Marylin Manson is shrewd

In a lawsuit filed today the ex-keyboardist for Marylin Manson alleges the shock rocker, in lieu of paying his band, squandered his fortune on "purchases of Nazi memorabilia and taxidermy including the skeleton of a young Chinese girl."

I, for one, hope the allegations are true. Because, frankly, I'm sick of our recording artists blowing their hard earned money on "bling."

Maybe it was original when the first guy remade his mouth in platinum, or flashed a watch encrusted with enough diamonds to keep a division of child soldiers clothed, fed and armed until 2020. But enough is enough already.

The whole bling thing died for me about five years ago when, during an airing of MTV Cribs, I heard popular rapper Master P. explain (and I might be paraphrasing) "I built my house with gold because what kid doesn't grow up wishing he lived in a house built from gold."

Not I, Master P. In fact I grew up wanting to blow my eventual fortune on breeding Clydesdales or building a beach side resort in Antarctica -- just like I imagined my favorite rock stars would.

Marylin Mason's conspicuous consumption hearkens back to more cultured days when we valued things created on this earth -- not buried deep below it. Days when the wealthy but simple were bamboozled by ridiculous investment schemes-- not shiny rocks .

Although it could be Manson has learned from recording industry bankruptcies of yore. Sick as it may seem, there will probably always be a solid market for Nazi memorabilia. And the nice thing about the skeleton of a Chinese girl is, unlike a hungry Clydesdale, it won't require any expensive grazing space.