That title should be The Byrne-ing News, BELATED Holiday Edition, Part 2. This posting was ready to go, I promise. Well, mostly ready. Actually, all the pics were loaded up, but . . .

I got sick. No, not the plague. Just (and I say “just” here with some irony, believe me) a cold. A bad cold. The grippe, as it was called in the olden days. Except I’d had my vaccines, and all the boosters, plus the flu shot. But I’m still coughing. I could use some Cabdriver’s Linctus, I’m telling you!

Anyway, I’m better now, thanks. So here’s Part 2, finally and at last.

Behind the Scenes

Thanks to generous people who share their pictures and their experiences on Instagram and Twitter, we have some lovely behind the scenes pics of Gabriel’s tour of his play, Walking With Ghosts. Below is a sample. All of the pics that I’ve been able to collect, with great help from Violetta, our Facebook Administrator, will be uploaded to the Byrneholics Gallery as soon as I can see straight. wink

London at the Apollo Theatre

Natasha Melissa shares her story and her Gabriel pic. Lucky Natasha!

At the Music Box Theatre on Broadway in New York City

Cáit O’Riordan saw him first, I think.

Opening Night of Walking With Ghosts at the Music Box Theatre was attended by friends, family, and excited theater-goers. I will eventually get all the pics from the Red Carpet into the Gallery, but until then, here’s Gabriel being toasted:

Gabriel notes that the play may move on to other US cities–Boston, Chicago, San Francisco–and perhaps to Canada and Australia, so YOU may find yourself excitedly waiting outside the stage door for an autograph someday soon!

The fun thing about promoting your play on interview shows (yes, they can be fun, even for the person being interviewed, it seems!) is what sometimes goes on behind the scenes.

For instance, Gabriel appeared on Good Morning America to “dish” on his Broadway show.

But what really went on was this, according to Daly’s Donegal on Facebook, November 15, 2022:

Gabriel Byrne looking to book a room in McCaffrey’s of Cavangarden, Ballyshannon!

Great fun here with superstar Gabriel Byrne chatting with Melissa (Joanne McCaffrey’s daughter who works for the Good Morning America show). Thanks Brendan Mannix Gallagher for this clip he sent me a short time ago where Gabriel asks Melissa how he can make a reservation to stay in McCaffrey’s of Cavangarden, Ballyshannon. Melissa told him she might know someone who can sort that one out. smile Gabriel says his ambition is to head straight for Cavangarden next time he is in Donegal. Some lovely comments and good wishes here for Gabriel.

I don’t have the clip (boo!) but here is a screencap of the chat (yay!):

Maine

Just one, but it’s a beauty!

Gabriel visited The Cafe Creme in Bath, Maine because COFFEE! Their assortment of coffees and smoothies is outstanding, with international (Breve!) and local (Maine Blackbear!) options offered, along with lots of pastry goodies. An employee at the cafe–bojmaietta– shared a snap with Gabriel on Instagram. I flipped it around for the sake of artistic accuracy, but mostly because two Gabriels are more fun! heart

In Closing

You know you’re getting old when you begin quoting yourself quoting someone else. Sigh.

In this update on Gabriel’s film Death of a Ladies’ Man, I quoted Rolling Stone Magazine, which was quoting someone else, who was quoting Leonard Cohen. So confusing. But here is what Leonard Cohen said. I am very touched by his words here. And so, inspired by reading Gabriel’s book and then seeing the play he crafted from that book, I apply Cohen’s words, with care and personal conviction, to Gabriel Byrne himself:

“This sounds like the most hackneyed 19th-century platitude,” Cohen once told me, “but in the midst of my own tiny personal troubles, I turned to the thing I knew how to do and I made songs out of it, and in the making of those songs, much of the pain was dissolved. That is one of the things that art does, is that it heals. A man who makes those choices in his own life is often more beautiful than his works. Any artist who remains true to himself become a work of art himself, because that is one of the most difficult things to do. If someone does have that vocation, and diligently applies himself to the exigencies that arise, he will lose a great deal but he will have created his own character.”

Is there a Part 3, you ask? Why, yes! Yes, there is. Please stand by for holiday wallpapers and other goodies of the (recently passed) season. heart