Mia Silvas’ blog

Well it's finally come to an end... I shed a little tear this morning as I waved goodbye to our lovely apartment in Amsterdam.  But... I still have all my wonderful memories of a great tour locked in my head!

The last few gigs with Wouter were really great.  First was the Effenaar in Eindhoven.  It was great to be back here, as place we have visited many times over the last year.  I will never forget the big yellow skittles that we drive past on the way out of the city (Ryan said he couldn't remember them... I will never understand that.  They are not easy to miss, and it's also a pretty unusual sculpture).  Someone must know what I'm talking about right?  A big bowling ball surrounded by equally big yellow skittles?!?  No?  Anyway, I won't forget em!  The crowd were really, really great and also sang along very nicely to Miss Communication, which is always a buzz for both of us.  Love it!

The the last night at P3 in Purmerend, not far from Amsterdam.  I was feeling a little sad knowing it was my last night, but I think we made it count.  Another great crowd, and some more fun singing the duet with Wouter and his band... I get to let go a little, even tho it's hard to move around in a tight dress and platforms ("This dress was such a drama!!! haha)

After the show we treated Wouter's band to a tasting of our favourite appeltaart from Cafe Meuwese!  We dropped in to see Ellis at Meuwese earlier in the day, and she gave us a GREAT deal on a whole taart, so we picked up two cans of "slagroom" and it didn't disappoint!  Of course everyone has their own idea on the best apple pie, but I think this one is definitely one of the best I've ever had... and believe me we've had a few!!!

I was also treated to some Bossche Bollen, courtesy of the lovely Narda.  I waited til I got home tonight to tuck into one of those though as I couldn't do appeltaart and Bossche Bol on the same night!  Even me!  Sooooo good ;)

I'm really gonna have to get back in to training this week if I'm going to be in shape for my 10k run at the end of May... the last 2 weeks in The Dam haven't been too good to me on the exercise front!  Oh well... sometimes you've just got to have fun!

We have had such an amazing time this last 3 weeks or so, and it will certainly be a little strange being home again and out of the tour bubble... I miss Ryan already!  But we've already been chatting on Skype, so he's not too far away :(

I want to thank all the venues for looking after us so well and making us feel so welcome... To everyone who helped me organise this tour... I think this one is really gonna make the difference... so thank you for helping me on my way!  To all the fans who made the effort to travel long distances to come see me, and to all my new friends that I met along the way - thank you.  And last but not least... to Wouter and his wonderful band and management team!  You guys really are quite awesome, both as musicians and people... I will REALLY miss you guys!  Let's do a tour together in the UK! ;)

So, roll on end of May, when I will be coming back to The Netherlands to support the brilliant Candy Dulfer in Nijmegen.  You can check www.myspace.com/miasilvasmusic for more details.  I'm hoping to try and organise another few gigs around that date, so will keep you posted on that and any other news.

See you all soon.

Big kiss,
Mia xxx

...I can't believe that my Spring Tour in The Netherlands is almost at an end; it seems like only yesterday that we arrived in Dunkerque in my little Peugeot!  Still, we have 2 more gigs with the lovely Wouter Hamel, so it's not over quite yet.

On Thursday I performed again at one of our regular haunts, cafe Skek!  We love it there!  And then it was off to the Queen's Head for their birthday celebration.  My good friend Mayday was putting on a Madonna night and asked if Ryan and I could pop in and play our Jazzy rendition of Madonna's "Material Girl"... here it is courtesy of Sasha.  I wasn't sure I believed Mayday when she said that I could come out from under the stage with smoke etc.... well, take a look!  She wasn't lying!  I think that was perhaps the most fun I've had for a long time.  Leuk!

We have had some really great times with Wouter and his lovely band, and I can speak for both of us when I say that we will miss em all!  Bless!  At the Zwolle gig last week I performed a duet with Wouter during his set - the song "As long as we're in love" originally performed with Giovanca.   It was great fun to perform together with Wouter, and I look forward to it again at the final few gigs... hopefully I will put a video up soon. 

