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Dear Ian, It was Saturday, 2nd of December 2006, and it was the last day of my seven day visit to my hometown. I packed my things, checked out early from a hotel, and went out for a walk through Temple Bar, Dublinia, and along the Liffey river towards the Heuston station. It was a beautiful, clear sunny morning, and I enjoyed the walk along the cobbled streets and the wind blowing all around. When I came close to the the what to expect. And just how lucky I was, it was phenomenal, one of the best exhibitions I've seen anywhere. The music was playing, there were plenty of people there already, and a huge number of 7-8 year olds running around or listening to the music on headphones left around Rory Gallagher guitars. There was an older, bearded man explaining to them, things about Rory. The idea of taking school kids to a guitar exhibition seemed like a really positive and educational thing to do. I suppose this can happen in countries, because of the strong r'n'r legacy that exists here. There were some middle aged men passionately discussing some important music issues nearby, others taking photos with their cameras and mobile phones. I browsed around, and was absolutely delighted to see Velvet Underground, Oasis, Rolling Stones, U2 guitars and other classical stuff. Practically all the bands that meant a lot to me at different stages of my life, from my teens up until now (I'm 34), were represented there. The section with customised guitars was equally impressive, all big names of design have paid homage to the guitar, including JLo :)). I phoned my wife when I stood in front of the oldest exhibited Rickenbacker, to share the excitement of the whole thing and to tell her about Philippe Starck, Hedi Slimane and others, ‘cause she's an architect and is mad about design and stuff, plus she was the TV host to a chart show during her twenties and is very much into music, as well. It felt great, I made two rounds, soaked the whole thing into my head, and just stood in front of guitars imagining them in the hands of musicians standing in the Marquee club (my father still wears the T-shirt that I brought from the Needless to say, I bought the catalogue on my way out, and took it with me in my hand luggage. It was still a beautiful sunny day outside; I went on to Smithfields and the music was all around me. I stood at a bridge to listen to Coldplay playing "The Hardest part" from the speakers hanging at a news stand, and it felt like million dollars, the sun, the wind, music and going back home after having such a great time in The Lufthansa airplane was high in the night sky when I saw in all its size spreading for miles around, and I could recognise everything, Soho area and Hyde park, City lights and Tate Modern, all the places of my most favourite city, the world capital of music and great football, the city where we spent our honeymoon. I arrived in minutes after my wife returned from a birthday party. In a bathroom I found her note saying that we are going to have a baby. "Such a perfect day...", "It's a Beautiful day..." call it what you want, but there are not many days like this in a lifetime, I suppose. Thank you for being a part of it.
Sincerely, Filip Bankovic,
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