A reader sent this to me, making me realize the situation is worse than I thought:

Hey whats up? Ok I live in NYC and seen Usher perform at the Apollo on Friday. Ioono homie. USher is not at his peak. The end of the concert was weak and his dancing was not great. in fact he didn't dance mcuh at all. I found myself paying more attention to his back up dancers than to him even when he did move a lil bit. Also let me just say that this is the first concert I have ever been to that everyone stayed in their seats and didn't try to bum rush the stage. but that also could be because i have never been to a R&B artist concert before. the energy just seemed low in there. oh but here is a sidenote. chris brown, Ciara, Ne-yo and Fat joe was all there in the audience to watch Usher perform. That was the highlight of the night. you better talk to boy Usher. time to step it up!

See what happens when you morph into the R&B version of Star Jones. I bet Chris Brown and Ne-Yo were all laughing their asses off.

For the record, that's not how most R&B concerts are. That's how most concerts with artists who should have taken a longer break before they decided to hop on stage and embarrass themselves are.

I give up. Usher just isn't same artist anymore; he's now the over-the-hill Uncle of that artist. He hasn't even officially made 30, and already he's dancing like he has back problems. This is why he should have stayed in the nursery a little longer before he decided to drop an album.

Between this and threats of being kicked in the shin by Chris Brown's youngest female fans (and his older female fans...and male fans, too, actually), I'm thinking (again) about revisiting this whole "Chris Brown ain't nothing but Al B Sure! with rhythm" grip I have and consider joining the Cult of Chris. I will never fully embrace Justin the Janet Killer, and Ne-Yo the Ninja Turtle's solo work isn't all that impressive to me. What other options do I have outside of forcing himself to watch Moonwalker again? Don't even bother mentioning the Kang of R&B: I'm not going to a crack house for a concert.

You never know how big a fan of an artist you are until they completely fall off. Sigh.