Dick Cheney in Sydney

Yes! My drawing hit the front page of today's Sydney Morning Herald . It's an airbrush drawing heralding the visit of an American polly (oh nuts, here's a cracker).

A quick draft with an HB pencil, a patch of frisket masking and the last few drops of dr.Martin's rare ink and his caricature was almost a breeze to draw if not for a pressing 3-hour timeline. Cheney's features are almost John Howardesque except the latter 's shorter in the chin department.

Yes, it's him..Mr. Dick Cheney (and why is it sometimes spelt Chaney by the press? A double-barrel spellchecker?:) the guy who shot his best friend (in an accident, of course, but his enemies never felt so confident since that classic friendly fire:-)

Actually I don't care much about this bird..except he's in Sydney causing massive traffic delays, aggravated by street protesters who believe this guy is predisposed to violence and doesn't contribute much to world peace. However I don't condone violent behaviour by some misguided elements from both sides. Not worth breaking skin for this guy.

Traffic and world peace are always at odds. In reality I love and care for birds but closing the streets for a blatant hawk is not on for me. Hawks only need airspace. Peace doves should have the streets despite their white bodily residues that drop and cling on facial windscreens of world politics. They knew that gentle yet sustained & persistent cooing can persuade even a most stubborn North Korean tit (a bird) to go easy on its nuclear nest plans.

ha-Nep!

Willie Nep still in Seattle? Struth! Wonder how he can travel the world with so many id’s;-)
I can imagine airport staff rifling thru his passport while Willie argues with them, insisting that he's the guy in the photo. Hahaha!



You bet guys, Willie Nepomuceno, the guy of a thousand faces (and voices), comedian extraordinaire,
top pinoy mimic; legend in his own time…his brutal yet spot-on mimicry of Marcos earned him the late dictator's ire and respect. Willie bursted into the scene initially during the days of student upheaval in the streets of Manila. Seen him a lot of times on TV mimicking Erap, Ramos, Lacson and I guess all the presidential candidates.
Has he tried doing the dimunitive majesty? Well I guess he won’t be a transvestite for Gloria. Hahaha! Willie “Nep” is also an actor and has made tv episodes with Dolphy.


In every country on this planet, there’s always a popular mimic or mime artist like in
France and for the world—it would be Marcel Marceu. The only difference (at least for me:-) between Marcel and Willie is for us to make a choice: a silent mime or a singing mime?

Please let me take you back right smack in the middle of Plaza Miranda early 70’s whereupon finishing my “fiery”, nationalist speech (he-he, yes I was a provocateur too :-) and delivering a “salvage”-inviting poem on top of Quiapo Underpass’ canopy, Willie was next in line! Now this changed the mood of the crowd. Many became excited like hardcore rock concert fans. Red banners with white acronyms swayed crazily. All one could hear was"Willie — yee-haa--Willie! Si Makoy-- gayahin mooh! (Willie, do Marcos!)

I was amazed; I thought then..here was another provocateur who by his mere facial expressions and body language provoked laughter. People kept screaming for more. It was an awesome comedy feat. Radical (pun intended)! Boy everyone had fun but later on Willie got tired because of mimicking so many corrupt politicians. Hey Willie they want more! No More! He's tired! Now this made a lot of people upset so Willie came out with a song. People cried, tears welled up profusely, ouch..aargh, run! It's teargas! It was like the army of Darth Vader decided to have fun and check out their virgin truncheons on pubescent skulls. In minutes Plaza Miranda was a desolate place. I lost Willie but finally found him in Sydney.

Hello old friend repapips..long time. Sorry I had to bother you while in Seattle.. thanks to Rey Santos I caught you. Anyway I know you're so busy preparing for your Sydney gig so I'll just toss in a few questions. I had more problems doing your caricature because I didn't know which face to draw! LOL!

EA: You are rare bro. I think if you were a painter you'll be a Monet, an impressionist! Haha..err, let me rephrase that. Would you be the Philippine's Marcel Marceu?

WN: He-he, g'day my old friend! Good to see you again..wow! More than 30 years! Okay, to answer your question.. I have a great admiration for Marcel Marceau but I will surely pale and fail in comparison with him. I'd like to see the day though when I can also give free lessons and performances to those who are interested in the arts like he does as a form of social contribution .If he's able to share his art of 'pantomime' to the public, I’d like to share the art of 'impressions' in telling a story.

EA: Oh brother, i admire your humility. Do your comedy skits (with all the lampoon & comic mockery of players in Philippine politics) help politicize Filipinos? If yes… how?

WN: I guess they do. A snicker, a smile, laughter or even a nod of approval and applause is more than an indicator that my audience has an understanding of the issues at hand and the accompanying reaction is therefore a validation that we are one in sharing the same opinion on certain issues. I go beyond the props, costumes, make up and clowning around. You see, laughter may be the best medicine, but my 'impressions' are not merely only a laughing matter.

