Brownies and Lemonade
By Marissa Mireles
Right as the heat rises and the midday celebration begins, the city’s favorite partying duo, Brownies and Lemonade are at it again, kicking off the summer with their newest installment: Camp Trill. This wavy event that B&L will host during the summer is a creative collective of local up and coming musicians, producers, and DJs and it will showcase several artists doing their thing on stage downtown on 1st and Alameda at the local bar and Mexican food restaurant, Senor Fish.
Event planners and MC duo Brownies and Lemonade are on the scene and they are making moves. For those who are not familiar with the amazing LA cultural phenomena which is B&L, they have no issue with giving the run down, no matter how outrageous their story may be, and who else but DJ Fernet (yes, named after the famous Italian liqueur – which he has gotten sued for) and DJ Kush to explain the what, when, where and how of the infamous Brownies and Lemonade.
DJ Fernet is from San Francisco and has been DJing since he was sixteen. Fernet early parties would be thrown at his apartment with a few close personal friends, then it grew more into a network where he would attend parties and give away his cd’s so it could be played.
“That is what we had to do before the invention of things like Soundcloud,” says Fernet.
Shortly thereafter he grew a faithful following and bought his own equipment to play at UCLA parties. From the university scene he moved into playing sets for clubs and shows. Don’t let the look fool you, Fernet is not a talented DJ he is also an accountant, which explains the amazing efficiency of his work and the diversity of his audience, which is compromised mostly of college grads, ranging from filmmakers to lawyers.
To think it all started from reading the L.A. Express found in the newsstands next to the LA Weekly and the Penny Saver; Kush laughs and tries to explain with a straight face where the name Brownies and Lemonade came from.
“We were outside of Pinks and I was reading the classifieds and came across an ad which said to come and have your golden and brown fantasies filled with Silvia. We could not stop laughing and created the idea of Brownies and Lemonade. We even tried selling brownies and lemonade at our parties for awhile as an inside joke. It was great.”
Kush, the other co-founder of B&L , wants this event to be a platform for independent artists to get their product out to the masses and create an audience that is faithful and ever growing. Normally a nighttime event planner Kush wanted to create an event that was during the day to change things up and create a new and fresh atmosphere, and they are not alone!
To jumpstart the summer debauchery in DTLA is the electro funk duo shifty rhythms. Not only is shifty rhythms. Neo Fresco is a cohort of the collective and wants to help his friends reach new levels by offering gigs to up and coming artists in the community to create a new scene for those that want to have a genuine good time.
Neo is from Portland Oregon and went to LMU for Film Production, in conjunction with parties he also does music videos but states film is daunting and in music you have much more control. Yet he states he just wants enough money to live life.
Yet, this is only the beginning, soon on July 18th he will be hosting a formal event, aptly named “Dapper” stating “when you feel classy you feel cool”. Strict dress code will be enforced, only gowns and bowties. He politely asks the males and females to be on their A game and to be ready to dress to impress or they will be denied entrance. This event will be celebrating the GR8 hat launch. Table service will be available upon request by emailing norma@avhospitality.com .
