Back in March, while Michael Jackson was in London announcing his "This Is It" comeback gigs, Newbridge Silverware somehow managed to get a major scoop. The Kildare based company held the World exclusive Michael Jackson auction preview at the Museum of Style Icons. Rumour had it that thousands of devoted fans would roll into town. Jackson himself would secretly jet across the Irish sea to take a final look at his precious things. We hoped. We waited. Jackson didn't show up of course, neither did his fans and the auction, scheduled to happen in LA at the end of April, didn't.
We'll all remember where we were when MJ died, even if we never cared much for him. It's the same as Elvis. Iconic and tragic. On Thursday evening, the Gallery of Photography hosted the opening of Czech photographer Josef Koudelka's classic reportage from his Invasion of Prague 1968 series. Afterwards, I was with friends sitting outside the IFI having a glass of wine and discussing the demise of kodachrome, the basics of rocket science and haiku walks in Howth amongst other important topics of our time when the news of Michael Jackson's death reached us via our friendly waiter. Koudelka's images from Prague were secretly smuggled out of the country, eventually reaching Magnum in New York and the pages of newspapers a year later. The news of Michael Jackson's death took less than thirty minutes from the time it apparently happened in LA to reach us in a Dublin bar..
Leave a comment