I am so sorry it has taken me so long to write a new entry in my diary. I have been focusing on getting several projects off the ground and also spending quality time with my family. My CD is coming along nicely but taking so much longer than I had anticipated. When your producer is touring with a major artist, sometimes you just have to be patient. I suck at being patient. 

 

I find myself yet again away from home, but strangely enough this place still feels like home because it used to be home for so many years. I love London and being back here sometimes makes me think what would life be like if we never moved. Who knows? But the thought keeps me awake at times. I love this city and its people and miss it terribly.

 

Having said that, being home in New York of late has been awesome! If only it was not so HOT all the time. It certainly is a place of extremes in every way. You wait how in a few months I'll be saying "if only it was not so COLD all the time!" 

 

I have been so proud of my wife Simone who has just joined the PROMISES, PROMISES cast, making her Broadway debut! It was always a dream of hers to perform on Broadway, and now here she is. No-one deserves it more or shines brighter on stage in my eyes. It's such a wonderful show with an amazing cast, and Simmy is having the time of her life!

 

I am just about to head out to Warwick Castle to do my second QUEEN SYMPHONIC SPECTACULAR and can't wait. This venue is ridiculously spectacular and this concert is something I look forward to all year. I hope the weather behaves itself and that the amazing crowds return.

 

I do hope you can stay tuned to this station as there are many exciting developments ahead. I can't wait to share with you all. But for the meantime, the show must go on!

 

Always love,

MiG

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I find myself about to land in Vancouver, Canada. The last few weeks I have been in New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Osaka, Tokyo, Fukuoka and Seoul. I have had to get a new passport way before it expired because I simply ran out of pages for visas and stamps. I am a rolling stone, gathering not moss, but frequent flyer points. I live out of a suitcase, and visit airports more than I do my parents. I am exhausted yet I have much more to do before I can rest, and I can only rest when I get home to my girls back in New York, which is months away. I am a little numb at the moment, but that might have to do with the 7 hour layover in Tokyo last night. I am flying over some incredibly spectacular Canadian coastline. I am in the middle of a successful world tour doing what I love. I am grateful and blessed with so much so I hope this does not sound selfish of me, but all I care about right now is that I will see my wife again tonight. Not even the sight of the Canadian Rockies can compare with the magnificence of this thought.

The audiences in Japan and Korea have blown me away. Their enthusiasm and friendliness have made me fall in love with all of them and from the bottom of my heart I thank you for coming to the show and for your hospitality. I so look forward to coming back again!

The new cd is almost done. Touring Australia has allowed me to work with Carl Dimataga to finish it. It is all sounding amazing and I am impatient with showing it off but won't until it's absolutely done. So please stay tuned and hang on. It won't be long now....

To celebrate this trip to Vancouver I put together a video to a demo version of the song BLOWN AWAY, produced by Jeff Dawson and mixed by Mike Fraser. It was recorded in Vancouver last year in Bryan Adam's Warehouse Studio in Gastown. I have re-recorded it for the new cd, but for now, you can hear and see how my last trip to this spectacular city turned it out. I present it to you as an E-card. Hope you like it!

We're coming in to land. Speak soon...

MiG
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Ok. Here we go. New year. New decade. New tour. New era. New job. New album. New York. Everything is like starting again, but not in the way of starting again from scratch. I am riding high on a new exuberance and excitement that I haven't felt since I first knew that the girl opposite me was the girl I have waited for all my life, that comes once in a life-time and sometimes, sadly, not at all. I guess it's because I feel there is no longer the weight of expectations on my shoulder. The pressure of having to deliver so much with so little tools at my disposal has gone. Despite last year being professionally the hardest one for me, it was like a baptism of creativity and revelations, washing me free of preconceptions and the burden of unrealistic expectations.

 

I cannot really explain why I feel this way, but it is all encompassing, enveloping me like a warm blanket at the beginning of a marathon movie festival on the couch with my girls. It is tangible, but inexplicable.

 

Maybe it's because I started the year with a bang. A Broadway debut. It might not seem much but for a guy who's been trying to get ahead in the hardest city in the world, finally getting the chance to show what I can do is like I have a renewed belief in myself. Thinking I was delusional there for a while like some cracked out American Idol auditionee, doing BURN THE FLOOR on Broadway was a shot in the arm for me. I play a very little background role in it all. It's all about these incredible super hero-like gods and godesses that dance around me. But I feel so great to be part of such a wonderful show with such a wonderful story behind it all. The people behind the show have been working on this for years and to see their triumph in New York, let alone be part of it, is a true 'Mouse That Roared' story that rivals any I've heard.

 

Maybe it's because I'm half way through finishing a new cd: my sophomore offering I have been working on in Sydney with hot gun producer/songwriter and old time friend Carl Dimataga. I am on my way to put the finishing touches to it all. I hope to have it done before too long so as to sell it at BURN THE FLOOR shows and online, but it won't be done until it's done. No clinical deadlines to squeeze out any half-baked puppy please! Not sure when or if I will ever have the chance to do another disc, so this one's going to have to do for a while. It's sounding great and I am feeling so excited like an expectant mother! My baby!