The night in Zwolle was an interesting one.  First we performed our set to open Wouter's show and afterwards the duet.  I then legged it, in the rain, down to Cafe de Gezelligheid (luckily it wasn't so far and I had my Umbrella - Marloes you can always stand under my umbrella love!)  where we played for another 1 and a half hours.  Luckily there wasn't a really noisy bloke at the front singing "Sweet Home Alabama" during the introduction of each and every one of my songs!! hahaha.  Regardless, it was a really nice gig and I even sold a few CDs which is always a bonus.

The last few gigs I have even remembered to mention my "Hyves" page, and am making new friends everyday.  Of course I love that, coz it gives me more people to talk to when I am on the internet in the middle of the night!

On Saturday we were asked to play a short set at TROS Muziekcafe for Radio 2.  That was definitely a highlight of the tour as I had played there a while ago with my sister Lucie, so it was nice to see everyone again.  There were some great bands playing, including Raccoon, who were really great!  We performed 3 songs along with a little interview with Daniel Dekker which was really nice. 

Last couple of days we have just been hanging out... I'd like to say that we haven't been eating too much appeltaart but that would be a lie!  Basically we've been eating too much and I seriously will have to get back into training when I am home on Saturday if I am going to finish the 10km race I have entered at the end of May... I'm sure I'll be back in shape in no time ;)  hope so!

Tomorrow, my good friend Yamit Mamo will be arriving in The Netherlands to embark on her first Dutch tour, so I am very excited for her.  She was due to tour with Ian Britt (also an old friend), but unfortunately Ian had to cancel at the last minute due to the sad and untimely death of his Manager and close friend Tim Westnutt.  Tim will be sadly missed and I send Ian and Tim's family and friends my deepest sympathies... he will be greatly missed!

To end on a lighter note, I hope that you will support Yamit by checking out her myspace for her upcoming gigs... she really is a great talent!  www.myspace.com/yamitmamomusic

Thank you to everyone who has supported me this tour and look forward to seeing you at the final gigs.

Tot Ziens.  Kusjes xxxxx

Well I guess I say Spring in the loosest sense of the word as it's been pretty cold over here in The Netherlands (although not as cold as the UK I understand, where there has been some snow!!!).  It has been raining pretty relentlessly over here, so not great... but, we're here and having a great time, so I won't complain too much.

As most of you may already know, I have just embarked on another tour of the Netherlands; however, this time, to make it more exciting, we are touring with the lovely Wouter Hamel.  Those of you who don't yet know Wouter should check him out www.myspace.com/wouterhamel.  I guess you could call him the Dutch Michael Buble!

Anyway, it's really exciting to have a great support tour around the Netherlands, and I'm hoping that I will make some new fans along the way.  Our first stop was De Boerderij in Zoetemeer (not far from Den Haag).  This was my first gig with Wouter, so I was very nervous, not only because I hadn't met Wouter or his band yet, but also it was a big venue with maybe 600 people or more.  Anyway, the Boerderij (or The Farm in English) crew were all really amazing and made me feel so welcome, especially the lovely Frans who looked after us both so well!  Dank je wel to everyone at De Boerderij.

We then headed for Amsterdam for a slightly smaller gig at De Heeren Van Aemstel.  It was a slightly different crowd, but everyone was really nice, and I even managed to catch up with my old friend Mayday... who as usual turned up looking fierce!  I also bumped into my old friend, Dutch rapper, YesR in Rembrandtplein which was fun!  Hadn't seen him since the Gelredome gigs with Marco Borsato so was nice to catch up a little.

Since then we have moved into our lovely apartment in Amsterdam... it's so nice to have our own place to come home to after the gigs.  We have been getting home pretty late as there is a lot of driving to do this time... plus we have to park our car just outside of the city where it's free, carry all our stuff back on the nightbus, and then walk 20mins to our flat from centraal station.  It's a hard life! haha

Needless to say we have been sampling the best Appeltaart that Amsterdam has to offer.  Cafe Meuwese on Rokin is still my number 1 favourite place for Appeltaart, but we did try a place closer to our flat called Cafe Winkel.  This place is apparently famous for it's appeltaart, and I'm certainly not going to deny that it's good, but I think Meuwese is still our favourite.  I'm trying not to eat too much though as I want to stay trim! 

