PurpleCat

On Mika's Facebook you can read the gig is on the 9th of August. I guess it's wrong http://www.facebook.com/events/108085889388568/

Thanks for the vid!

Here you are http://www.amctv.com/shows/mad-men/cocktail-guide/old-fashioned http://everydaydrinkers.com/2009/05/27/rocks-glass-old-fashioned-and-lowball/

You're welcome, girls! Yes, I guess that's why he wants to learn Italian

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Magic-Mika-Singer-talks-Twitter-bullying-and-drinks/42139.html Magic Mika: Singer talks Twitter, bullying and drinks British singer Mika is bringing it back stateside in a return tour that is more acoustic and intimate than past sold-out shows. The artist who released his third album The Origin of Love last year has continually stepped up his game with his impressive vocal range while selling 8.5 million records in the process. This has developed into a large catalogue of work over the years, with songs such as "We Are Golden" and "Grace Kelly." His lead-off single and collaboration with Pharrell Williams, "Celebrate," was a highlight from his latest album. He then went Broadway using music inspired by the musical Wicked for "Popular Song," featuring Nickelodeon star Ariana Grande. The composer, Stephen Schwartz, was so moved by his rendition that it's the only time he's authorized its usage. Mika takes on bullying, Twitter and The Brady Bunch in this interview. Windy City Times: Hey, Mika. You are coming back to Chicago again. Mika: Yes, It's quite cool. I love Chicago. People dance and lose themselves there. It's fun. WCT: I noticed at a past concert of yours that people dressed in bright colors and jumped around. It's a big party. Mika: Yeah, which I find is funny because often the local crew at some of these places don't know who I am or don't know the live show so they are not prepared for what happens. Over the course of two hours the security staff is going, "What the heck?" WCT: The inflatable balls are flying in the air! Mika: Exactly. This show is different though. It is shrunk down to me and two other musicians. We are all swapping instruments so you have us all singing, there is a clarinet, trombone, sax, marimba, and tons of different sounds. But it is just three of us and I wanted something that was a lot more focused and dynamic that could go from acoustic to very big sounding. I thought that was really important. For the first time really across the United States I will show people how I make my music, and by seeing it in this setting you can kind of get it. What is amazing is that I have done shows with the piano and people still kind of jump up and down, while singing as loud as they possible can. I love the energy but this is a totally different vibe than the show we just did in Chicago. WCT: I knew the show would sell out, with such a small intimate space. Mika: It did quite fast, actually. I know my friends in Chicago were waiting to buy them in the morning. They waited like an hour too late because they didn't wake up and buy them in time. They were pissed. I said, "You see? Who are my real friends? My fans are my real friends!" I wasn't going to give them any tickets then a half hour later I asked, "How many do you want?" WCT: You have always been good to your fans. I know many people who wait until late to meet you but always come out and say hello. Mika: I always go out and talk to people. I come from nowhere and I try to make my music like I come from somewhere. If someone says they like what I do or relate to it in some way then it is inevitable that I meet them and hear what they say. I want my fans to become a part of my world too. I find that it's a really nice thing to come across. WCT: Your lyrics are very relatable to people. Tell me about the song "You Only Love Me When I'm Drunk." Mika: No, it's "I Only Love You When I'm Drunk" that's the song. [both laugh.] WCT: Oh, I got it mixed up. What was it inspired from? Mika: It was written completely as a message to someone I was hanging out with at the time. I was turning into the worst good-time lover. I wanted to look at somebody and have them look at me like they are drunk without having to drink anything. That is what I want out of the person that I am looking at. Some people have to actually be drunk to feel like they are going anywhere with someone. I would never have the courage to say it in real life, but I can in a song. WCT: I heard it playing at a gay bar recently. Mika: Really? That's ****ing cool! WCT: Do you have a favorite drink? Mika: An old-fashioned. I was with a friend in Miami at a club with all of these rich people and it was ****ing horrible. They were all party people who wanted to take drugs for the weekend to forget their lives. It was so incredibly loud. I decided to have a drink and leave. This was one of those most expensive places. When I asked the waitress for an old-fashioned she said, "What the ****? Do you think this is the 1920s?" I was like, "Listen up, bitch—this is why people don't come to your **** hole!" WCT: Well, we will have one after the show! Mika: Definitely. WCT: Is Wicked your favorite musical? Did that make you want to have your own take on "Popular?" Mika: I think it's a brilliant musical mainly for the writing. It has been masterfully written. The engineering of how it is written is absolutely amazing. I love the use of the Greek chorus. They have the maddening crowds in the classical theater way. I thought it was really cleaver. I just really loved the song and there was a sweetness about that hook. I always look for things that have that sweet coinable quality to them. I think you put everything in them that is bitter, dark, twisted and you put it next to a hook like that it suddenly becomes palatable. Just like "Lollipop" when you put all of that dark, strange, surreal stuff around it then it's okay because it's a lollipop. When I read that it was one of Stephen King's favorite songs I felt very validated. It was the same for "Popular." I loved the song and the sweetness of that hook so I wanted to turn it around. Instead of the cool chick I wanted the loser to sing it to her own advantage. That is why I switched the roles around. WCT: It works well as an anti-bullying song. Mika: Definitely. That is what it's about but it is more than that. Part of it is about bullying but it also about the music industry. We strive to hard to create something but we are still that same thing that we started off as. It definitely has some of my favorite lyrics on the whole album. "Standing on the field with your pretty pom poms now you are working at the movies selling popular corn." WCT: I heard you were bullied when you were younger so it must be rewarding to make a statement about it. Mika: I was absolutely bullied every day, every hour on the hour. It was horrific. I hated school and most of my school life as a child. I was always being dumped on. What the **** was their problem? How stupid, ignorant and foolish do you have to be to pick on someone? Especially when it is something they haven't chosen or can't change. How much of an idiot do you have to be? Whenever teachers would try to help they would never try to alienate the bully or really them what they thought of them. It is a bull**** attitude. Why didn't they stand up and say, "You are a ****ing idiot and here is why…" It always has to be so soft and the bullying is never soft. All of that **** made me want to create my own world. I wanted to transform myself into something else. I wanted to get my own vengeance. I wanted to be something else, somewhere else,and someone else so I wrote songs that felt like I could be anything. WCT: So it made you into the musician that you are. Mika: Definitely. On one hand I don't like that part of my life but it has made me who I am. I like who I am right now so would I be the same if I didn't have that experience? That doesn't matter because I came out of it well. I had a good family and a support mechanism. Take that support mechanism away and you are just ****ed. WCT: You had a big family, didn't you? Mika: Yes, I had five brothers and sisters. WCT: So kind of like The Brady Bunch. Mika: A little bit but as dysfunctional as you could possible get. Well, now that I think about it The Brady Bunch is pretty dysfunctional, [laughs] minus the braces. We didn't have a budget for braces! WCT: How many languages do you speak? Mika: I speak French, Spanish, English and I am about to learn Italian. I am trying to get fluent and conversational in the next few months. WCT: That's awesome. Mika: Oh, that is nothing. My sister speaks Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, French and English. The advantage we had was we actually moved around a lot. Language wasn't the kind of thing that you gleaned off textbooks. You were surrounded by it. It was so much easier. WCT: What has been the reaction of your fans after coming out of the closet publicly? Do they tweet you with their stories? Mika: No, I have found on Twitter that no one says anything meaningful or very rarely. Usually, it is an inconsequential sound bite on Twitter, which is one of the reasons I have a real problem with it. It just trivializes everything. We get messages on Facebook and I read those. That gets really intense sometimes. When I meet people after shows and on the street people tell me their stories and how I play into their lives. Beyond on that it has been quite amazing. There has been no increase or decrease since I labeled myself. It wasn't really much of a coming out but more of an affirmation in a way. There has never been an increase to it because people have been telling their stories and relating to me with stories of their lives and stories of their sexuality from the very beginning because they saw that in my music and it was clear. It has always been a part of who I am and my music. It is not all of it but definitely a fabric of who I am as a person and a writer. It is undeniable. Magic Mika will be at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave., on Wed., April 3. Visit http://www.lincolnhallchicago.com or http://www.mikasounds.com for more information on this artist and show. You can download this issue here: http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/images/publications/wct/2013-03-27/current.pdf

