MiG Takes His Turn on the Catwalk!
By Stacy Swim
There are some people who say MiG is not edgy, dark, or versatile. Well, they should have seen him working the catwalk at the Junker Designs Fashion and Rock Show on March 24th at the Spider Club in Hollywood! With giant Japanese type lanterns hanging from the ceiling giving off silhouetted light, he displayed his best ‘gaunt’ look with his hair slicked down and eyeliner to make his eyes look sunken and tired. He took on the role with focus and intensity just as he always has playing other roles. Both of his ensembles were black with the first set of designs consisting of a hoodie, shirt, and jeans; and his second set of designs consisting of only a jacket and low-riding tight-fitting jeans. The themes of Junker Designs Fall 2006 show were, “How to dress like a hooker and still stay warm or Gulag [A forced labor camp or prison, especially for political dissidents] fashion in the time of war or show me yer guts,” and featured, “color in the dreariest of months boiling from below in layers of silk and skin, varied furs and fabrics from around the world and under the sea, structured and destroyed as one.”
The one thing I noticed was an emerging theme when I asked the notables who attended about what they thought of MiG’s turn on the catwalk. Simone de la Rue (aka Mrs. Ayesa) told me, “Thank God he’s my husband, because I was a little frightened for him! But I knew underneath the eyeliner was a great hunk ‘a’ spunk!” Simone and her friend Broni, who was also there, said the Australians would know what “hunk ‘a’ spunk” meant! Michelle Mirkovich (designer of MiG’s infamous turquoise necklace from the Rock Star show) said to me, “He looked kinda dead, but dead is hot! He is too cute no matter what makeup they put on him.” Michelle also designed the purple rosary (an exclusive design, available through special order), skull ring, and floral cross ring that MiG wore during the show. The rings and Michelle’s contact information can be found on her website
http://www.divinityjewelry.com/. Paul Mirkovich (leader and keyboard player of the House Band on Rock Star: INXS) echoed his wife’s sentiments with, “MiG looked good dead!” Daphna Dove (RSI contestant) told me what we all know, “MiG rocks anything he does.” Of course I had to ask MiG what he thought about his first turn on the catwalk: “If I ever grow up, I want to be a model! I’ve never felt so short, fat, and ugly in my life, but Junker rocks!” 
I tried to tell MiG that everyone would disagree, but he wouldn’t listen! He told me to just keep writing! When I talked to the Team MiG members who also attended, they certainly did disagree with MiG’s assessment! Lily (board name dreamer) revealed to me as soon as the show was over, “He was damn hot!” Donna (“oh...donna...”) also revealed to me, “He was the best one, and his focus was amazing! One of the things I’ve always admired most about MiG is that he gives 100% to whatever he’s doing. It takes guts to do that – a kind of ‘leap of faith’– and he definitely went for it all the way and did a great job. He looked completely at ease and fit right in with the other models.” Joy (Sonoria) thought along those same lines, “If MiG had any insecurities about his first ‘modeling’ gig, he definitely gets Oscar props for hiding them once he stepped onto the catwalk. He seriously couldn’t have looked any more comfortable during the show.” Lot (lot) had only this to say: “MiG ruled the catwalk!”
Junker felt the same way! Tod and Guiliana, the Junker designers, disclosed to me exclusively that “MiG wore a lot of our clothes on Rock Star, so we knew that he could give the Junker vibe on the runway. He had so much energy and totally rocked the clothes. I know we would love to use him in all of our shows.” And here is the Junker Designs philosophy that is on their MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/junkerdesigns : “At Junker, we make everything with our grubby paws. We’re from Texas and Florida, but we live in L.A. We over dye, paint, mutate, bury, or bleed on each and every piece. Our clothes are all one of a kind, made from denim, leather whatever we can get our hands on. Junker is a car wreck. What’s left is here for the taking.” Now just try and say MiG cannot be versatile, dark, or edgy!
Some
of our Team MiG fans at the Junker Fashion Show!
(L.
to R. Lot, Stacy, Barbara - Stacy's mom (rocker momma
2!!), Lily, Donna)
All
photos by Albert L. Ortega. All rights reserved.
Just the Tip of the Iceberg…
(An update on our Street Teaming efforts)
By Gisèle Williams
The official MiG Ayesa Street Team was launched in February of this year and Laura Alber (hellola), Co-owner of the Team MiG Global Fansite (TM) and coordinator of the Street Team project, couldn’t be more pleased with the efforts made to date. “The Street Team efforts are growing every day! So many people have come up with great promotional ideas that don't take much time or money. People are also finding very creative ways of recruiting members to the MySpace Street Team…everyone is doing such a great job,” she told me recently. So what have our industrious Street Team members been up to in the last couple of months? Let me fill you in on just some of the things they’ve done, and remember…this is just the tip of the iceberg!
