Gavin DeGraw Beaten, Hit by Taxi Cab and Forced to Cancel Bridgestone Arena Appearance [Oh, the Humility]

If there's one thing I've learned from being a musician, music critic and human being, it's that making terrible, unmitigated, contempt-inducing pop music — as in second-rate-Five for Fighting-meets-third-rate-John Mayer, collegiate adult contemporary — doesn't make someone a terrible person deserving of unmitigated contempt, necessarily.

But what if that not-necessarily-terrible-and-contemptible person is second-rate-Five for Fighting-meets-third-rate-John Mayer collegiate middling road-warrior Gavin DeGraw? Then should he have to pay dearly for it? And what if DeGraw's smirking just-farted-in-front-of-own-girlfriend-in-public mug (above) is among the most theoretically punchable in rock? Should it be punched in reality?

While, honestly, I say no, a group of at-press-time unidentified New York City thugs have answered those questions with a resounding yes.