February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Eileen Murphy
Those of you who’ve been wondering what Michael Flatley has been up to lately will be happy to hear that the Lord of the Dance is enjoying la dolce vida as he tours Europe with his latest show, "Feet of Flames." Well, make that, la vida, anyway. Michael’s on a low-carb diet these days, which means he’s cut all the dolce (or sweet stuff) out of his life.
The man who did his bit to popularize twisty headbands and leather dance pants has been in Vienna, breakfasting on steak and eggs while his bodacious gal pal, Lisa Murphy, nibbles imported Chicago chocolates.
"My girlfriend, Lisa, just loves these [Fannie May] candies," he told the Sunday Indo. "I get them specially ordered for her in big boxes."
For those of you who are worried about the state of Lisa’s waistline, fear not. Apparently, she’s one of those pod people who could eat butter by the tubful and still stuff a wild bikini.
"Lisa never works out," he confided. "She eats huge candies before breakfast and dinner and never puts on one calorie. She’s incredible."
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No, Michael, that makes her one of those alien pod people from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," but let’s move on . . .
You’ll be happy to know that Flatley’s never been in better shape himself.
"I’ve put on 20 pounds of muscle and lost four inches off my waist — I’m on an all-protein diet!" he revealed.
Actually, it’s just a really, really low-carbohydrate regimen.
"I can’t have sugar, pasta or bread, but I’m allowed potatoes." The boy is Irish American, after all.
Ironically, one of his favorite indulgences — fine wine — is now on the forbidden list.
"I love wine, but I haven’t had a drink since New Year’s Eve," he said. But he’s quick to point out the benefits of the diet.
"I can click my heels higher and tap faster than ever before," he said proudly. You go, Michael!
Sinead has faith in courage
By now, you all know that Sinead O’Connor, in addition to being a rock star, a mommy and a renegade priest, is also a lesbian. Hey, that’s what we call a busy woman.
We can identify with Sinead’s talent for multitasking, although we neither sing, say Mass nor date girls. You see, back when we were 11 years old, we’d planned to be an actress, a doctor and the first woman to play for the New York Yankees. We briefly considered adding space exploration and teaching to the list, but we figured that would have been spreading ourselves a little thin.
This, of course, was before we found our true life’s vocation: ferreting out celebrity gossip for our devoted readers. But, happy as we are with our lot, we still sometimes dream of making that game-winning catch, giving Brad Pitt his annual physical and hurrying downtown to star in our very own Broadway show, all on a Saturday afternoon.
But back to Sinead, which what everyone’s back to calling her, even though she spent the past year insisting that we address her Mother Bernadette Mary. Her less-than-startling lesbian revelation came in an interview with the gay magazine Curve, in which O’Connor told the interviewer, "I’ve gone out with blokes because I haven’t necessarily been terribly comfortable about being a lesbian." Well, kids, she’s comfortable now, so brace yourselves.
The singer has been in New York promoting her new album, "Faith and Courage," which hits stores this week, going so far as to appear on the Howard Stern radio show last Friday.
Given Sinead’s legendary touchiness, we figured that there would be fireworks when Stern started quizzing her about her sex life. But O’Connor took it all in stride, revealing lots of things we can’t tell you in a family newspaper. We can report that she, er, shaves her armpits, doesn’t wear what your grandmother would refer to as "foundation garments," and smokes a lot of weed (obviously, she’d fit right in at Buckingham Palace).
Some people are grumbling that the timing of this lesbian revelation seems timed to stir up controversy (and sales) of her new album, but really, when has Sinead ever been that commercially savvy? The refreshing thing about her is that she seems to blurt out whatever is on her mind, whether people want to hear it or not. And it’s not as though her past exploits, like ripping up the pope’s picture, refusing to let a New Jersey arena play the American national anthem, have helped her career.
The one thing we have noticed is that she seems to have ditched the priest’s collar all of a sudden, and she’s downplaying the rather out-there priest thing. She insists that she "didn’t do it for publicity," so she won’t talk about it with the press. But it’s interesting that for over a year, we haven’t seen a photo of her without the collar. Now, the publicity shots put out by her record company, and the pictures of her in the album liner notes, there’s not a collar in sight.
By the way, that sound you hear is the shrugging of millions of shoulders as fans murmur, "So what else is new?" The O’Conno r faithful are shockproof. Sinead seems happy and at peace with herself, the album is sublime, and it’s nice to have this rare talent back making records. Somebody say "Amen!"
Dublin setting for next Bond flick? (Never say never again!)
Though it’s early, we’re hearing a rumor that the next James Bond film might be set in Dublin, with a plot involving a "cuddly" IRA joining up with British security forces to foil kidnapping. Along the way, there will no doubt be some car chases, some shagging, a daring water stunt or two and — most dangerous of all — a death-defying, artery-clogging Irish fry-up at Bewley’s at the climax. Hey, "Masterpiece Theater" this ain’t.
The Sunday World reports that Bond star Pierce Brosnan has asked that the next installment of the series be filmed in his homeland. Nothing’s definite yet, but Eon, the producer of the series, hasn’t ruled it out. All they’ll say is that they’ve had meetings "to knock a few ideas about," but that it’s early days yet. The next Bond film isn’t due until 2002.
He’s told her lately . . .
The on-again, off-again relationship between music legend Van Morrison and his tiara-wearin’ Tupelo honey, former Miss Ireland Michelle Rocca, is on again, with a vengeance. Sources say that the two will definitely tie the knot sometime this year.
One of the couple’s close friends has revealed that "things are going so well that they are going to marry."
Longtime "N&N" readers will recall that Van and Michelle have had their highs and lows over the years. Our favorite story involves the couple visiting the Clintons at the White House. When Rocca and the president got a little too close for the first lady’s liking, she inquired sharply what line of work Michelle was in. Without missing a beat, Rocca snapped, "Brain surgery." Who said you can’t be beautiful and smart?
U2 4 U
Calling all U2 fans! If you’re not already hooked up to the internet, grit your teeth and cozy up to the nearest computer geek so that you can relive the glory days of PopMart.
From now until June 28, a company called burst.com will be broadcasting an on-line screening of one of the shows from the PopMart tour. The aim is to launch Burstware, a broadband delivery service that will compete with the ubiquitous RealVideo.
"As a band dedicated to pushing the technological envelope, U2’s PopMart is the ideal vehicle to showcase high-quality video-on-demand," said Richard Lang, a spokesman for burst.com. Hey, who cares, as long as it means more of Bono and the lads for the masses? Point your browser to www.U2.burst.com and enjoy.