We have been running every other day, so I think we deserve a treat now and then!

The gigs in Hengelo and Den Bosch with Wouter were also really, really great, and we are now starting to bond a bit with Wouter and his band which is nice!  I am going to do a duet with Wouter at the next gig so that's going to be really fun!  Can't wait now until Zwolle... I've been rehearsing! haha

For some reason, the older I get, the younger my male fans get...  I think we've discussed this one before... it's good for the ego, but it would be nice to be chatted up by some older men for a change!  oh well 2x18 year olds make a 36 year old!  hahaha

For a little fun at the Den Bossche gig we were offering kisses for a fiver and I managed to get a nice kiss from a lovely young man as a consolation for not giving out my phone number... nice try though!  Dutch boys are definitely more forward than English boys.  One day they will start to notice my grey hairs!

We have been a little slack with the video diaries this time, but I promise we will have something up on youtube soon... I'll keep you posted.  We just wanted to do something a little different this time, though quite what yet, we don't know!

Speak soon, Mia xxx

Hey All,

Thought it was about time I wrote something to all of you from the southern hemisphere!  I have almost come to the end of my first month in NZ, and so far it has been great... just the rest I needed.  These first weeks have been spent catching up with family and friends and generally doing as I please - PERFECT!

A couple of days after I arrived I went to the My Chemical Romance gig at the new Vector Arena in Auckland... I have to say it's a really impressive venue and they've had some great acts playing there so far, including the lovely Justin Timberlake, who I saw at the O2 this year.  The gig was really great, though we were surrounded by screaming teens with one or other of their parents in tow!  To be honest I've been to better gigs, but I am glad I finally saw them live.

Xmas was pretty low key, but Nikki did buy a lovely tree that we had fun decorating, and also made a lovely Xmas lunch for me, my 2 cousins and another friend.  I think Nikki was up at about 7:30am on Xmas morning preparing for her Turkey roast and also my special nut loaf (I'm a pain in the a*** vegetarian of course!), which I have to say was the best I've ever tasted.  We basically have enough turkey to last us the next few weeks I think... which Nikki will have to tackle by herself, but I don't think she minds too much.

For New Year we are heading for Napier on the east coast, which is about a 6 hour drive from Auckland.  We're heading down there with a few friends and will be camping along with about 100 other people I believe so should be fun...  I also hear that there is a stage on the grounds and there will be a whole bunch of musicians down there just having a jam, so sounds like my kinda new year!!  We will be camping for 3 or 4 days so should be interesting... I think we've got everything we need?!?

One of Nikki's flatmates is also a musician, so I have been to a few of his little gigs around town, which has been really fun... It's actually a nice change from doing my own gigs just watching someone else do their thing.  You never know, he may persuade me to get up and do a few of my own at some point... we'll see.  I have also managed to flog a couple of cds while I've been here so that's definitely a good thing.  I've told all my friends and family that they have to play it very loud in the car with the windows down and make sure that they promote, promote, promote!!!

The next big thing is that I have just enrolled in a womens triathlon event on 10 Feb in Auckland, so have just started my training for that.... should be interesting.  It's actually not too bad - 300m swim, 10km bike, 3km run, so I think it's doable.  I am doing it with my cousin Lauren too so I'm sure we'll support each other.  It's nice to have a goal while you're exercising, and it's also fun training with someone else.  We have a really good 6 week program that we're following, so at this stage I'm not too worried... I'll keep you posted on the training progress.  I'm hoping I will return to England a finely tuned machine! haha!  We'll see...

So that's the craic so far guys.... I hope you all had a Merry, Merry Xmas and got lots of nice pressies.  Have fun at New Year... see you on the other side!

Mx

Hey All,

I'm writing this blog while sitting at work, so you may have to wait for any photos/ vids (I'll update it later1).

