Gabriel Byrne and the Irish Arts Center

Don't lean on the Matisse, honey.

The sadly missed Nuala O'Faolain said of her father: “He was a dapper, clever, reticent man and he treated the family as if he had met them at a cocktail party.” Not only fathers can treat their family this way. I too am guilty! After all, when you come home from a fund-raising cocktail party for the Irish Arts Center, in a lovely apartment overlooking the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with a Matisse over the bartender's shoulder, it's hard not to treat the children as if the party should continue.

Blogger on right. The tireless Ms Pauline Turley, vice-chair, Irish Arts Center on left.



Tuesday night, Gabriel Byrne gave an impassioned, eloquent argument for supporting Irish culture in general and the Irish Arts Center in particular. To an informal, enthusiastic group, Mr. Byrne pointed out that in the last one hundred years, one small nation had changed Western civilization's idea of the novel (James Joyce), the theatre (Samuel Beckett), and poetry (Yeats), accomplishments made even more remarkable by the fact that Ireland was relatively new to the English language. But it is not enough to rest and brag, persuaded Gabriel. New artists, the next Synge (is it Enda Walsh?), must be encouraged and supported. A wonderful, motivating evening for those working in the Irish arts, it was marred only by the serving of Guinness in wine glasses.

And speaking of Guinness, yesterday's Food Network aired an episode of Glutton for Punishment. Host Bob Blumer survives a week in Dublin on nothing but Guinness and water. His blog is here




Gwyneth will play the lead in the movie.