marie-andrée de rougemont

No maybe about it ! If Humphrey can't make the drive, you'll ride a racing horse to get there. Look at me : very likely 93 when Mika's next album is released and still planning to see him live... We just can't accept not to watch one of his shows as we already love his music and have been reading and hearing about how undescribably magical they are. We too deserve the magic, don't we ? Not much of a fan of horoscopes ? No wonder if you mean the crap you find in magazines. But believe me, astrology studied properly helps get a different knowledge of human beings. I didn't get into it before I retired and since then have found it more and more fascinating. Very different from what I did for a living (I was an antique dealer then a clothes designer) but that's the whole point about hobbies, doing something unusual like Ingres playing the violin for fun. Or Mika mountain climbing ? Not really surprising as it probably demands energy and concentration, qualities he displays on stage or in studios. x Marie-Andrée

Dear RAK1, What about a bit of swapping : you find Mika's birth time for me and I draw your horoscope? Seriously when you go really deep into astrology it has nothing to do with what you find in magazines or on the Internet. Each birth chart is a whole universe... and a horoscope without the time of birth is like the Milky Way with at least one third of the constellations missing. I could of course deduce the likely position of the different houses using the little we know about Mika and his past. For instance the explosion of fame and success of the last 12 or 14 months might be connected with the passage of Jupiter or another slow planet on one of the angles of his map of the heavens (first or tenth house, for instance) although at the same time Jupiter was transiting his native Jupiter then his native Moon and was forming a triangle with first his native Mars then his native Sun, which amply justifies what has been happening to him since mid-2007. I am getting a bit technical ? Sorry about that but you can actually be wise after the event. For instance, when I started studying astrology I couldn’t understand how my youngest child’s ascendant could be in Libra where she already had four planets ; that just didn’t correspond to what I knew of her. It later turned out that she had been born at 9.22 instead of 9.30 : her father told me that he had had a look at his watch the minute she was born but apparently the civil servant who had registered her birth had decided to round up the time. So I could try to deduce Mika’s time of birth, but that would be a waste a time and energy as I might make mistakes. Wiltshire ? Lucky you ! I love Britain and haven’t been there for ages. I would like to watch at least one of Mika’s gigs in London but will probably have to make do with his next concert in Paris (less than four hours by train, much wiser) and anyway no matter where, that would be a dream come true. At last. Thanks for welcoming me into the FC. You are right : we are in this together. x Marie-Andrée

Dear Silver, Yes, I would love to read the threads about his birthchart. Actually I had pestered my daughter so much before she went to Beirut that at the end of the press conference she approached Mrs Penniman, first to thank her for something adorable she and her son had done, then to ask her about Mika's birth time. I could not go to Beirut, it is too long a journey and heat is bad for elderly people, but if I had been there I would have asked Mika himself after the press conference. My daughter told me that he was surrounded by a swarm of people wanting something from him (a word, an autograph) and looked so tense and exhausted that she would have hated herself for bothering him further. I can see her point but I intend to do a proper job of the birth chart and it is very frustrating not to be able to do it thoroughly just because I don't have the full data. Well, I suppose frustration is a natural feeling to have when you are over 90, no longer your own master and have to depend on well meaning people to make decisions for you... As I am very stubborn (always have been, unlikely to change now) I intend not to release my work till I get the bloody time and I can complete it ; if necessary I will give Mika another birthday present (or Christmas present, come to that) and hopefully having got the information will be able to give him the horoscope on Valentine's day ! Unless I die before : time is of the essence when you are nearly 93. Several MFC members have asked me to join the Oldlings. Like Mr Penniman I hate labels and I think that having contacts through the FC with so many different people is a great part of the fun but how can you contact that club for over 60-year-young members ? Thanks for your welcoming post. x Marie-Andrée

Welcome, Leo !

