OK, look sometimes I ramble in my Enjoy column and me erstwhile editor has to reign me in through the magic of…well, editing. Here's the 15 inch ramble that originally began my May 24 Enjoy Column…

One of the interesting perks of this gig is that sometimes you get to see an artist or band live on whom you would never spend your own money more than once. It can be a pleasantly surprising experience as it was the first time I saw James Taylor at Blossom or how much energy Linkin Park both brought to and inspired in their audience a few years ago and of course there are nights when it can be excruciating (do I really need to mention Dave Matthews, again?). Repeated viewings also allow you to discover interesting tidbits about artists that you otherwise miss from recordings and television appearances. Faith Hill always seemed a bit cold and distant to me when watching her perform on television in some $10,000 couture outfit, but onstage her voice takes on a much more soulful edge and she physically works three times harder than her equally well-manicured husband Tim McGraw whose way too cool to break a sweat.
Keeping in the country vein, having seen Brooks and Dunn a few times I’ve noticed that despite having made googobs of country hits and piles of money in their nearly 20 years as a duo, Brooks and Dunn onstage dynamic ain’t particularly buddy-buddy. Sure they come out and stand together in the beginning but after the traditional first three songs photo op most bands allow for local news/television photographers, Kix Brooks and his guitar tend to jam with the other band members while Ronnie Dunn likes to walk around the stage giving everyone more cowbell and heaving drumsticks into the crowd. Occasionally, I also get to witness professional rock stars ply their trade when they obviously aren’t feeling like rock stars. For example, at Bon Jovi’s last Cleveland show, the singer was obviously tired, yet his voice never wavered and through a series of expertly timed and well rehearsed poses, brief energy spurts and occasionally allowing the ladies in the onstage super-fan club circle area to feel him up, he still managed to make that crowd believe they were getting the full Bon Jovi experience.

Yeah, she appears to be working he way down to the "D list" and there probably aren't to many young girls who think she's the bee knees or want to be her when they grow up as there were two years ago.
But this simple AP story should remove any doubt that she and her father are completely full of poop

NEW YORK (AP) _ Ashlee Simpson, who made headlines last year when she turned up with a new image and profile, says she's still the same on the inside.

"I'm in a stronger place now," she says. "I'm coming into my womanhood, and it's changing my music."

Hmm.
As I recall, the basis of her ascencion to the near top of the teenybopper heap was that she wasn't the pretty blonde bimbo her sister was. She was (supposed to be) the gawky, scrappy, less stupid one, the "regular girl" trying to find her own space and come out from her "beautiful sister's" shadow and blah, blah blah, buy my records.

Ashlee, honey. You had some cosmetic surgery that flies in the face of your initial marketing scheme, fine.
At least have the guts to OWN IT.
"Maybe–Who Knows" is an idiotic cop out that isn't even logical.
It's YOUR damn face..Don't YOU know?
At the very least you could have said it's none of our damn business or something like "Yes, I had the bump in my nose removed and "fixed" some other stuff that wasn't really wrong to look more like my sister…SO WHAT!? Now I feel pretty!"

See, Ash (can I call you Ash?) if you had come clean about the face fixin's and then gone on to make obviously untrue statements about your rock solid self-confidence like the above, you would only appear to be shallow and forgetful rather than a shallow Lying Sack of Crap (in addition to being a Talentless Sack of Crap.)