Editors' Notes

Editors’ Note  

Happy Valentine’s day! Valentine’s Day means to me the giving and receiving of gifts to and from people we love. Everything that has happened to me because of MiG and Team MiG has been a gift. MiG was the first gift! After MiG, there have been many gifts: a gift of a wonderful partnership in this newsletter endeavor, gifts of new friends that are now friends for life, gifts of laughter, gifts of knowledge, and gifts of learning about something new. In this edition of the newsletter (and in editions to follow), I received the privilege of learning about international Team MiG member Celina and her country of origin Argentina. I am sure all of you will enjoy it as much as I have!  
So...cheers and enjoy! Hugs and kisses, Stacy                        

 

Each month I have the privilege of interacting with some very amazing people then presenting you with their stories. This month is no exception. In fact, this month it is my honour to share with you my interview with MiG’s cousin, Ms. Suzette (Legarda) Montinola. Only six days his senior, Suzette and MiG are very close.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. Suzette very generously shared a large number of photographs of MiG, ‘then and now’. Yes, go….go….go look at the pictures right now – I’ll wait – just remember to come back!....................Okay, great you’re back! On with my note....

Some people believe that Valentine’s Day is a day for lovers and certainly, it is. But, in my opinion, it can be much more than that! Love is that indescribable special feeling we have for those who are significant in our lives - yes lovers, but also family members and friends. We all live such busy lives that we often forget to stop and tell those who support and love us that we, in turn, love them back. Valentine’s Day is our reminder to do just that! 

Happy Valentine’s Day Team MiG - love to you all!

Have a MiGGy day, eh! Gisele

Special Mention 
For all the beautiful artistic contributions and graphic displays that you see here, and for the work that she’s done for us in the past, we take this opportunity to thank Tammy Earl (stormcloud) for joining the MiGNation Telegraph. It takes a great amount of patience, skill and computer knowledge, not to mention an artistic flare, to put together pieces like the Lovehammers banner in our January newsletter and the work that you see in our newsletter today! It’s with her talents and hard work that we brighten the pages of this newsletter! Great job Tammy! ~ the Editors                         

 

Interviews...

Just One Hug Away
By Stacy Swim

In South America “Rock Star: INXS” was aired later than in some parts of the world. For Celina, who lives in Argentina, it was MiG’s exotic look that first caught her eye (she won’t deny that!), and then he started to sing and she was hooked forever. At the radio station where she works, they were conducting polls about people’s favorite singers and performances and she noticed a huge response for MiG. While gathering more information about the contestants for the station, she registered with the shows official forum and there she found a link to Team MiG and Eureka! Celina registered at first out of curiosity. Then she found, “a beautiful crowd in here. It feels very good inside to have a lot of people that I can relate to, from all ages and from all [around] the globe. I’m thousands of miles away from all of you but I feel you just one hug away.”

Being thousands of miles away in Argentina, I wanted to know from Celina what Argentina was known for. “We are famous for the Tango, our magnificent lands for agriculture and cattle, our ‘gauchos’ [a cowboy of the South American grasslands], our wines, our leather products, our football (soccer) players (Does Diego Maradona ring a bell for you?), and our natural wonders,” Celina said. So that lead to what would she like people to know about her country, “Argentina is a cultural and racial melting pot. We have our natives who lived in peace and harmony with the land till Columbus arrived, also immigrants from Europe who came to find peace from WWI and II, and also the ones who came long before that to escape from famine and diseases in the late 19th century (my father’s grandparents came from Spain and my mother’s grandparents came from Italy). Nowadays we have lots of immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. [We also have immigrants] from other countries from South America such as Brasil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru.” What would people be surprised to know about Argentina? “The natural wonders: at the South we have the Patagonia, winter all year long with snow, mountains, lakes, whales, and penguins; at the center we have the Pampas, green and cows, horses, and sheep everywhere, and not a single hill or mountain; at the North West we have a magnificent red desert, llamas, and the best place to practice extreme sports; at the North East we have one of my favorite places on Earth, Iguazu... rainforest, antique Jesuit ruins, waterfalls, hummingbirds, and exquisite butterflies everywhere; and all across the East Coast, the Atlantic Ocean.” Lastly, I asked Celina what she loves about Argentina and what makes it special. “I love the natural wonders we have. And also the nightlife in Buenos Aires, especially the theatres. They come in all styles and sizes, and we have about 60 or so. I was born here, so for me it doesn’t matter how far I can go, I’ll always come back here,” Celina affirmed.

