"I was a paper boy back when there was paper boys/ book stores and record shops/
Bricks and mortar
I made the cover but I can't pay the bank"

Replace Jason Collett's titular track "Song and Dance Man" from his forthcoming album due Feb 16 on Arts & Crafts for Billy Joel's "Piano Man" and you're closing in on Collett's frame of mind. Maybe at this junctureit's every artist's frame of mind. Maybe we are all questioning why we make what we make anymore. There are many questions around the value of art and the worth of artists. There is an internet meme parodying the idea of offering exposure in exchange for free performances. Lets just say no one is doing it for the exposure. Ultimately it comes down to making for the sake of making and not for the sake of making it.
If you find yourself writing about your position as an artist in the negative, summing up your incredible talent (and Collett is an incredible talent) as merely a song and dance man then perhaps keep wood-sheding the song ideas until you feel you have value again. Lets put it this way; we have enough jaded narcissists bemoaning the loss of a mythical golden past. Take that talent so evident on the album "Idols of Exile" and the ability to connect thoughts and minds and people on the the stage of the Collett curated Basement Revue and make something that can not and will not be summed as merely "entertainment". Because Collett is so much more and no one least of all him should settle for anything less. Even if its a catchy number.
Here's some Rory Taillon for you to let you know JayC is not alone in the re-examination of art and its value, and its values.