dcdeb

Steph, the other day I went through pages and pages of the thread, but couldn't find where the finished product was... I'm interested to see it! But where is it??? dcdeb

oh, isn't that depressing! I was on earlier today voting voting voting until I couldn't click any more and it was STILL 16 %. I don't get it! dcdeb

/dcdeb hides her glass of shiraz under the desk... And orders an iced tea with lemon and Sweet and Lo! dcdeb

It's next to impossible to settle on a fave fave fave! But I chose Happy Ending/Over My Shoulder, since that's the track that I could play over and over and over and not get tired... But really for rocking out I would have chosen Ring Ring... or maybe Lollipop... or Big Girll... I'm so indecisive! dcdeb

I'm here, but I hate to tell you this... I'm not a teetotaler... dcdeb <who wonders why smilies won't work for her any more!>

It's finally up on the ABC site, too -- a little clearer than the youtube version, but still no interview. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2995942 dcdeb

It was a little more hurtful than annoying -- I really felt like someone had said, "Ewww, not her," and had deleted me or something. Instead of being added, I was subtracted! LOL! Sort of like the Soup Nazi from the TV show Seinfeld, if you've seen that: NO SECRET SOCIETY FOR YOU! Well, I'm not sure what the myspace Secret Society thing is or really why there's been nothing happening with the characters' myspace pages -- I know I've heard Mika say in interviews that they plan to do something with his cartoon characters down the road -- some kind of games or something -- so maybe they're just not ready to do anything with that yet, and that's why no one's being added. At least, that's what I tell myself to soothe my bruised ego. The thing is, like I said, if they're going by when you requested... well, I requested ages ago, and now since the requests have evaporated it looks like I only just requested yesterday. Oh well. They tell me patience is a virtue... dcdeb <wondering how virtuous she looks>

This is the same interview with a different title, and a link to a few more photos: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17872884/ dcdeb

Right, same here. I tried to tweak the version # of Flash that the code has, but that didn't make a difference. Oh well, some tech gurus will have to come to the rescue. And to those who said they can see all the things -- yes, you can see them on that download page, but you can't seem to get them to work if you try to put them on your own myspace page... at least *I* can't get them to work. dcdeb

Love your story, love your photos! Color me GREEN with envy! It sometimes feels like everyone on this forum except me has been to see Mika live, and has gotten to meet him... *sigh* dcdeb

Everyone else is right -- the thanks mainly go to you, Sunny! For keeping us up and running each and every day! dcdeb

Thanks, jemma! I thought I was going crazy! I even tried playing with the code a bit... not that I'm great with html, but I know a little... but nothing was working. OK, I can stop obsessing over that for now... and hope that someone fixes it! dcdeb

On the left side, under the Mika Shop stuff, there's a banner that has a link to downloads -- wallpapers, banner ads, etc. That's what I thought was new -- plus I don't remember that they had the links for the UK and US shops with the rosettes... dcdeb

No, I hadn't either -- and I'm trying to embed the video onto my myspace page, but it won't work. I keep getting an error that either I don't have javascript enabled (which I do!) or I have an old version of Flash (which I don't, I just updated it). Grrr. Well, that gives me something else to obsess over... dcdeb

Unless my old eyes deceive me, is there new "stuff" on Mika's myspace page -- those wallpapers and banners weren't there yesterday, were they? In any case, I think there's been some changes made to the page dcdeb

Oooh! Good memory! Yes, I did post about the Sirius radio thing, and I did listen to it -- 2 1/2 times (we were in NYC during the one airing, so I missed part of it). In any event, I've checked the Sirius website and even emailed them about it, but they've never put the interview online. dcdeb

