I've been working lately as a bike valet. The city puts on all these concerts and festivals and such down in Grant Park and sometimes so many people ride their bikes that there's not a rack or tree left to lock them to. So the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation puts up racks, and I park bikes.

It's easy work, and we basically talk bikes with all the folks who wander by. The last two weeks were Blues Fest and Gospel Fest. The booth is across from the bandshell, so we can watch the shows while we work. I saw Chuck D with a blues ensemble, and Buckwheat Zydeco (my taste for blues, obviously, only hovers around the fringe). The gospel music, at times, was a bit too rockin' for gospel... at one point they busted into "Beat It".