New Additions to the MITM Team
by Brett R. Henry
By now, you have probably already read ‘Miriam’s Madness’. Many exciting new things and other long-range planning are on the horizon for MITM and we’re equally excited to have been invited to come on board as the newest behind the scenes MITM family members to help make all of this a reality.
Who are we? Throughout the past nine years, you may have heard the “master mixologist” (as I like to refer to Mr. Chambers in my Facebook posts) make an occasional mention of The Duchess of Something or Another. That would be my “better half”, Sarah Booth-Henry. For the last 11 years, we had been living in Sarah’s native England, where she reigned supreme as the “Duchess” in the historic and picturesque village of Whalley (the Queen’s own Duchy of Lancaster Whitewell Estate was just up the road from us). In late April, we returned to Southern California to rediscover what sunshine looks like and, amongst other things, give Brad and MITM a helping hand.
We have both worked in the film and television broadcasting industry for many years, specifically in the areas of marketing and communications. Sarah is a marketing and media analyst, having previously worked at NBC and Warner Bros Consumer Products, where she was a member of the Harry Potter franchise marketing team. I previously worked at ABC Television, before heading up the media relations and promotions activities at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau. In the UK, I worked as a media consultant and in event management, producing the cultural festivals and ceremonial civic ceremonies for a local government authority there. We first met Brad many years ago at a KLAC event he was hosting in Beverly Hills. As Humphrey Bogart uttered to Claude Rains in the closing scene of ‘Casablanca,’ this was “the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.
In our opinion, Brad epitomizes the definition of a “good egg”. We believe in him and what he is attempting to creatively accomplish well beyond the simple playing of the music from the Great American Songbook; the music which speaks to the heart and to the soul. Brad is a dreamer in the best sense. Sarah and I like dreamers. The world would be a much better place if we had more of them. To him (and many of our fellow listeners), MITM represents much more than the greatest music ever written. It represents supporting the arts and keeping a spotlight focussed on the talented individuals who create art for the rest of us in its many diverse mediums. It also represents education and nurturing our future artists. Most importantly, MITM is a family; a lifestyle community that knows no boundaries (and knows how to enjoy life and embrace all that it offers). And that’s what cool really is. These are the same values that Sarah and I also share, and welcome this opportunity to contribute our respective professional backgrounds towards making a positive difference and helping the dream come true.
As George Bernard Shaw famously wrote, “Some men see things as they are and say ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and ask ‘Why Not?'”