Maki provides musical relaxation during lunch

submitteed photo/Katie Clark

Singer and songwriter, Venice Maki performed for students and staff in Jazzman’s on Sept. 6. The artist performed an hour long concert for free. He created a laid-back atmosphere where students gathered in between classes, as Maki sang acoustic.

“Commuters can come and relax in between classes. This is one of the afternoon events for commuters that we are beginning to have,” Ashley Shoenfelt, assistant director of student activities said. Many students and staff came in to eat and get going. However, in between there were many who enjoyed the sounds of Maki.

Maki was able to grab the attention of the crowd by doing a cover song of Dave Matthews Band, “Crash”. He put his own personality into it without changing the song by Dave Matthews. Another attention grabber was his original song about Cabrini College. Maki sang a song about the day he was currently having at Jazzman’s.

His other songs were about his own life experiences. He sang about love, heart breaks, failure and life itself

Maki, who was born Zaire of Central Africa, came across the country from his current home in Los Angeles. He was raised in the states and became a great soccer player. He didn’t realize it then but he would have a life-changing decision between his two passions.

“One day I am going to juggle the soccer ball and play my guitar at the same time. When I come back here, I will have my soccer ball,” said Maki while telling the audience more about himself.

According the Maki’s myspace that he openly announced in between songs myspace.com/venicemaki, in 1999 Maki recorded “Surviving the fall”. He self-produced the album with no funding help as well. He soon went on tour between the years of 2000 and 2001. Maki then vanished for four years and came back with 40 original songs. He currently has a new album out called “Which way is out,” which includes 12 of those songs.

Many students were able to enjoy his sound of music between classes. “I love that type of music with independent artists,” sophomore, Cate Romano, a graphic design major said. “I bought his cd and would definitely go see him in concert.”