Karen Ponzio Photos
Siul Hughes with DJ Collin In Kind
District Arts and Education turned their bi-weekly DAE Presents livestream into a live, on-site event Wednesday night as they invited a small number of guests in and added a food truck and outdoor musical entertainment — as a prelude to their indoor performance, that would be broadcast on Facebook Live.
A trio of New Haven Jazz Underground musicians performed outside of Holberton School an hour before the indoor performance of Siul Hughes. Visitors were also able to enjoy a meal from the Middletown-based Soulfully Vegan, making its first New Haven appearance.
A thing of vegan beauty.
Owners Allison and Calvin Vaughan served up a menu of burgers, hot dogs, and fries — all vegan, including the toppings. While the burgers and dogs are Beyond brand, the chili is homemade, as are the cheese sauce and house sauce, both “secret special” recipes of Allison’s.
“She still won’t tell me what’s in it” said Calvin of the house sauce, a sweet, sticky and spicy barbecue-type sauce that finished with a hint of heat (yes, this reporter got herself the classic burger — which, if I did not know was vegan, I would have thought was the absolute real thing). DAE’s Scott Amore, who had the cheese fries, said with a laugh about the sauce: “I don’t know what she did except maybe sneak real cheese into it.” He noted that it indeed tasted exactly like the real thing.
Allison Vaughan of Soulfully Vegan.
The food added to the picnic-like atmosphere outside of the school as the trio of Nick DiMaria on trumpet, Andrew Trawz on bass, and Adam Szulczewski on drums performed under a tent on the grass in front of the entrance. Playing everything from ballads to grittier tunes, the three musicians melded sounds and left room for solos showcasing their individual talents, adding a breeziness that seemed to help settle the slowly dissipating humidity. It was the perfect way to end the day and begin the evening.
The indoor show began with director A.M. Bhatt introducing himself and the performers, giving a brief overview of the current and future events at DAE — including this coming Saturday’s all-day website intensive class. Bhatt noted that he hoped to make the place “the equivalent of an educational library” as time went on. He also hinted at an event mid-June and a “big announcement” coming up that would be “the next stage of our growth.”
“I think it will be exciting for New Haven,” he added.
The excitement for the rest of this evening came from Siul Hughes, who introduced himself to the audience: “My name is Siul Hughes and I’m a human being. That’s about all that matters.” Hughes made his way through a set of 15 songs about just that: being human, being himself, and in turn learning, connecting, and living.
Many of the songs were selections from his most recent release 2020’s Hueman, a soulful hip hop masterpiece that transcends the confessional and makes it communal, including songs like “Where the Heart Is,” which has Hughes offering, among other things, a mantra for the ages. “Think about all those days I got stepped on and those college classes I slept in. Asked me what I learned in school I’ll tell you one life lesson: find out what you want to do and never do anything but that,” he rapped.
One could listen to all of Hughes’ words and find multiple mantras, as he deftly investigates his own head-to-heart-to-soul connections and makes them relatable and necessary. During the song “Moments in Time,” he even had his on-stage sound collaborator Collin In Mind stop the music so he could emphasize specific lyrics.
“You know, some songs stop being a performance and start being an experience, and that’s what happens here,” he said. He then meditated over the following piece of the song: “Never did I intend to do what I was meant to do. Hindsight to the back of the class I wasn’t friends with you. Not ‘cause I wasn’t feeling you, I was invisible to your circle of friends and none of them seemed original. It’s mighty strange when you throw up on the page. Your gut feelings reveal how far you come from which you came.”
“And that just makes sense,” he added. “It’s bigger than all of us.”
Hughes also performed the song “Lost,” which he said he had not performed “since I went through it,” and ended his set with “Stoop Kid” from the 2019 album of the same name. Every selection was a dynamic force of word and movement and expression. The energy of being there live felt wholly and with gratitude by those in attendance.
Hughes said at one point during the evening, “I feel like anyone who tells the truth can appreciate rap.” He clarified that as being those who told the truth to themselves. If it was a lesson you had yet to learn, it was now one you might ruminate on long after this show was over.
More information about any of the DAE programs can be found on DAE’s website. They also post the video from these bi-weekly livestreams on their Facebook page after each performance.
