Anyone who quotes Levon Helm is alright with me!

Reminds me of that old muso joke:"How many guitar players does it take to change a lightbulb? One to change the bulb, and four to stand around and bitch about how they would have done it better." Seriously, I agree with your basic sentiment, but with all due respect to Levon Helm, he played in an era when you could make a living as a musician playing bars and clubs (The Hawks were basically a glorified bar band). People forget Hendrix learned his trade playing the chitlin' circuit, and was discovered playing at the Cafe Wha? in NYC. Scarlett Rivera was discovered by Dylan walking down the street. That kind of thing really doesn't happen any more. How would Levon Helm fare in the modern era, where you have to pay to play in a bar, and have to work twice as hard on finding opportunities as you do on your craft? So much depends on fortune that I suspect there'd be more than a touch of bitterness and frustration in his voice.