NationStates Jolt Archive

No, there is no "other" option cuz I'm not interested. I give you two choices, choose one or don't vote!

IMHO, these are the two coolest people who ever walked the earth and I need NS General's help in deciding, once and for all, who defines "Cool".

Then what you should be asking yourself is, if Miles Davis and Jack Kerouac had to decide who, of the two of them, were cooler, what would they say?

There's your answer. But I don't think either of them were particularly cool, so I won't vote.

Then what you should be asking yourself is, if Miles Davis and Jack Kerouac had to decide who, of the two of them, were cooler, what would they say?
Huh?
I thought the question was "If Milesa Davis and Jack Kerouac were in a rowboat and it was sinking due to too much weight, would they throw out their dear dog Rover?"

Kerouac, without a doubt. For those of you who don't know - you had better read 'On the Road'. ;)

No, there is no "other" option cuz I'm not interested. I give you two choices, choose one or don't vote!

IMHO, these are the two coolest people who ever walked the earth and I need NS General's help in deciding, once and for all, who defines "Cool".
Now I like both figures a lot. Given that, there are some things to consider:

Jack Kerouac was kinda a dork. That 'constant child-like' fascination thing. While that allowed for the writting, it didn't help him in the actual cool department. If you read Kerouac's passage in The Subterranians(sp) about listening to Charlie Parker at The Red Door you see his esteem that he has for the musicians. He, in fact, refered to his writting as Jazz, because he thought jazz musicians played to the end of their breath. Of course, this is not true-another tip in Miles favor.

Miles redifined music more than once, Kerouac opened for one chang.

Now, if you want real cool-watch A Great Day in Harlem, watch when Thelonius Monk arrives and aaaaalllll the coolest people on the planet, start reacting to how cool that guy is. Thats your cool.

Who are these people?

who are them two people ive never heard of them

who are them two people ive never heard of them
Jack Kerouac (http://www.jackkerouac.com/index.php) is kinda understandable, especially if you are not an American.

He was the writer that coined the term 'Beat Generation,' wrote On the Road as one of the movements seminal works. Friends with other founders Allen Ginsberg (Howl) and William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch and my sig).

Miles Davis (http://www.milesdavis.com/), that you should know. He started playing trumpet with Charlie Parker out of Julliard, inovated or was part of Cool, third stream, and fusion jazz. One of the key late figures of Jazz.

On a side note, follow links to official websites and who's cooler is plainly evident.

well obviously they cannot be the coolset people ever because i and two people before me have never heard of these people....WHAT ABOUT KURT CABAIN or Jimmy Hendrix

Now, if you want real cool-watch A Great Day in Harlem, watch when Thelonius Monk arrives and aaaaalllll the coolest people on the planet, start reacting to how cool that guy is. Thats your cool.

Now ... I do agree ... and Thelonius Monk is, actually, the 3rd on my list of coolest of the cool ever, but Jack and Miles have tied in my mind for top spot.

Hence, this thread for discussion. :)

well obviously they cannot be the coolset people ever because i and two people before me have never heard of these people....WHAT ABOUT KURT CABAIN or Jimmy Hendrix
You may not have factored in how uncool you are....:D











(I'm ribbin' ya....just in case)

Miles. Straight up.

Incidently, my nation name is a play on Kerouac with a Davis melody.

Simple letter replacement code with A = middle C on the piano.

K = A#
E = E
R = F
U = A
V = A#
A = C
L = B
I = G#
A = C

For those of you in the musical know, go jam out that chord progression on a piano or play that melody on a sax or whatever and you have the reason for my nation name.

Incidently, my nation name is a play on Kerouac with a Davis melody.

Simple letter replacement code with A = middle C on the piano.


For those of you in the musical know, go jam out that chord progression on a piano or play that melody on a sax or whatever and you have the reason for my nation name.
Neat. I wish i gave my nation's name that much thought. My nation's name was pretty much a result of me being hungry.

Neat. I wish i gave my nation's name that much thought. My nation's name was pretty much a result of me being hungry.


Honestly, it was acid induced. I dropped a couple LSD hits and was listening to a spoken word of some Kerouac poetry and had a Miles Davis album playing at the same time. This was while I was in college and was in my amateurish phase of suddenly realizing that music == math == music and started working out people's names to figure out their personal tune.

