WV Concert and Snow, Snow and more Snow

Hi all,

How's everyone doing? It was great seeing so many familiar faces at the West Virginia Symphony concerts on Valentine's weekend. Thank you so much for joining us. Mom and Dad had to divide their time since Christy and I were appearing Friday and Saturday while my sister, Beth, was appearing in Huntington on Saturday. It was a great time to be down there as we also got to celebrate Dad's birthday.

Christy and I loved doing the concerts. The Symphony under Maestro Grant Cooper performed exceptionally well! It was our pleasure to be their guests! But, wow, what's with all the snow? We left NJ a day earlier to avoid the blizzard that was on its way north, but, ended up driving through it all the way to Charleston. Thankfully, we made it to WV and back with no trouble. However, you may or may not know that we got pounded with snow again several days after our return and again this past weekend. Oh well! I guess that's why this season is called winter. We'll make the best of it and look forward to spring.

Love to hear your feedback about the concert.

Be safe!

Happy New Year and West Virginia Concert

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope you all are well and pray that 2010 is an awesome year for us all.

Had a great gig on New Year's Eve with the Cleveland Pops (also starring Capathia Jenkins). On New Year's Day I flew home then drove up to join Christy and the girls at Camp-of-the-Woods. It was quite a busy few days!

I also wanted to remind everyone that I will be performing at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV on February 12th and 13th. I will be performing with the West Virginia Symphony and my special guest will be Christy Tarr-McVey. Would love to see you at this event!

Also, more dates have been added (and more to come) both on the Tour page on my website and on the events page on my Facebook page.

See you in WV!

Christmas Blessings

Getting ready for the big day. Mom and Dad are up for the holidays and my sister Beth will be joining us so we are having a West Virginia Christmas in NJ! The girls are loving it! (well, so am I!) Christy and Mom are getting all ready for our 'feast'. House smells great! Girls are waiting for tomorrow with eager expectation.

Thank you all for being there and the comments on FB. Its been an 'interesting' year and I am looking forward to 2010.

Sending my wish for Merry Christmas to all and warm wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Blessed New Year!

Some Dates and times for the PBS Special

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Just thought I'd let you know that there are a few dates/times/stations listed for the Tale of Two Cities in Concert PBS Special. I have listed them below - if anyone knows of more, feel free to list them.

WISCONSIN - WPT
December 13th 8pm

Phoenix/Tucson w/ KUAT
Sunday 12/6 at 8pm
Sunday 12/13 at 4pm
Friday 1/1 at 8:30pm

Tampa/WEDU
Sunday 12/13 at 1:30pm
(Note: earlier reports included WUSF/Tampa, but now we have WEDU as well)

San Diego/KPBS
Sunday 12/6 at 9pm

Cincinnati/WPTO
Monday 11/30 at 8pm

BOSTON (ADDS)

12/4 FRIDAY AFTERNOON AT 2:30PM

New York NJN
Sunday 12/6 at 4:30pm
Friday 12/11 at 8pm

Philadelphia WHYY
Sunday 12/6 at 8pm

Dallas KERA
Sunday 12/13 at 8:30pm

San Francisco KQED HD
Sunday 12/6 at 9pm
Tuesday 12/8 at 1pm
Monday 11/30 at 7pm on KQED LIFE and KTEH

Boston WGBH
Thursday 11/26 at 9pm on 2
Sunday 11/29 at 4pm on 44

Houston KUHT
Sunday 12/13 at 4pm

Tampa WEDU
Friday 12/4 at 12pm

Seattle KBTC
Friday 12/11 at 8:30pm
Saturday 12/19 at 10pm
Sunday 12/20 at 4pm

Miami WPBT
Sunday 11/29 at 4:30pm

Cleveland WVIZ
Sunday 12/6 at 9pm

Denver KRMA
Sunday 11/29 at 9pm

Sacramento KVIE
Sunday 12/6 at 9pm

Portland OPB
Wednesday 12/2 at 8pm
Sunday 12/13 at 8pm

Pittsburgh WQED
Sunday 12/6 at 9pm

Raleigh/Durham UNC-MX
Saturday 1/9 at 8pm

Kansas City KCPT
Sunday 12/6 at 7pm

Columbus WOSU
Sunday 11/29 at 4:30pm

Spartanburg SCETV
Sunday 12/6 at 9pm

San Antonio KLRN
Sunday 12/6 at 8pm

West Palm Beach WXEL
Tuesday 12/1 at 8pm and 11:30pm
Sunday 12/6 at 7pm

Grand Rapids WGVU
Sunday 11/29 at 9pm

Birmingham APT
Sunday 12/6 at 12:30pm

PBS Special

Hi Folks,

Just wanted to let everyone know that the PBS Special of A Tale of Two Cities in Concert, which I recorded this summer in London and Brighton (along with James Barbour , Brandi Burkhardt, Natalie Toro and many others), will be shown in December on PBS.

Here is a link about it: Tale on PBS

There is also a preview here: Broadwayworld preview

Check your local listings to find out when this will be shown in your area.

Hope you enjoy!

Rain, Wind, Ice, Snow and a Benefit

Last week we (Christy, Laurie Gayle-Stephenson and I) did a benefit/fundraiser for the Eastern Christian School and Christian Health Center in Franklin Lakes, NJ – and I think we have finally thawed! The benefit was outdoors – in a tent. On that day, we had the first snow of the season and temperatures were more like December than October with a March wind. Well, there is no planning for that sort of thing. The tent was heated and the heaters were working overtime. My compliments to the large number of folks who braved the elements to attend and helped raise funds. We had a great time presenting the show and hope that everyone enjoyed themselves.

Be Well

Re-inventing myself...

Over the span of my career I have found that I need to re-invent myself. This realization has come to me every few years in my life. Early on in my career I was very interested in Broadway and spent all of my time focusing on that goal. Then I started concertizing along with pursuing the Great White Way! This was great for a while except it took more and more of my time searching for work. In fact, the only thing that was constant in my life was looking for a job. For a while that was enough. That situation has taught me a great deal. For instance, I am not afraid of being out of work. Now I feel like I am ready for another change.

We are living in a very unique time in the US. This time will be written about in the text books of the future. The only thing constant is change. I feel well prepared to deal with this time in life. I will still be singing as much as I can, however, due to the current economic climate I am pursuing many other avenues to support my beautiful family. Albert Einstein said " the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." It's time for me to find another way to support my family. I'll keep you posted on how it is going!

Talk to you soon.

God bless!

Mark