My summer vacation by Joe Mac

Joey posted a new blog at nkotb.com:

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

My summer vacation by Joe Mac

I always kind of dreaded August 1st, when I was growing up,

because although there was more than a month left of summer vacation,

I just figured, “well this is it. Here’s August. And then its

September and that’s when

school starts, so we’re basically done with summer…” On August 1st!

Now that I am…uh-hmm.. older, I see things a little differently and

I understand how families crave for the one or two weeks at the end of August to

get some R&R. I also see now, that for the parents, its really not a vacation, but

kind of like running a camp for your kid- a very fun camp of course- one where

grown ups get to play in the sand and run in the water and take out

door showers and eat sandwiches in soaking wet bathing suits, etc etc.

The McIntyre’s went to The Hamptons this year. (You kind of have to

say that with your jaw clenched and barely opening your mouth- “The Hamptons.”)

Being a Cape Cod guy, I was always pretty much hatin’ on the Hamptons.

It’s like the Yankees-Red Sox thing… ya gotta represent. I had been

out to that part of Long Island, NY just once before, many years ago

and it was mostly for “the scene” and the night life- I lasted about

3 days. Give me Hyannis any day I thought. But we had a chance to go

out there this summer, when a family friend graciously offered us

her house. And so out we went. LAX to JFK 7 am flight with the

Griffster (21 months) and my preggers wifey. Griffin definitely

knows how to travel- he’s got some experience in that department. He

was a gem. From JFK to The Hamptons its another 2 hours in the car.

Again Griff slept the whole way, so we were lucky. When we got there

we were so excited to see our “little cottage”.

It had a beautiful pool and a little herb garden and a huge elm tree

that shaded a gorgeouslawn and patio. It was a very special spot. The house was so quaint

and pretty. When we first arrived we saw all the windows were open,

letting in the breeze. It was good to feel the humidity of the east

coast again. I kind of enjoyed sleeping in that kind of weather. 3

days later we discovered that the house had central air.

The beaches there were beautiful. We got a few really nice days,

before Hurricane Bill pretty much closed the beaches- we went that

day anyway, just to check out the waves. We had ice cream almost everyday and Griffin had his fist steamed

mussel. And to boot, he loved my monk fish… I guess its in his

blood. We did a lot of reading (The Great Gatsby) while he napped

and a lot of snacking too. Good times all and all and so I have

changed my opinion of The Hamptons. I’m over my hatin’ and I look

forward to participating’ again there someday.

After our week on L.I., we drove up to Boston. By the way, the

“upper finger” of eastern Long Island is lovely as well- very

“heartland” filled with farms and farm-stands. It couldn’t have

seemed farther away from the big city. On the way up to Boston we

caught a ferry that took us direct to New London, Connecticut. We

were comfortably early and first in line for the next ferry, so we

grabbed some lunch at the snack bar. We enjoyed ourselves so much

that we lost track of the time and thank God someone asked if we

were in the Ford with Michigan plates (rental). I jumped up and ran

for it. We were THE last car on. Phew… It was a pleasant ride and

the ferry cut 2 hours out of the trip- key when ya got a little guy

along for the ride.

Boston was and is always a must when you’re back east. Gotta do it.

Aunts gotta see Griff, Griff gotta see his cousins. Joe Mac gotta

see his boys. We had a really nice time at the newly renovated

Boston Children’s Museum. I went there as a kid and its cool to take

the next generation there. Afterward, we all- cousins, aunts- sat

outside by the water on a windy sunny day and had lunch and talked

about all kinds of stuff. Never a dull moment with the Macs and all

those kiddies.

When we were the ted Kennedy passed away. We all knew it was

coming, but it hits you when it finally happens. If you were an Irish

Catholic kid from Boston, you were intrinsically tied to the Kennedys.

I think I was fortunate to lived during his time. Much has been

written about his highs and lows, his faults and his charm. He had

become a bit of a symbol for redemption in his later years. I was lucky

enough to have met him on more than one occasion. My father is in the

labor movement and worked with him throughout the years. My brother

and I always thought that was pretty cool. I saw Senator Kennedy and

JFK. Jr. at the first Clinton Inauguration and he said some nice words

about the New Kids. He was, like his colleagues said, very charming

with a great sense of humor. We know the story and place of his

brothers, but I feel he ended this dramatic saga that is The Kennedys

in a very human way. His funeral mass was in Roxbury, MA, what

Bostonians refer to as Mission Hill, at Mission Church where my

parents were married and my grand-father played the organ as a young

boy. I guess what I’m getting at is the connection I had to his

passing. It was a solemn moment for many in Massachusetts. As a friend

from New York said, ‘when something like that happens in Boston it

always feels like a small town affair.’ And those few days epitomized

that sentiment.

After a too short stay in Boston, I went up to Vermont to be in one

of my best friend’s wedding. Unfortunately, my wife had a wedding on

the same day back in New York, so I was riding solo, but there was

quite the crowd from JP going up for the big shindig. All the rugged

Vermonters (is that what they call them?) were testing the city kids

to see what they were made of and we consistently represented. They

thought we might have been sissies but we “showed up.” All kidding

aside they were great hosts and a ton of fun with a great sense of

humor. A very cool proud small town. It was great to get away up

there. My friend is a good man and he married a beautiful and good

woman.

Day after the wedding I was on a 6 am flight to meet Barrett and

Griffin at JFK to go back to LaLa Land. The flight wasn’t as smooth

as we would have hoped at first. Ya know when you are on a flight

and there is a baby screaming his head off and you swear you know

the answer of how to quiet him. And everyone has an idea of how to

shut that kid up. Well, that was my kid this time. Griffin has put

on some serious miles in his 21 months and is as cool as the other

side of the pillow. We often get compliments when we land. Not this

time! He was just a little too tuckered out and had to basically

scream himself to sleep. And that’s sort of what he did. THANK

GAAAWD!!! The other passengers were really nice except for the guy

in front of us. He kept giving us dirty looks. Funny, cuz his wife

was really nice and talked about how it happened to her with her

baby, and how she got mean looks and felt so bad. Guess she didn’t

catch her hubby throwing darts at us.

But we made it and all was well in Los Angeles…sort of. We came

home to the fires.

Now none of these fires are at all close to where I live near

Hollywood, but when you see it on the news you think L.A. is

burning. The danger of your house burning down is a sad part of

living out in the hills of southern California. It seems like there

is a “fire season” out here. The Fire Fighters out here do an

amazingly heroic job to save homes and lives.

The skies are dark and gray and hazy for weeks over all of Los

Angeles and the air quality, not great to begin with here, is really

bad. And the ash travels all the way, 30-40 miles, to settle on your

car and your patio furniture. A small price of course compared to

the heart ache of so many, but just trying to paint the picture.

It does sort of feel like you are breathing in the fires of hell out

here. Backing up all those crazy cliches about selling your soul out

here to make it big. So many of us talk about moving back home,

wherever that is. To be back with family and friends and get away

from the smog and the fires and the earthquakes and the high cost of

living. But then the fires die down and the smog clears and the sun

comes out and suddenly there’s no place you’d rather be. For all my

talk against L.A., it has been very very good to me. This is where

my livelihood is right now. This is where almost everyone I want to

work with lives. This is where the action is. So although a cavetch,

I look to L.A. for more. I stop and think of how I am consistently

inspired here to create. I have been extra lucky as of late. I am

knee deep in an album- somewhere between an LP and an EP. The music

is fresh and real and raw and it excites me. It gives me butterflies

to think of it giving you butterflies. Its coming soon. I’m

planning to keep you guys busy til that next

cruise

Let’s get this!

-jm