No amount of rain or cloud could’ve obscured the beauty of Chicago’s Grant Park on the first day of Lollapalooza, which despite less than welcoming conditions drew tens of thousands of mostly happy, mostly well-behaved music fans. On day one we caught Fleet Foxes, Crystal Castles, Of Montreal, and Depeche Mode.

A report from day three of Comic-Con 2009, including panels on the TV shows V, Fringe, The Simpsons, and True Blood. Plus: We attend an actual comic book panel, the DC Universe Editorial Presentation.

A report from day two of Comic-Con 2009, including panels on The Prisoner, Darwyn Cooke, 24, Bones, Buck Rogers 80th Anniversary, Dollhouse, and TV Guide Sci-Fi Hot List (featuring Chuck‘s Zachary Levi, The Big Bang Theory‘s Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons, Flash Forward‘s John Cho, Eastwick‘s Rebecca Romijn, and V‘s Scott Wolf). Plus, we attended the Eisner Awards.

And so it began. After months of build up the San Diego Comic-Con was finally here. Here’s a rundown of what we saw on day one of Comic-Con: the Entertainment Weekly: Wonder Women: Female Power Icons in Pop Culture panel, panels on the TV shows Burn Notice and Psych, and the world premiere of the Green Lantern: First Flight direct-to-DVD animated movie.

John K. Samson is not a tall man. Of course, I suspect he’d be first one to tell you this. Leadman of The Weakerthans, he’s made a career out of singing songs about social outcasts and the geeks who love them. Embodying a strangely compelling reverse-Napoleon complex, he presents himself as a man completely secure in his…er…shortcomings. Taking The Weakerthans’ particular brand of honey-coated melancholy to the streets, this makes for the sort of show that only the cliché “warm and fuzzy” can properly describe.

Cracker’s 1992 radio hit “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)” famously noted “What the world needs now/is another folk singer/like I need a hole in my head.” For the last 17 years, with a few notable exceptions, I have tended to agree with that sentiment. But after a recent Monday night, following the charming, confident performance of Kristian Matsson (aka The Tallest Man on Earth), I find myself scouring websites and record bins for new folk.

Did you know that the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum & Exposition Park recently played host to a dance/rave event that was attended by 135,000 people over two days? What’s shocking is that a show that big can go off with hardly anyone in the mainstream media picking up on it. The numbers for this two-day show nearly matched those for Coachella’s three-day show this year, and there wasn’t even a Paul McCartney on site. Dance and electronic music might not be as respected as other types of popular music, but as evidenced by this years Electric Daisy Carnival, electronic fans are devoted and legion.

Since his heyday in the early ‘90s, Evan Dando and his Lemonheads have had somewhat of a rocky time. Reports of drug use and the collapse of the band in 1997 preceded an extended hiatus from music that threatened to end Dando’s career. He came back, seemingly out of nowhere, in 2003 for the understated solo album, Baby I’m Bored, and then returned under the Lemonheads name in 2006, albeit with a completely retooled lineup. In June, The Lemonheads released Varshons, an album of cover songs recorded with yet another group of players, but still under the Lemonheads name.

After spending an indeterminate amount of time—minutes? hours?—reading text messages from the audience scrolling across the screen above the stage, the house lights at the Wiltern came down. Brooklyn-based quartet Grizzly Bear strolled out and took to an unusual formation onstage: Chris Taylor (bass, clarinet, flute, sax, etc.) to the far left, Ed Droste (vocals, guitar, autoharp) to his right, Daniel Rossen (vocals, guitar, keys) next over, and Christopher Bear (vocals, drums) to the far right. With the band in full array, each member markedly contributed to the intricate unfoldings that fashion the Grizzly Bear repertoire.