No, I'm not Joe jackson the singer! I'm an Irish journalist, author, broadcaster probably am best known for my interviews. I did my first major interview in 1985, with a life-long hero, Leonard Cohen and have since worked for twenty years for an Irish rock magazine, eleven years for The Irish Times and ten years for the Sunday Independent.
My work also has been published in magazines worldwide, including Rolling Stone, Playboy, Humo, Hello, Woman's Own, and anthologised in books. My first book, in 1996, was titled Troubadours and Troublemakers (Ireland Now. A Culture Reclaimed) and in her review in The Irish Times Medb Ruane said:
‘Jackson is a tenacious interviewer. Just as his subjects start to relax, he throws them that question from hell you wouldn’t have the nerve to ask, “Tell us abut the wife-beating, Richard” - this, more or less to Richard Harris whose self-deprecating halo was starting to glint. “Is killing children in Warrington part of your peace strategy?” - that, paraphrased, to Gerry Adams...Match him against someone he believes is a hypocrite and he enters the fray like a latter-day Danton. Ben Briscoe, then Lord Mayor of Dublin, storms off in a huff when Jackson queries his remarks on homosexuality and Charles J. Haughey. But men like musician Christy Moore, writers Tom Murphy and Paul Durcan, open their hearts because they sense they can trust him – and you never doubt it. Jackson’s research is impeccable, his commitment is everywhere.”
I have no idea who she is talking about. But it's a nice quote, particularly if it is true. I also was Ireland's first Writer in Residence at a Vocational School, a presenter on The Arts Show, on RTE Radio 1, Ireland's most prestigious national radio network and wrote and presented The Years Go Pop, a 26 hour history of pop culture, People Get Ready, a 52 hour millennium music series focusing on the greatest musicians of the twentieth century, and Under The Influence, a music interview series which was nominated for a PPI Award.
More recently I published ten Ebooks during the years 2012-2013. I am currently working on a proposal for a major biography of Richard Harris, which has been sanctioned by the actor's family. I am back doing interviews and writing articles for The Irish Times.