It does have a good ring to it. Since the inception the main idea was just to express my personality and create an image of this person with a powerful and gentle confidence while celebrating the genius found in rare oddities of good music, culture and good artwork while letting out a bit of genius of my own. My name is Lawrence Elliott and now it seems that I’m known by some as Sun Rhythms – the cool, calm collected, old soul. It felt weird at first, “Sun” being called loudly and from a distance I couldn’t even recognize the people calling me over and across Eastern Michigan’s campus or throughout the adjacent inner city Ypsilanti.
The earliest I can remember being called Sun Rhythms was on a particularly interesting Tuesday night in early September. It was during repeated visit for me to downtown Detroit’s Mohagony Cafe. A tightly packed house with somewhat comforts and modern ambiance collects the crowd on soft couches and in contemporary chairs surrounding an oblong wooden stage in this popular open mic spot. I was called to the stage as Sun Rhythms by hyping woos and applause of the audience. The room was bitten by the smokey tinge of just lit cigarettes colliding with the low lighting of vanilla scented candles on stands by the large windows. I said my piece. Today I can’t even remember what it was. All I know is the name stuck. It was then and there I got coined Sun Rhythms. Perhaps it was a shot at describing my vibe when I hit the stage that shown the glisten damp of street outside. It could even have been Goldie, a young girl I dated around that time with the young wild wave and fiery curved afro. Those who knew me knew I loved a calm relaxing sun-kissed lake, some earphones playing rare melodies, and a moment stretched to allow me to just sit there watching the sky soaking it all in. They knew I would be there, a public lake full of private secrets and a whole day spent writing, listening to music, burning frankincense, watching waves, wind touches, as the sun crawled its trek towards the horizon finally to a star speckled set. In looking back, sitting to watch the sun seems rather complacent. I just don’t have the time to do it now. If I have that freedom to relax and just watch the day go by then I consider it a blessing.