the pizza was still *heavenly* (Erica talked me into getting pepperoni and jalapeno, surprisingly delicious combination) the staff was full of annoying little teenaged shits who ate in front of the customers, stood in little gossiping clusterfucks at the counter, and had the gaul to look irritated whenever you inquired about your order. Eww. Here's hoping the other Rosati's is still there.

Saturday, we woke up early and got to the Hyatt around 9:30. It was odd, remembering how we used to get up at the crack of dawn and get down to wait in line for the Ballroom around 7 so we could get our front row seats for the rest of the day. We really needn't have bothered -- Erica and I had perfectly good second-row seats all day. They ran the new documentary on Neil Innes ("The Seventh Python") first to thunderous, well-deserved applause. That man is a treasure: played with the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, co-wrote a bunch of music for Monty Python, went on several stage tours with the group, wrote all the music for the Rutles film and albums (and played Ron Nasty, the John Lennon character), good friends with George Harrison.. And such a genuinely *nice* man. I contemplated lining up for a photo with him again this year, but reasoned that I already have two of me with him (one when I was fourteen, another when I was eighteen) and didn't really need to wait in line for another one.

( Neil Innes, August 9 )

Erica went down to the market place and ended up running into "Sharon" who turned out to be Dawn Dunham, a friend of ours from the St. Louis Beatles Fan Club, whom neither of had seen in almost five years. I went down to the marketplace a bit later, bought a new "Free Paul" badge to replace the one I lost and a "Save Lennon" badge, just to be fair and balanced. The vendor also had some gorgeous photos, so I bought a sepia-toned one of Paul (looks like mid-70s era) and a photo-strip of John and Paul from the Shea Stadium concert. The booksellers were there, and I found one who had not one, not two, but four different editions of The Longest Cocktail Party, a book Dad had recommended I read. I bought the original 1972 paperback, the copy I remember my dad owning (though his was literally three parts of a book and several loose pages held together by a piece of yellowed, deteriorating masking tape). I found a black, Sgt. Pepper t-shirt for Caroline and an *amazing* Helter Skelter one for me.

While I was looking at the t-shirts, I ran into Dawn and ended up chatting with her for a long time. She's still working at Purina but Debbie (whose job was outsourced to India) is not. I told her about visiting Debbie's house at Jamie's wedding reception and how the living room hasn't changed in more than 10 years and the weird time-warp/memory-lane trip it sent me on. Lynn apparently is still involved with Dee's brother and also got involved with his weird church, has since quit her job at the early-childhood center and sold most of her Beatles's stuff. Very strange. Mike Manson plays piano at the Big Bang on the Landing -- though no one's gone out to see him play (and my advice to them is *don't*, the man left for a reason). Linda Dana found us soon after that, apparently she'd just run into Erica around the corner. She's been through a divorce since we last saw her, trimmed down significantly and changed her hairstyle. I got a nice photo of the three of us.

( Dawn, Linda and me, August 9 )

I got back to the ballroom in time for some of Billy J Kramer's interview and stuck around for Neil Innes and The Smithereens, who just finished an album of all Beatles-covers a few months ago. I sat in on most of the auction which, reflecting today's economy, was pretty dismal: lots of merchandise unsold. I made friends with Grace, the woman two seats down from Erica and I. This was her first Fest and I told her a lot of my stories from the past eleven years. Erica stood in line for Pattie Boyd and Marc Hudson's autographs. She recounted for Marc the story of how Lynn got his autograph for her in 2003 (when we were forced to leave the Friday morning of the Fest to go be with Dad) and he not only remembered her, he was genuinely pleased to finally meet her. Later, Wendy Ryan from the Fan Club ran into Erica and asked "Are you Becky?" She apparently walked right past me in the lobby. Her daughter Lorelai, a baby the last time we saw her, is now a six-year-old fan. We got pics with both of them.

They had some events going on in the forum on the second floor and we spent the last part of the day up there -- there was a Q & A with the filmmakers who shot the Innes documentary, a presentation by the author of the Beatles Christmas Book, and finally a presentation from Paul Saltzman, the author of The Beatles in Rishikesh. Saltzman's an interesting figure in Beatles history: he was a 24-year-old student whose breakup with a girlfriend had so devastated him a friend of his suggested he learn meditation to work through the heartache and pointed him toward the ashram of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's in Rishikesh. He went there, rang the bell at the gates and was informed he could not come in and learn meditation because "the Beatles and their wives are here and we're not allowing anyone else in so as to protect their privacy." In despair, he asked if he could wait until they left and camped outside the gates in a tent for eight days before finally being allowed inside.

His presentation was more on the benefits of meditative practice than recalling stories of his time with the Fabs, which both Erica and I are interested in anyway so we got a lot out of meeting him. I've got a new book to look for next year :) Erica and I ended up getting Sarpino's delivered to the hotel once we got back -- really great "fake Italian," just as the night porter recommended.

( Market Days, August 10 )

Sunday, Erica and I went to visit Justin in Lakeview, got turned around *several* times on 290 ("Who did the municipal planning for this goddamned city?!" "..The mob." "...oh yeah."), and finally got down there in time for Market Days, the largest street festival in the Midwest. Kind of a second Pridefest for Chicago, the festival is four city blocks long in Lakeview and hosts thousands of people. We got to meet Justin's new boyfriend, Ryan, who treated us to lunch and drinks at Sidetracks. He was truly wonderful to meet and get to know -- it never felt awkward talking to him like it sometimes does with Caroline or Missy's men. Maybe because we actually have something in common. I got some passable crowd shots of the festival (holding the camera over my head like the short shit I am) and two really great shots of the gay ROTC group doing their show at the pavilion.

( ROTC Performance, August 10 )

( Lakefront, August 10 )

Once we reached the end of the market, the four of us went out to the lake front and had a little picnic lunch with veggies and hummus, peanuts, trail mix and beer. Though it was a bit chilly, it was a great close-out to the day.

( Picnic, Augut 10 )

We checked out the next day, got some great iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts and started for the highway when I realized I'd left my rainbow cuff bracelet behind in the room. We turned around and the woman at the front desk was kind enough to let me run up and grab it. The drive home ended up being a lot faster and a lot nicer than the ride up to Chicago. I had my Sansa and we listened to Beatle records the whole way home, just as we had up there. When we got to Mile 112 or so on 55, Erica pointed out this *beautiful rainbow* visible in a group of cirrus clouds just overhead. *Gorgeous*. I would have grabbed one of our cameras if they hadn't been in the trunk with our bags. "Abbey Road" was playing, I think. The rainbow remained in the sky until Mile 94 or so and the clouds just broke up. I wonder who was speaking to us just then? *shrugs*

We got home in time for Grandpa's birthday dinner at Friday's. Uncle Matt, Aunt Dolores and the girls both came. Caitlin showed me a new tattoo she got back in June -- the face of Billie Holiday, on her side. The detail of it is fantastic. I may go to the same shop for my next one, haven't decided.

All in all, it was a great trip :) And once again, I can't wait to go back again next year.