The Interviews ( con't )

Question (8): Playing the flute is an important aspect of your life.
What made you want to play the flute?
What's the story behind it?
MF: I love the Flute because its the one instrument in the world where ,
you can feel your own 'breath"
I don't play a "Boehm - system flute", that is to say I don't play
a silver flute with keys on it , the flute that I play
is an Albert system or a simple system flute made in 1836 in Covent Garden London,
( I think that's what he said) don't shoot the transcriber, cause I"m not sure..(g)......
that's a "Rudall and Rose Flute*.
It has open holes so my "breath" I can 'feel it with my fingers"
so when I'm making a note , its the closest thing to 'singing' to me,
that's why I chose the flute. It has a "haunting feeling" its as if I'm speaking from my " soul"
( sorry but I just have to say this here )
Yes It is a very 'HAUNTING FEELING' when Michael plays the Flute,
it gives me chills each and every time, because he does play it with his 'heart and ' soul'" ,
especially on Whispering Wind, )
ok on with Michael's interview now............
Its the only instrument that made me feel that way and Iove it I really do love it.,
and there are times when I come home and nothing can satisfy me or help me
to unwind as much as sitting down and playing some music on the flute,
I just have ALWAYS LOVED IT, and when I was young ,
you know we couldn't even afford to buy a flute and
my Father went out of his way to make little home made flutes for me
and we tried just about everything , but God was good and looked after me and
one thing led to another and now today I'm ahh lucky enough
to be able to have put out some recordings , and also ' PLAY IN MY SHOW"
Janice's notes again, you can just 'feel" him smiling here talking about his 'beloved flutes" (sigh)!! me too!!

Question (9) You travel the world for your tour.
You also travel for your own pleasure.
What have you learned from your travels?
How has it enriched your life?
MF: Travelling on the road is tough, for five years, I lived out of suit cases
what happens on tour where as you become successful, the suites get bigger,
ahh you get into presidential suites, the cars get faster, the girls get prettier,
but you are still on the road, you still have no place to call 'home'.,
and so You have to decide that you are going to make that sacrifice.
Travelling is a tough game, I've been able to enjoy
those things and see the world through my 'art'.
Its because I made my money doing what I 'LOVE' to do,
One of the things that is important to me ahh is
the amount of 'dancers"' that work for me now,
when I started this thing.,
Those people now will get the opportunity to make a 'living' doing what they love to do ,
they can buy their houses, they can get married, they can have children,
they can buy cars, they can go on vacation
and they can do it because ahhh they are doing something that they love to do ,
and when they are doing that, they are giving something beautiful
to all the people that come to see them,
they are spreading a beautiful thing "art",
to the rest of the world and that helps so if the people leave
that auditorium with that 'song" in their heart and they 'feel terrific'
what do you think they are going to do ?
Well they are NOT gonna go out and beat somebody up ,
they are gonna go out and be happy, maybe kiss a beautiful girl,
maybe buy somebody coffee ,
maybe throw somebody a couple of 'bucks' if they need it,
IT spreads , and you can't stop it, and its a 'good thing' , its a good thing,
its what 'ART' is all about .
It has a knock on effect , I' m just the luckiest guy in the whole world ,
that all this happened this way,
I pray that it continues,
not just for me , but for all of these 'youngsters' .

