It's hard to believe we're approaching our one-year anniversary next month! As I sit with what makes Queer Aperitivo so special, I keep coming back to the people who've helped create this community. At the heart of it is our resident DJ, Sunny Cheeba, whose commitment to both sonic and soil-based nourishment embodies everything we value. As someone who always brings it with the looks, the vibes, and the energy, Sunny's work represents the exact vision we're trying to cultivate: spaces where we can blend together nourishment and naughtiness, healing and pleasure, politics and principles. I sat down with Sunny to talk about her journey as both DJ by night, farmer by day and how these seemingly different worlds form a cohesive vision of liberation. - Ora
ORA: I wanted to start by saying that as we get close to our one-year anniversary, having you as our resident DJ has been such a blessing. You always bring it with the looks, the vibes, the energy, and your music is exactly what we want – upbeat but chill, sexy and flirty and playful. What first made you say yes to DJing Queer Aperitivo?
SUNNY: I first met you at a fundraiser focused on food work, and as a farmer who understands the impact of growing food on society and culture, I'm super selective about what I say yes to—I only commit to projects that align with my values.
It's been beautiful gathering in a space with such fun, beautiful, queer, and fabulous people. I love partying for a cause, and the fact that your drinks fund food programs and support farms is incredible. That's exactly the kind of initiative I'll always support.
On the universal languages of food & music
SUNNY: For me, farming, food, and music feel like the universal language. Anywhere you go, you want to eat the food or listen to the music of the culture. Wherever you're traveling, whatever family function, music and food are always at the center.
It's funny how we always come back to things we loved as kids. I grew up in the Bronx with young parents during such a vibrant time in New York City. I was always like a walking boom box – that was the joke in school.
ORA: Yes! Thank you for being our boombox now! And thank you for representing the vibrancy of New York City, especially the Bronx.
I came into working in food systems, as a buddy to growers like you, from anti-colonial liberation struggles and solidarity work. Because I recognize the essentialness of being able to feed ourselves to free ourselves. We have the legacy of the Panthers and the Young Lords doing healing work and feeding work as essential to their revolutionary projects. Building power and generating community wealth is all connected to the work we do in food.
A winding path from beats to soil
ORA: Tell me about your journey from DJing to farming. How did that happen?
SUNNY: I was DJing for two or three years before I got into a bad bike accident. I broke my toe, got doored, and had to be in bed for a couple of months. That was at a point in my life where I was also transitioning into being more vegetarian, cooking my own food, moving out of my parents' place – understanding food outside of what I grew up eating and realizing where my food actually comes from.
I visited Soul Fire Farm on my crutches, and when I came back, I was like, "Yeah, I want to grow food." My friend told me about Farm School NYC where you can get a certificate in understanding urban agriculture, and I did that. I went to the interview on my crutches, and the first day I started walking was also the first day of orientation. It was all meant to be.
I was so glad I answered the call because after I finished my apprenticeship in 2019, my first growing year was the pandemic. I wasn't DJing as much and was actually farming more. Learning through the Young Lords and the Black Panthers and the free food movement – understanding that feeding people could put you on the FBI's most wanted list – that radicalized me.
Building Ceiba Arbor: a collective vision
ORA: Tell me about your current land project. What is it and how do you see all of this work as part of that?
SUNNY: I met some sisters who've stayed with me for the past ten years through the community I built in the Bronx. We always joked that we were going to leave and grow food and live together sustainably. This dream world, you know?
When the opportunity came through a community land trust in Connecticut, my friend Chloe, who's from the Bronx and an urban farmer, moved there during the pandemic with her partner who's part of the SEC CLT (South Eastern Connecticut Community Land Trust) They had gotten their first farm property and were having trouble finding a farmer.
We all met at my house in the Bronx and talked about it – is this something we really want to do? The opportunity was presenting itself. We loved it and started our LLC not long after. We've been beautifully figuring out the structures for getting eight people together.
The work behind it is massive and proves this isn't something I could do myself or just with my partner. This takes eight people. We've broken into seven different committees to streamline the work. The vision for this space is to be not only a farm but also a creative hub, because we're all artists in different ways – photographers, glass blowers, directors, designers.
