This week on Kaleidoscope, WYSO Music Director Juliet Fromholt hosted a live preview of the Rong Brothers Brunch Bash, a daytime music showcase which will take place on Saturday, January 27 at Dayton’s PNC Art Annex. The studio session featured performances from four Dayton artists featured at the Brunch: Proxy.exe, Isai Morales and Los Loko, Dos.Grandios, and the Rong Brothers, who organized the event. The musicians spoke with Juliet about finding community through Dayton’s arts scene and about what listeners can expect at Saturday’s Brunch, which will feature live visuals and brunch food in addition to music. Photographer Fea Fotos, who will operate an interactive photo booth at the Brunch, joined the Rong Brothers to talk about organizing community-building music events in Dayton.
Ryan and Josh Rong aren't afraid to experiment. The duo, who released their latest EP, Sycamore Hills, in September 2023, told Juliet that the idea for a brunch-time show was born from the desire to create or accessible alternatives to late night shows: “We want to open this up to service workers, to people who normally work gigs in the evening,” they said. “We’re trying to create a new format that allows anyone to participate in art and then go and bring that good energy elsewhere—and be done by 3:00pm.”
Both Dayton natives, the Rong Brothers said the Brunch is inspired by other locally-minded arts showcases like Art Parkd, an annual DIY music festival hosted by photographer Fea. “[We] pretty much met everybody in the scene through that event,” the Brothers said. Fea, who also joined Juliet on Kaleidoscope for the interview, said Art Parkd began with an earnest desire to find friends in the city—and was made possible by access to an empty parking lot. “My friend and I were like, ‘We have this parking lot, we want to meet people in Dayton, and we want to do art.’” She said, “So we just kind of threw it together.” Since its first incarnation more than two years ago, Art Parkd has become a yearly tradition, attracting a flock of regulars like the Rongs.
Dos.Grandiose, one of the seven artists slated to perform at the Brunch Bash, also spoke with Juliet about building a musical community in Dayton. He said he began playing music in 2014 after making friends with one of his Beavercreek neighbors, a musician. “He really became a mentor of mine,” he said. Since then, Dos.Grandiose has tried to tried to stay open to collaboration with other artists, regardless of genre or medium. “I love art and I love music. So anybody that's making art or music or all of the above—it doesn't matter what kind of art or music you're making; I'm going to try to see what it is I can do with you. If we connect on a spiritual level and as people, then we're definitely going to be making stuff together.”
The Rong Brothers Brunch Bash begins at 11:00am on January 27. Music programming will conclude at 3:00pm, followed by an hour of networking and mingling. For a full schedule of musicians and visual artists scheduled to appear at the event, visit DaytonLive.org.
Text by Peter Day, adapted from a live studio session recorded by Juliet Fromholt on January 24, 2024.
