End-of-summer malaise at LS.com. We're preparing for our return to NYC (after a week in Maine) on Sept. 9. Meantime, LS.com is taking a holiday. We leave you with an excerpt from the always-excellent Monkeywire, supplied to us by monkey maniac CBD, who proffers the advice, "Please note the following when considering 'modernizing' your personal security systems":

Monkey catches luggage thief
A monkey has caught a thief trying to escape from a railway station in India. Rani and his master Munna were entertaining waiting passengers in Khurda, Orissa, when a train pulled in. Munna instructed him to chase a suspected luggage thief who tried to run away after being spotted by police.The six-year-old rhesus monkey pounced on the man's head and pinned him down until officers arrived to arrest him.

Railway police inspector Tarani Sen Majhi told the Press Trust of India: "The man with the suitcase ignored us and attempted to run away when we asked him to stop. He got down on the railway track and switched platform to make his escape." He added: "On interrogation we found the man had stolen the suitcase from a train. He would have easily run away with the booty had the monkey not helped us in that amazing way. We are really thankful to the street performer and his monkey for their service."

Of all the talk about the impending baseball strike, this fan says it best.

Some welcome news: the band is returning to the stage.

LS.com eagerly awaits its transition back to its home office on Rivington Street at the end of this month. To get ourselves mentally prepared for NYC again, we've been checking in on our neighbors by way of the NYCBloggers Delancey Street subway stop map. Here's what we've seen.

Observers. Some offer sage notes on LES life. George at likeanorb (wow, gorgeous blog) spins a yarn about the torrential rain of early August ("The neighborhood looked strange in this weather. In front of the guitar store on Rivington Street, a discount beer truck sat idle"). Catwoman loves her Rivington roof as much as we do ("after the last revelers left (at 6 a.m.! we do not mess around with our parties) i spent some time contemplating on the roof. there is nothing like my roof for that sort of thing"). And Dodai is finding love and loss ("this overlapping love-interest thing is twisting my brain into knots").

Critics. Others blog with a more cricial eye. FelixSalmon has been reading this summer, offering commentary on two books I also enjoyed ("I've been slowly developing a theory of what I call built-in obsolescence in art"). Jim has been engaging in one of our favorite guilty pleasures: reading Debka.com ("Interesting weapon. Quite useful no doubt, if it exists").

Here at LS.com, we've been doing a little of everything and a lot of nothing, gearing up for an active fall. At least we've got our tan in place.

One sad political note: Rep. James Traficant's expulsion from Congress last month has led to the deletion of his One Minute Speeches from the House website. Google maintains a cache of the old site, but how long until gems like this, delivered on the floor of the House in Spring 2001, disappear forever?

Madam Speaker, it started with the training bra and then it came to the push-up bra; the support bra, the Wonder bra, the super bra. There is even a smart bra. Now, if that is not enough to prop up your curiosity, there is now a new bra. It is called the holster bra, the gun bra. That is right, a brassiere to conceal a hidden handgun. Unbelievable. That is next? A maxi-girdle to conceal a stinger missile? Beam me up. I advise all men in America against taking women to drive-in movies who may end up getting shot in a passionate embrace. I yield back all those plain old Maidenform brassieres and chain link pantyhose.

We're informed by MOP that ABC News' The Note is the great daily political read. For our taste, it's got too much tiresome information. Plus, you need to register to read it. Where's Orvetti when you need him? This article seems to imply that he'll be kicking this fall, even if his site is a deadzone at the moment.
· The Note [abcnews.go.com]
· Orvetti.com

After weeks of torrid negotations, the JVG/JA/LS literature project Book of Ages is a go! More details once we know more ourselves. This is also a good moment to alert loyal readers that FringeNYC, the festival that gave the world Tiny Ninja Theater, kicks off this weekend. Insiders whisper that Christina Nicosia's one-woman play "Man of Infinite Desire" is the pick of the litter.
· Man of Infinite Desire [moid.com]
· Book of Ages [bookofages.com] By soon, we mean "fall 2003"

Interesting Dave Eggers Q&A over at the New Yorker's website. Seems Dave will sell his new novel direct from McSweeneys in a limited pressrun of 20,000 copies. At last, CS and I will settle our bet over whether he can write fiction or not.
· Around the World in a Week Q&A [newyorker.com]
· New Novel by Dave Eggers [mcsweeneys.net]

Spent the weekend on Nantucket at the fabulous Gifford-Bennett wedding/committment fete. Congratulations to the happy couple, who received some society coverage for their vows.
· Boston Herald Inside Track [bostonherald.com, Scroll down a bit]
· Buzz, Peoples, Places, Parties [NantucketFoggySheet.com]

Jeez, if Palmermix is back in action, what excuse does LS.com have anymore? MOP's got the scoop on the upcoming Steve Earle release. Bad tidings, alas:

Sadly, Jerusalem is a departure from that winning streak. It starts with the music -- this is a step back for Steve, going back to the boring Bon Jovi and Mellencamp hard guitars of his weakish "middle period" -- Copperhead Road, the Hard Way, etc. His vocals also are slurred, and often kept in the back of the mix, so that you can't hear the lyrics too well. Which might be just as well, because the real flaw of the album are the lyrics.

Ah, the dog days of summer. Happy August.