Karen Ponzio Photos
Caribbean Vibe Steel Drum Band.
A July in New Haven typically gives people a multitude of choices for where and when to be entertained. With this July being anything but typical — except for the soaring temperatures — the city is offering another way to enjoy many of its dining options, shops, and yes, even live music performances: as part of Summer Saturdays, a coordinated effort involving downtown restaurants and other businesses, performers are paired with locations to allow patrons to take in lunch and a show.
The inaugural Summer Saturdays event took place on July 11 with a variety of deals offered at a variety of locations. The final Summer Saturday is next weekend, July 25. This past Saturday, this reporter decided it was time to head out and take in a show, socially distant but still in the mix as both a journalist and a fan.
From noon to two on Saturday, two acts played at two different locations: Caribbean Vibe Steel Drum Band at the corner of Chapel and Orange Streets and Cliff Schloss on the corner of Chapel and College. I knew with the right parking spot and an eye on timing that I could easily make both.
My journey from my car on Temple Street across the Green to Chapel Street was mixed with spots of intense sunshine and subtle breezy shade. A group of birds flocking where the summer stage for the Concerts on the Green usually is reminded me of shows gone by with crowds that stretched out beyond the block. I arrived at Pitkin Plaza to find Caribbean Vibe setting up. Chairs and tables were set more than six feet apart with messages on each welcoming visitors to the city and offering guidelines regarding masks, distancing, and cleaning up after oneself.
Caribbean Vibe lived up to its name, immediately launching into a sunny, sweet, and delightful steel drum and percussion-packed set that elicited as many head nods from those walking by as it did from those seated and watching. How can you tell someone is smiling if they are wearing a mask, you might say? If you don’t know already, it is all in the eyes, and the eyes of so many were alight. Percussionist Duane Huff gestured and shouted to onlookers more than once to clap and cheer and they did, as if awestruck that live music was even happening.
On a personal note, this reporter found herself teary eyed while filming. I realized it had been over four months since the last time I had done this. I even got encouraged to get up and dance with Joy Scott, who told me afterward that she was a member of St. Luke’s Steel Band and played steel drum herself. Hearing the band’s versions of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” and Grover Washington and Bill Withers’s “Just the Two of Us” while watching everyone around stop and nod and move through the plaza joyfully felt like a reawakening. At the end of the first hour I walked off to the sounds of Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour” and headed toward College Street. I could still hear the music over a block away.
Cliff Schloss.
I passed through the Green once again. It was now more alive with bikers, walkers, and a few groups seated together but apart, both in the shade and the sunshine. I soon encountered the soothing sounds of Cliff Schloss, seated in a chair in the sectioned-off part of College Street next to the remodeled and soon to be reopened Claire’s, with his own handful of supporters around him. Schloss — who released a new EP aptly titled I’m Here Now just the day before — had to compete with horns and sirens and the occasional booming car stereo, but he took it all in stride, smiling and interacting with everyone he could, with many a ‘Hey Cliff’ being shouted by a passerby.
Schloss talked during his break about returning to the live music scene, noting that he had participated in the Arts on Call program during the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. A&I is one of the collaborators, along with the City of New Haven, EDC New Haven, the Greater New Haven Chamber, Market New Haven, The Shops at Yale, and the Town Green District for Summer Saturdays. He said he enjoyed playing at people’s houses and parties in a socially distanced and safe manner.
“It was like a mini day tour,” he said. He also noted that although he has “no idea what it’s going to look like,” he is “excited to see what will happen” with the future of live performances. He said the private performances have been “pretty ideal” and he was happy for the potential to “reach more people.”
On this city corner, he continued to bring smiles to both familiar faces and new ones, with many of those walking or even driving by seen to be enjoying Schloss’ intricate guitar work and soulful vocals. He even sang a couple of songs with his partner Briana Williams, who was standing on the sidewalk and enjoying it all as well, taking video and photos and talking to friends. Once again, the tears welled up filming and hearing live music and seeing familiar, albeit masked faces.
Schloss’s and Williams’s cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” hit just a bit different in this time and place, but still had a free and easy joy to it as a sultry breeze swept down the street and a couple more friends showed up. Schloss finished with an original called “What I Need,” which he mentioned he had played in the first hour “but you guys weren’t here to hear it so I’ll play it again.” When the song was complete he stood up, raised his hands to the sky and yelled “arts and ideas!” As I walked back to my car through the Green once again, I thought, “yes, indeed. More of both, please.”
For more information about future Summer Saturday events and participating retailers/restaurants please visit the InfoNewHaven website here.