Back to MiG! Celina’s final thoughts about MiG: “I think he’s not only an outstanding performer but an amazing human being. He is down to earth, kind, and honest. I know that his talent and charisma will make him huge and we will be hearing from him for a looooooong time.” 

Celina Diaz is from Castelar in Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America. She’s 23 and living with her mom, dad, and older brother while studying Communication Science and taking singing lessons. She works part time on the production team for the radio station FM Hit, along with working at DirecTV as part of the Customer Care staff.

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It’s All in the Family!
By Gisele Williams


After seeing MiG on Rockstar: INXS, I wanted to learn more about him. I turned to the Internet and did some research. I visited many web pages and fan boards and came to learn that MiG is a member of the Legarda family, a well established, well respected and historically rich family in the Philippines. I continued my search and stumbled upon a wonderful website featuring a restaurant – well, more than a restaurant, it was a place where one can enjoy a fine dining experience in a beautiful mansion in Manila, Philippines. It was the web page for La Cocina de Tita Moning. 

Suzette Montinola is the creator and manager of La Cocina de Tita Moning where, in honour of her G.G. (Glorious Grandmother) Ramona Legarda, she offers sumptuous meals of traditional Filipino dishes in the historical Legarda family home. She is MiG’s first cousin, his closest cousin, certainly in age anyway as they were born only six days apart! “Til the day we die,” she told me, “he will always insist I'm older than him”. Suzette recently shared her thoughts about her family and in particular, her cousin MiG with me.

“The fact that we come from a very close family is a great blessing that we all got to appreciate while we were growing up. 'Well established, well respected, and historically rich’ is really a matter of opinion at the end of the day. The true wealth is the fact that we have each other. Our grandparents and parents made a great effort to keep us united as we were growing up. Even if we lived in different continents and grew up in completely different cultures, we still grew up together. The cousins are more like brothers and sisters than just cousins. We've shared everything from falling baby teeth to falling in love and then falling out. One of the greatest gifts we’ve been given is family (thus each other) and it pretty much ensures, that in spite of the bumps in the road, we'll stick by each other for the long run.”

It’s no secret that MiG grew up in Australia, having moved there when he was only two years old. The family ties however, never frayed and Suzette shared many amusing stories of holiday traditions and vacation adventures. 

“We used to spend all our Christmas and Easter holidays in Baguio (up in the mountains). The car trip to Baguio takes about four hours and we used to sing Billy Joel songs ALL THE WAY. MiG, of course, knew all the words while we guessed some.
The Boys also used to throw their dirty socks at each other and call them 'Cachicha' bombs. Cachicha is Spanish slang for 'Smelly feet'. It was really pretty vile, but they seemed to enjoy it."

"New Years Eve was also spent exploding firecrackers in the lawn downstairs, especially the Boys. We used to come back inside the house with all our noses black from the gunpowder. Then, we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows over a fire. One New Years Eve however, when we were a little bit older, I'm not sure, maybe we were 15, our parents took us to the Baguio Country Club for the New years Party and MiG got up on the stage to sing with the Band. He sang Rick Astley songs all night, and the entire ballroom was up on their feet dancing. It was really pretty amazing."

"We also put on a lot of Christmas programs and shows for our grandparents while we were growing up. Our cousin Tricie was always choreographer/musical director. Back then we were really into Grease. Mig always played Danny Zuko. It was really rather funny when many years later, he really did play Danny Zuko in the production of Grease.” 

So that’s how they spent their time together growing up, clearly fond memories for Suzette - even the stink bombs! We can certainly see from the lovely pictures Suzette provided to me that MiG was singing and performing, as well as ‘working a room’, at a very early age! 

Bringing us to present day, I asked Suzette about the family reunion MiG had talked about having over the Christmas break.