I can't believe how quickly this year has gone... it's just flown by.  And what's more, I almost can't believe just how much I have accomplished in the last 6 months or so.  I have recorded an album, released the album on itunes (& Napster et al), completed a tour in the Netherlands with loads of radio & TV promo, performed on my first National TV show, launched a new website complete with an online shop where you can buy my album... And in amongst all that, I've continued to tour with my lovely sister Lucie, have been learning Dutch, and have continued to work on new material!  So... here's to 2007!  I'm hoping that the year ahead will bring more challenges and successes... so here's to 2008 too!

In the last few weeks I flew over to The Netherlands again, this time with my sister Lucie in tow, to record another TV show called "Movie Factory".

We arrived on Wednesday night and were picked up at the airport by our good friends Sander and Lisette... Thursday was an earlyish start, as we had to drive to the Movie Max store in Eindhoven where the show was being filmed.  The plan was to film 4x 20/25min episodes in one day, so we knew it would be a long day ahead.

Again, I booked Ryan an early flight on Thusday morning the poor thing (but he will have gigs the night we're due to fly over), so when he arrived at about 11am he was looking a little worse for wear!  So we sent him off to the hotel for a liile cat nap before he was needed in the afternoon for the performances.

So each show was basically an interview with myself and Lucie, during which we would review 5 or so films (new & old).  Anyone who knows me will know that I am a big movie buff, so it was a huge buzz to be asked to do this show.  We were sent a whole bunch of DVDs to watch and review, so we had loads of fun during the few weeks before watching all the movies we had been sent. 

After all the interviews were done, we both performed 2 songs each (of course having to change into the different outfits we were wearing for each show - the wonders of television eh?!?).

What was nice was that we were filming in the store itself, so there was a steady flow of people in and out during the day who got to see snippets of the interviews and performances.  All in all it was a really fun day, and I want to thank all the people at Movie Max, The Movie Factory and Studio-8 for making us feel so welcome and keeping us entertained throughout the day.

You will be able to see the first episode of "Movie Factory" very soon at www.moviefactorytv.eu, so watch out for it! (again I will post some piccies very soon)

 Then it was off to Amsterdam with Ryan for a gig at Cafe de Doelen on Sunday.  This cafe, I found out, has been made famous by the film "Alles is Liefde" which I would really love to see, and will once it's out on DVD (my Dutch isn't quite good enough to follow the whole thing without some subtitles!)

Cafe de Doelen is a really lovely place to play, and as usual we had a nice welcoming crowd with lots of regular faces (which is always nice).  It was so nice to have so many people there for my final Dutch gig of the year... so thank you to all of you who made it.  And for those of you who didnt, I have a gig at The Regal Room this Friday 23 November so you will be able to watch the live webcast at www.theregalroom.com... I'll give you a wave as always.

So all in all, we had a lovely time in Holland once again and I got a chance to see my friends before I head off to New Zealand for the winter months (I'm afraid I'm always in desperate need of some sun at this time of year), and to visit my lovely sister Nikki.

I leave for NZ on 1 Dec, so all that's left to say is thank you so much to everyone for your continuing support... I couldn't have done any of it without you... and as I said before, here's to an equally, if not more, successful 2008!

See you all soon xxx

As some of you may already know, I recently set up a shop on my website so that you can order my album and ep online! yay!  It's only been going for about a week, but already I have had quite a few orders, so it's all very exciting.

Of course, I don't have a little production team to work for me back in deepest, darkest Surrey, so when the orderscome through it's just little old me packaging up the CDs and printing off postage labels, before heading off to the local post box to send them on their merry way to you all!  It's been fun... so here's to many more orders in the future!