MiG’s MySpace…
MiG launched his MySpace page just three months ago, on January 12 of this year.
As of April 13th, MiG registered over 12,000 hits on his page, his original songs have been played
over 14,000 times and he has over 1300 registered ‘friends’! Laura confirms that Universal Music Group is monitoring MiG’s MySpace page. These numbers are important to them! For this growth to happen, it has taken the work of many Street Teamers, too many to mention, who have gone out and networked the MySpace site and other Internet venues, asking people to visit MiG’s page and listen to his music. “I got on the 'puter last night, had some new 'friends' [from her MySpace page] and went to those new friends, saw their friends…kept surf'n those MySpace pages and started adding good 'potential' networking friends.” Karen Bush (rockermomma) posted recently. ”I've heard from five new ones today,” she continued, “including a D.J. in L.A. who loves to introduce new talent on his radio station, musicians who write/ play with different people…some friends from Junker and invited more industry people. I'm going to be on the computer again tonight, just to see how many I can add. It's all in the networking.” This is only the tip of the iceberg!
More success…
Rose Hilton Cowley (imbadd) of Alpharetta, Georgia, has become the unofficial team leader and historian for the NumbButtSistahs (NBS) Street Team effort. When I asked Rose to give me an idea of what the Sistahs have been doing to promote MiG, she told me, “I collect their responses [to her question ‘what have you done this week to promote MiG?’] and put them together in a list... just a way to help keep us focused on our number one mission,” and delivered a seven-page summary of their ideas, promotions and successes! The NBS’s efforts include everything from sporting MiGwear purchased from the
Team MiG Global Fan Site Store
to contacting local press and radio stations and emailing talk show websites. Many of the Sistahs are working the MySpace site as well! By permanently adding an invitation to be MiG’s friend and the link to MiG’s MySpace page on her email signature line, Rose has identified a pressure-free way to promote MiG every single time she sends out an email! Eventually curiosity will get the better of some of these email recipients and they will visit MiG’s page. What an incredibly easy but effective way to promote MiG! And this is just the tip of the Street Team iceberg!
Kim Smith (kimbo), who gave up tickets to see Peter Frampton to meet MiG in Houston last fall lives just five miles (8 kilometres) from the Texas
border in New Mexico. “I have a background in journalism having worked for a local weekly many years ago”, Kim told me recently. “I really enjoy writing and so I figured I would use MY talent to support MiG's! I wrote a Press Release and sent it out to several papers in West Texas and New Mexico. The county paper, [the] Lea County Tribune [a nationally circulated publication] was the first to respond. They wanted to do an article on what I was doing to promote MiG. I was a little uncomfortable at first…but I consented because it would at least get his name out in our area. The whole internet thing: following a singer's career; spur of the moment trip to Houston to see him...It's all so out of the ordinary for me! I'm just a wife, mom & now grandma! I have a career in Insurance and Real Estate; but I've just been so inspired by MiG, just felt compelled to support him! The editor found this enlightening and uplifting - so she did the story!” Kim’s article appeared in the Tribune and you can read it at:
http://teammig.proboards52.com/index.cgi?board=street&action=display&thread=1139627963&page=3#1141964092 . Congratulations Kim! This is still only the tip of the iceberg!
Even more…
I’ve talked about promoting MiG by wearing t-shirts, sweatshirts, ball caps and the like as well as using MiG postcards for your correspondence and other items that can all be purchased at the Team MiG Global Fan Site Store. These items provide instant identification because they all bear MiG’s likeness in one form or another. But wearing a MiG-‘T’ is not always appropriate attire for every outing. This was the case for the members of TM who recently attended the Junker Fashion Show in Los Angeles. So what did they do? They sported their MiG pins/buttons on their blazers and sweaters. Stacy Swim confirmed, "All of us had on the 'MiG Ayesa Street Team' button and we were asked several times who he was. And of course, we explained! And MiG commented on how much he loved the button! So see what wearing one little button can do?"
Everyone is pitching in...
In England, members of TM and World of MiG have been actively Street Teaming as well. Jennie Green (Squishy at TM and Jennibobs at WoM) and Catherine Fagg (Faggy at TM and WoM) went, with posters and flyers in hand and new MiG shirts on their backs, to a show on April 2nd which featured many past and present cast members of ‘We Will Rock You’. “A lot of the people going to the gig will already be partly aware of MiG. Faggy and I are going to refresh their memories and get them up to speed with all the latest news etc.” Jennie posted the night before the event. Of course Jenn is very enterprising and has not only plastered posters of MiG in the tube (subway) stations around London but secured permission to put a MiG poster in the Dominion Theatre, has made numerous connections with journalists and radio stations in England and has created quite a stir on the Internet with her MiG promotions as part of her Street Team effort! But this too is only the tip of the iceberg.
