Devoya Mayo: Making your pandemic Sundays sucka free

Also, a new era of Fresno soul from S. E Hudson and more from our favorite 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' fanatics

The Sucka Free Sundays podcast isn’t exactly new.

From a branding standpoint, the name has been around for years; taken from the series of monthly pop-up brunch parties co-host Devoya Mayo used to throw up around town (at Veni Vini Vici, notably).

From a content perspective, the interview + music show borrows heavily from “Move on Up,” the weekly community-centric radio show Mayo hosted for seven years on KFCF (88.1 FM) in the early 2000s.

“The podcast is an extension of ‘Move on Up,’ with a theme,” Mayo says.

The show is produced remotely by Fresno ex-pat Jason Delgado and features the kind of people Mayo loves to chat with; those know know and love the artistic, creative community, and also “happen to have a love of music,” she says.

Past guests have included artists and musicians from Fresno (poet Stephen Mayu, educator Jamie Moore), but also people Mayo knows from across the U.S. and world (this being COVID-times and technology allowing).

“When are we going to sit down and have a real conversation,” says Mayo, who started recording the show with Delgado in September. “It’s very rare that we get to have that good, hour-long conversation.”

Confusing matters some, Mayo has also been releasing a set of Sunday playlists under the Sucka Free moniker; a kind of one-way conversation with all the friends she’s been missing during the pandemic. The playlists started out as direct-messages to specific friends, but morphed into a series of Youtube playlists that are connected, in name and spirit, to the podcast.

“The two have kind of converged,” Mayo says.

A new Sucka Free Sunday podcast is released 10 a.m. each week (on Sundays, obviously) and can be found on your favorite podcast player. Mayo’s Sucka Free Sunday playlist goes out Sunday nights via Youtube.

Of note: Mayo has teamed up with Sprinkles Donuts in northeast Fresno to create a special Sucka Free Sunday donut (and accompanying merch). A new donut will be available on Sundays each month starting Valentine’s Day.

There will be a Wu-Tang donut.

Edit: The donut release has been pushed back to March.

S.E Hudson, “The Gentleman”

Last week, I mentioned On Captain Records, the Fresno label imprint run, in part, by Farooq front man Daniel Dominguez. The label put out its first release in November.

On Wednesday, it releases “The Gentleman,” a six-song EP of ’90s inspired neo-soul from singer/musician S.E Hudson.

“The Gentleman is an EP of grown folks music. A new era of Fresno soul,” says Hudson, who wrote, produced and performs on the EP, in a mostly soulful falsetto. He gets some help from Dominguez, who mastered the EP and whose rap alter-ego, vxDEDxv, shows up on the last verse of the first single, “Out of Nowhere.”

The track premiered on the Flowing with Famous podcast earlier this month.

The EP is out Feb. 10 on all streaming platforms, even Napster.

The Sunnydales, “The Puppet Show EP

How much you like The Sunnydales will depend on A.) how you feel about four-chord Ramones-esque rock tunes and B.) whether you’re into “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

The Sunnydales is a side-project of sorts from Mantis Watch bassist Matt Mollusky, with Sci-Fi Caper singer/bassist Emelia Guadarrama and Sleepy Ghost Records founder Michael Flores.

If it’s not clear from the name, the Sunnydales are a pop-punk band dedicated to “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” (specifically the TV show that ran from for seven seasons in the late 1990s (five on the WB and two on UPN). The band’s fourth EP takes its name from season 1, episode 9, which involves a school talent show (and a dead student).

Thanks, Wikipedia.

“The Puppet Show EP,” was released Friday on Bandcamp.

What am I missing? If you have anything you think I need to know, feel free to reach out: jtehee@gmail.com