Marie-Thérèse / Marie-Andrée Ton anglais est parfait, tout le monde a compris ce que tu voulais dire, l'essentiel c'est de communiquer. Si tu n'as jamais vu un concert de Mika tu dois vraiment faire tout ce qui est en ton pouvoir pour assister à un de ceux qu'il donnera pour la sortie de son prochain album. L'écouter ou même voir un enregistrement ne donne pas la moindre idée de l'expérience, en particulier de son extraordinaire présence sur scène : tu reçois vraiment ça en pleine poitrine et tu en as le souffle coupé... Un conseil, si vous êtes plusieurs, faites la queue des heures avant l'ouverture des portes pour être parmi les premiers (12 heures avant à Londres, l'hiver dernier !), quitte à vous relayer de temps en temps pour satisfaire un besoin naturel ou vous dégourdir les jambes ou manger un morceau ; c'est vraiment devant la scène qu'on l'apprécie totalement et son public est respectueux, il n'écrase pas les petits et les faibles (parfois des gamins de 7-8 ans) contre les barrières. Laisse un message si tu envisages d'assister à un spectacle cet hiver à Londres ou à Paris, nous pourrons peut-être nous retrouver. A très bientôt. M.-Th.

Marie-Thérèse / Marie-Andrée English not so great ? Welcome to the club ! And the important thing is to communicate, which we all more or less manage to do. No wonder you found Mika so friendly, I believe it is truly a pleasure for him to receive us after a gig. And I also sympathize when you say you couldn't utter a word ; in London, last winter, I waited for him outside the theatre for nearly three hours and could only manage a very shy 'Thank you very much for a breath-taking show'... how lame was that ! I suppose gratitude and admiration leave some people speechless (which I hardly ever am, believe me). Let's hope an overprotective entourage will not, in the future, set up barriers to shield him from his fans. Looking forward to your messages. So long, M.-Th.

Marie-Thérèse/Marie-Andrée It's all right, Celesteee ! The most important thing to do is to follow your passions. To you Mika and his music are soon going to become a pleasure more than an obsession and you will probably be able to enjoy his albums even better than before. And his gigs too. See you in London one of these days ? Love, M.-Th.

:wheelchair:Dear MFC members, I joined the fan club about five months ago, on the rebound from being unable to go to London on February 28th (no circle seats left, too old to watch the show standing) and I had discovered Mika on cable too late to go to Paris and the Olympia. I must say that I am finding it very frustrating to enjoy his gigs vicariously, although I am hugely grateful to the fans who put their recordings on the Internet, and having lately realized what an incredibly kind and generous man he is I am even more anxious to see him on stage. Hopefully next winter… Aged 92, I may well be his oldest fan. His music makes me feel happy and much younger. Even his dark lyrics don’t spoil that feeling as they add to his songs a subtlety that many songwriters are lacking. No wonder he has four-generation audiences : he is universal. All my messages are translated by my daughter. We have a deal : she screwed up her MFC registration and I let her use my space here, and she translates every thread I want to post and those from you she believes might interest me. In the same way she is going to translate the birth chart I am drawing for Mika’s birthday even though not knowing the time of his birth prevents me from doing a thorough job of it. You see, music is not my only passion, astrology is one of them. Having passions when you are very old keeps your mind sharp, don’t you think ? Unfortunately I won’t be able to share the completed horoscope with you all : too personal, I don’t think Mika would like that. xxx Marie-Andrée

Thank you, Melman 92, for a most brilliant and accurate job. It helped me understand parts of the interview that I wasn't sure I had heard properly. Talking about translations, have any French-speaking fans noticed how Mika uses the phrase 'en train de', which would correspond, in English, to a continuous tense and should simply be expressed in French by a présent or an imparfait ? I find these very rare and very slight mistakes of his rather sweet (who wouldn't dream of being as beautifully bilingual as he is !) but they vindicate his feeling of basically being a Brit, even though he is a bit of a mongrel. Brought up as he himself puts it like 'a little Parisian mutt', I could swear that when he speaks French his voice goes down a good half octave as if, using his childhood language, it were slightly breaking back. But perhaps I am just imagining the whole thing? In which case, please let me know : I am obviously being sold very bad dope and should urgently find myself another dealer... So long, M.-Th.

Very impressive. Thank you so much. Stuck in the middle seems a good place to be. So long, M.-Th.