On the way to drop off a few more parcels at the post office the other day, I stopped off at a friend's house on the way.  I am a big dog lover, and this friend has always had the most exciting array of breeds I have ever seen, so I wasn't surprised to see the unusual new addition to the family when I arrived.  Their new dog, Wilf, is an Affenpinscher puppy!  All I can say is that this little ball of black fuzz is both the cutest and ugliest thing I have ever seen... I WANT ONE!  I think he's a little like Verdel from the film "As Good as it Gets"... and before anyone stops me here, I know that Verdel is a Griffon.  Most Griffon breeders I know would say that they are nothing like Affenpinschers, and the Affenpinscher breeders would say the same of a Griffon... but they do share the same cute ugliness (if that makes sense).  Wilf is extremely naughty, with delusions of grandeur way beyond his size... but he is absolutely adorable!  I'm not even sure why I brought this up, but I guess

I just wanted to share his cute little face with you all.

So anyway, I decided that before heading off to NZ for the winter months, that I would spend the next few weeks doing some more writing... my first writing partner of this next stage in the evolution of Mia Silvas was the lovely Ryan Haberfield, my good friend and companion on my "a lot like me" tour in The Netherlands during the first half of October.  Ryan has his own little studio set up at home; however, he neglected to tell me that he didn't have any decent headphones (I could have bought my own).  So, whilst recording we had to use his i-pod headphones.  Unfortunately those silly little things don't stay in my ears (maybe I have odd shaped ears or something), so I had to wear two woolly hats on my head, both to keep them in, and also to avoid any spill in the mic!  Needless to say, I looked ridiculous... but hey, who's looking!

Last night I was invited by the lovely and extremely talented Kevin Molloy (www.myspace.com/kevinmolloy) to perform a couple of songs at his IK:Toms night at the Cross Kings in, funnily enough, Kings Cross.  It was a Halloween themed night, and I was surprised to see so many people had actually made the effort to dress up for the occasion.  I, however, did not, except for a token gesture of some skull and crossbones gloves that I had bought from Claire's Accessories the previous week.  Despite this, my friend Craig (who had the honour of playing guitar for me on this occasion), still asked who I had come as... apparently I looked "quite frightening".  I'm not sure whether that was anything to do with my deliberately mismatched style, which I think is quite charming, or if he was truly disturbed by my gloves!  Oh well!

I performed a couple of songs along with Craig on guitar, but what is really worth a mention is Craig's performance.  Now I know that Craig is a great guitarist and singer, but he did something that really blew me away, so I feel that I must share this with you.   This is Craig Mitchell's rendition of Micheal Berk's "Nervous Tension"

You can find out more about Craig at www.myspace.com/craigmitchell, and Michael Berk at www.michaelberk.com.

The night didn't end there.... and I wish I could say this part was as exciting as the earlier part of evening, but unfortunately it was slightly disastrous.  We left the gig to find that my friend's car had been broken into with the front passenger window smashed to smithereens.... with glass all over the inside of the car. Nice!  So, we spent the next few hours hanging around in the cold figuring out what to do, before heading for the local kebab shop where the friendly staff helped us tape up the window so that we could drive home without freezing to death.  What would one do without a local kebab shop eh?!?

The older I get, it seems the younger my friends get!  Maybe this is a desperate attempt to stay young, I don't know.  Or maybe I do really still look so young that I attract younger people.  Or maybe I'm just a little immature!
Oh well, whatever the reason, I met a lovely young, and very attractive gay man (well he's only 20 but I'll call him a man for argument's sake!) called Rob Dean.  Not only beautiful and very sweet, but also a very talented singer/ songwriter... expect big things from him and his band (I'm not going to give away the name quite yet until they have finished recording, but good things come to those who wait). 

Anyway, last night I decided to have a night out on the town with the lovely Rob so that I could introduce him to some new friends and new music, and so he could introduce me to the wonders of the London gay scene.  First it was off to a showcase at the Soho Revue Bar... and a very long queue to get in.  It wasn't long before we decided that it was far too cold,  plus... I wanted to make it back to the Troubadour in Earl's Court to see my friend's band Grand Central (www.myspace.com/grandcentralofficial). 