LOL! It's all in how you read it, isn't it? dcdeb

Wow! I use excite.com as my start page, and was I ever surprised to find this in the news section! This is an AP story, so it will be carried in quite a few outlets, I'm sure :-) http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070330/D8O6JVSG0.html British Singer Mika Makes U.S. Debut Mar 30, 12:49 PM (ET) By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY NEW YORK (AP) - Being different is a key trait if you want to make yourself stand out in the musical arena. It is not a prized attribute, however, during those awkward adolescent years. Mika, the latest singing sensation from across the pond, found out both lessons at an early age. Beirut-born and Paris-raised until he was 9, he found himself an outcast after his family moved to London. His interest in piano and singing, along with his dyslexia, further distanced himself from classmates, and he became the prey of bullies. Away from school, he began to perform, and that became his respite. There, he found his flamboyance was celebrated, not taunted; he got respect for singing; and better yet, got paid for it. So no wonder the first single in the U.S., the piano-heavy, falsetto-crooned "Grace Kelly," celebrates his refusal to conform. Like the musicians he idolized as a child - Prince and David Bowie among them - the 23-year-old does best when he stands apart from the pack. --- The Associated Press: You gotten a lot of buzz in advance of your U.S. debut CD, "Life in Cartoon Motion." How has that affected you? Mika: I think I'm lucky. Hype can be good and hype can be bad. The good thing that's happening to me is that the hype is about the project, it's about the music ... I'm not the son of anyone famous, I haven't really slept with anyone particularly well known ... it's really just about music, and that's something I think is very healthy. AP: You got your start in a somewhat unusual way. Mika: From a very early age I used to gatecrash parties and just get to the stage and perform, or I would just kind of walk around and push my face into everyone's face. But then when I started to try and get a serious deal, up until about a year and a half ago, I was just going around and playing the piano just about everywhere ... I climbed up the music executive ladder kind of quickly, because I was willing to perform for anyone and everywhere, so that's kind of how I got my deal. AP: Your first single, "Grace Kelly," kind of pokes fun at the idea of conformity. How do you resist the temptation to copy what is commercially viable? Mika: People were saying to me, if you just become a little bit more commercial, or you become a little bit more like what's selling at the moment, whatever that was at the time, whether it was Robbie Williams or David Gray, then you can make it. But to me, it was never an option. I think I figured out that I would rather be a total failure but be myself and at least give it a shot than be moderately successful, pretend to be someone else, only have it last a certain amount of time and be happy as a result. AP: Were you surprised that you turned out to be so successful? Mika: I'm surprised at the speed in which I've been embraced ... I think anyone deluded enough to go into the music industry as an artist has to have some kind of self-belief. But at the same time I was surprised that I got to No. 1, I never expected to get to No. 1 in the U.K. ... I never knew it would be a commercially bankable career. AP: There are songs on the CD that are sexually ambiguous. That's gotten a lot of people asking about your sexuality. Were you hesitant to put records like that out for that reason? Mika: I have no taboos about what I can use to tell a story or what stories I can actually tell, so I kind of gave myself that freedom. I certainly didn't think about it. It never even crossed my mind. I didn't think about the repercussions nor did I think about getting attention. Sexualizing music as part of getting sexy with music is amazing, but politically sexualizing music and making the artist's sexuality the defining point of someone's music is so boring. So as far as enabling myself to tell and use any kind of tool that I want to tell a story or use in my lyrics, I'm totally into that. As far as laying myself out on the table to almost a tabloid level and kind of sharing my entire personal life, I'm really not into that.

Mika and more for Big Chill 30 March 2007 Mika has been confirmed to play this year's Big Chill festival, with loads more also announced. Other artists set for the three-day sejourn in the Herefordshire hills include Isaac Hayes, Low, TY, Richie Havens, Ulrich Schnauss, Kate Rogers, Another Fine Day, Bonobo and Cortney Tidwell. Hafdis Huld, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Ben Westbeech, The Bays, Karizma, Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge and Aaron Ross will also perform over the weekend. The Big Chill takes place in Eastnor Park, Ledbury, from 3-5 August. http://www.virtualfestivals.com/latest/news/3416

Thank you, all! Of course, it doesn't look exactly like this at the moment, after a long bleak winter, but it will again soon And I'm really enjoying the pix of all your other places -- wish I could visit them all! dcdeb

Love seeing where you all live -- it's very cool :-) OK, I'm just outside Washington DC -- about 15 miles west of the nation's capital. Here's a pic of what the city will look like in about two weeks, during Cherry Blosson time: And here's a picture of my house in the suburbs: Kinda boring compared to Paris, and even the Gorleston beach! But it's home dcdeb

Hey Beck! I've been there! It's so beautiful! Wave hi to my Auntie Mary next time you're there -- she lives on John Road! dcdeb

Oooh, that first one is perfect! Yes, just what I needed... now, to hatch the plot! dcdeb

The Jimmy Kimmel show was Tuesday night -- it was rescheduled since Mika is performing in NYC tonight. It's supposed to show up on Jimmy Kimmel's ABC site, but it's not there so far. The GMA performance from this morning should also end up on the ABC site eventually, but it's not there yet either. And I don't see them on youtube yet, either... (Yes, I've been checking ) dcdeb