Thanks a load, Mici, will try not to lose it this time.

I had recorded the lengthy after PdesP interview but seem to have lost it although I had made copies of it. Can somebody tell me where to find it (MFC or Utube or anywhere else on the Internet) ? Thanks in advance. M.-A.

Marie-Thérèse, courtesy of Marie-Andrée (screwed up my registration) Are you by any chance the Suzie that put on Utube a... brilliant-doesn't-cover-it- recording of Any other world (and a very good one of the drumming battle) on February 28th ? I keep thanking you on my threads, hoping that you read one of them and realize how grateful we are to you for sharing them ! Did you have a camera ? I taped the whole gig less the last two numbers (Lollipop and the encore) with a mobile phone but the quality is rather poor although I was first row standing, to the right of the stage. I recorded at least 2/3 of the Beirut press conference and should be able to put it on Dailymotion with a friend's help in the next few days. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did your coverage of the Brixton show. Only just read your original message on Amy Winehouse and I quite agree with you -although I wouldn't have bothered to put a thread about her self-destruction on the forum. Very sad, she obviously is deeply disturbed but being immensely talented doesn't make her less pathetic. In the same way to me Janis Joplin will always remain the screaming drunk with the sweet smile (poor kid !) So much better to be a psycho-rigid control-freak workaholic like Mika than controlled by legal or illegal substances... At least he can be a model for his younger -sometimes very young- fans. But I am sure AW is past caring about her image. Would love to meet you in Paris or London when hopefully the band start touring after the release of Mika's second album. X M.-Th.

Wansn't there but have just watched a good recording of Relax at the MSF. You're right, it was special, kind of laid-back. But I must say I have a soft spot in my heart for the encores, when sometimes the audience don't even let him sing one line (have you watched the Beirut one ?) as if it were for them a way of saying : 'Thank you guys for a wonderful gig !'. Can't help you with any technical pb you may have. Am hopeless... M.-Th.

I had no idea Luke had been fired. I rather thought that he had decided to have a ride to the other end of the line, where lots of people go. Mika's act being eponymous leaves no doubt about who the star is and some musicians like to share a bit of the spotlight I suppose. I will miss Luke though, his quiet talent, his reserve, his dark good looks (can see some Celtic blood there). Wherever he is going I wish him good luck. M.-Th.

You're still my hero. And I am still incredibly grateful to you for your brilliant coverage of a magic gig. M.-Th.

Marie-Thérèse, courtesy of Marie-Andrée (I should really find a way to re-register...) Thank you ! M.-Th.

Merci de ta réponse. C'est vrai, on est peut-être un peu plus pompeux quand on écrit ou parle dans une langue étrangère (je décline "putain" dans toutes ses nuances mais n'arrive pas à employer "****" et ses dérivés, le remplaçant par "screw"). Apparemment même les Américains du Nord parviennent à décrypter ce que je veux dire, en tout cas (voir le message de Jack, dans cette page). Je continue à penser qu'il y a plus qu'un problème de forme. Beaucoup de gens ne supportent pas la plus petite critique concernant ceux qu'ils aiment, ce qui, encore une fois, est plutôt attendrissant mais vraiment pas mon truc. Je me demande comment ces fans-là ont pu réagir à la critique haineuse de Gareth Trucmuche, je ne me souviens pas de son nom. Il est souvent cité mais je voulais retrouver le texte original et y suis parvenue il y a quelques jours en passant par la réponse cinglante de Brian May sur son blog. Ahurissant, le fiel dirigé vers l'artiste on a l'habitude mais il maudissait à l'avance les auditeurs et acheteurs potentiels de l'album. Je ne sais pas qui est ce type mais il a vraiment besoin d'aide. A bientôt. M.-Th.

