I live in an area where there are hundreds of festivals every summer. I try to catch as many musicians as I could playing at these events. And I do....even if only for a few minutes. Most of them are terrible and getting worse every summer.

But I saw a really well-known and popular group the other night. Tight, well-rehearsed, good musicians and all of them multi-instrumentalists.

Then I started thinking.......they are too good. It started with their Bohemian Rhapsody. Right on the money, but that was the problem. Not a single note out of place. And......they sounded just like Queen does in the recording....vocoder processed, but I never saw anyone set the thing up or hit buttons (I was in the front row).

Then they did a "surfing" medley. It included Walk, Don't Run, and Miami Vice, and a few others. At one point the lead guitar, the bass player, the rhythm guitar, and the saxophone player lined up as a quartet in the front of the stage. I looked hard. I couldn't see anyone playing the lead melody notes. And it was a "huge" sound. Too huge for it to be coming from only four players!

I could be wrong (and I hope I am), but is it possible that more of the presentation than I thought was pre-recorded while the instrumentalists were just going through the motions. After all, the sound-man processed the voices on Bohemian. Was he also filling in parts of the stage show with "stage trickery?"

It's terrible when you're a dis-believer! Show me the money!!!! Then I'll start believing in the tooth fairy again!

Mark