Cool Hunting

The Real King of Leon

I strolled over to Discovery Green this afternoon to take in the free Kings Of Leon show.  I don't know much about the Kings - but my daughter tells me they are about as hip as hip gets these days.  I do so like to keep my finger on that whole thing - but clearly, my estimation of what's cool has . . . evolved.

It's an agonizing thing, and not a little pathetic, fronting contemporary cool when you're 54 years old.  I mean, it's difficult enough maintaining old school cool at this age.  Quincy Jones (a fairly low-temp dude in his day) once observed "By the time you think about being cool, generally, you've already missed the bus."  Remembering that always kills my cool-buzz.

So my meager cool-hunting skills generally draw me to guys like the white suited dandy above rather than the actual, mediated, contemporary coolness of Kings of Leon.  I urge you click on the photo above to get the full experience of the King of Leon.  As I often say - there's a lot going on there - particularly the mailbox stick-on letters spelling out his name (affixed to left lapel).

A lot of out-of-town cool was transpiring on The Green.  The Final Four is in Houston and there are a lot of guests visting.  So you don't get the idea that I only see cool in 60 year old black guys with zoot-suit sensibilities, I present the second coolest act I caught at the Kings of Leon show:

The Duchess of Leon

This young lady demonstrated cool sitting on the ground motionless, with a pensive stare that more called to mind sitting on a lonely beach somewhere.  She could have been stoned I guess - but I don't think so.

Water, water everywhere, though not a drop to drink

One has to be observant in large crowds to pick out cool.  There is so much that's ... not.  At the end of the day though, rock-star cool probably always has an edge over either young cool or old school cool.  Whether you're Caleb Followill (29) or Keith Richards (67), rock-star cool is transcendant.

The Followill brothers - with cousin Matthew

But if it's true that cool is what cool does - then what am I doing writing about it.  I'm outta here - it's Saturday night...

(Immediately after finishing this piece your blogger went to bed at approximately 8:30 pm in his fashionable downtown loft - the a/c was set on 62.)