EA: 70's… you up on stage so many times, one at Plaza Miranda's Quiapo underpass during major nationalist rallies up to the present global gigs with the Filipino community... what have you learned in a single sentence?

WN: That we have always been right after all, despite being portrayed with an ugly label as coming from the left. We must stop calling each other names because the next struggle will determine not what is right... but what is left.

EA: Har-har..man, that’s a beauty. You sure shall upset Samuel Johnson whom I quote “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” The scoundrels are right! Hahaha! Sorry.
Er..I understand this is your second time in Australia? What do you think of our Oz-Pinoy community?

WN: Yes, this is my second time but I didn't really have the chance to immerse myself with the Filipino-Australian community, so I can’t share an opinion about them. I’m sure though that knowing the Filipino’s very pliant characteristic, they should be able to blend well living 'down under' as we likewise blend living in an underground economy down there back home.

EA: Salamat (Thanks) Wills baby. Good luck and I’ll catch your show for sure this September.. maybe somewhere in Melbourne, Adelaide or Sydney! Wow gagala ka pala talaga ah.
Pag nagkita tayo sana hindi kita mamukhaan (So you're gonna tour around Oz, I hope not to recognize your face when I see you again) ..LOL!

WN: LOL ka rin (You, too).. Hahaha..See you alligater,lator

MiG Ayesa Rocks! - February 07, 2007

Miggy Update/Oct 30 '07

MiG Rocks the Kiwis!

Rock Star INXS finalist Miguel Ayesa blew away his first Kiwi audience in Auckland today.

The star of the TV talent quest joined Kiwi pop princess Annie Crummer in the media call for the Queen and Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You at Auckland's Civic Theatre.

The show has become a global sensation with more than six million people around the world seeing the show in five years.

Teen heartthrob Ayesa plays Galileo, a role he made his own in the West End, while Crummer is the Killer Queen, a part she has played in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Japan.

We will Rock You features 24 of Queen's greatest hits, including Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4251590a1860.html

Here's a higher resolution of MiG Ayesa's caricature I did & was published in Bayanihan News Sydney and Global Nation/Inquirer.net. (follow link below)
MiG is a very lovable and honest person. Here's incisive;-) interview of him:



MIG AYESA - Fil-Australian Rock Star
By Edd Aragon
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:57pm (Mla time) 01/24/2007

This young Filipino-Australian was one of three finalists in an international competition Rock Star INXS held last year, in a search to replace Michael Hutchence. MiG has definitely scored international stardom. Blame the power of TV.

MiG Ayesa has ruthlessly competed with the best in the rock
industry and he's back in Australia to launch his self-titled album “MiG” this month before the US launch in March.

EA: Hello, MiG. Can you still speak Filipino, mate?

MA: Hindi. I can speak a little bit in pieces, like I know the difference between mabaho (stinky) and mabuhay (long live), baduy (bad taste) and baboy (pig, piggish), kulangot (snot) and kulelat (laggard) . That's about the extent of my Tagalog, but to be honest I surprise myself. Suddenly I'm saying these phrases coming out from my dila (tongue) – these phrases that are like pretty galing (cool).

EA: That's cute MiG. So you were just two years old when you came to Australia and have only have vague memories of Manila?

MA: Yeah. Well, I was a kid then - but my grandparents fly me and my brothers home for Christmas and New Year in Baguio and Manila. The celebration, the big dinners – it's always a wonderful party because it's always holidays. My cousins and I, we're very close. That's one thing my lolo definitely wanted for us.

EA: Looks like you're at the peak of your energetic life, but how do you see yourself say, ten years from now?

MA: Well, you know, ten years from now hopefully I'll have children by then, and I would love to actually be back in Australia, buy a dream home somewhere in the northern beaches in Sydney, and have the kids go to school in Sydney.

EA: Would you rather be on stage acting and singing or just concentrate on singing?

MA: I would rather…ahhh, I could do everything. I don't know which one I love more. I just have to focus on one at a time. At the moment my focus is recording and singing and music. I guess that's my greatest love.

But I guess if they were to ask me to do something on Broadway, I would really consider it. To answer your question about ten years form now, hopefully I'd have a few albums under my belt, nice to have a Grammy and even an Oscar - one step at a time. You gotta dare to dream, mate.

EA: My, you’re quite prolific. Do profit and being prolific go together in this industry?

MA: I'm not really big on being rich, rich, rich. I'm just keen on not having to worry about money - the freedom that would give you, I think would be a load off the mind. I just wanna be able to know that everything's gonna be ok, my kids have a nice home, and I have not wasted my time.

EA: So you'd rather concentrate on Australia?

