Sonoma State is forgetting the local coffee shop vibe and mixing up the public’s music interest with a variety of musical performances beginning at 8 p.m. every Monday night in Lobo’s.
‘KSUN Live’ is brought to the community by the campus partnership of the KSUN Radio organization and Lobo’s.
The main purpose of the weekly event is to encourage and promote the empowerment of local music culture by presenting local artists to the public in an ‘unplugged’, upbeat format.
Survival Guide (Twitter: @Srvvlgd) is a local music endeavor led by Emily Whitehurst, who lived up to the band’s name last Monday by performing and surviving the obstacles as a “one man” — or in her case, “one woman”— band during the second successful KSUN Live event.
The innovative and unique style of combining telephone sound and mixing rhythmic beats captured the attention of those dining in Lobo’s that night.
During the live show, comment and question cards were passed around through the audience, with the goal of finding questions to prompt discussion for the intermission.
In order for KSUN Live to maintain its intimate feeling amongst the people attending the event, it was important to get to know the artist by giving the opportunity to give and receive feedback from the community.
When Whitehurst was asked if she could have dinner with any musician, dead or alive, she answered,“Paul McCartney, only because he could probably tell a great story or two, especially from a musician’s perspective.”
The music came abruptly; within a matter of seconds, Whitehurst’s distinctive voice and power of hard piano chords clutched onto the attention of the late night audience and staff of Lobo’s.
Performing originally written material from Survival Guide’s latest album “Wildcat,” Whitehurst’s creativity was shown through the music genre with influences of her personal favorite musicians, Morrissey and the Smiths.
With the power of live entertainment rising within the student enthused environment, events like these give local artists the recognition they have sought out to receive.
Concluding the performance, Whitehurst belted out a number that reflected musical imagination and talents of an experienced, original artist.
Among the cheers in her final performance a student shouted in the audience, “Range for days!”
“Check out Survival Guide’s music on iTunes by searching ‘srvvlgd’. Take out all of the vowels and you’ll find me,” said Whitehurst. “Thank you for listening and for enjoying all the noise.”