FOF/ MICHAEL Feet of Flames

Question (10): Like many kids, dealing with bullies was part of your childhood.
What did you do the first time you were attacked by a bully?
What have you learned since then to overcome those who try to bully you?
MF: Well actually that's part of a um a lot of this, I address in a ,
in a new book that I'm putting out , 'VICTORY"
and um I think its very difficult for a lot of kids ,
and this is something that once we get past
that part of our childhood we seldom talk about ,
but again I think it goes back to education
and it goes back to children understanding things
and children having something good to do with their time,
I believe that in school that we should somehow be
able to give them a choice , What do they 'want' to learn about ?
We should try and take the time first ,
before we start hammering things into their head
to find out what are they interested in ?
Give them some choices and try to guide them through ,
what would keep their interest?
Rather than making them learn things that they will never
retain because they have no interest in ,
and I think when they have too much time on their hands
then they tend to turn into bullies or turn into ahhh people
that might want to steal, or a or who knows what kind of life that they will go to but yea,
sure I had to face them on,
I mean I was particularly 'skinny' when I was a young guy
and I uh certainly wasn't anywhere near the biggest guy in my class,
I was a lot closer to the smallest guy in my class ,
and I grew up in a real tough neighborhood on the south side of Chicago
which is pretty much world renowned as 'tough" Neighborhood,
(small laugh) from Michael,
and I had to walk to school every day
and every day you know I would have to get into fist fights
from an early age and there was no other way for me to get to that school
its not like my parents could drive me, they couldn't ,
My Dad was working and um my Mother didn't have a car ,
uh so I "had' to get there , this is not something that I could get around ,
but looking back on it,
although it was a 'harsh lesson', what a 'brilliant lesson'
it was to find a way , if you get to the brick wall in your life
and it can be any business it can be in the software business, the computer business ,
it can be in the 'artists' business , or a composer struggling against today's world on the market place ,
it can be in construction , it can be as a prize fighter , it can be in anything 'BUT' you will come to it.
If not earlier then later , and most of the time you will come to it frequently ,
its the first one that counts , you've got to go 'over it' you've got to go 'under it" ,
"you've got to go "around it " or you've got to go ' through it"
but one way or the other you have got to get " past it"
That is the KEY , You can NOT stop because you hit the brick wall and it always looks worse than it is.
There was one big guy ' that every day' he used to wait for me ,
cause he knew I was 'easy pickins'
uh and he 'had' me ' so scared" , that I almost couldn't face him anymore ,
and I used to wait and hide in my 'mate's" backyard , and hope that' he'd go away ,
but there was so many of them that , that was never gonna happen .
One day I learned " how to fight" and I walked up and hit him in the mouth ,
Well I thought I was gonna be in for the 'fight" of my life,
but the truth is he fell down got up , ran away, and all his 'mates" ran away too .
That was the biggest lesson that I could ever have learned
because I had built it up in my own head to be so impossible ,
I had built it up to the point when , I was 'shaking inside" you know my 'heart" was beating like a rabbit ,
but all it took was confronting him that first time ,
and then every brick wall since then in every area of my life has looked a little bit different then the brick wall ,
I can see through it now. I can realize that there is a way around it ,
that there is if you think hard enough and if you look at it long enough
course there is a way around it, you just have to make sure that you don't out think your self,
learn from the past all the time but for young kids ,
yea there's bullies everywhere ,
I don't much like them, never did like them ,
You know I just didn't have any big brothers ,
or anyone that I could call on but you know but maybe that was a good thing lookin back on it .
( Michael laughs again )

Question (11) In traditional Irish dancing, dancers keep their arms at their sides.
Why did you break out of that tradition and implemented arm movements into your dance?
MF: I just hated the rules, now that's not to say
that some rules aren't good they are, it was the fact that being an 'artist'
I didn't like being told ' You Can't Do It That Way " ,
because it didn't make sense to me ,
First of all the idea of dance with no arms didn't ring true,
and it really hit home when I visited Ireland , you know I would go into the Pubs,
and Irish people were so 'friendly' , you could just feel they were laughing all the time ,
There was Joy, there was Sadness, there was jokes, there was so much 'energy' , and they were so 'alive' and 'vibrant "
How could these People dance with their arms at their sides ?
What could possibly be the reason for this?
I couldn't get my head around it.
All I knew is that the way that I danced I couldn't hold my hands down ,
I wanted to break those rules, I wanted to try something different
and I didn't want somebody telling me that I couldn't do it.
I could never ever be comfortable with it ,
because in order for the 'picture' to be complete
you need to use your arms I think. There might be certain times when you don't
I've just never been comfortable dancing with my arms at my sides,
I just don't believe in it.,
and I think that um certainly you know a hundred years ago Irish people did NOT dance with their arms at their sides ,
this is something that has come in
for some reason within the last hundred years and hopefully now is gone for good.