When MartyCasey.org asked Team MiG for our help promoting the Lovehammers’ CD, we did. Why, because Street Teaming is not a linear process. Like a wave, the effects of good Street Teaming will ripple and grow over time. We helped the Lovehammers because we recognize that MiG and Marty Casey are good friends. In turn when the time comes, we will be able to turn to our friends at MartyCasey.org and ask them to help us in the Street Team effort to promote the sale of MiG’s CD!
One of the sweetest street team efforts has to be the Valentines Day wish the members of the MiG Ayesa Pinoy Fans Yahoo Group (MAP) posted in the Philippine Star newspaper last February. This greeting included MiG and Simone’s picture, which provided instant identification for those who saw the message. In addition to requesting airplay of MiG’s recorded songs from the Rockstar: INXS CD and DVD from their local radio stations, MAP fans are doing something a little bit different. Because MiG has had quite a bit of journalistic coverage in the Philippines, they have taken to writing to these publications to thank them for their articles. This is a great way to encourage these papers and magazines to publish follow-up stories once MiG’s CD is released! Aleck Pulido (alecksky at TM) launched a Pinoy Street Team page on MySpace, which you can check out by going to
http://groups.myspace.com/migayesapinoyfans. Again, we’re still only seeing the tip of that iceberg.
MiG’s thoughts on the Street Team...
“When I first told MiG about the ’Street Team’", Laura told me, “I had to explain "what" that was!! But, after I told him, he was very excited. He then told his ‘people’ and THEY were excited which made MiG even more psyched about the whole thing! He even helped create the first flyer we posted publicly for people to print out or email. To think MiG would sit and play in his photo editor to make a flyer got me and I'm sure all the people who saw it even more determined to help with the Street Team efforts.”
(to view and/or print MiG's flyer, click HERE)
And Laura...
“I'm so proud of all the MiG fans for all their efforts. Even talking to someone on the street or in a restaurant and mentioning MiG is "Street Teaming"!! It is so important, especially at this particular time, to keep his name and face out there. It will be late summer before the CD is out and we certainly don't want people to lose track of him. So, by passing out flyers, postcards, business cards, e-cards or even using the MiG stamps... it all helps keep his public exposure fresh. We hope to start implementing some contests as well in the near future. This, we hope, will encourage even more people to do what they can to help. Every little bit helps... so, please keep the momentum up!!! It's all for our Miggy!” she told me recently.
Can you help?
As I write this article, we have just under 500 people officially registered with the MySpace Street Team Group. Who better to promote MiG than his greatest fans? If you haven’t already done so, please consider signing up with the group. This will help coordinate efforts and keep everyone informed and up-to-date. Please also check in with the TM Street Team sub-message board for updates. These are wonderful opportunities to interact with others whose common interest is to help MiG become a rock superstar! As Laura pointed out, every effort helps MiG and he couldn’t be happier for the support he is receiving from his fans! If I haven’t listed your name among those hard at work for the team, I apologize for it’s not an oversight on my part, I’ve simply run out of room!
Borrowing from Rose Hilton Crowley, “So, what have you done today to promote MiG?” Because what we’ve talked about today is just the tip of the iceberg!
MiGbits...
MiG Has Been Busy!
By Stacy Swim and Gisele Williams
MiG has been very busy these days! Not only did he do a fabulous job for Junker Designs at the Spider Club in Los Angeles on March 24th but he was in Cannes – yes France – on April
4th promoting Rock Star seasons one and two for Mark Burnett Productions along with Paul Mirkovich and Jim McGorman of the Rock Star House Band!! Congratulations MiG on yet another job very well done!”
I
Shall Return Benefit Concert
~ Promoting MiG and supporting a good cause at
the same time
If you’re in the Los Angeles area on April 15th, please consider attending the ‘I Shall Return’ Benefit Concert at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, which will raise funds to assist those who fell victim to the devastation caused by landslides in St. Bernard, Leyte, Philippines in February. Many notable Filipino entertainers, including our MiG will be performing. The cost for general admission is a mere $25. . For tickets, please call the ABS-CBN Foundation at Rio Gauche: 1-800-527-2820 or Raymond: 818-434-4089. If you are unable to attend but wish to contribute to this cause, please go to
http://www.ishallreturn.org to make your donation. Team MiG members attending this event will no doubt post their exciting recounts of the show! Please feel free to visit our message board at
http://teammig.proboards52.com
for their stories.
Stacy
Swim - Co-Editor
