|
|
New Bohemians: THE PERFORMER
Name: Bethany Lee Saint Smith Occupation: Singer/Bar Manager Years in New York: Three years. Hometown: Modesto, California. What brought you to New York? I wanted to get uncomfortable. It was on a whim, really. My best friend and I decided to up and leave San Francisco, California. For me, I wanted to work on my music, form a band and get working on my career as a singer. Music brought me to New York. What do you love about the city? New York City has made me grow up in a way I never imagined I wanted. I love this place because of its ability to change people and bring out the best and worst in them. I admire how you can walk out of your front door and be at another door in no time. Opportunities are much more difficult to come by, but the faucets of this City pour some great chances that those opportunities are attainable, if you want them enough. The people I've met in my short years of living here have changed my life and have taught me things no book of songs could. What do you hate? Because of the such dense population in New York, I feel like you see a lot more of the things you never want to see. Back home, you'd see violence once a week (doesn't mean it isn't happening), maybe, but out here, you see it every day. I don't mean to be such a pacifist, but cool yourselves. Temper tantrums don't take you from A to B. What's your definition of a New Yorker? A New Yorker, to me, is someone who can love every borough, every type of person and can appreciate the cultural differences of the people that make up the City itself. Those are the people that don't ignore everything their afraid of. Such as tourists. Best or worst New York moment? My first big gig with my band in New York City was at Mo'Pitkins House of Satisfaction in the East Village. It also happened to be the night of a major blizzard. I had put this entire show together and many good people had poured their heads and hearts into making this show killer. When 8pm struck and not one person was there... the manager in charge told me, "Listen... it's a blizzard, I don't think anyone is going to show up and plus you had no pre-sale tickets..." He tried to keep going with his pity speech and I interrupted and let him know (without really knowing at all), "I'm sorry to stop you honey... but we will pack this place, so please, back up and keep working". I knew it was a New York moment, the best one I've ever had, when we filled that space and flooded the seats. Blizzard or not, people came, all of them. That was the night I knew we had done the right thing and it felt really damn good. It was the first time my big mouth supported my faith. What three things are you addicted to right now? What one New York job would you want to do, if you weren't who you are? I would really want to be a Child Protective Specialist. Sure, we all want to see children do well and not be harmed in the most precious maturing times of their young lives... unfortunately, I've seen too many children in New York get brunt of their environments. I want to help protect their rights, so that when they are my age, they won't be talking about helping others, they'll be doing it. Where do you see yourself in five years? The dirty 30... I'll be working on another album, hopefully on another tour. If my lovely fiance Ted still adores me then, maybe I'll be married. If God were an animal, what would it be? If God were an animal, it would be a blue bird. Sounds nice, right? What do you think the difference is between faith and religion? I'm gonna say two things. Faith is the strong conviction of having the most honest intentions to believe in something. For me, that something is deeper than religious views. Religion is practiced beliefs, faith is belief, trust and loyalty to wherever your heart lies.
|
© Copyright 2009 Working Class Magazine