“It wasn't really so much of a reunion. MiG's schedule in the Philippines these last two trips around were really crazy busy with press commitments and rehearsals. I'm not really sure how he was able to last the 4-5 days with jet lag and all, and still be in a pleasant mood. His first trip around for the Ad Congress, I think we had our first real meal (you know, sit down and eat) two days after he arrived. Basically, it was coffee and coke lights until we landed in Cebu. Anyway, we had to schedule family dinners around these commitments, so we really tried to limit it to immediate family. It's also the reason why we came up with the Conways gig. The entire clan (Legardas, Tuasons, Prietos, Valdes’s, plus all his mom's classmates and various others from the Filipino extended family) had voted for him in Rockstar and we had no idea how he was going to get to thank all of them in four days. While not everyone was able to go to this, at least he was able to touch base with some. I know that when he entered Conways he was slightly in shock. He had no idea there would be so many people. He even asked me, 'Where did all these people come from?' It was a little surreal."

"Then, when we got to Cebu there were actually fans. And I mean, MANY fans, a gazillion fans. MiG was cornered at the airport; it took him 20 minutes to get through the hotel lobby. I found it weird that we actually had to get hotel security to assist us. Of course, for me and my cousin Tessa, he was still just Miggy. The full impact that he was actually a star hit me in Cebu. Miggy had no bodyguards, and while we were traveling with him, we are smaller than him!!!!"

"MiG’s second trip for MTV [music video awards show] was a little bit more calm. But still, aside from seeing family at his gigs, and one intimate 'merienda' at la Cocina de Tita Moning before he and Simmy got on the plane, there really wasn’t much of a reunion. He did take the time out to have lunch with his 'bita' (That’s his grandmother on his dads side, the Ayesa Side), and he reconnected with the old staff of my grandmother at la Cocina de Tita Moning, so that was nice.”

As if Suzette’s schedule wasn't demanding enough, she is also very involved in assisting MiG develop his ‘rock star’ career. I wondered what her thoughts were on the newest developments in MiG’s success and whether she was, in fact, surprised by it all. MiG fans in the Philippines, we know thanks to the wonderful posts on our boards, have been very fortunate this past fall to have had several opportunities to see him perform live. I asked Suzette if she was able to give us any hints of whether or not more personal appearances were being contemplated in the Philippines or elsewhere and this is what she told me:

“Miguel has always been extremely talented and his presence on stage is fantastic."

"We always knew MiG was going to become famous, it was just a matter of 'when'. We used to kid him when we were younger that when he was rich and famous, he could sponsor our entire family reunion to Hawaii. It might have taken longer than we anticipated, but it did happen. Back in Australia, MiG was already famous and he already had fans."

"MiG’s priorities now lie in the U.S with his recording contract with Universal. But he would love to come to the Philippines and perform. Hopefully this opportunity will be sooner than expected.”

Now, last month I reported on a number of very active ‘MiG sites’ and boards where MiG fans could go to learn about his past and talk about his future or to simply connect with other fans. One such fan-based message board is the Pinoy Fans Yahoo site established by cousin Alex Legarda on Sept 3, 2005 initially to rally support and votes for MiG during the show. This site has continued to flourish and welcomes Filipinos from around the world (better brush up on your Tagalog as its members post in both English and Tagalog!) I was not able to reach Alex last month, I suspect, because of a hectic medical school schedule. I took the opportunity to ask Suzette about it. 

“We have all assumed little tasks and roles in MiG’s rise to fame. Alex has been appointed as a liaison with the Filipino fan base. He has done an incredible job of keeping in touch with them. He serves as our eyes and ears too. Its funny but sometimes the fans seem to know more than MiG’s family.”

So there you have it! Whether they’ve lived on the other side of town or on the other side of the world, they’ve kept the family ties tight and the bonds solid. With this much love, support and help from his family, success for MiG is inevitable! I thank Suzette for taking the time from her very busy schedule to talk with me and to dig out those amazing photos!

Click for larger pics!

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MiGbits...

