168: Vindication Day Special with Gratian Dimech

Charles Thomson welcomes first-time guest Gratian Dimech to the show for this year’s Vindication Day Special.

Gratian first saw Michael Jackson live on the Bad Tour and first met him on the Dangerous Tour. Attending 35 Dangerous concerts, he got to know many of Michael’s inner circle. Michael and Brett Barnes even nicknamed Gratian and his friend Justin as the “Waldos”, because wherever they went, they could pick them out of the crowd.

Gratian became an advocate and an activist, challenging negative media coverage of Michael. His creative protest against a particular British tabloid photographer was immortalised in Adrian Grant’s book Michael Jackson: A Visual Documentary and he has been interviewed about it for filmmaker Jin Chohan’s upcoming documentary series “Trial By Media”.

Gratian had a front-row view for everything from the “Give In To Me” music video shoot, to Jarvis Cocker’s stage invasion during Michael’s 1996 Brit Awards performance, and even the infamous, history-altering bridge collapse during Michael’s 1999 MJ and Friends benefit concert in Munich.

Gratian has toured Neverland, got stuck in New York when the Twin Towers were attacked mere hours after Michael’s 30th Anniversary concerts, and even spent time hanging out in Janet Jackson’s hotel rooms.

When Michael drove around London on an open top bus to protest against Sony Music, Gratian was on the bus with him – and when Michael went on trial in 2005, Gratian flew out to support him, even winning the lottery to go inside the courtroom.

In this unscripted conversation with his friend Charles Thomson, Gratian tells us only a fraction of his amazing and insightful experiences in the orbit of Michael Jackson. The MJCast can’t wait to have him back for future episodes!

This episode was edited by Charlie Carter and Jamon Bull.

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Episode 035 – MJ101 Special: The Performances

Episode 035 - MJ101 Special - The Performances Show Art

On Episode 035 of The MJCast, Jamon and Q are joined by prominent Michael Jackson author Andy Healy. Andy has been writing on Michael for a number of years with his MJ101 series. Starting back with his debut MJ101 book in 2013 called Greatest Songs (which counts down his picks for the 101 best Michael Jackson songs) he then branched off and released other supplementary books in the 101 lineup, including The Short Films, The Remixes, Off The Wall and HIS2ORY.

ipadpro101Andy’s books are not only known for providing great factual detail and deep opinions around Michael’s art, but getting conversations going between fans around what Michael’s best work actually is.

Today, as an exclusive for The MJCast, we are proud to announce the launch of Andy’s brand new entry in the MJ101 series, The Performances. Listen to this latest episode of The MJCast which features a fascinating interview with Andy Healy to learn about his early years as a fan, his writing process, his own thoughts and opinions on Michael’s catalogue and of course lots of great detail around his new book…

Links

Music Breaks & Ads

  • Jackson Source
  • Michael Jackson – Scream (SWA Mix)
  • Michael Jackson – Rock With You (SWA Mix)
  • The Jacksons – Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) [SWA Mix]

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If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at themjcast@icloud.com or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.comMichael on!

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