A childlike skyline with domino-like buildings. A man with a pinwheel eye. Erotic escapades.

John Lennon's ever-touring doodles return today to Hard Rock Hotel Chicago. The updated "So This Is Xmas" exhibit, running through Sunday, features more than 100 limited-edition prints, etchings and aqua tints of the ex-Beatle's whimsical drawings.

Fifteen works have never been seen outside New York, curator Rudy Siegel said. These include the sketch of the New York skyline ("The Land of Milk and Honey") and Lennon's droll self-portrait ("Karmic Wheel"). The reproductions are stamped; only rare erotics from Lennon's 1969 "Bag One" portfolio bear his signature. Prices start at $200 for limited-edition lyric sheets to obscure tunes like "(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess." Signed works command up to $22,000.

Most pieces cost around $6,000, but the big-ticket items do sell "once in a blue moon," said Siegel, of Legacy Productions. "John Lennon means a lot of a lot of different people. When someone can afford something of that magnitude, they take it away with a big smile on their face."

As always, at-door donations of $2 will be funneled to a local charity. This year's recipient is the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Show hours are noon to 9 p.m. today, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Yoko Ono, partnered with Legacy Productions, has parlayed her late mate's sketches into a posthumous franchise since 1984. One-time art student Lennon was protective of his pen-and-ink drawings, limiting them to his books, his inner circle, and "Bag One" (his wedding gift to his wife). Dec. 8 marks the 28th anniversary of the former Beatle's death.

Pre-Turkey Day nosh

Yes, that was Bill Murray ("Lost in Translation") lunching at the bar at Petterino's and raving about the chicken pot pie.

Sixty-Second Review

"She wants to see me? What goes on in people's heads?" boozy bugger John Plunkett blurts during "Dublin Carol." Ironically "CSI" star Bill Petersen does such a bang-up job as the likeable lout that Steppenwolf is extending this one-act drama a second time. Written by Conor McPherson, this tale of a Dublin undertaker offered redemption one lonely Christmas Eve runs through Jan. 4 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre. The small, strong cast features Nicole Wiesner as Plunkett's long-estranged daughter and Stephen Louis Grush as his working-class colleague.

Riveting

Sharp-eyed locals will spy a Chicago landmark in a new music video. Denver piano rock band The Fray filmed scenes for new single "You Found Me" this fall amid the girders of the Michigan Avenue Bridge. (How did they get that baby grand down there?) ABC debuted the video with new "Lost" footage Nov. 20 as a promo for the show's fifth season. The network is a fan, having tapped the band's title track from its first album -- "How to Save a Life" -- for the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy."

Grapevine

Actress-singer Jennifer Hudson has bowed out of tonight's show with Brian McKnight at the Star Plaza Theater. The Oscar-winning South Sider, who buried her mother, brother and nephew last month, thanks fans for their prayers on her MySpace blog, adding, "My sister and I take great comfort and strength from your love and concern." ... Chicago's tree-lighting ceremony is at high noon (no typo) Tuesday in Daley Plaza. Actress Keri Russell ("Waitress") will help Mayor Daley flick the switch in broad daylight. The city is shutting its offices today to save money, so the traditional Black Friday event was rescheduled ... Happy Thanksgiving week!