Deanna Johnston Thanks Team MiG!
by Gisele Williams

What an adventure! I caught up with Deanna Johnston in the Limestone Ballroom of the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Kingston Ontario on February 4th where she performed with the Dan Aykroyd Band following the FebFest Hockey Celebrity Charity Dinner and Auction. The outdoor concert where Deanna was to be the featured performer had been cancelled due to inclement weather. Deanna is as lovely inside and out as you can imagine! For details of my encounter with this wonderful and talented rocker go to my post HERE. 
Many thanks to local Kingston band, Bettablokka, the wonderful FebFest and Four Points Sheridan Hotel staff, Jan, Rebecca and Bob and staffers at KRock 105.7 FM radio for helping me track Deanna’s whereabouts. Special thank you to Deanna’s cousin, Lisa for making me feel so welcome! 

The Doctor Is "In"  Monthly Advice Column

Do you have a "MiG problem" you need help with?

I’m so infatuated with MiG’s accent, that I can’t get enough of it!!! But, my husband ‘claims’ its asking too much to have him spend a few years in Australia and England. Open to suggestions and advice. (Sandy)

Ever hear of role playing? Have your husband pretend to be James Bond and/or Mel Gibson and you be a Bond girl or whoever. That’s one suggestion. Another one is if we can get MiG to record a ‘Berlitz-like’ tape for your husband. While he’s practicing his new language…ooops…I mean accent, you can promise him all the ‘nice’ things you’re going to do for him to show your appreciation. *wink*
Or option three, lock him in a room with all the Rockstar clips of MiG for 24 to 72 hours and see if it takes!!!


What if you’ve been given the information that a new position is open in your company? A position that you could easily move into with a salary increase. But, the key factor in making your decision isn’t how much more money, but rather, will this new position take away from my Team MiG time? (Rhonda)

I have to answer that question with a question. Have you determined whether or not the new position would afford you the same or more Team MiG time yet? Because, if you’re making more money and still have the time for Team MiG, well, that’s a win-win in my book!!! After all, more money=more MiG concerts you can attend and more MiG stuff you can buy. Hell, with more money, you can buy yourself a high tech little gadget and play on the Team MiG site all the time and no one would even know!!! I say “show me the money!!!” “Take the job!!!”

What do you say to someone who spent hours making a birthday card for a man she has NEVER met, NEVER spoken to or EVER seen before, but lets her husband’s birthday to by without a homemade card, or even a store bought one? (anonymous)

I would say that if your husband was understanding about that…you’re a very lucky woman. Count your blessings. Mine would not have handled that one very well.

I suddenly realized I’m not only spending most of my free time in Lola’s, I’m now making extra trips to check and restock supplies. Should I be worried about where this is headed? I’m already getting my mail there!!! (Carol)

I’d ask that darn MiGtender to start paying you for crying out loud!!! Sounds to me like you’re managing the place for free…hmmmm…. I can relate to that!!!


**The advice given in this column is meant in fun and is not to be taken literally or seriously**

Index

-Editors Notes
-Stories and MiGbits
-Editorials
-Advice Column 
-Interviews
-Concert Dates
-MiGSpeak

 

MiGSpeak

"We have to live in the name of love... Love is for living. Love should not be a death sentence. It’s up to us to be responsible... all right?" ~MiG Ayesa

 

Appearances

This section will also be where you can find upcoming concert dates.

2/9/06: "Pioneer of the Year" Benefit with Brandon Calhoon. Special guests: MiG, Suzie and Ty

 

Advice Column

To submit your Advice Column Questions, please PM Sunshine, hellola, starstacy, canukfan 

 

 

News Recap

-LATEST NEWS FROM MiG!

-News: 
-MiG and Simone have officially moved Continents! They will now be residing in Sunny California.

-CD Update:
According to Universal, Look for MiG's CD this Summer, 2006!!

-MiG's Original Music: 
As promised... MiG found a way to share his "babies" with us... he now has a MySpace Account which he'll update as often as he can.

-MiG's Street Team!!:
Team MiG and all fans are welcome and encouraged to join the new Street Team to help promote MiG and his upcoming CD and Tour! You can find details HERE!

-MiG E-Cards:
Need to send a greeting to someone? Why not a MiG Ecard? Customize your own cards and send!

 

MiG Nip!

Just a few of the many new pics we've added this month.