Go, Fourth!

     I hope everyone has a fun and festive holiday awaiting them tomorrow. Here in the hinterlands, we have a little festival in the park with all the requisite and charming activities like dump a local official in the pool of water, ride a firetruck, and eat barbecue, but the Fifth is actually the big celebratory day for us.

     For more than thirty years we've celebrated the day after everyone else because that's when the Colorado Springs Philharmonic can make a spot in their busy schedule for us. We call it Symphony Above the Clouds, which we hold at a school grounds, and we usually have about 7,000
-8,000 folks attend. There's the music and some concessions, but most folks bring a picnic basket, blankets and chairs, and come for "dinner and a show" as it were.

     But this year's event will be a bit quieter. We won't have truly some of the best fireworks you'll ever see as it grows dark because of the fire danger, and we probably won't have the canons from Fort Carson because of the Sequestration. I've joked before that this may be the only small town in America where every little kid knows the 1812 Overture of Mr. Tchaikovsky by heart and out of necessity. They need to know when to cover their ears to protect their hearing from the canon fire. This is how we begin our fireworks show, you see. Once the Overture and the canons are through, the fireworks continue for a good fifteen or twenty minutes--or so it seems--until every last rocket is shot into glory.

     It's a terrific little tradition of which we are most proud. It's also a great opportunity to see friends and neighbors you run into regularly as well as other folks you may only see a few times a year. Practically everyone comes and walks the crowd hopping from conversation to conversation. As my friend Bill says of events in our hamlet, "It's a stitch."

     But even without the fanfare and display, I know just as sure as the real estate agents who put an American flag in every yard in town and did so yesterday will come no matter what, that we'll manage to have the same great time that we always do. Even if we have to make pretend canon and fireworks sounds on the walk back home.

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.

We Are Remanded to Their Care

     Out of deep respect and immense gratitude, I'd invite you to keep the 19 hotshots lost in Arizona and the lone survivor who is battling injuries in your hearts and minds over the near term, and as our Western Wildfire Season continues, please keep in mind those who go out and fight for our lives, our homes, our animals, and our towns each and every day. None of us lucky enough to call the West home could begin to live here without their support and efforts.

     Blogposts will continue here and at susanbranham.blogspot.com tomorrow. Be safe, be fire safe, and help your local responders in any way that you possibly can. Thanks.