CBC Interview 26.9.02

Transcribed By Angie Johnson

LM - Hi!
   Interviewer - Hi, so nice to have you here.
LM - Thank you.
   Int. - So there have been reports that you will be performing for the Queen when she's here in a couple of weeks...can we make it official?
LM - I think we can make it official. It will be the 8th of October.
   Int. - And what exactly will happen?
LM - I guess there's a whole list of, uh, it's an event I think that will last an hour, an hour and a half long on the legislative grounds and ah,
I'm not clear on all of whom are participating but I believe the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the symphony is. I've been asked to perform a couple of songs....there will be the turning on of the Golden Boy (laughs) and yeah, so it should be quite fun.
   Int. - How do you decide what to sing?
LM - Well, it (laughs) it's funny you should ask that because part of it actually has to do with the arrangements of some of my material and even as mundane as what musicians are available and um, there are a lot of factors that come into play as to what I end up doing. There is a
possibility that I may be performing with the orchestra, but we don't know that for sure yet.
   Int. - Well, I'm sure many people that are big fans, especially here in Manitoba are really wondering what you've been up to in the last while, what would you tell us?
LM - Well, there have been a number of things, I certainly don't feel like the moss has grown under my feet much, starting back from 1998, as a result 
of my partner dying in a boating accident, I started a water safety fund and earmarked the proceeds from my last recording Live in Paris and Toronto 
to be used as a money generating engine for that water safety fund.  It went on to raise close to 3 million dollars and over these years we've been 
(we've being myself and some of the colleagues here in the company) have undertaken to teach ourselves and learn more about the water safety field, 
who are the players, what are the issues, and how can the fund best position itself to support those already working in the area.
   Int. - I was on your website and reading about the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund, and a quote of yours there says, "for anyone who has experienced
such a tragedy, one of the few consolations is to hope that one can assist in changing things for the better."
LM - Mmhmm.
   Int. - When did you know that you wanted to help change things?
LM - Well, I think it was a very natural impulse, right from the dock. The incident occurred up in Georgian Bay, I was overseas in England mixing, 
or was to start mixing the live recording. When I was notified I flew straight back and went straight up to the Georgian Bay and while Ron was 
found, his brother and work colleague were never found. So I was standing there on the shore with the families from Sunday to Friday watching these divers go out and be coming back unsuccessful. So, at the end of that week I spoke with the dive master and I said, you know, "how's everything been done, have you had the equipment?" and such and he said, "well, in actual fact, there is equipment that would make this exercise better for various reasons". So starting from that moment we actually, one of the first donations we made was for the OPP Search and Recovery unit with the side scan sonar. Uh, so it was something that really became kind of apparent straight, right away.
   Int. - How difficult was that dealing with what had happened and publicly helping out and having to talk about it?
LM - Well, I think the situations are always very, very, very difficult without having anything else going on. Ah, well, I don't know, when I look back 
I just feel like well, you do what you have to do and you do how you feel it best to be done. And, I can't see that the undertaking the development of the fund in any way made things worse, it's certainly, I think, there is a catharsis that takes place but it doesn't heal the loss, it doesn't replace the
loss, but it is...losing someone generally speaking and losing someone unexpectedly and tragically, it um, makes it all the more extreme. So, um, it was cathartic to a degree to develop the fund and I think it's a wonderful living tribute to Ron and his brother Rick and Greg....and already we know that our donations are making a difference.
   Int. - Some may be wondering if music is any way to deal with it.
LM - Well, I haven't really turned to my music, other people might've and probably have done ...Um, I've had an unusual relationship with my music, probably because I've always wanted to be a veterinarian (laughs)
   Int. - Really?
LM - Yes, oh yes, (laughs) and science is kind of..um..not a hands-off (as I am very hands on) (laughs) But, I really....how can I say this? It's a very interesting way of going about one's career. (laughs)
   Int. - So how do you end up wanting to be a veterinarian to being a well known and very successful musician?
LM - Well, I, I...was involved in a lot of musical activities in Morden when I was growing up, and I maintain that in the most part music chose me 
rather than me it, and I guess I recognize it through various overtures professionally that there was some kind of talent in it so I thought "well, I'll go 
with this and see how far and where it takes me", and whatever point it plateaus I would go back and reevaluate and the thing about it all is all these 
20 odd years is that its taken me to all these interesting places, and so I've stayed with it, but it is, it's an interesting ... I think it's also allowed me to 
run my career or manage my career and the business that goes with it without being too emotionally attached to it...I, you have to be able to sit in with record companies for example, who would say for example "well, these people don't like your music", or uh, "your hair looks funny or whatever"... You have to be able to deal with the pragmatic issues, and not have your ego tied up in them. So, the music, uh, I find it a fascinating vehicle for self education and I find the creative process very stimulating and very invigorating...but people are often surprised to hear that I don't play for myself at home. I don't play my music for my own enjoyment. It's really a vehicle for different purposes. So, when this event occurred to me in the summer of '98, it wasn't that I
sat and home and played music. I felt like maybe it's too much of the pragmatism, or the pragmatist in me that really felt a compulsion that no one, or as very few people as possible should experience the intensity of the loss that myself and the families experienced.
   Int. - I bet a lot of people, maybe even in the music industry, don't know quite what to make of that.
LM - Well, I think that a lot of artists when they, when you're not encumbered with a lot of the professional responsibilities, there simply is more time to spend with your music, and you are developing your craft. I would say that in some ways my music has perhaps suffered for that lack of attention that I've paid, or certainly I haven't been as prolific. But I guess I just have other facets of my life that I am interested in exploring, or other ways I want to be in the community.
   Int. - So it's a satisfying career until an opening comes over in veterinary school?
LM - Yeah. (laughs)
   Int. - Is there a next album?
LM - I hope so, uh, the other exercise I've been undertaking here, because I structured my, the management of my business in a less common way - meaning that many artists have managers and record companies that pretty much do everything for them, I have set up my own infrastructure. So, I have been restructuring that infra-structure this year and I still have a few more miles to go. But, as soon as that seems to have reached a particular point, I hope to get on in a quicker timeframe - the research, the writing, the recording aspect of the next recording. In the springtime I'd actually held up this hope that we could release something in the fall of 2004...It's not beyond the possibility at the moment but it's getting there. (Laughs)
   Int. - I know there will be a lot of people very happy to hear that.
LM - Well thank you.
   Int. - Thank you for being here today.
LM - Not at all, it's been a pleasure.