Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years.

I don't know if you know this about me, but I like music. I can't carry a tune in a bucket but I play the radio with a skilled hand. The title comes from an LL Cool J song (and yes I know I'm the only one here who knew he was a rapper before he was an actor, but that's OK and also that I edited it because I couldn't leave it the way it was...just grammatically wrong and all) that makes me want to bounce on my toes and jab a boxing bag. Very few songs do that. This has nothing to do with this post except I liked the title and thought you might need to know the history. I could be wrong.

Here's the thing: I missed out on Bret Michaels when Poison was big. Hair bands were never really that big for me (although I could go for a little Bon Jovi. I mean, who couldn't?).

So the next time I encountered Bret was on Rock of Love. And when you make it to shows on VH1, it's usually over for you. They are so bad that I can't look away, but in Bret's favor is that it was a dating show instead of one of Dr. Drew's addiction shows. Those are sad. Even surrounded by a cloud of "dancers" and other exotic types, he still seemed funny and very positive.

And then he showed up on Celebrity Apprentice and I thought "Now this is going to be interesting." And interesting in the way you say interesting when you expect a train wreck but you hate to see that happen to anybody, rock star celebrity or not.

And then he went and won the whole thing, outlasting people that I thought might be in the last project. And he did it and kept his claim to the "Good Sportsmanship" award too. He worked hard, he won tasks, he had creative ideas. He didn't bad mouth anyone. He had a little trouble making it to work on time. I feel his pain.

And then the appendectomy, a brain hemorrhage and last week, a warning stroke that led doctors to find a hole in his heart. After working to win money and attention for his charity, the American Diabetes Association, he made it to the very end. He traveled to the Celebrity Apprentice finale and won. And haters say it's all because of the sympathy.

And then last night, he made a surprise appearance on American Idol to sing "Every Rose" with Casey James. And haters are saying reports of his health issues are a publicity stunt. It's true! I read it all on the internets! How could he do all that if he was really sick?

Because it's really very important to his career, to his cause, to him, maybe?

I wonder about people sometimes.

Still not a Poison fan and I think the duet with Miley still creeps me out a bit, but seeing him on American Idol made me a lot happier than Alice Cooper, Christina, and Janet Jackson all smashed together. Simon's always talking about having a moment. Bret pretty much had a moment there last night.