Yes, we have more or less the same system in France. Whether it works satisfactorily or not is another kettle of fish but as far as very public coverages of a song are concerned (as in front of 50 000 people, in the PdesP, for instance) I am sure everybody get their due. Where were you standing/sitting on July 4th ? I came at the end of the interval and my seat had already been 'borrowed' but everybody was very sweet, people let me stand at the front and I soon forgot about that little contretemps. Still I was rather far from the stage, probably exhausted after Werchter, and still starry-eyed from the latter unbelievable show. Thanks so much to bienie22 for sharing his coverage on Utube ; it was most generous of him to film the gig instead of shaking it (and the rain covering our coats) in order to keep the cold away. He is my hero !

Read my thead again : I referred to the purely artistic appropriation of Mika's rendering of other people's songs, it has nothing to do with legal issues and everything to do with talent and personality which, I think we all agree, Mika does not lack. Thanks for reacting.

Dear Christine, My messages are scanned by an English friend of mine who went to university, got and MA and therefore can be credited with a fair command of his mother tongue. But maybe American and British English are so different that some confusion may occur. And I am not being condescending : it also happens all the time in Europe’s French speaking countries. And again, I am sorry, but you have again mixed up two different issues . I never wrote that Mika was irritated at seeing Instant Martyr on the Internet : I mentioned it as his first proper song, written at a very tender age and followed by loads of others ; that was in answer to a thread that implied that he had to cover other people’s songs on stage for lack of material. I truly believe that you misinterpret my messages because you react to them with your guts while I try to write them in a logical, never emotional way. Again, while I find it rather sweet when Mika’s fans rise to his defence whenever they see the slightest criticism in a thread, no matter how much I admire or love people it has never blinded me and I am unlikely to change now. Problems of communication seem to be a weakness I share with Mr Penniman… but then it is one of the many curses Leos have to deal with. More seriously, I enjoy reading the fans’ messages. I have learnt a lot from them (for instance, I didn’t know that Instant Martyr had been recorded and released or that Tell me once again was not one of Mika’s songs) and even though I too have to decode them sometimes they are always interesting. I just find it mildly irritating when people twist what I have written to make a point. Why not just post a thread, not in reaction to other people’s messages but to express how you feel about any issue connected with Mika’s music ? We would all love to read it. So long, M.-Th.

I was writing of "artistic appropriation", nothing to do with legal issues and anything to do with the performer's talent and personality which, I think we all agree, Mika is not lacking.

Exactly ! After watching Weird Al Yancovic singing "You're pitiful" on stage, peeling off layer after layer of his clothes (at least, he wasn't wearing trainers without socks... gross !) I find it difficult to enjoy listening to the original song, good as it is (I know that Mr Penniman is not a great fan of James Blunt but I think he is very talented). Incidentally Blunt gave WAR the go-ahead and it shows some guts. Thanks for lightening the mood of the thread exchanges... we were beginning to speak in a whisper, as in church ! And you manage to do it without making fun of others. You are a fabulous guy. No wonder : you are a Scot. XXX M.-Th.

Thank you, dear Riverstwilight, for a very detailed and interesting reaction to... which thread ? I fail to see one where a member aired the opinion you reject so violently. Must have missed it... again ! Should it be an answer to mine, I must really get into the habit of dealing with one issue per post, as some people seem to get confused even when you put different subject matters into different paragraphs. If you read attentively and honestly the last paragraph of my thread you will realize that I didn't mix up Mika's covering of other people's songs and his irritation at seing his demos circulating on the Internet. I still believe that people should take what is bad as well as what is good and Mika often says how grateful he is to the Web for allowing him to get a wide and enthusiastic audience even before recording a single, thus putting him in a stronger position when he discussed the terms of his contract and giving him complete artistic freedom with his LICM project. Actually I have often noticed since I started putting threads on the forum that fans tend to misinterpret what they read (probably unconsciously) as soon as they see the slightest criticism about their idol. Rather endearing but, huge fan of Mika as I am (and, having had proofs of his great kindness as a man, great admirer of Mica Penniman), I am still able to criticize, for instance, a certain ambiguity in his reactions to the Internet. I am starry-eyed when I watch one of his gigs but otherwise my eyes remain skinned. If your thread had nothing to do with mine, I most abjectly apologize for suggesting it ! Another means of avoiding confusion would be to quote the message in our reply to it. So long, M.-Th.