Reviews:
An
Englishwoman in New York
Gena Dry
by Bob Pomeroy
Ink 19, October 2001
New York is a city of dreams. It's the place where
people go to make their dreams come true. In September,
musicians from all over the world converge on New
York for the CMJ conference, looking to get signed
and get noticed. This story is about Gena Dry, an
Englishwoman who came to New York is search of fame
and fortune. An Englishwoman who ended up living through
a pivotal moment in American history.
Gena
Dry is a London native who teaches at the London School
of Music, "teaching singing to people who think
they can't sing as well as artists, ex-prisoners and
ex-offenders." Dry has her certificate in Jazz
and Popular Musicianship from Goldsmith College. Gena's
own music has been described as Bjork meets The Velvet
Underground by way of P.J. Harvey, or a Kate Bush
for the 21st Century. Gena says her unique vocal style
is "me trying to sing like Whitney Houston, I
just don't manage it."
"In
London, being in a guitar band is really bad right
now," Gena told me about her decision to come
to New York. "It's the first time I've ever done
anything like this. I'm afraid of heights and I've
never really traveled, but I thought, 'I've really
got to go to America.' A friend told me, 'if you want
to go to America, just book a plane and go.' I did
just that in May. I bought a ticket and was staying
on the sofa of someone I'd never met. By that Sunday,
I was playing at an open mic night at the Knitting
Factory. After that first trip, I knew I had to come
back."
"I
came back to New York in July and put together a band
here," Gena continues. "I've been sofa hopping
and walking dogs. I've played CBGB's and the Anti-Folk
Festival at the Sidewalk Cafe." Her performances
with her New York band garnered the interest of some
major players in the music business, and Gena got
an invitation to play at the CMJ Festival.
Then
came September 11th.
"I was in the area that got cordoned off, Gena
continues. When you went out into the street, there
were people in the street wearing masks because of
all the smoke. Everybody was in a real state of shock.
Then you saw the posters on every street corner, 'Have
You Seen My Wife? She was four months pregnant. She
was last seen on floor 105.' Every time I saw a poster
like that, my heart broke. On every street corner,
people were putting up posters and lighting candles.
We would go to the park and light a candle and talk
to the other people. I gathered with some people from
my street and we lit our own candles."
"The
thing that struck me was feeling so helpless,"
Gena continued. "Being European, I couldn't give
blood. A lot of the lines where we tried to volunteer,
they didn't need any more volunteers. I just had the
feeling of being helpless, wanting to help but not
being able to do anything. Going out and playing music
seemed such an inappropriate thing to do."
Reflecting
on her stay in New York, Gena recalled her impressions
of the World Trade Center. "When I first got
here," Gena remembers, "I was bowled over
by the view from the Staten Island Ferry looking back
on lower Manhattan. I was in tears because it was
so beautiful. Subsequently, I went up the World Trade
Center, which, as I'm terrified by heights, was quite
a big deal to me. I stood at the bottom wondering,
'I don't know if I can do this.' I shook all the way
up. I went to the edge and I looked straight out.
I couldn't look down. Now, I'm amazed. Any one of
us could have had a reason to be up there. They had
concerts up there in the evening. There was a bar
up there. Anyone from the city could have been up
there. Any number of tourists could have been up there.
That part of what makes the disaster so shocking."
"The
thing that really helped me was being on the Internet
24 hours a day," Gena admits. "Everybody
from London e-mailed me to ask if I was OK. 'Well,'
I told them, 'I'm a musician. I wouldn't be up at
nine o'clock. You should know that!' Once they found
out I was alone, they were e-mailing me with whatever
was going on in London just to keep me sort of sane.
It's one thing to be on the other side of the world,
but to be away in the middle of that kind of thing.
I'm fine when I'm doing e-mail, calling people, and
doing business. All that just stopped. Now, I seem
to be in a war zone. That's an amazing concept. I
thought I came here to play a festival."
Getting back to something approaching normal has been
hard for everyone. For entertainers, it's even harder.
Gena rationalized returning to performance saying,
"people enjoy concerts because it takes them
out of reality for a moment. Sometimes, the artists
can express things that people can't express on their
own. Currently at the Sidewalk Cafe, there are a lot
of people playing songs about the disaster. I wrote
a song called "Change," which is the one
I've chosen to play when I go out on my own. That's
the song that I feel passionately about. Something
has to change and we have the power to do it."
Talking
about the need for change, Gena related it to her
own life. "When I started singing, I couldn't
sing a note, but I learned. In order to do that, I
had to change myself. Now, I feel that something has
to change in the world. It's not all right that things
are all right in this country or that country. We
need to do something to make the world change. The
thing that Bob Geldof did with Feed The World, was
a remarkably good effort at raising peoples' consciousness.
I guess it's a wake up call to see what's going on
in the world." Later the same evening I spoke
to Gena Dry, I saw Gena's concerns for larger worldwide
change echoed by none other that British Prime Minister
Tony Blair. In an address to a Labour Party convention,
Blair called for rooting out terrorists, but also
ending the conditions that breed terrorism. It seems
we really are at a crossroads.
"I
decided to stay here to play the CMJ Festival,"
Gena says in conclusion. "I put in all this work,
I might as well stay and play. I play my CMJ show
at the Sidewalk Cafe on October 13th. Then I fly over
to London where I have two days to rehearse my London
band before we have to be in Amsterdam for Access
2 Amsterdam. That will be quite tight. I've been playing
with the people in London longer, so it should be
all right. As long as I can get a flight."
