Mark Porter

mark porter · Post by **mark porter** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 10:38 pm

hi guys,
Marian you are giving me more publicity THAN my agent!!! hehe. thanks its nice to be appreciated
hope you can still come along to the beck,
il ask tony benedict to do artificial flowers by the way lena!!

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:22 am

We are all looking forward to tomorrow night Mark. I'm sure it will be a great show.

We'll be sure to give you all a good review.
Marian and the MM gang!

john · Post by **john** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:24 am

Hope you all have a great night tomorrow.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:55 am

Thanks John, we are looking forward to the show.

Strictly Entertaining.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:49 am

Thank you very much, we will look forward to not only that Mark, but the entire show

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 5:15 pm

As we had expected, our trip to the Beck Theatre in Hayes to see The Kings of Swing with our very own Mark Porter, Tony Benedict, and Paul Pashley, turned out to be a wonderful and very entertaining evening.
We met up with Lena and Harry in the foyer before the show, and it was great to see them both looking almost as good as new after their recent upheaval and Lenaâ€™s injuries.
We had a nice chat and a meal together and as always we put the world to rights!
We had good seats just about level with the stage and the boys and the orchestra were on top form. All the usual humour shone through, and the singing from all three was tremendous.
We found out after that Paul has a bad cold. Well, if he can sing like that with a cold, he must be the absolute tops on a good day.
It was the thirteenth birthday of a boy sitting behind us, and we all wished him a happy birthday by singing Happy Birthday to You. You can tell from this that this is a show all the family can enjoy, with lots of humour and great singing, and absolutely no fear at all of anything inappropriate.
It is an excellent evening of good top quality entertainment, just as it should be.
The reasonably large audience were very appreciative and joined in readily with many well-known favourites.
True to his word, Mark got Tony to sing Bobby Darin's 'Artificial Flowers' especially for Lena and Harry, so of course our Matt Monro Society got an honourable mention.
We met up with Mark, Paul and Tony in the foyer after the show for photos and a chat, and like last year we found them all to be really friendly and very talented, lovely guys.
Mark was also making an excellent job of selling their latest CDs.
We wish them all the best for the rest of their tour, and hope to get the opportunity to enjoy another special evening with them again next year.

Marian and Peter.

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:41 pm

Thanks Marian for the write up--sounds as though it was a great evening--good enough to forget about the weather outside !!

john · Post by **john** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:31 am

Thanks for the review Marian, I am glad you all had a good time.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:25 am

It was indeed an evening to forget the cold weather outside Marian, and yes we did enjoy it John.
As Marian has said in her report, a wonderful and entertaining evening and of course it was lovely to meet up and spend the evening with Marian and Peter again, and we were ready for the meal which we all thoroughly enjoyed.
After seeing Mark and Tony and Paul in this show last year we knew that again we were going to be entertained by Three very talented and polished performers, and we weren't disappointed, and attractive Lynne Kennedy added a little bit of glamour to the show and sang the familiar song ..Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps,then joined by Tony followed on with the Dean Martin, Helen O'Connell number .."How Do You Like Your Eggs In The Morning " Mark sang Tony Bennetts , "I Left My Heart In San francisco." with audience participation.
This was simply our kind of evening packed with 50 of the best songs ever written and mainly associated with the finest crooners .. just too numerous to mention each one, but starting off with one of our Matt's best... "As Long As I'm Singing," followed by some Sinatra specials, Night and Day, They can't Take That Away From Me, I've Got You Under My Skin, My Kind Of Town
Michael Buble's "Moondance" sung superbly by Paul,
We have to thank all Three guys for a brilliant show. Thank you Mark for answering our request for Tony to repeat his fantastic rendition of " Artificial Flowers " for Harry and I.
The audience certainly appreciated it too, along with every other song that was sung last night.
The musicians were excellent, joining in with the humour and during the show played a great selection of music from the Big Band era.
It was nice to have the opportunity for a chat with Mark, Tony and Paul and photo's after the concert .

This is a show not to be missed. We will definitely be looking forward to another show next time around.

paul jh · Post by **paul jh** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:44 am

Thanks for the great reviews, Marian and Peter, and Lena and Harry. Sounds like you had a lovely evening.

I didn't read anything about the Kings of Swing apparel. What did they wear? Did they wear different outfits for each half?

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 7:39 am

Thanks for posting the reviews, Lena &Marian, really nice to read.

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 9:21 am

To reply to Paul's request for news of what the guys were wearing during the show, they came on stage in identical, or very similar, black tuxedos with white shirts with black buttons and black bow ties, black patent leather shoes, and looking very smart. Lynne Kennedy, when she joined them, had a full length black dress with a glittery pattern on the front. She changed for the second half, into another elegant full length glittery black dress.
Mark, Tony and Paul started the second half of the show in light grey lounge suits and light ties and shoes, taking the opportunity to change back into black tuxedos while Lynne was on stage, that they then wore these for the rest of the show.
How they managed to change in those tiny dressing rooms, that must have been similar to the one Matt had, and find their way back on stage in time through the maze of tunnels, must have been yet another challenge for the evening!

Marian.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 9:59 am

An excellent description by Marian, and their dress apparel is another example of what came naturally to singers and entertainers of that era. Mark, Tony and Paul certainly lived up to that expectation.
Each looking immaculate to accentuate a terrific show of this kind.

paul jh · Post by **paul jh** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 12:13 am

Thanks for the detailed description Marian. The grey suits sound really intriguing. And I agree 100% with you, Lena and Harry. Isn't it nice when the entertainers are dressed smartly? It makes for a more special evening.

The Last Shadow Puppets were stylishly dressed as were the band and orchestra.

Certainly not like the Kings of Swing, but very appropriate for the style of music. When I went to see Coldplay in August, they were underdressed for even a backyard barbecue.

They could have put more effort into their attire.

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 1:11 am

There are some videos of The Kings of Swing on You tube Paul. I think they may even have their grey suits on in one.

Marian