) so it's open to the floor. All I ask is that you (Tommy?) don't post any photos if you do take it on! - Pat.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Pat,
Mick Coyne recommended I contact you with my unique request. My name is Michael A. McGrath, and I am a lover of the Uilleann pipes. I do not, however, play them as yet, since I am a retired, disabled U.S. Navy veteran and I am currently attending the Rocky Mountain College or Art + Design, in Denver, Colorado, USA (as the oldest student). I am studying 3-D illustration. Basically, I am a sculptor who tells stories with my artwork. I also do installation/performance art. My strength is communicating, through my art pieces, the beauty, wonder and normalcy of the naked human body. I am also the author of a self-published book called, "The Epiphany of the Body - the Naked Human Body Through the Eyes of the Creator." I own a publishing company called Tarnochtai Publishing, and my website is www.tarnochtai.com.
I have a performance piece coming up on 8 December that I will be doing on campus (1600 Pierce Street, Lakewood, Colorado). The second time I did this piece, many of my fellow students and professors weren't able to come, and they have asked me to do it again. So, I am stepping up to the plate and will be performing the piece a third time. The performance is called "The Body - God's Masterpiece," and it has several unique characteristics about it: There will be several nude models who will be involved in the piece (hired by the college). They will be doing normal everyday things, like sitting in a chair reading a book, dancing, getting a glass of water, singing (that will be me doing the singing), and the last time I had a flute player, who is a Christian naturist, performing for me. That isn't going to work this next time around. I HAVE to have the Uilleann pipes playing during this next performance. The whole core of my being, as an artist, is caught up in the fact that I am an Irish Christian. There are many things about my Irish heritage that ring true in my faith, and the Uilleann pipes is my way of touching the innermost depths of God's Spirit within me. I have been known to break out in song at the drop of a hat, and it is usually when the pipes are playing. I love the Highland bagpipes, but they don't resonate with my spirit as well, if you know what I mean. Other musical instruments are okay, but nothing beats the Irish bagpipes.
My request for you is this: I need a piper who would be willing to play the Uilleann pipes in the nude. The performance will NOT be on a stage. It will be in a normal, everyday setting, such as a hallway, or the library on campus, or another building I have been requested to do the performance in. Everyone else in the performance will be nude as well, so the piper won't feel totally out of place. I will be singing, talking and doing readings from the Scriptures and from John O'Donohue's book, "Anam Cara." I will be challenging people to rethink the way in which they view the human body, whether their own or others', and to consider the possibility that Christ Himself is calling us to love one another as He loved us, and embracing one another as crucial, marvelous expressions of God's divine nature in the earth, especially the body as a part of that expression. The piece might seem a little strange, but the feedback I have received from my first two performances has been overwhelmingly positive and I have been complimented on how much of an impact I made on my audience. If you are interested in viewing images of the last performance, please let me know, so that you could be aware that I am not some sort of perverted kook, but a serious prophetic voice in the artists' community.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter, and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Please feel free to give me a call at 303-674-6397 or reply to this e-mail. You are welcome to send out a notice to other bagpipers you may know who might want to do something like this, and feel free to give them my information. Thank you again for your help.
In Christ, Naked & Unashamed,
Michael A. McGrath
