Sunyatta Marshall with Brandon Mason
May 6, 2008
You know, I really have no idea when I first met Sunyatta. That line of when I knew of her and when I actually knew her is kind of blurred for me for some reason. I do know that I have admired her from the first time that I saw her perform. And in getting to know her personally over the years I have always found her to be as sweet and charming as her face and voice suggest she might be.
Sunyatta is a member of the Helium Tapes, a band that is on the cusp of releasing their first recording. But the logistics of bringing in the entire band at this very moment wasn’t particularly easy. So we settled on a solo performance of songs she wrote that don’t fit particularly well in the Helium Tapes repertoire. I knew she had done some solo performances in the past. One that particularly comes to mind is an occasion that she played a country set on the patio of the Royale (a popular southside tavern). The thing that stands out in her solo performances is that you can hear the nuances of her voice and phrasing that you might not appreciate so much when she is leading a rock band. And while I really love the Helium Tapes as a band. I really would like to hear her more often in a low key environment like this. By the way I should mention that Sunyatta is accompanied here by Brandon Mason the keyboardist for the Helium Tapes.
She had a bit of trouble getting through this song on this particular night. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was the camera, as sometimes cameras make people nervous–they make me nervous. In the end we finished recording these songs, and while they aren’t perfect, I think you too will appreciate what a gem Sunyatta is.
Filed under: City Sessions at City Museum |
Like the new webite. It seems to focus on what’s important. Large video format and sidebor full of large thumbnails of other videos one mike like.
The only thing I might suggest is more contextual info on that right sidebar. I.E. number of views, number of comments, number of diggs, stumble upons, youtube views… text of the post on rollover. Anything that will help them make the leap to watch another video.
Of course, I might be splitting hares. ;)
Oh, Also, the comment box was very hard to find!
Why aren’t you promoting it heavily.
And for that matter, other social features like bookmarklets. There are some very simple “bookmarklet” chicklet out there that cover ALL the services using one simple button. There’s most effective and yet hassel free.
I can’t wait until someone figures out how to bring more contextual information from digg, delicious, stumble upon and others TOO the blog post.
I think this should be accomplishable by the chiclet services with a little javascript widget.
Working in a music venue turns me away from a lot of live performances - but I got to say that I really enjoy the lo-fi sessions.
Really noticed her eye contact with the camera.