But... we wanted to make sure we were on the list for later, so we jumped
the queue (naughty) so that we could speak to Rob's friend on the door.  Maybe it was because I was with Rob, or because I had left my make up in Laura Wilson's bag the other night so wasn't wearing any last night, but the bouncer seemed overly concerned at how young I looked and asked to see some ID.... of course being the eternal optimist, I carry ID with me wherever I go and quickly handed it over.  After taking a good look, the bouncer laughed and said "Well nature really has been kind" whilst handing my ID back to me.  Result!

After sorting out our guest list for later, it was off to the Troubadour and it was well worth it, 'coz the Grand Central Boys didn't disappoint.  My sister Lucie had already seen them, so I had heard good things, but I guess I wanted to make up my own mind.  It was just the 3 of them, Paul on lead vocals, Dom on the drums and Jules on bass, but they managed to achieve the biggest and best sound!  Definitely worth a listen... and also definitely worth seeing them live if you can.

At about 11:30pm (and by this time I was already feeling a little tired - I'm a total lightweight basically), we headed back to the Soho Revue Bar for their "POP" night!  Back in the queue again, but fortunately this time it wasn't so long!  Thank goodness... I had my high heels on!  To my surprise, and joy even, the same bouncer asked me for ID again!  With the same shock and amazement (I was really feeling pretty happy by this stage) he took another look and ushered me in with a grin!  Lovely!  I'll be going there again, if only to be ID'd

The best thing for me about a gay nightclub is that I can dance the night away without fear of being groped or ogled!  Two things I can't abide.  I love to dance, but I often avoid going clubbing for this reason (and because I'm an old fart and prefer to stay home and watch a DVD!).  I'm not trying to flatter myself here, as there is definitely a lot of indiscriminate gropage that goes on... I don't think it matters who you are... if you're female you get felt up whether you want it or not! Truly horrid!  Anyway, suffice to say we had lots of fun, and plenty of dancing before returning home at about 3:30am (pretty good going for me really!).  So a good night all round really...

Maybe it is because I'm older, but I do love getting ID'd and twice in one night really is a result!

x

Despite missing being on tour in The Netherlands, it has been a great first week back in the UK.

Firstly we had our first (hopefully of many) "Mia Silvas & Friends" night at The Regal Room in Hammersmith on 17 October.  We had a fantastic turn out with some truly great performances from my lovely writing partner Tricia McTeague, the cheeky kiwi Chris Cope and my good friend Brendan Reilly, who can hit the highest notes I've ever heard!  Thank you everyone who came down for making it such a successful night and for helping me celebrate my birthday.  I even got 2 renditions of "Happy Birthday" so that was pretty special.  Hopefully Tony will let us have some more "Friends" nights down at The Regal Room in the new year, so watch this space.

The rest of the week I spent, with the help of Marloes and Robby, setting up the shop on my website so that you can finally buy my album "a lot like me" online.  So if you haven't got your copy yet, you can finally order it at www.miasilvas.com.  yay!  The album is also still available to download from a variety of digital distributors like itunes, Napster, Rhapsody etc. I already had my first few orders this week which has been really exciting... so I've been packaging up cds with a big smile on my face.  lol!

Yesterday (Saturday) was my birthday proper so went out for lunch with my lovely mum, before having a few friends over for a homemade curry and to watch the Rugby World Cup Final...  To be honest, and I hope this doesn't sound unpatriotic, I was kinda surprised that England made it to the final, but obviously I was both pleased and proud that they were there!  Disappointed with the result, but I'm glad they were in the final.... and anyway it was an excuse to watch Percy Montgomery, and his Timotei hair, strut his stuff.  I guess I should have been watching the game properly and paying slightly more attention to the England team, but does anyone else find, man of the match, Victor Matfield extremely attractive?  Just my kinda guy!

Suffice to say we had a great evening, a perfect homemade curry (if I say so myself), and some apple pie (not homemade, but still...) as if me and Ryan didn't eat enough when we were over in Holland! 

Now I'm dressed for a lazy Sunday afternoon, watching X-Factor repeat and preparing to go to my mate's birthday party dressed as Mr Benn!  Should be fun.

