Can benefit events raise even more money?

It's hard to imagine, but it's been five years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Crescent City and other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Five years.

And, New Orleans simply hasn't been the same since in many respects.

In the weeks and months following Hurricane Katrina, we saw what generally happens in times of great tragedy. We saw the entertainment industry mobilize in a series of telethons and benefit concerts.

The biggest of the bigs -- U2, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Kanye West and on and on and on -- all line up in front of a camera and tell us of the tragic loss felt by the victims of the disaster.

A couple of months ago, country music's biggest stars and ZZ Top (odd addition to the bill) performed a giant, festival-style concert series to benefit flood victims in Nashville.

Recently, Mississippi native Faith Hill announced a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina-ravaged areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. And, rest assured, there are certainly areas of the New Orleans area that are still ravaged -- five years later.

Don't get me wrong. The benefit concert is a good thing. I'm quite certain millions and millions of dollars have been raised and much has been done in the way of rebuilding.

But while it's all well and good that lots of money is raised and the American public digs deep to go see their favorite artist and give to charity, I pose this question:

How much are the stars in for?

Let's take the Nashville Rising benefit concert that raised money for flood-torn Nashville in June.

That thing featured some really heavy hitters ... some of them Texas artists such as Brad Paisley, Leann Rimes, Miranda Lambert and the aforementioned little ol' band from Tejas.

Others on the bill included Blake Shelton, Martina McBride, Jason Aldean, Bill Ray and Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Brooks and Dunn and well, you get the idea.

All of these folks for the most part are multi-millionaires. I wonder if they donated to the cause, or did they get paid to perform a "benefit" concert. Maybe they didn't get their full guarantee appearance money.

But even though these benefit concerts raised millions, I can't help but think the could have raised much more. Carrie Underwood, Paisley, Swift, Brooks and Dunn, Rimes, McBride, perhaps the Cyrus family, Tim McGraw, Hill and perhaps ZZ Top could have each kicked in a million bucks a piece.

We could have been up to $10 million before we even started this thing.

I'm always interested in how the stars get out there and encourage us to give out of the goodness of our hearts. They use their celebrity to plead the case -- to be an advocate -- of the victims of disaster.

And it is tragic. Please don't misunderstand. We aren't minimalizing the impact Katrina or the floods in Tennessee had on residents of the region. It's true ... in many cases, people did lose everything they owned.

But while you hear about all the money generated by these concerts, you never hear about any stake the artists have in the event.

It's tough out here. The economy has taken it's toll on everyone. In fact, the artists will tell you they aren't doing as well as they once did because it's hard to make money in the music industry selling records.

Still, some of those artists will get $1 million or more per performance. They won't get all of that money as there are agents, public relations staff, managers and so forth to pay. Still, it seems a little hypocritical for these artists to ask the guy trying to scrape up $100 to attend a benefit concert to dig deeper and give more when the artists themselves are sitting on gold mines.

I know ... it's a little cynical. But we live in a cynical world. A cynical world. And it's a business of tough competitors.

Whoa ... I just went Jerry McGuire there. Sorry about that.

I guess I'd just like to see if the artists are backing their own causes when it comes to these types of benefit concerts. And, I know some of them do. Miranda Lambert is not only and advocate for, but a practitioner of, animal adoption.

She has a personal stake in her animal adoption cause. I believe Brad Paisley lost some of his instruments and music equipment in the Nashville flood.

Still, it's difficult not to be overly cynical when it comes to these things.