doing something wrong, playlist art... ugh!

[MrSinatra]

having a strange issue i should know how to fix, but can't seem to figure it out. using bento, i have the playlist fully expanded on the right hand side. on my laptop, i can click and drag a bottom bar that will show the currently playing tracks album art in a resizable window, and/or allow me to drag it to the point where it disappears. thats the normal expected behavior afaik.

but on a desktop, i can't seem to get that art to show! i can't "find" the bar to drag it up to make the art appear. i can do it np on the laptop, just not this desktop. i thought it might be a pref, and i might have stared right at it, but if it is, i haven't found it yet.

any hints, tips, tricks, fixes? its totally under my skin right now.