East Villager reflects on rock band tour
life on the road before COVID-19 hit
BY BOB KRASNER
Lisa Brownlee has had quite a ride,
earning her living on an endless
series of tour buses that came to an
abrupt halt due to COVID-19 and left her
to spend a summer at home for the fi rst
time in almost 30 years.
Instead of traveling with the likes of
Justin Bieber, Willie Nelson or the huge
caravan that was the Warped tour, she’s
been hanging with her two cats, making
art and trying to fi gure out what she’s going
to do next (spoiler alert: she’s solved that
problem and, having gotten to know her,
we’re not surprised).
Brownlee’s professional career began as
a hairstylist in at “a fancy salon in Florida,”
where she “did perms for rich moms and
Tony Hawk cuts for their kids.” The late
80s found her in Los Angeles, working in
a high end clothing store, dating a tattoo
artist and “running around with the Sunset
Strip crowd.”
After making friends and connections
there, she moved back to Florida where
she started producing backyard concerts
for skateboarders, making a few bucks
selling beer. A job at the door of a “super
cool club,” Masquerade, led to a gig selling
t-shirts for visiting bands.
She did her job well enough to be offered
a gig as a production assistant for the band
Ministry on the Lollapalooza tour in 1992,
but quickly realized that she was in way
LIsa Brownlee at home with her cherished Clash poster, a new addition
to her East Village home. That’s Elvis Presley, another hero, on
the upper left.
over her head. Luckily, she was noticed by
Kevin Lyman, who was only a couple of
years away from creating the Vans Warped
Tour. He placed her as a rep for Smart
Drinks and then took her with him to his
next venture.
“I just had a gut feeling that Lisa had it
in her,” Lyman tells us. “Her fi rst job on
Warped was working for a comic book
company and she worked her way up.”
“I hated being a sponsor rep,” recalls
Brownlee. “When my booth closed, I
would go straight to the production offi ce
PHOTOS BY BOB KRASNER
and help out with anything I
could – answer phones, deliver
pizza – anything.”
After evaluating the scene
for awhile, she was given a new
position – which she created. “I
became the bus driver manager,
which no one had ever done before.
I kept the drivers happy,
prevented fi nancial issues and
made sure that they had a place
to sleep. My nickname was
‘Momma Duck’ because the
drivers followed me around like
ducklings.”
Brownlee ended up spending
24 years on the Warped tour, rising
Lisa Brownlee
to the #2 spot for the last ten years in
that organization. At this point, you need
to understand what she was dealing with.
We are talking about a crew that consisted
of a diverse group of 80 bands (yes,
80) plus 21 production buses: a grand total
of 850 people that had to be moved from
one location to the next. And when they
got there, 8-10 stages had to be set up in
about three hours.
“Every day was crazy – every day was
chaos!” Brownlee says.
But that was never a problem, according
to Lyman.
“Lisa is like the eye of a hurricane. Chaos
can be swirling around her, but her calm
focus would help bring order sooner than
later, ” he says.
Warped was a summer tour, leaving
Brownlee free in other seasons to work
with a variety of other talent, from bands
you’ve never heard of to the “top of the food
chain talent,” Justin Bieber.
Brownlee was one-third of the security
team for the “Believe” tour, in charge of
the meet and greets. It was there that she
learned “the difference between fan and
fanatic.”
“I’d never seen that level of hysteria
before,” she muses. “It was great watching
people meet him, having their dream come
true. And he’s a wonderful, caring, super
cool artist.”
Now all of that is on hold, and Brownlee
is back in the East Village, where she was
initially a roommate of her friend, the late
Arturo Vega. Not content making daily
collages or doing the occasional DJ gig,
she attached herself to the computer long
enough to start a new career as a COVID
Compliance Offi cer, which means that
she’ll be overseeing various projects to be
sure that everyone involved is tested and
obeying the rules that will make it possible
to produce new work during the pandemic.
You can follow Lisa Brownlee on Instagram
@brixton23 and @ms.elanius.
The “Cocktails and Collages ” crew at the Black and White Bar. L-R Chris Yerington,
Lisa Brownlee, Ethan Minsker.
Schneps Media Sept. 17, 2020 13