The James Logan Courier

By Howard Cohen
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

MIAMI — The last time Mika played Miami, about two years ago, the pop singer performed a record company-sponsored, 20-minute showcase set. His meager crowd encompassed a handful of publishing people, some musicians, "and my grandmother and my great aunt and my Lebanese relatives, my Miami hipster friends, a tiny selection of people from every scene in Miami," says the Beirut-born, Paris and London-bred Mika Penniman, on the telephone from Los Angeles on the eve of his U.S. tour's opening date.

Mika, 23, is upbeat, knowing full well Sunday's concert at Miami's Studio A — his first "real" show here — will be populated by people who have actually paid to see him perform.