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Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 14 - "Cool Kids"


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“Maybe you are the "cool" generation if coolness means a capacity to stay calm and use your head in the service of ends passionately believed in, then it has my admiration.”
Kingman Brewster

So I went from thinking about reality TV and writing “Little Black Book” to penning this song for Paris Hilton and Brody Jenner and these so-called “celebrities” who have come to make their notoriety without offering too much to the world in terms of talent. Nothing is forthcoming from them in terms of creative solutions that address the issues and challenges facing their generation. Instead, they travel back and forth throughout the globe on private jets, whisked into swanky nightclub hot spots to party behind the velvet ropes of the VIP section, as oblivious to the outside world as most spoiled rich kids.

At the time I wrote “Cool Kids” I was working in Yaletown (the Vancouver “be-seen” equivalent of L.A) where men and women prance the storefront catwalks in their over-priced outfits, requisite tiny-dog accessories tucked deep in a designer purse or frantically scurrying at their heels, styled in an equally disturbing array of human-inspired fashions that, unbeknownst to their self-absorbed masters, serves no other apparent purpose than to suck the living spirit right out from beneath their carefully manicured paws.

It’s hard not to take it personally when you work to create and support different ways of thinking about the role of our species on this planet, only to be forced to “make a living” amidst the goals and ideals of an obliviously out-of-touch society. For all of the teachers, mentors, activists and entrepreneurs whose passionately creative endeavors I was so voraciously absorbing, arriving at this particular part of the city for a four to eight hour shift all but sucked the living spirit right out of me as well.

Oh! How I long for the day when it’s hip and cool to live without such ridiculously audacious accoutrement and when treating the Community of Life with respect and compassion is the true fashion of the day!

In the meantime, I suppose we must continue to ridicule the apathetic behaviours of our more wealthy cultural counterparts for they are not the trendsetters of the day but simply slaves to the fashion rhythms of a bygone era. The Green Revolution is underway but, wouldn’t you know it, they have missed the boat on this one too; only the impact of their sense of entitlement is so great that none of us can afford to leave them behind for very long.

Like the styles of the decades that have now thankfully passed before us, they are relics of an ancient time when mankind walked this earth, oblivious to the impact of his actions and living with blind ignorance beyond his means.

So I am calling for their removal. No longer do I wish to hear what they have to say. Do you know why, because they are saying absolutely nothing of consequence at all? I say down with the Cool Kids and their custom designed apathy! A new era is upon us!

Long Live the Bleeding Hearts!

From Here To There,
Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.