How often do you think to yourself that it would be a wonderful thing to be the coolest person in the world? Who is considered to be the king of cool right now? Would it be Brad Pitt? Or is it a rockstar like maybe Maynard of Tool? Is it Al Gore for “An Inconvenient Truth”? Maybe your next door neighbor, or your best friend? Let’s take Brad Pitt for example. Here’s a man who has been the object of desire for lots of women, maybe even some men. He’s done some very good and cool movies too.
Do you think Brad wakes up in the morning and thinks, damn I’m such a cool guy? One has to wonder. I don’t believe I’ve ever done that. Have you? Time to pretend you are THE coolest person in the world for a moment. What exactly makes you so cool? Is it your look? Your actions? The people you know? The person you date or are married to? Maybe it’s the clothes you wear, or the shoes on your feet. Could it be the words you say? What is that definition of cool?
I ask this because about a month or so ago, I was acused of being a victim of my own coolness. That’s a rather odd thing to hear about yourself. Especially when it means a couple of things. One, the person thinks you’re cool, or the stuff you do is cool. But at the same time its a detriment. For me the person was a Nashville songwriter who’s had some cuts and done a lot of writing with other people. He was referring to my song Falling In.
He likes my song Falling In. He also likes the technique I use to play the guitar part. It was this technique of slap and pop, which is rare in guitar playing (not so rare in bass playing), that garnered that response. He felt that because the guitar part and the technique of it is so cool, that it detracts from how good the song is. At least when I perform it live. How should I know, I can’t see myself playing it. I just do it. It’s just what I do and how I wrote the song. So to me, it’s not cool, that wasn’t my motivation for creating it. That was only how I approached creating it. It just is.
So what I hope for is that people would latch onto the music anyway they can. Thus if they like the song great. If they like the technique and it gets them to listen, great! Whatever it is that can be done to make a fan and/or a sale, I don’t care. My thought process never goes to “how cool would I be if…”, not when I’m creating anyway.
It’s not often that I will buy an album without having ever heard it or the artist. Especially when I don’t have much background knowledge. But I had heard in passing about Béla on a few occassions. So I took the plunge at iTunes and ordered the CD “Left of Cool”. First thing you can hear is that the dominant instrument is a Banjo. That’s an instant thing that makes you cock your head sideways. You don’t hear it much in Jazz. Well, maybe not at all. I would venture a guess that in general the Banjo is not considered a cool instrument. Although I have met some players that make it sound extremely cool. I’ve yet to meet Béla though.
So I bought the music and instantly put it on my iPod and whomphf, I’m like wow, this is some insanely cool music. It’s different, it’s hip, it’s foreign (to me), and that’s a good thing. I think it’s your turn to explore. You’ve heard this song. I’m letting you know that the rest is equally as cool.
(** Disclaimer: If Béla’s label decides to really be left of cool about the audio, I will remove it to retain my hip status. The text will remain. **)