We want to bridge arts, education, knowledge sharing, and farming – using food as a path to liberation and using our different creative means to educate people, especially people who look like us, who are young like us, to show them it's possible.
ORA: That’s so amazing to hear about this collectivist way of living and working; we need to be able to see different possibilities for ourselves in order to pursue them. Our imaginations have been deliberately stunted by the dominant culture, by mainstream education. I love to see and celebrate this way to live your dream with your community!
I also think it's important to acknowledge how hard the work is, and how much dedication it takes. We're not going to build the world we want to see without sacrifice and hard work. Those of us infected by U.S. capitalist culture have a hard time giving up convenience and shifting to more collective culture. Even those of us who say "queer community" or "the movement" – when it comes down to how we're living and working, we often default to some pretty heteronormative and individualist ways of structuring our lives.
SUNNY: And noting that we wouldn't have been able to do this without the support of the community land trust. Historically, that's how land was kept and passed down to people who are not of generational wealth. Land is so expensive – looking at upstate New York and different parts of Connecticut, it's so expensive. We wouldn't be able to get land without that kind of structure that exists for things like this to happen.
ORA: Indeed. Community land trusts and community supported agriculture have a deep history and legacy led by Black folks and Indigenous folks for generations – for those who had to generate and share their own wealth, not just being born into inherited stolen wealth.
Uptown Vinyl Supreme
ORA: Bringing it back to the music, tell me what you're doing with your music these days.
SUNNY: I've mostly been gigging because so much of my time has gone to planning farm work. My hopes are that when the farm is up and running and we're just checking on things, I really want to get into production. I took an audio production class in Brooklyn called Liberation Sounds facilitated by and for queer folks. That's something I want to expand into – telling my story through music.
I love playing instruments, mostly Latin percussion – cajon, maracas, claves, cowbells – when I play out. I would love to separate that into making music. But right now, DJing is my main source of income since I left my job as a farm manager in the Bronx to start this new project.
I'm excited that I'm going to Croatia this summer to play for Defected Records. I'm also part of a DJ crew, Uptown Vinyl Supreme, based in the Bronx. We're celebrating our ten-year anniversary this year – mostly analog, vinyl records all the time. We had a residency for five or six years, and we're starting a summer series again this year at Bronx Brewery from June to September. We're also trying to get permits to do some park jams.
ORA: I love your tagline – "Preserving the analog roots in music, party and dance culture. Vinyl to the people." That really resonates with what we're going for with Queer Aperitivo, which is this older way of gathering in bars that's more than just going for a drink. Having Italian heritage, I want to cultivate that radical, deep cleansing pause between work and productivity and opening up into the night – aperitivo literally meaning "opening."
I love the analog aspect because it's important for us to reach back to the roots of the cultures we love as we spiral out in our internet centered, cyborg lifestyle.
SUNNY: I'm an analog girl at heart. When I first started DJing, I was doing only vinyl for like six years. During the pandemic, I started teaching myself more about CDJs and controllers. I was like, "I'm kind of losing opportunities." So while vinyl records are my heart, I love that I've been able to be more diverse in what I can do.
It's so crazy carrying four bags of records versus one USB! But I always overpack – I don't know where I'm going, but I need the options.
ORA: I so appreciate that labor. For us it's about finding the sweet spot of tapping into the ways the digital era opens up possibilities for creativity without losing the sensuality, the history, the spirit of physical artifacts. It makes sense that you're working with food and plants and land, and also people and records and beats. We feel really lucky to have you, and we're honored that you'll be back with us on March 26th.
TAP IN
Catch DJ Sunny Cheeba at our next Queer Aperitivo tomorrow - Wednesday, March 26th at Bar Meridian.
Follow Sunny's journey with Ceiba Arbor (named after the sacred tree native to regions from Southeast Asia to the Caribbean) as she and seven other artist-farmers embark on their first growing season in Connecticut.
Experience Uptown Vinyl Supreme's summer series at Bronx Brewery from June to September, celebrating ten years of preserving analog music culture.
Bar Meridian, 6pm - midnight. No cover charge. Purchase of food and drinks supports the event and our mutual aid initiatives. 🍷✨