Thank you!

I'm glad you all can watch the videos!

You're welcome, girls!

This was recorded last October in Madrid and aired some months later, but we couldn’t get a decent video of it until this week! Thanks to @mariaasuncion for recording and sharing First part: [YOUTUBE]JPPMWM7T8U4[/YOUTUBE] Second part: [YOUTUBE]YgM2GOoHNkQ[/YOUTUBE]

Yes, because it was recorded from outside the studio, so you could hardly hear him, and it wasn't noticed in the vid. The original audio is from people passing by (the studio is at the central station), just noise, so I changed it over to an instrumental song.

I've uploaded 2 videos I took from outside the studio when he went to this TV show. I hope you like them Rehearsals of "Celebrate": [YOUTUBE]gWFGEAJlh6Q[/YOUTUBE] Performance: [YOUTUBE]YUOGKhja1_E[/YOUTUBE]

You're welcome!

You're welcome!

I've uploaded this video that LeiRe has given me with Mika at ''La Voz'': [YOUTUBE]4T2rDv9HyJg[/YOUTUBE]

My playlist of this gig: With these videos: Relax (Take It Easy) + Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) Billy Brown Rain Talking + Origin of Love Love Today Celebrate Grace Kelly

My playlist of this gig: With these videos: Relax (Take It Easy) + Lola Talking + Billy Brown Rain Talking + Stardust Piano + Stuck In The Middle Love Today Action Men + Love You When I'm Drunk Elle Me Dit Talking + Celebrate Final

My playlist: With these videos: Comme Un Soleil Mal Luné Blue Eyes Billy Brown Popular Song Make You Happy Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) Talking + Stardust Piano + Stuck In The Middle Love Today Talking + Love You When I'm Drunk Origin of Love Celebrate Toy Boy M&G

You're welcome!

You're welcome, girls!

My pictures of this gig: http://s520.photobucket.com/albums/w327/PurpleLynx/Copenhagen%2029-10-2012/?start=all All my playlist, with 10 videos:

The videos I took at this gig: And my playlist .

My pictures of this gig: http://s520.photobucket.com/albums/w327/PurpleLynx/Paris%2013-11-2012/?start=all

My videos: And my playlist .

My pictures: http://s520.photobucket.com/albums/w327/PurpleLynx/Paris%2012-11-2012/?start=all

It was amazing!! Thanks!