chas ... apology accepted ... yes, the written word is often misinterpreted ...

Conversationally, as said, I think that some people, when they speak - or in the case of this forum - WRITE - about AKs, they seem to be talking down and demeaning the work of OMB ...
Now, it is true that there are OMB who only use the KB as a glorified midi or mp3 player and just sing over it ... I would agree that some - many?- of these people have not worked to develop their talents the way others have ... however, there are many players/singers/entertainers here who have spent years developing their style and the delivery of their product, and while their audiences may not be the most critical judges of musical talent, these players are providing countless hours of musical entertainment to a wide variety of audiences, and to be 'degraded' for using the modern technology of AKs can become a 'personal' issue ...
For me, I have had the good fortune of playing accordion for many years - yes, I said GOOD FORTUNE of playing accordion - that allowed me to migrate to a Fender Rhodes, and then to an AK, which now allows me to go out, make a few bucks, and feed my ego by entertaining people ... but there are many times that I wish I was playing a gig with other 'live' musicians ... Just last week, I had the blessing of playing a gig with the sax player from our band in NY ... the last time we played together was last year at this same gig, but no one in the audience would have known that ... in fact, when I told one friend who was there, he couldn't believe it - he thought we played together all the time ... but that's what playing for 26 years will do for you ...

But, back to the OT ... I still say we don't see Aks on big stages because they are not needed there ... but there are plenty of stages where they are needed and provide a valuable tool for entertainment as well as a good tool in a studio environment ...

(The fact is, the WHOLE industry has changed, so much of today's music is 'manufactured', not played, recordings are made without the musicians and singers ever even seeing each other, ... like much of life, the personal interaction is getting less and less, and yes, I think that is really sad.)

Stay cool ...