See Shel!

     This past Saturday I had the pleasure of volunteering for one of my doggie non-profits, the one that rescues and places dogs and puppies in foster care until we find them a forever home, at our Mountain of the Sun Music Festival. This was the third year of the event which is growing and gathering a pretty decent following.

     Tony Furtado was the headliner, local favorites (now "homeless" after last year's Waldo Canyon Fire) The Flying W Wranglers were there--think Sons of the Pioneers, and several other fantastic bands filled out the lineup. And I discovered Shel. In a word, this band is fantastic. Comprised of four sisters from Fort Collins, Colorado, they play what I would call Modern Celtic meets Sea Shanty while playing rock. Their musicianship was consummate, their songwriting phenomenal. I can see why a CMT scout called them one of the best ten bands at this year's South by Southwest festival.

     But the coolest thing about them for me, was that my partner-in-good-deeds that day, a lady I simply adore who just happens to be nearly thirty years my senior fell in love with them as well. I bought the vinyl/CD package after the set so we could share the music. How often does that happen? A cross-cultural and intergenerational match made of some of the most wonderful kickass tunes I'd been treated to in many years. Check these chicks out; they're going places beyond our little neck of the woods for sure! www.SHELmusic.com

     Other sights and sounds: trick slack liners, hand-forged camping cookware, tie-dyed everything, ethically-prepared vegan fare, and an awesome thing called Music in Motion in which four audience members on bikes power an entire soundstage. Pretty cool for a teensy mountain hamlet.

     What a beautiful day on the slopes of Pikes Peak! You just don't get a better setting than that, and when you stumble across a favorite new band that you get to share with a dear friend, well that's just more than you could ever hope for from a lazy Saturday afternoon.