 

Maybe it's because I've just had a very significant, mind altering, life re-assessing milestone birthday and was showered with love and affection from everybody in my life, making me feel so loved. I was totally spoiled rotten and loved it. My transition into my next era was painless (despite for a bout of a stomach virus) and in fact the best birthday I have ever had! It will make every birthday from now on seem an anti-climax.

 

Maybe it's because I can't wait for the Winter Olympics...?

 

Maybe it's because I am writing this 30,000 feet above the earth on the way to San Francisco and my Airborne has just kicked in...?

 

Maybe the oxygen masks need to drop down...?

 

Maybe it's because they're bringing out the snack cart from the kitchen... maybe not.

 

Whatever it is, I am hurtling head-first into a new direction and a fresh beginning, letting go of disappointments, missed opportunities, the 'shoulda', 'coulda', 'woulda' s. 

 

New York. If I can make it there...

 

Always love,

MiG

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I really do need to write more regularly. What has happened in the last few weeks has kept me spinning like a top all around the world. I found myself yet again jetting around the world, recording, writing, performing and spending quality time with my family.

 

When your Dad turns 80 years old, you DON’T miss the party, even if it’s on the other side of the world. So here I am in Sydney, Australia, celebrating with my whole family this incredible milestone. He is looking like a man 10 years younger and is as fit as a fiddle. It has been a wonderful time seeing all my nephews and nieces and brothers and sisters, not to mention my unstoppable parents. I am very blessed with such a magical family. We are far from the perfect clan, but I wouldn’t change them for anything!

 

I took the opportunity to come to Sydney to then work with an old friend who I have admired and played and wrote with since I was 17 years old. Carl Dimataga and I have always promised ourselves we would make a cd together, and now finally we are. He has grown as a producer, writer and musician every day, and as also one of my closest friends, this cd is truly a labour of love and I am very excited about how it’s coming out. I hope to have it done in a couple of months or so.

 

We did hit a speed bump along the way. We (Carl, Axle Whitehead and I) played at a private party for the heads of Virgin Blue Airways and they invited us that night to be VIP passengers on the inaugural V Australia flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles, stay at the Andaz Hotel on Sunset Boulevard and then join the star-studded party at the Chateau Marmont. How could we refuse an offer like that?! Sure it took us away from the studio for a few days, but it was well worth the diversion! The V Australia crew were gorgeous, attentive, bright, buzzing, gorgeous (did I say that already?) and just plain brilliant. The new 777 we flew on was awesome (I love that new plane smell). I have to say it was a flying experience I will never forget! Thank you V Australia… I need some Advil…

 

Happy Birthday Dad!!

 

Always love,

 

MiG

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Hey everyone. This is my first blog in ages. Forgive me! I have been travelling so much between New York to London, I have just lost track of time and almost everything. I feel like I must write now to ask people to take notice of what has been happening in the Philippines the last week.

Hurricane Ondoy has caused such widespread havoc and destruction throughout the Philippines, and the reports and images and videos about the flood, also flood my heart with sadness. It's so heart-breaking to see people with not much to begin with, lose everything including their lives due to nature's cruel powerful ways. Memories of the Tsanami and Hurricane Katrina come to mind, but when I see the streets that I know suddenly look like a deadly muddy river, the urgency and desperation of the situation really hits home... Literally!

The Red Cross are asking for donations to help those victims who need your help now more than ever. Every little bit helps. There are also groups that are organising donation boxes etc. Here is just a start:

This is the link for the group

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=140402736830&ref=ts

& this is the topic from the group with information on how to donate if you're not in HK/Philippines

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=140402736830&topic=10584

On a more personal note, I had an amazing time with the QUEEN SYMPHONIC concerts in the UK. Thank you to all who came, who braved the lousy English summer weather and who came to say hi! I hope we can do more in the future!

I have to say it was an honour and privilege to perform with those that I did, but must give a cheer out for Ricardo Afonso who just finished a 2 year stint as London's Galileo in WWRY. I don't think I have ever heard such a spectacular voice and will never forget his THE SHOW MUST GO ON at the Symphonics. I wish him all the best for future endeavours and am looking forward to performing with him again someday.

In the same breath I must also congratulate my old friend Peter Murphy who took over from Afonso. Peter has one of the best voices I have ever heard and am sure he will be an awesome Gaz!! Another Aussie Gaz!! I wish him the very best and I hope if you are in London to make sure you see him at the Dominion...guaranteed to blow your mind!

Ok, it's been a week since I started writing this blog so let me get this done and posted!! Last week I wrote a song as a tribute to the victims and relief workers in the Philippines in the wake of the storms. 'UNITED AS ONE' is meant to be a voice of hope and a call to arms for all Filipinos and in fact everyone to help with donations, supplies, time and love. The final death toll is still uncertain but the destruction and devastation is unquestionable. The rebuilding of the nation will take years and untold amounts of funds. What worries me most is that since it is no longer front page news, people will forget that the real help is needed right now. Anyway, check out the song and video here. I hope it gives hope and help to where it is needed most.

Well that's it for now. Will post this or it will be another week before I get it out. Raining, cold and miserable here in New York City, but that makes home just that extra bit cosy. Let's remember those who have lost their homes and loved ones while we snuggle up to ours in ours.

Always love,

MiG
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