Xavier Fire Flute makes front page

The San Mateo Daily Journal reported today on the controversy concerning the fire marshall's rejection of allowing Xavier to play his famous fire flute on stage at INAFA. Hopefully this will get INAFA a little attention and get some folks to the concert tomorrow evening with R. Carlos Nakai. Xavier isn't going to be allowed to play his flute, even with press coverage, but it's nice to get a little attention.

Here's the full text to the story:

"Fire marshal: Extinguish flute
By Dana Yates
A world-renowned American Indian flautist with a gift for breathing fire through his flute was told he’d have to cool down his show this week at Notre Dame de Namur University.
And the decision has some people fuming.
Xavier Quijas Yxayotl, a Mexican national with a talent for indigenous flute, has performed his “fire song” at major events such as the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony and 2005 United Nations gala event in Spain. His melodic song is played with a hand-crafted flute that produces a flame at its end. The world-renowned performance got the cold shoulder from Belmont-San Carlos Fire Marshal Jim Palisi this week, who told organizers he could not use fire indoors.
“It’s not that something can catch the building on fire. It’s just fire safety ... it’s panic safety,” Palisi said.
Not only does Palisi not want to take the risk of having a fire incident inside the building lead to a panic situation that has people rushing for the doors, the law prevents him from doing it, he said.
Only a person certified with the state fire marshal or a pyrotechnician is allowed to use fire inside a building. Everyone else is free to perform with fire outside if they obtain the proper permits, Palisi said.
Organizers paid Palisi a visit Wednesday to personally ask for the permit. This is the first time in his long career that a venue has refused to allow Yxayotl to perform, according to an e-mail sent to the Daily Journal from a member of the Northern California Flute Circle.
“Belmont will be infamous now for not allowing Xavier to perform this song,” according to the letter.
No one from the Northern California Flute Circle was available for comment yesterday.
Yxayotl lit up the NDNU stage Wednesday without the use of flame during the first night of the International Native American Flute Association. The convention lasts through Sunday.

Here's the link to the website: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=62370&eddate=08/04/2006