This Pinoy will rock you
August 12, 2005 | 12:00am
LOS ANGELES – For a second, the camera focused on the intense look on this guy’s face. And from the extreme close up, one couldn’t tell if he was either nervous to get on-stage or anxious to put on a performance. But after about two minutes of smooching with the microphone and caressing the mic stand, coupled with the nonstop applause, cheers and screams from the audience, only a fool wouldn’t be able to surmise that Mig Ayesa was anxious to put on a performance. Why, he brought the whole house down!
In what seemed like an ordinary afternoon in the Land of the Angels, hell broke lose (well, in a punk-rock way) inside Stage 36 of the CBS compound on Beverly and Fairfax streets as Ayesa opened the show for Rockstar: INXS. About 100 of the fans who showed up to watch the taping of the reality series sprung to their feet and cheered their lungs out. Some looked funny in their attempt to gyrate to the tune of We Will Rock You that Mig performed.
"They’re all good. It’s hard to tell who will make it. But I think Mig has a great chance of landing in the top three," commented Justin Pierce of Mark Burnett, the same producer who came out with the series Survivor.
Pierce is a freelance consultant for Rockstar and was once a rock music critic. He was gracious enough to escort this writer throughout the show and into a room he reserved for a private, one-on-one interview with the Fil-Aussie rockstar after the taping.
"It’s a funny story, actually. I was having dinner with a friend of mine who works in LA. He was in London visiting us. And he mentioned that he was going to work in a production. That INXS is looking for a new lead singer. I said, ‘What? Are you serious?’" said Mig of how he wound up in the show.
The 35-year-old musician stage actor was born in Manila to the Legarda, Alfonso, Ayesa clan. The dude obviously owes his mestizo looks to the Filipino-Spanish blood in him; although he said his set of ocean blue eyes were from his grandmother whose family is originally from Austria.
When he was two, he moved with his mother and brother to the Land Down Under where he grew up. But thanks to his Lolo and Lola Gigi, the move didn’t alienate him from his Pinoy background. According to the friendly rocker, his grandfather sent him plane tickets so he could go back to Manila and spend Christmas with his family every year.
"You know what it’s like, we have so many different families and our reunion is every three to four years and there’s 400 people there," Mig said, clearly very amused and proud of his family.
In Australia, Mig developed and pursued his love for the performing arts by appearing in stage musicals and film, as well as working on TV shows and commercials. Possessing the energy of a budding rockstar, the looker also played in bands. When he was 20, and taking up Communications in Macquarie University in Sydney, Mig landed the opportunity to play Ritchie Valens in the Aussie-touring production of the musical, Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story. The break led to reprising the role in London’s West End. He also played Angel in the West End Production of Jon Larson’s Rent.
When he moved to London three years ago, Mig was ready to change his life for the better. And the relocation actually proved to be a wise move . . . until things changed over that dinner in September, 2004.
"At that time I was playing the lead in a show called We Will Rock You which is a musical featuring the music of Queen which was written by Ben Elton. I was playing the lead in this fantastic West End hit show and I was earning a good wage. I was living a wonderful life in London. I’m married. We bought this lovely flat in London and life was so beautiful and precious," Mig recalled.
Although he initially didn’t say anything to his friend who spoke of Rockstar: INXS during dinner, through the meal, Mig was already seriously thinking about it. By the time they finished, he was ready to go for it.
"And so there was the crazy idea but I just said ‘I’m gonna go for it.’ I told my friend ‘Hey, you said INXS was looking for a new lead singer? Well listen, when you find out about the auditions, can you just e-mail me what I can do to get an audition because I would love to do it," Mig said adding that he considered this an opportunity that came once in a lifetime, even though he had to risk a lot of things. "It’s a worthwhile risk ‘cause I think it’s an amazing opportunity, even though I lost a lot of things," Mig said.
One of which was the time with his wife whom this charming rocker clearly adores. (Sorry, girls!) According to Mig, his wife, Simone de la Rue, is a London-born Australian. While he’s busy competing in La-la-land, his wife is in London, working on a play called Ducktastic which is a comedy directed by Kenneth Branagh.
"Also if she was here in LA, I wouldn’t be able to see her anyway ‘cause we’re stuck in this house. It’s kind of very strict. We have no privacy, except for sitting in the toilet. That’s the only thing we got that’s private," Mig joked of their Silver Lake mansion where the contestants (down to 10 as of press time, after three weeks of competition) are housed and are sort of "isolated" from the outside world. Every move is monitored. Cell phones and Internet are not allowed. Even visits from family are scheduled by the production people.
According to Pierce, it’s to prevent the contestants from getting outside influences about the way they look, perform, etc. They’re not even allowed to watch the show on television which airs Mondays at 9:30 pm; Tuesdays at 10 p.m.; and Wednesdays at 9 p.m., on CBS. (On Starworld in the Philippines.)
Albeit continents apart, the couple stays in touch regularly. Mig says he calls her three times a week. And in those phone conversations, she reads to him the e-mails he gets from his family all over the world and most especially in the Philippines.