MA: I know I'd have to be in the States at the moment, the market at the moment is in the United States and that's where I got a crack. That's where I've been signed from and to break that, everything will sort of fall into place, hopefully. I miss London. I'd love to go back and work in London again.

EA: You became popular in Australia because of the musical “Buddy”?

MA: I played the part of Richie Valens.

EA: Have you come across Filipinos while doing these gigs and things?

MA: Yes, I think I've been more in touch more with the Filipino community ever since Rock Star INXS. They have been so vocal in their support for me – and because they could vote, they felt like it was their duty to make sure that this Filipino made it till the end. They became emotionally involved in the whole process so I'm very proud. I became like a long lost prodigal son of the Phil – the famous prodigal son – so I've done concerts in the Philippines – and made connections with the Filipinos in the US and Australia.

EA: That's terrific, mate. What would you say about a dream to have here in the Fil-Aus community a Pinoy Rock Opera with maybe MiG Ayesa helping out in a rock theatre workshop? There's actually one on the drawing table.

MA: Actually I'd love to do that. I really would. The problem is time. At the moment we're still concentrating on working on the US release in March – we are in the studio writing all the time and recording new stuff. I would love to do so many things but time is just the problem. But if there was a break in the schedule and there was actually time for me to come here and do that, and I get invited to help, I'd love to help.

The reason why I perform and why I do this is because I love it – I don't consider it work – for me it is playing – everything I do is playing. I wanna play for a living. I'm like a kid in a candy store – playing.

If you love what you do you can never consider it as work. You gotta love it. The moment you put a stigma on it, it’s work. We're born to express ourselves – to enjoy what we do. Sometimes we may not enjoy our work, but as long as we know that we work to enjoy something that we like, for example saving money to buy a house, then at least you know what the work will do for you - something that you enjoy.

I'm proud to be a Filipino. People may think that I don't really speak Tagalog or I don't really look Filipino. That's not my fault. I'm actually inspired by other artists who are proud to be Filipino like APL from Black Eyed Peas.

EA: Very heartwarming, MiG. Hey, what are you listening to now?

MA: “Continuum” by John Mayer… and Butch Walker. I'm in the process of song writing at the moment and I find that my weakest point is my lyrics. I can write the melody and music. It's the lyrics that I find that I'm falling into the same pattern. So I'm listening to these people and say, wow these are clever I should be hanging around with poets, just like my Tito Ding (Roces) - that's what I've been neglecting.

I’m reading a biography of Queen, the early years - all four of them. It's not really about them as Queen but as school kids, being normal kids. It’s fascinating how it all starts - we all start very humbly -, what makes someone great, what in their life clicked the switch and got into the next level.

EA: How would you describe the late rock star Freddie Mercury?

MA: Outrageous, eccentric, just like me on the stage. I'm a natural show-off. Running around – doing things like take my jackets off and shirt off and throwing them off the stage. The stuff that I used to do is fairly energetic rock and roll. What I'm doing in this album is quite different – I gotta control my wild onstage antics just for this project. You reinvent yourself as you go along. I'm no longer a teenage rock and roller. I'm a mature adult contemporary musician now.

EA: Your rock hall of famers?

MA: My favourite rock and roll artists: Queen, Leny Kravitz, Jimi Hendrix, Bono, and U2.

Filipinos are so talented – it's no secret that Filipinos are great
musicians. You see all these bands – it's in our nature, our blood, to sing. Karaoke, you see, is part of our culture, of who we are.

EA: Education background?

MA: High school in St Patrick’s College, and Mass Communications at Macquarie University.

EA: Immediate plans?

MA: Write, write write. In the studio, record, record, record. There’s a lot of work to do.

EA: how would you describe your new album?

MA: Velvety, luxurious, passionate, elegant and emotional.

EA: Have you acknowledged being part of Fil-Aus state of mind?

MA:, I'm proud io be part of the Fil-Aus community in Sydney. It's a growing community. To young kids, the world is an oyster. The great thing about being in Australia is that you can develop and grow freely without fear of censorship or being told what to do. You have a sense of total individualism in Australia. If you take that and share it with the rest of the world, that would make you very special.

EA: Can't help but admire you MiG. You've run through the audition gauntlet and tedious rehearsals, shifting standards, gaining wisdom in the process. What do you think is the secret to survive all these?

MA: I think what you need to do is just to have faith in yourself – otherwise no one's gonna believe in you. You gotta really believe that what you're doing is the right thing because people will always tell you it's wrong and if you listen to everybody, you'll do nothing. So just listen to yourself – find out what it is.

EA: Thanks for your time MiG. Really nice to meet you.

MA: Same here Edd, good luck to you and a very Happy New Year to your readers and everyone in the Filipino-Australian community!

Google search MiG Ayesa or visit his official website: www.mig-music.com. You can also check out his music on YouTube

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/ofwspotlight/ofwspotlight/view_article.php?article_id=44921