FOF/ MICHAEL THE DUEL (sigh)!!

Question (12) Your fame will no doubt last for quite a long time.
How would you want to be remembered by future generations?
MF: Fame is a very funny thing to talk about,
because the truth of the matter is um .fame
does not last for a long time like people think
it can come and go in a heartbeat, and the sooner you come to terms with that
the better its gonna be for you or for anybody who is famous.
I think you got to realize that ahh what's more important is to be
"respected" by people that know the difference. be respected for what you do ,
if I can leave a video tape of my work ,
if I can leave a piece of 'art' that people can watch ,
if I can leave a little bit of something to charity those are very important things,
that's not to say fame isn't good, fame is very good and ahh its wonderful
and has a lot of great things , great quality's I get to meet great people
cause they will approach me and say " Hi" I know you from here,
aahhh you know I get great tables at the restaurants all kinds of little nice perks,
but that's gonna go, I mean inevitably that's gonna go ,
you just need to come to terms with that.
I'd like to be remembered at all ,
just if anybody did remember me in the future
what a tribute that would be to any work that I've done here now
I hope that they would remember me with 'respect' .
what was famous last year?
I'll bet you anybody sitting in this room couldn't name the top three bands last year
or the last seven presidents
what was the hottest car in the 1970's ?
it would be difficult for anybody to remember .
so to think that we would have that kind of an impression is childish.
I don't think its, its realistic.
( I'm not , its my turn now )
laughter... from ( MICHAEL)
and a if I can put across my message and its a good one
and it helps people then at least we are here for right now
and uh we should all live for 'right now' .,
not for tomorrow but for today.

Question(13): "Lord of the Dance" is often described as a one-of-a-kind show.
But it is also steeped in Irish traditions.
How do you balance tradition with individuality?
MF: There must be things that separate you,
its what makes you, singularly YOU,
That's a unique thing that you follow for years ,
I went out on auditions, and every audition I went to I was wrong for the part , WHY?
1. I was to Irish,
2. I had my hands by my side,
3. That's not tap Dancing
4. You're a good dancer , but this is an all black show
5. um, we're looking for ballet experience you know every one was different .
You danced too fast, You danced too slow it was always something ,
they always wanted me to dance ,
can't you dance a little more like Fred Astaire tap dancing??
Can't you dance a little bit more like Um you know the Nicholas brothers?
what we are used to seeing? but in my heart I knew that , that wasn't me..
and could never be me , you have to cut your own path,
I don't want to dance like somebody else , no matter how great they are,
because that's only copying them.
One of the things people say to me frequently is what about tradition?
If you move your arms you are disobeying the tradition that we've had for all of these years,
we're coming up to the year 2000 and the year 2005 for instance if they look back,
if they look back at me , and they could contact me and say
" what did you do with your dance in 1999" ?
My answer could not possibly be well I just copied the guys from 1989..
you know because it was traditional ,
I copied the guys from the last 100 hundred years . but then where are you , who are you?
You know I have to make my own mark for better or worse in life,
it may not be right. but it might stimulate younger minds
to come along and try something 'that might be right"
There's a delicate balance on wanting something in such a way that its tasteful ,
yet different without going too far over the line and people have a tendency to do that
these days they go too far , and they don't keep any tradition ,
its important that you have 'respect' for what you've learned after all
I'd be no where if I didn't learn to dance traditionally first ,
but then to add my own pieces to that hopefully
in a way that other people will consider tasteful, I think that , that says a lot--
ahh about me as an "Artist", and about me as a " man", and
I would hope that other people would explore that way as well and I think a lot of artists do that.

FOF/ Bernadette & Michael in WARLORDS

Background by LADY OH'S NEXT PAGE Thanks To Zammi for the (Flute corrections) (G)!! That does look and sound much better, LOL!!