My two cents on the Ashlee Simpson thing...

- It's not the first time I've seen a big-name artist get caught in a lip synch. I remember a specific one of Kenny Rogers doing "Lady" at the Statue of Liberty that was rather funny.

- It does not surprise me that there was lip synching on SNL. Many other times I've seen artists on SNL who I was certain were lip synching even when they didn't make a mistake.

- Being a musician and performer, I understand the technical reasons why someone would do a lip synch on a show like SNL. But most of those reasons can be overcome with practice and professionalism, thus not requiring the lip synch.

- Doing a lip synch is a trade off. When you do it, it's a risk that you'll make a mistake and get caught. And as miss Simpson just learned the hard way, when it goes bad, it goes REALLY bad.

- Don't dis your band. No matter what you do in the music business, don't dis your band, you stuck up little rich kid. Argh. Another lesson she has (hopefully by now) learned the hard way.

- My favorite band, Rush, plays backing tracks for some of their pieces, and I've seen them get desynchronized with the backing tracks. For example, Aimee Mann's voice for the song "Time Stand Still" is done as a backing track. It's fatally embarrassing when it goes bad, but at least they keep playing through it and the rest of the song continues without incident.

- I personally have been on stage in front of an audience when something goes bad. Never did a lip synch of course, but I've been in front of large groups of people and completely forgotten lyrics or chords. Each time such a thing happens, it's a painful, scarring memory that makes me cringe to remember it. So as much as I make fun of miss Simpson, it's also painful to watch that video tape of the SNL incident because I feel a lot of sympathy for her. I've been there, and it really REALLY hurts.