What is cool? There's really no confusion with the word, unlike sick, phat etc. It's a word that can pretty much sum up a person, place or thing. But what defines cool?

For music, it's obviously subjective, but being cool is a very fine line to walk. Jeremy Fisher is a cool artist, I like him, from what I hear, he's even a cool guy. He's currently doing some dates with Kalan Porter who amongst many circles, is not cool. Does this damper Jeremy's cool factor? I wouldn't think so but you'd be suprised of how public perception can change if you affiliate yourself with not so cool people.

I often wonder about artistic integrity. Artists themselves have the insecurity of losing the cool factor. A guy like Kalan Porter is viewed by more people as being cool then someone like Joel Plaskett. But there's that small secular community to which many of you are a part of that would disagree whole heartedly. Is the indie rock community cool? Or do we exist in a similiar vein of the high school geek sector? We know more then we ought to know about music, obsess upon it and make it a large portion of our daily lives.

Arists should be able to stand alone when it comes to being cool, no matter with whom they affiliate with. Sure, most artists would like to maintain a cool DIY element to their careers, to be cool. These integral artists don't audition for Canadian Idol but I bet a lot of them would love to have a sold out theatre tour as Mr. Porter is currently doing. Artists who sign deals with labels, major labels or major independent labels are seekling acclaim not only from their peers but from the massess. The peers don't buy the records though so the cool factor will somehow have to be compromised. That is exactly what Jeremy Fisher is doing, he's on tour with Kalan right now, I know factually he's making quite a bit of coin at the merch table, he's then embarking on a cross Canada tour with Nathan Wiley. This is walking the fine line of cool.

People often disparage artists for their fan bases. There's the line that I used in a previous post stating that I love the band, hate the fans. Unfortunately, as much as artists would like to believe who they want to like their music, it's out of their hands. A colleague of mine nailed it by saying that "you think when Gord Downie looks out to a crowd that this is what he envisioned when starting a band?". No one could possibly go into music saying "I want Molson Canadian drinking, Maxim reading, Spike Tv watching people to love my music". You make music so people can hear it, so they come to your shows, your music effects them. If you wanna pull some Cobain thing and refute your own success, then play in your basement and never let a note leak above ground.

Cool can be considered geographical, what's cool in Toronto could be considered obscure in Regina. Being cool is doing what you want and not caving in to any pressure form your peers. This peer pressure, like back in the day's of high school, is used to subdue the insecurities of others, misery and failure love company.

Hat's off to Jeremy Fisher, he's playing to packed houses every night, months from now, no one's going to remember that he supported Kalan Porter but he's going to notice the difference when he looks out into the crowd at his next show.