Where does one even begin to describe the greatest place on earth?  You don’t… you just GO.  It’s like Burning Man, or Paris… there is no explanation, you just have to experience.  The culture.  The notion.  The “Vibe”.

I’ve seen a lot of musicality in my lifetime, but nothing has compared to The String Cheese Incident at Red Rocks last weekend.  Shall we take a look?

Everybody said “you will love it”… everybody said “it will be amazing”.  I knew it going in, with my heart already in love with Colorado for many years, and the red rock of the earth striking me so comfortable.

I fell in love with Cheese years ago.  I remember my friend in high school telling me, “Dude you gotta check out this band” but it wasn’t until Wakarusa 2005 that they really spiked my curiosity.  “Why is everybody hula-hooping, geesuz?”, is what I was really thinking.

But they grew on me, as all things we love do, and I found myself at a Big Summer Classic at camp Zoe in 2007.  The hula-hoop thing clicked, many of us began our  spinning journeys, and the cheese was ON.

Fast forward to July 26th, 2015, Red Rocks Amphitheater, the vibe had never been so ecstatic, dare I say?

For starter, the googly-eyes I put on my friend were epic.

Leonard, the hand puppet made several appearances:

And the cheese grins were FULL BLAST.

EVERYBODY was smiling.  The crowd was amazing.  It didn’t matter if you were standing next to your best friend, your lover or a stranger, we all celebrated as though we had known each other for years.  It is truly a showcase of the best aspects of a tribe mentality, coming together to celebrate life.

I cried three times during Nahko & Medicine for the People.  THREE TIMES!  And then he busted out an “I Like the Way You Work It” cover and I about lost my dancing shoes right there.

And Cheese.  I get goosebumps when I think about their synergy.  These guys have been playing together since 1993, originally out of Crested Butte and Telluride.   The band got the name when in Bellevue Colorado in 1996, there was an incident when Michael broke a string. All members write original compositions and sing, but Nershi has written the bulk of the group’s original songs. These guys are SO talented on so many planes.  Michael Kang has an incredible voice and his violin, wow…  Michael Travis and Jason Haun (of the off-shoot EOTO) are incredible forces of nature.  And then there’s Kyle Hollingsworth.  Say it again, because his name is so sexy, KYLE HOLLINGSWORTH, who makes me want to start an I Heart Kyle Hollingsworth fan club.  Ok, sorry, sometimes I turn into a 12-year-old girl.

According to Wikipedia, Their music has elements of bluegrass sounds, as well as rock, electronica, calypso, country, funk, jazz, Latin, progressive rock, reggae, and occasional psychedelia.  These guys span everything from honky-tonk to new age dumpstuck funkadelic hip hop remixes holy cow! All with this very distinct sound, or twang, of cheese.  It’s electrifying!  It’s addictive.  It’s incomparable to anything else of it’s nature, and to be so profound at such an un-nostalgic level.

For me, I believe spirituality comes from a certain sense of nostalgia.  People are drawn to moments that stimulate something comfortable from your past, and the same works vice-versa for bad memories.  Things we are conditioned not to like in religion or spirituality often make us avoid that which doesn’t suit us.  That’s why when we hear our favorite song played, we get so excited.  We can sing along.  It feels good to know it and love it.  And while it’s easy to feel that way about say, The Rolling Stones or The Beatles, it’s harder for me to find it personally in modern day music.

Now I’ve been in love with Cheese for over 10 years now, so some would argue there is time for nostalgia to build up.  And it has.  The love for this band has grown larger than I could have imaged.  Their fans travel cross country to a ridiculous magnitude, to Winter Carnivals and Hulaween celebrations.  Into Electric Forrests and into the Rocks of Red.  It’s been quite a journey.

Over the years they have worked with several artists, collaborating with names like Skrillex, Talking Heads producer, Jerry Harrison, Jamie Janover, Leftover Salmon and more.  It’s an ongoing, ever-unfolding story of magic and tease, a little bit of attitude.  It’s Cheese.

I left Colorado on Sunday and bought a string cheese as the gas station. It made me smile.  Incidents are everywhere.  You just have to look for them and listen, heart open wide.  The song is clear.