Hello Everyone,
It has been sometime since my last newsletter and I hope all is well with all of you. I’ve been on a bit of a break since the December 19th “Preston and Friends Holiday Benefit”, which despite taking place in the middle of a blizzard, still managed to generate a nice turnout, and still enabled us to raise some funds for the New York Foundling and the Children’s Aid Foundation. With about seventy people in attendance, and over a dozen performers, including five of my good friends from Canada – Noah Zacharin, Jon Travis, Laura Fernandez, Rehan Dalal, and Carl Lorusso, Jr. – it truly was a special evening. Also a special thanks to my friend Kevin So for making it up from Nashville, and my local friends, Evan Palazzo and his band, The Hot Sardines , John Henry Olthoff, Jason Fien, Blake DeLong, Bill Chu, and Kelly Thomas for making it out for the weather. You can see some videos of the event as well as some photos, by going to the event section of PrestonsBeat.com or by clicking the following link – http://prestonsbeat.com/blog/events-calendar/ .
Also, in late November and early December, I visited the United Kingdom for eleven years. For those of you who don’t know, I have visited the UK quite frequently over the last few years and have established some wonderful friendships there. On my most recent journey, which lasted eleven days, I spent quite a bit of time in the county of Sussex, which among other things, is where you can find some of the world’s most incredible scenery in the South Downs. I also spent time in the medieval village of Midhurst, and was asked by my friend John Treuman to write about my UK experiences for their local website, The Midhurst Pages. It turned into an extensive writing project, and you can read the entire article, titled “Britain and Me”, all with some of my pictures, on PrestonsBeat.com or by clicking the following link, which will open up as a PDF, by clicking the following link: http://prestonsbeat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Britain-and-Me-with-photo-inserts.pdf. You can also find out more about Midhurst, where the article will appear shortly, by going to the Midhurst Pages at http://www.violetdesigns.co.uk/midhurst.htm. It is a town that really opened themselves up to me (as you will read in the article) and it’s a community that I will continue to support where I can. If you are on “Facebook”, you can also find out more through” Friends of Midhurst”. You’ll also see pictures of my friend Martin Swatton’s award winning redesign of 1930’s English bungalow. Martin is a great talent and you can see more of his work at http://www.martinswatton.com .
Speaking of friends, I was fortunate enough to celebrate the Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day at the home of my good friend May Pang along with some of her family and friends, and May and her radio co-host Cynthia Neilson broadcast their weekly radio program that afternoon. You can hear a streaming of the one hour program, where the conversation ranged from discussing the day’s holidays to William Shatner, by clicking the link to the Feb. 14th broadcast of “Dinner Specials with May Pang and Cynthia Nielson” here – http://www.blogtalkradio.com/maypang/2010/02/14/dinner-specials-with-may-pang-and-cynthia-neilson-live. You can also read more of what May is up to, including an upcoming trip to Scotland for a special exhibition of the works of the late photographer Iain Macmillan, who was one of the great Beatles photographers (his most famous work is perhaps the “Abbey Road” cover), by visiting May’s site, http://www.maypang.com . And on a sad note, George Harrison’s nephew, Gordon Caldwell, recently lost his six year battle with colon cancer. He was 52. My condolences to his family; and having lost my own mother to colon cancer, I can’t tell you enough how important it is to get a colonoscopy every few years, especially if it has occurred in your family. I know for myself and some members of my family, it has helped saved our lives. I usually don’t preach about these things – but be sure to get yourself checked.
And finally, as I said at the beginning of this newsletter, I’ve been taking some needed time off, but am in the midst of putting together the music for my upcoming “Preston and the Fifty-Sevens” CD, which will be a group effort that will be a mix of blues and jazz classics and originals. You can see a video of a rehearsal of one of the numbers Evan and I are working on, an original blues shuffle titled “The Sands of Time” in the My Music section of PrestonsBeat.com or by clicking the following link – http://www.youtube.com/prestonsbeat#p/u/0/f0PiRX20xjE.
Well, that’s all for now. I wish everyone best for 2010, and I hope to see you all soon!
Peace and Love,
Mark Preston
Preston’s Beat
The Music of
Mark Nelson Preston
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