Posted by Kelly Fincham at 3/19/2009 9:56 AM EDT

We launched Irish Central this week with a gltzy event at the American Historical Society on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Liam Neeson had been invited but couldn't make it so he asked his mother-in-law Vanessa Redgrave to come along instead. It beggars belief that less than a week later Ms Redgrave would be attending the wake of her daughter, Natasha Richardson, there. Natasha just exuded life. It seems barely believable that she has died. Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with Neeson, their children and all their friends and family.