Ah, the things I've seen

Bon Scott. The Police (with Joan Jett and Cheap Trick as openers.) The Who. Triumph with Malmsteen. The Go-Gos. The Fixx. Billy Idol (pre-hideous era.) Hell, even Charlie Daniels and Jay Ferguson (who remembers him now?)

And so many others I lost count.

The thing about the shows I've seen in days gone by is that the bands could not have walked onstage with a karaoke machine and done their acts-there was real musicianship. Guitars, drums, keyboards. Today it seems increasingly like the musicianship doesn't matter anymore-the visual seems to be the biggest sell. I lived in an era when Britney wouldn't have made it, and I sometimes miss that era.

Rick James thought the cuts to school music programs was the reason for the loss of musicianship. He may well have been right.