Sunday nights are liminal spaces. The weekend isn’t quite over, but the remaining time is tainted with the looming responsibilities that come with a Monday morning.
And we are left to fend for ourselves. Perhaps this isn’t a systemic issue but one of individual discretion. Maybe there’s just no demand for events on that certain, nebulous day. I mean, who would even show up?
At the time of writing this, Da Components Collective has hosted Sunday Night Spotlight for 86 Sundays in a row, and they give no indication of stopping soon.
Spotlight is a weekly showcase for local music artists to perform at a variety of venues around Santa Rosa. While their bills are usually filled with hip-hop performers, they claim to have an open door to any genre or style of performance. On the nights I’ve attended over the past six months, I have seen jazz, punk, dance, folk and experimental acts on the card.
To explain the full roster of Da Components Collective would require a cork board and dozens of feet of yarn. No one in the collective was able to give a definitive number on their current membership, but most guess they are well more than 20-deep at this point. And no one, not even the founding members, was able to say when exactly the collective officially started, either.
The short version of their origin goes like this: As the smoke of Covid was starting to settle and people began going out more often, a group of musicians, DJs and promoters found themselves working the same shows together and then started throwing shows together. These shows were popular and soon attracted other creatives who wanted to contribute.
At some point in 2024, it was decided this group should officially put their energies together to support each other, throw shows and promote a higher quality of entertainment in Sonoma County, and thus Da Components was born.
“There’s strength in numbers,” says Beethoven, a founding member of Da Components. “In-house, we have people who are skilled at performing, producing, stage managing, choreographing … you name it.” True to the idea of a collective, there is no definitive leader of Da Components. Members contribute toward the group’s ultimate goal based on their capacities. Beethoven is the de facto DJ of Sunday Night Spotlight, while other members run the door, handle promotion, and take photos and videos of performances.
Sandy Soze, another original member, adds to this thought of what a collective means. “We are trying to bring in like-minded artists to help build community according to their interests and contribute what they can to the vision,” he says. “We want there to be room for everyone, regardless of their lane.”
In the same year that it formed, Da Components decided to leave their mark by tackling the hardest day of the week, thus creating Sunday Night Spotlight. “When we had the idea, a lot of people told us how hard it would be to have a show on Sundays,” says Chill-e, another formative member of Da Components. “But we took that on as a challenge and wanted to prove that consistency could win.”
Beethoven echoes this idea: “We put a high value on being consistent. When Sunday comes around, I want people to know where to go.” In an act that could be considered brazen or just positive manifestation, the Sunday Night Spotlight Instagram bio includes the hashtag #weownsundaze.
In researching this story, I attended eight Sunday Night Spotlights. Some were sparsely attended, and others had a considerable turnout. What struck me is that the crowd size didn’t seem to be much of a determining factor in the energy or atmosphere of the shows. Everyone, consistently, was stoked to be there, whether as a performer or an audience member. I suppose one of the benefits of having a 20-plus collective is that when all else fails, one can be one’s own audience if the need arises.
The Spotlight is a bit of a travelling act and will change venues sometimes week to week. And the current primary rotation of locations shifts between Trailhouse, El Infierno Cantina and Mr. Chile Taproom. One benefit to running a Sunday show is there isn’t much competition over booking venue-space. The collective has also been able to work out amenable arrangements with the spaces regarding overhead. This is good because, as Beethoven puts it, “We are community-funded and collectively built.”
In July of last year, Da Components Collective took a big swing with Sunday Night Spotlight and partnered with Backroom Ent., another local promotion company, to bring out Dubee, Coolio Da Unda Dogg and Mac Mall, three well-established legends of Bay Area rap, for a show on a Sunday night. It was a risk, with members coming out of pocket to finance the show, but one that paid off.
“I was blown away when I saw the turnout,” says Chill-e. I was at this show and have to admit to a similar feeling of surprise. My initial concerns about the sustainability of throwing shows on a Sunday were assuaged. Standing in a packed house at 9pm on a Sunday night, the old adage from Field of Dreams crossed my mind: If you build it, they will come.
“Not everyone’s day off is the weekend,” says DJ Prodkt, who founded Backroom Ent. and has been throwing shows in Sonoma County for 15 years. “I think it’s beautiful we have a group of people trying to widen the amount of available entertainment throughout the week.”
Prodkt makes a cogent point. With a hefty economy of service and retail jobs in the area, it is unwise for me to assume that Sunday means the same thing for me as it does for everyone else. Perhaps, then, for others Sunday night is a kind of purgatory, one where they wish there was something to do, but no one has thought to put anything on.
The point for Da Components Collective seems to be building each other up and making sure there is a stage for any artist who wants to perform. While growth is, obviously, a goal for Da Components, Beethoven believes that will happen on its own as long as they continue to deliver on their commitment to consistency and quality. As he observes, “You don’t have to wait for Friday or Saturday, or go out of town for a quality show anymore.”
For more, visit instagram.com/components.collective.