It was about this time in my life when I took the name "DJ Fishpaw" as my recording name and wanted to tell people that I came from the planet "Keruwackia", but once - while drunk - pronounced it "Keruvania" and was known in some smaller circles as "DJ Karoovy" for a little while.

I thought Keruvalia sounded better than Keruvania and, two years later, stumbled on Nation States and chose Keruvalia as my nation's name.

The fact that it matches up with a Miles Davis fusion progression is, probably, coincidence. It's just a cool story to tell.

Alright, anyone who is American and doesn't know who these men are needs to get themselves a bit of culture right away. If you're not American then go find out who they are anyway. It can't hurt. It is an alarming state of affairs when people like Kurt Cobain are mentioned in a thread about these two.

Kerouac, while cool, falls short of Miles Davis. Miles Davis is indisputably cooler. The world could survive without 'On The Road'. Without Miles Davis we'd all be communists and speaking German and there would have been no one to inspire Kurt Cobain to write Smells Like Teen Spirit (take that, you whipper snappers).

Now, if you want real cool-watch A Great Day in Harlem, watch when Thelonius Monk arrives and aaaaalllll the coolest people on the planet, start reacting to how cool that guy is. Thats your cool.

Wow, I haven't seen that since it came out. When was that? 1994 or 1995 I guess. Somewhere around there. I must find it and buy it. Jesus, ten years. Time sure flies when you're having fun.

WHAT ABOUT KURT CABAIN or Jimmy Hendrix

You spelled their names wrong. :rolleyes:

How can it not be Miles Davis (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000006Q6B/002-9753720-1593619?v=glance)?

Going with Miles for several reasons:
1) Cool comes from jazz, not poetry. (see the etymology below)
2) Personal bias: I actually saw Miles play live, never had a chance to hear Kerouac read.
3) The Birth of the Cool is exactly what it claims to be.


Then what you should be asking yourself is, if Miles Davis and Jack Kerouac had to decide who, of the two of them, were cooler, what would they say?

They'd be too cool to answer that.

Alright, anyone who is American and doesn't know who these men are needs to get themselves a bit of culture right away. If you're not American then go find out who they are anyway. It can't hurt. It is an alarming state of affairs when people like Kurt Cobain are mentioned in a thread about these two.

Bingo.

Cannot think of a name, right on!

Winter-een-Mas, Kurt Cobain? Get serious. :rolleyes:

The Monks of Cool, whose tiny and exclusive monastery is hidden in a really cool and laid-back valley in the lower Ramtops, have a passing-out test for a novice. He is taken into a room full of all types of clothing and asked: Yo, my son, which of these is the most stylish thing to wear? And the correct answer is: Hey, whatever I select.

cool Look up cool at Dictionary.com
O.E. col, from P.Gmc. *koluz, from PIE base *gel- "cold, to freeze." The v. form kele (from O.E. colian) was used by Shakespeare, but has been assimilated with the adj. into the modern word. Applied since 1728 to large sums of money to give emphasis to amount. Meaning "calmly audacious" is from 1825. Slang use for "fashionable" is 1933, originally Black English, said to have been popularized in jazz circles by tenor saxophonist Lester Young. Coolant in the radiator sense is from 1930. Coolth, on model of warmth, is occasionally attested since 1547, and was used by Pound, Tolkien, Kipling, etc. (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=cool&searchmode=none)

Just thought a thread on cool needed those.

2) Personal bias: I actually saw Miles play live, never had a chance to hear Kerouac read.

Check this out-I saw Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie in close to the same span of time. It was that time when Japan was goin' crazy for Jazz so there where all these West Coast shows that they'd play before they headed to Japan and when they'd come back. A lot of cool players came through.

Now, if you want real cool-watch A Great Day in Harlem, watch when Thelonius Monk arrives and aaaaalllll the coolest people on the planet, start reacting to how cool that guy is. Thats your cool.
Now you should really look at who's got the cooler name - Miles Davis or Jack Kerouac? I mean how the hell do you even say his last name? While Miles Davis just slides off the tongue. When you think about it, a cool name seems to be a necessary pre-requisite for being a jazz great. Cannonball Adderly, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillispie, Louis Armstrong, Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey. All cool names.

However, Thelonius Sphere Monk (His real name believe it or not!) has undoubtably the coolest name in history.
Thelonius Sphere Monk.
That is just so cool.

On the Road is okay, but Miles is all right.