Brighter Days made for a Stellar Night

10,000 thank yous to everyone who came out to support "Brighter Days", the official launch party for the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Scholarship Fund. In addition to generating over two thousand dollars through on-site and online donations, the event allowed us to celebrate life in the way Rashawn was known to: dancing the night away at Luke & Leroy!

A special thanks to L&L owner/operator Dino, who was kind enough to pay us a visit and wish us well in our fundraising.

The RBMS banner. Standing at 78" tall and designed by yours truly, this banner greeted everyone who attended Sunday's event. It heralds the RMBS motto "Fostering diversity, creating change", and will surely be seen again.

It wouldn't be a "7" Sunday without these recognizable L&L icons: host Nathan "7" Scott and buffed, bronzed and braided bartender Chris.

Host Larry D. Lyons II sweats through his second outfit of the evening. But take note: these outfit changes do more than evince his divadom or animated dancefloor antics: they pay tribute to Rashawn.

Handcrafted by designer Alicia Piller, this is a tee with a message. She painstakenly created the design by replicating the words "Remembering Rashawn" hundreds of times in our trademark brown and pink colours. See more of her work here.

Some folks were too timid to ascend the flight of stairs to the dancefloor, where Amerie's "One Thing" quickly became the evening's anthem. We let them be.

Host Steven G. Fullwood models the limited edition RBMS tee, Kenyon Farrow -not to be outdone- models his highly coveted manpurse.



Thanks to the masterful photo imaging of Ocean Morriset, attendees were able to see the face of the handsome young man we'd gathered to pay tribute to.

Taking a break from dancing, blogger ShawnQt reads up on the scholarship fund.

DJ Shuji spins house and classics like a madman. A special thanks to Shuji for donating his services to our cause, and for accodating our requests to spin that hot Vivian Green joint not once but twice!

Most memorable moments:

1. When a certain host marched up the stairs with a limbo stick in hand. This was a scandal waiting to happen. (Needless to say, I was the first to oblige.)

2. When Rashawn's parents and sisters stormed the dancefloor and "got low", giving the bloggers a run for their money.

Feel free to add your own memorable moments!