With Mother Miriam and Brad in studio
by Brett R. Henry & Sarah Booth-Henry (“The Duchess of Something or Another”)
We guess that it can be said that our relationship with Brad “Martini” Chambers goes back to when he was the Marconi wireless operator on board the RMS Titanic. Where do you think the idea for putting ice INTO a cocktail shaker first originated? After we were rescued by a sailor who oddly kept calling himself “Miriam,” we separately made our way back to California, where Brad commenced a more successful commercial radio career in his hometown of Salinas, and I (Brett) spent my formative years in Toluca Lake, before embarking on my own television broadcasting career at ABC-TV.
In all seriousness, working in “da business,” our awareness of and subsequent relationship with Brad (and Miriam) first came about from listening to the radio, seeing his name pop up in one of the broadcasting/entertainment trade journals, or while attending the same industry function. This was also how Sarah and I first met. Sarah had recently arrived from the UK and was working at NBC at the time, before moving on to Warner Bros. and the Consumer Products marketing team for the “Harry Potter” film franchise. One of the many things that the two of us have in common is a genuine love and appreciation for the music from the Great American Songbook.
Besides its traffic gridlock, Los Angeles is also notorious for its cacophony of radio stations and formats. “The Fabulous 570” hit the Southern California airwaves in 2002, playing the cool and swingin’ lounge sound that we all love, and featuring the equally fabulous voice of Brad “Martini” Chambers. Our friendship with the “master mixologist” was cemented when he hosted a preview screening of the movie, “De-Lovely,” in Beverly Hills, and the rest as they say, is history. We’ve been listening to Martini in the Morning and supporting Brad in whatever way we can since the very beginning. We believe in him and the grand vision that he wants to accomplish.
Family commitments brought us to England ten years ago, where we’re currently working as media analysis consultants with a bit of photojournalism thrown in for good measure. Home is the picturesque medieval village of Whalley, which comes complete with its own abbey ruins and ghostly apparitions that go bump in the night, such as the local pub being inhabited by the ghost of an abbey monk who mischievously turns off the ale pumps. Sarah is a “Lancashire Lass” born and bred in this area. Owing to HM The Queen’s Duchy of Lancaster estate being just up the road, Brad has kindly bestowed upon Sarah the royal title of “The Duchess of Something or Another.”
The MITM family is a very special and unique group of listeners, and we have had the pleasure to meet many of its global members through the years. Be it for business or pleasure, we often return to Los Angeles and during our most recent trip in October, we finally got to meet fellow UK Lounge Lizards in Exile, Jim and Ann Rust, who were also on vacation. This was at Donny Most’s concert at Vitello’s, as well as returning there for the Wednesday Two Martini Lunch broadcast. Donny’s concert was especially enjoyable because I coincidentally worked on the final four seasons of “Happy Days,” and it was great to catch-up with Donny after his show.
It was during a previous visit to the MITM studio that we met singer Stacy Sullivan for the first time. This very lovely and multi-talented artist (and photographer too) recently brought her “Music of Peggy Lee” show to London’s Crazy Coqs Cabaret. The club and adjoining restaurant are exquisitely French art deco in design, and joining our party in the audience was Newsletter Foreign Desk Editor, Danni Chaso, making it a MITM family night out.
Our relocation back to Los Angeles is currently in the works, but in the meantime, we continue to listen to MITM via the TuneIn Radio app and keep checking-in. You do the same!
Brett, Sarah, Brad, Ann and Jim at Vitello’s
With the Stacy Sullivan concert group
Village of Whalley
Brett outside the Canute Chambers building
On a side note: In April 2012, Sarah and I went to Southampton to attend the official civic observances taking place there for the RMS Titanic Centenary (an interesting story for another time as to why we were there). This is a photo of me in front of the former White Star Line offices (behind which is Ocean Dock, from which Titanic departed on her maiden voyage). Upon seeing this photo on Facebook, Brad made the comment “My great uncle, Canute Chambers … thanks for sharing this Brett!”