Happy weekend everyone!
MX

Well.... what can I say?  I'm now finally back in the UK after an extremely successful two week tour of The Netherlands.  I think it was my most relentless schedule yet.  I drove approx. 2000 miles in my little reliable Peugeot 107 and it didn't let me down once.  We had 1 day off in the 16 days that we were away, so now it's time for a well deserved rest.

I can't tell you how much we enjoyed our trip.  It was great to see so many familiar faces and a nice bunch of new ones too.  Everyone made us feel so welcome and I can't thank everyone enough for their continuing support and belief in me.  To all the radio and TV crews, thank you so much for the opportunities and for playing my music... I Really appreciate it.  And I just hope you will have me back again to visit very soon.

Sander, Lisette and Patrick were such a great help... Sander and Lisette for sharing their home with us and helping with my schedule and bookings, and Patrick for helping out with radio etc.  My lovely friend Martin also deserves a big thanks for helping out with more TV  and radio connections... I'm so grateful to you my lovely!

I just can't really believe that it's come to an end... but... I still have all my lovely video diaries on youtube and my photos which I hope I can attach to this blog at some point!  I finally have the connection for my camera now, so no excuses.

We had some great fun with our friends in Amsterdam... the One and Only Mayday, who really looked after us and let Ryan sleep on the couch!  Any excuse! haha...  And I can't forget my lovely friend Michiel (and no I'm not going to say anything naughty to help you pick up chicks!)

To my lovely fans over in the Netherlands... It goes without saying that I truly appreciate all your support and the fun times we all had together, and I promise I will be back in the New Year for another extended tour.... more fun still to come.

Last, bit certainly not least, thanks to my brilliant and super talented guitarist Ryan Haberfield who made this tour very special!  Thanks for all the laughs!

My next challenge this week other than getting some rest, is my "Mia Silvas & Friends" night at the Regal Room on Wednesday 17 October...  it's going to be a fun night, with performances from my good friends Tricia McTeague, Brendan Reilly and Chris Cope.  I will also be celebrating my birthday, so hopefully we can get a nice crowd to come along and join in with the celebrations and generally great night of live music and entertainment.

It's not long now before I head off on my trip to NZ to see my lovely sister Nikki!  I can't wait.  I'm going to have some well deserved rest, and may also try and do a little bit of promo while I'm out there... you never know! 

Hope you have fun watching the rest of my video diaries and hope to see you all again very soon.

Dikke Kus en Veel Liefs xxxx

This is basically what I am waking up to this morning in lovely Groningen! Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang!
We have just stayed in the noisiest room in town I think... hilarious!
It's actually a really lovely hotel, with a lovely room, but noone should have to wake up at 8:45am to construction work being done on the roof above your room... it's just anti-social!
Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang BANG!
Yesterday was our longest road trip yet up to Leeuwarden for an interview at Radio Friesland.  We performed 3 songs and had a short interview... Ryan even got to bang on about Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo in "Beat It"!  So he finally got his 30secs of fame.... he does go on tho! hahahaha!  Ahhh bless him!  It's really quite amazing just how many facts about guitar solos he has stored in his head... I know I'm impressed.  Hopefully Leeuwarden is too!   You gotta love him.
Last night was our first gig in a few nights as we've mainly been concentrating on radio and tv promo... I was a little nervous I guess.
This gig was organised by the lovely Patrick who has helped me a great deal with this tour in terms of radio promo etc... what would I have done without him?  So, it was the least I could do to perform in his home town!
We played another hour long set which was nice, and then sold a fair few cds afterwards, which of course is a bonus.  We had a great time as usual.  Met a couple of the local students too... and had we not had to get up early to travel to Rotterdam... we would probably still be out and about in Groningen!  It is a student party town after all...
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!!
Anyway.... suffice to say that we had a great time up North, and I hope we can spend a bit more time up here next time we visit!
Off to Rotterdam tis morning and then Amsterdam for another gig this evening and then.... Our first full day off in the entire two weeks we have been here!  YAY!!!  I know Ryan's looking forward to kicking back... and well... so am I!
doei doei xx