{"id":264473,"date":"2026-06-12T14:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/264473\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:47:13","slug":"brooklyn-musician-and-artist-olive-hui-on-how-a-hit-and-run-led-to-a-new-outlook-on-life-and-a-benefit-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/264473\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn musician and artist Olive Hui on how a hit-and-run led to a new outlook on life and a benefit show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olive Hui didn\u2019t expect that getting hit by a car would change the way she looked at the world. But then again, she didn\u2019t expect to be hit by a car in the first place.<\/p>\n

Back in November 2025, Hui \u2014 a Brooklyn-based artist, musician and actor \u2014 was on her way to a friend\u2019s art show when it happened. As she was crossing a Bushwick street, just three blocks from her home, a car hit her and fled the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see anything coming; I just saw the sky. I felt like I was in a bumper car ride,\u201d said Hui.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Hui remembers trying to commit the license plate to memory as her partner and bandmate, John Wlaysewski, and several others who witnessed the incident came to her aid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe car stopped and I thought they\u2019re gonna come and help me get up or something because I didn\u2019t even know until I was on the ground that that was what happened. I saw my phone far away, kind of cracked on the back of it, and my beanie on the ground,\u201d said Hui. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, okay, an incident? Am I alive? I\u2019m alive.\u2019 And then I looked at the car, couldn\u2019t see who was in there, and I felt that the gas was being stepped on. You can feel that the car was about to move. And then it was slow motion, but I was not even registering what\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was taken to the hospital for treatment, where she learned she had a neck and leg fracture as a result. Yet the main thing Hui was thinking about was if she would be able to go on stage that night.<\/p>\n

Hui and Wlaysewski front the Brooklyn-based rock band Late Cambrian, and were set to play a show that night. However, it became pretty clear that Hui couldn\u2019t go on that night, and Hui insisted that Wlaysewski go play anyway and come back when the show was done.<\/p>\n

Hui spent the night in the hospital and was able to go home the following day with a road to recovery ahead of her. Sitting in the hospital room, Hui decided to channel any anxiety about the situation and channel it into writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this notebook. I literally just write, I\u2019m here processing everything,\u201d said Hui.\u00a0
\n\"In<\/a>In November 2025, Olive Hui was hit by a car that fled just blocks away from her Bushwick home.Photo by John Wlaysewski\n<\/p>\n

The road to recovery and PineappleFest<\/p>\n

Over the next five months, Hui was healing and attending physical therapy, putting performing on the back burner while focusing on recovery. Though she is still working on getting full mobility back in her neck, arm and leg, she has come far in her healing journey.<\/p>\n

But what comes with healing is a heap of medical bills. A GoFundMe was created to help with expenses, but it barely moved the needle.\n<\/p>\n

Then came PineappleFest.\n<\/p>\n

Created by Wlaysewski and actor\/comedian Kevin McDonald, PineappleFest, named for Hui\u2019s stage name Pineapple O, was a variety benefit show to raise money for Hui\u2019s recovery expenses. The show took place on May 3 at the Bell House.<\/p>\n

At the time, Hui said the thought that McDonald wanted to throw her a benefit freaked her out.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018This is really scary. What did I do to deserve this?\u2019 I texted Kevin and said, \u2018I feel like I need to be a better human and a better artist to deserve the love of this,\u2019 and he said, \u2018We\u2019ll just have fun,\u2019\u201d said Hui.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>David Cross performing at PineappleFest.Photo by Zhen Qin \"(l-r)<\/a>(l-r) Kevin McDonald, Julie Klausner and Dave Foley perform at PineappleFest.Photo by Zhen Qin<\/p>\n

The lineup included Hui\u2019s band Late Cambrian, an acoustic set by Wheatus, a set from NY Grim (which features actor Kevin Corrigan), comedy from David Cross, music from Loudon Wainwright III, Trudy Carmichael, and comedy skits by McDonald, Dave Foley and Julie Klausner that had been previously rejected for the show \u201cKids in the Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The venue was full of around 200 people, all of whom were there to support Hui, who took the stage with Late Cambrian at the end. Proceeds from the show went to support Hui, who still can\u2019t believe that the event was so stacked when it came to entertainment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like a carnival of music and comedy and all the people that we loved and somehow are lucky enough to be linked to. I\u2019m still coming back from that excitement,\u201d said Hui.<\/p>\n

Hui is incredibly grateful for those who showed up for the benefit.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just thinking about bits and pieces from the show, replaying it in my head. I feel so loved,\u201d said Hui.\u00a0
\n\"The<\/a>The lineup of PineappleFest on stage with Olive.Photo by Zhen Qin\n<\/p>\n

A new lease on life<\/p>\n

As an artist, Hui is used to taking an unconventional approach to life, but something about the hit-and-run experience changed her perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs weird as it sounds, I am glad this happened. It kind of woke me up a little bit,\u201d said Hui. \u201cI was waiting to do things. Now, I\u2019m more present and I do things instantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hui said that she is taking time to consider what else she might want to explore in this life, from creating more art to just walking around the city more often and not limiting herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel like there\u2019s any limit and every single day we can choose again, and do what\u2019s right by us, keep updating your life resume,\u201d said Hui.<\/p>\n

Though she doesn\u2019t know what her future holds, Hui knows one thing for sure: life isn\u2019t going to hold her back from trying anything.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it makes me kinder and I would be more open to help a stranger or just share what I have,\u201d said Hui. \u201cTo know that I need to have thicker skin, and own my life, my art and my ambition so that I don\u2019t waste the effort and the love of the people around me.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can follow Hui online on Instagram @pineappleo, @latecambrian or visit olivehui.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Late<\/a>Late Cambrian, fronted by Olive Hui and her partner John Wlaysewski, perform at PineappleFest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olive Hui didn\u2019t expect that getting hit by a car would change the way she looked at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[5083,1149,98,100,99,83920,2953,473,102480,102481,9451,9,24,63,102482,38796,102483,613,70247],"class_list":["post-264473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-amny-weekender","tag-art","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-david-cross","tag-health","tag-hit-and-run","tag-john-wlaysewski","tag-kevin-mcdonald","tag-late-cambrian","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-olive-hui","tag-performance-art","tag-pineapplefest","tag-pm-newsletter","tag-the-bell-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}