KOOL
hip shaker, smile maker
Take a trip to Byron Bay and you’ll likely see a man with a white beard swinging a hula hoop around his hips, a banana maraca in one hand and a pineapple maraca in the other. All while singing to people passing by, “it’s a beautiful day, have a beautiful day.”
He goes by the name of Kool. He has been doing this outside the local pub and at the local farmers’ markets since 2014. Day, after day, after day.
~
Byron Bay has recently been coined the utopia of the West; a place full of laidback dreamers who appear to be nailing it at life. But behind the facade of colourful linens and beachside picnics, Byron ranks up there with one of the highest rates of depression, marital affairs and suicides. It’s the epitome of the happiness paradox: the happiest places on earth are also the unhappiest places on earth.
Yet amongst the duality and confusion is Kool, one of Byron’s brightest gifts.
You would think he’s an extrovert. An easy ENFP. A clear seven on the enneagram. But behind the hula hoops and maracas is an introvert on a mission to make people smile.
Though people see him as the happy-go-lucky guy who dances on the sidewalk, he too has been dealt his fair share of pain.
“I wasn’t jolly for thirty years,” he said. “I started drinking when I was young. I was unhappy and drank too much for too long. I hit rock bottom. Went to hell and back again and had to do a lot to get out of there. I went to some bad places.”
Amid the struggles of life, Kool spent years chasing the dream of a rockstar in the city of Melbourne. He found himself in band after band, thinking each would lead to his big break. Until one day he found himself hunched over outside a record shop, feeling all alone with no direction.
It was then that he headed to Byron on the promise of another music opportunity. Only that too fell through shortly after he arrived. Discouraged as he was about the twists and turns his music had taken, he wasn’t ready to let it go. So when he saw the towns busking scene, he decided to hit the streets for himself. First he started out playing the drum and speaking poetry over it. But he is quick to admit, his drumming was never that good and he didn’t realise until a friend said that his spoken poetry was scaring people as it came across more like shouting than anything.
Someone suggested he swing a hula hoop to lighten the mood. Whether they were serious or not, Kool took their advice.
“I couldn’t do the hula hooping at first,” he said. “I felt really self-conscious, but people seemed to like it, definitely more than the drumming.”
Once he got a hang of the hula hoops, he added some fruit maracas to his repertoire. Then with time he switched out his poetry and started singing directly to the people:
Have an awesome day in Byron Bay,
Have a beautiful day in Byron Bay.
People couldn’t help but crack a grin when they passed by. With all the positive reactions Kool was receiving, he started to enjoy busking more than any other gigs he’d done in the past. So he continued to shake his hula hoop and maracas, even though he found it physically exhausting and rather difficult.
~
If your mind is anything like mine, you might be wondering what compels one man to devote an ongoing six years of his life to shaking his hips and singing on a street corner.
When I asked Kool why he does it, he told me it was for fitness and money, then he quickly stuffed his mouth with cake and tried to change the conversation. Trust me — the guy doesn’t do it for money. He said himself that he could make a whole lot more washing dishes, and if he was in it for money he’d follow popular advice and put a sign up saying ‘$1 per photo’ — (and he’d be rolling in it if he did).
But that’s just an insight into his hugely humble heart. Anyone that knows Kool or has seen him in action can see money isn’t his motivator.
And so with that response, I waited until he finished his cake until I asked him again. And this is what he said:
“There’s a lack of joy in a lot of people. Especially here in the society we live in, with the wealthy people, in the wealthy West, the famous, the this-that-and-the-other. Just because we live in a beautiful place doesn’t mean we don’t have bad experiences, bad habits, bad relationships. I see a lot of sad people in Byron… everywhere, really. This is my way of cheering people up, of making people smile. Because if you can brighten up someone’s day, you’ve succeeded.”
And so he continues to sing:
Have an awesome day in Byron Bay,
Have a beautiful day in Byron Bay.
It’s all good in the neighbourhood,
It’s all good when you shake it good.
Have an awesome day in Byron Bay,
Have a beautiful day in Byron Bay.
“Really though, it’s not all good in the neighbourhood,” he said. “You’re in a place where everyone seems cool, beautiful, successful, happy. And if you’re not that, it elevates the comparison. You feel more alienated. Life for some appears to be a permanent vacation, but for others it’s hell.”
He’s right. Comparison, it’s the mighty thief of joy. Regardless of what social media depicts, people aren’t walking around in a jolly mood — not even in Byron Bay. Instead, a majority of people are walking around unhappy, working jobs they don’t like, slaving forty hours a week just to pay the bills. They’re caught up in the hustle like the lot of us, doing not much else but trying to keep themselves afloat.
You, I, and Kool — we all get that. Life is wild and tough and kicks us in the guts sometimes. We can either swim upstream or get taken adrift by it. Kool has decided to swim against it. He doesn’t follow the status quo. He doesn’t have a car, doesn’t own a house, cycles the same few tie-dye shirts every few days, and doesn’t have a full-time career that glues him to the grind. Instead, he lives a simple life so he has more of it to give to others. He breaks a sweat shaking his hips all day long because he wants to give people something to smile about. Call that cheesy if you will, but while you’re at it, consider the magnanimous impact he’s having in a town living in the paradox it is.
We can easily side with the fact that there’s a whole lot of junk happening in the world. But when you meet someone as dedicated to making it a better place like this guy, you can’t help but admit there’s a whole lot of good too.
And that’s Kool. I could give him a badge for a whole host of things, but mostly for going the extra mile to make so many people smile.