But just how Filipino is Mig? Although he claims that his Tagalog is putik, behind his blue eyes are all things Pinoy: From the love for Boracay, to the appetite for lechon and kare-kare.
Find out more about him next week.
To reach this writer, log on to www.jannelleso.net
In what seemed like an ordinary afternoon in the Land of the Angels, hell broke lose (well, in a punk-rock way) inside Stage 36 of the CBS compound on Beverly and Fairfax streets as Ayesa opened the show for Rockstar: INXS. About 100 of the fans who showed up to watch the taping of the reality series sprung to their feet and cheered their lungs out. Some looked funny in their attempt to gyrate to the tune of We Will Rock You that Mig performed.
"They’re all good. It’s hard to tell who will make it. But I think Mig has a great chance of landing in the top three," commented Justin Pierce of Mark Burnett, the same producer who came out with the series Survivor.
Pierce is a freelance consultant for Rockstar and was once a rock music critic. He was gracious enough to escort this writer throughout the show and into a room he reserved for a private, one-on-one interview with the Fil-Aussie rockstar after the taping.
"It’s a funny story, actually. I was having dinner with a friend of mine who works in LA. He was in London visiting us. And he mentioned that he was going to work in a production. That INXS is looking for a new lead singer. I said, ‘What? Are you serious?’" said Mig of how he wound up in the show.
The 35-year-old musician stage actor was born in Manila to the Legarda, Alfonso, Ayesa clan. The dude obviously owes his mestizo looks to the Filipino-Spanish blood in him; although he said his set of ocean blue eyes were from his grandmother whose family is originally from Austria.
When he was two, he moved with his mother and brother to the Land Down Under where he grew up. But thanks to his Lolo and Lola Gigi, the move didn’t alienate him from his Pinoy background. According to the friendly rocker, his grandfather sent him plane tickets so he could go back to Manila and spend Christmas with his family every year.
"You know what it’s like, we have so many different families and our reunion is every three to four years and there’s 400 people there," Mig said, clearly very amused and proud of his family.
In Australia, Mig developed and pursued his love for the performing arts by appearing in stage musicals and film, as well as working on TV shows and commercials. Possessing the energy of a budding rockstar, the looker also played in bands. When he was 20, and taking up Communications in Macquarie University in Sydney, Mig landed the opportunity to play Ritchie Valens in the Aussie-touring production of the musical, Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story. The break led to reprising the role in London’s West End. He also played Angel in the West End Production of Jon Larson’s Rent.
When he moved to London three years ago, Mig was ready to change his life for the better. And the relocation actually proved to be a wise move . . . until things changed over that dinner in September, 2004.
"At that time I was playing the lead in a show called We Will Rock You which is a musical featuring the music of Queen which was written by Ben Elton. I was playing the lead in this fantastic West End hit show and I was earning a good wage. I was living a wonderful life in London. I’m married. We bought this lovely flat in London and life was so beautiful and precious," Mig recalled.
Although he initially didn’t say anything to his friend who spoke of Rockstar: INXS during dinner, through the meal, Mig was already seriously thinking about it. By the time they finished, he was ready to go for it.
"And so there was the crazy idea but I just said ‘I’m gonna go for it.’ I told my friend ‘Hey, you said INXS was looking for a new lead singer? Well listen, when you find out about the auditions, can you just e-mail me what I can do to get an audition because I would love to do it," Mig said adding that he considered this an opportunity that came once in a lifetime, even though he had to risk a lot of things. "It’s a worthwhile risk ‘cause I think it’s an amazing opportunity, even though I lost a lot of things," Mig said.
One of which was the time with his wife whom this charming rocker clearly adores. (Sorry, girls!) According to Mig, his wife, Simone de la Rue, is a London-born Australian. While he’s busy competing in La-la-land, his wife is in London, working on a play called Ducktastic which is a comedy directed by Kenneth Branagh.
"Also if she was here in LA, I wouldn’t be able to see her anyway ‘cause we’re stuck in this house. It’s kind of very strict. We have no privacy, except for sitting in the toilet. That’s the only thing we got that’s private," Mig joked of their Silver Lake mansion where the contestants (down to 10 as of press time, after three weeks of competition) are housed and are sort of "isolated" from the outside world. Every move is monitored. Cell phones and Internet are not allowed. Even visits from family are scheduled by the production people.
According to Pierce, it’s to prevent the contestants from getting outside influences about the way they look, perform, etc. They’re not even allowed to watch the show on television which airs Mondays at 9:30 pm; Tuesdays at 10 p.m.; and Wednesdays at 9 p.m., on CBS. (On Starworld in the Philippines.)
Albeit continents apart, the couple stays in touch regularly. Mig says he calls her three times a week. And in those phone conversations, she reads to him the e-mails he gets from his family all over the world and most especially in the Philippines.
But just how Filipino is Mig? Although he claims that his Tagalog is putik, behind his blue eyes are all things Pinoy: From the love for Boracay, to the appetite for lechon and kare-kare.
Find out more about him next week.
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