Probably Ireland's best-known gossip columnist, Jason O'Callaghan, recently launched his much-awaited book in the new Dandelion Club on St. Stephen's Green. Behind the Velvet Rope: Confessions of a Gossip Columnist is a compendium of various stories and anecdotes as experienced by Jason over the years. It also gives an insight to the man himself, with some personal information that only those close to him would have previously known. He also launched his latest album on the evening, Velvet Swing.
Many years ago, Jason started off as a contributor to the much loved (and indeed loathed) Keane Edge column, then headed by the infamous Terry Keane. I say 'headed', as, in her later years, Terry wrote and contributed to the column less and less. It is thought that the Sunday Independent simply paid for her to be the face of the weekly social gossip page.
I've known Jason for many years, and indeed credit him as one of my early mentors when I first set out on the rocky road of becoming a social journalist. I recall him telling me that his first break was witnessing a storm, where a tree fell and crushed a nearby car. The intrepid Jason quickly purchased a disposable camera and captured the moment. This marked him as one to watch with his then editor within independent New and Media. OK, so he could just as easily have become a photographer (and I'm sure many who he has written about wished he had!), but he has always been hungry for the story and relishes a challenge.
In the book you can read about how Jason broke into Pierce Brosnan's wedding, what it’s like to be ridiculed by Madonna, the truth behind Westlife's name, how it feels to be glassed by a former Miss Ireland and to be chased by Ronan Keating. There are also tales of dancing with Michael Flatley, cinema trips with Colin Farrell, nights on the town with Bruce Willis and Jean Claude Van Damme and some of the lies told by Bryan McFadden!
After a year long hiatus in Cannes, where he was completing his book and recording his album (he also founded The Irish Rat Pack), Jason has returned to Dublin. He has just joined Ireland on Sunday, where he will be co-writing the showbiz column, replacing erstwhile party lover Gavin Lambe - Murphy.
The launch was well attended by many including Universal Music's Dave Pennyfeather, singer Luke Thomas, Alan Amsby and Richard Kavanagh, Emma Kelly and Kirsten Connolly of Elevate PR, solicitor Gerald Kean, photographer Kip Carroll, Sinead Ryan and Malachy Geelan, comedian Alan Shortt, Paul Goldin and model Gail Kaneswaren.
I'm told the party continued on well past its official end, with many of the guests dispatching to celebrity hangout Lillies. Actually that could be the reason that O'Callaghan has remained top of his game - his clean living. You'll not see him downing his 8th glass of champagne at a swanky party or falling down the stairs from Jersey Lil's.
As one well-known publicist once said: "Jason O'Callaghan hears everything and forgets nothing".
