Ilene Kristen the quintessential New Yorker was born in
Brooklyn Heights but eventually found herself living on the
Upper West Side for so
me of her formative years. As many an urban child especially of that era she and her sister were given directives regarding which streets could be traveled.
One street that had 100% permission for her young adventures was Broadway, which served as inspiration for the luminous and joyous noise she gave forth in a duet of Boogaloo Down Broadway with Pierce of the Triad last night after her show.
Ilene’s show is full of reminiscences in which she relates to her audience as if they were in her living room. She herself says so. Nonetheless the music is sultry, smooth and funky at one and the same time. Still this smoothness wraps itself around complex and sensitive lyrics in her original material. One difficulty in attending this lovely, talented woman’s shows is that the names of her songs are difficult to remember, because she talks more about the experience of writing them rather than nominating them. There’s nothing at all wrong with that except when the experience needs to be imparted to others. As fortune would have it, her song “Flesh & Blood” is found on the Hurricane Katrina Benefit Recording One Life Many Voices [go here for more info and to hear a sample] that she and her co-stars from One Life to Live have put together.
“Hold on to the earth with your own two hands and never say goodbye” are the lyrics she wrote in response to The World Trade Center tragedy and the loss of her good friend Nancy Addison from Ryan’s Hope. Speaking of inspiration, Ilene sang a Carmen Lundy song “Perfect Stranger” which served as a reminder of that other woman’s great talent. Ms. Kristen gave it her own interpretation inspiring her listeners even further. Ilene Kristen’s fans would do her and themselves a great service in encouraging her to record her moving and intelligent sounds.
Ilene performing at Kamar de los Reyes' Gabriel Project benefit at Prohibition.
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