Photo by Dan Rattiner
Dan’s Papers September 23, 2011 danshamptons.com Page 13
Celebrating the Harvest Moon
Moonrise Serenade Shine on Harvest Moon, Moon River, Fly Me to the Moon By Dan Rattiner A very odd thing happened after the big hurricane passed through at the beginning of the month. I wonder if you noticed it. It seemed the whole world was just shined clean. In the sky, you could see off into the distance almost forever—there was no mist, no humidity, no anything. On the ground, other than the mess of tree limbs, broken fences and leaves—all the usual stuff—the other stuff, left by humans, Styrofoam and beer cans and stray papers, all seem to have been swept up by a giant vacuum to be taken—where? Circling the earth, but way up so high it was even beyond the ionosphere? Well, better up there than down here. Even the constant hum of automobiles was gone after the hurricane for a few days. Personally, it reminded me of an earlier time, a time when I was a boy and everything was clear and bright and unpolluted and you Dan Rattiner’s second memoir, IN THE HAMPTONS TOO: Further Encounters with Farmers, Fishermen, Artists, Billionaires and Celebrities, is available in hardcover wherever books are sold. The first memoir, IN THE HAMPTONS, published by Random House, is available in paperback. A third memoir, STILL IN THE HAMPTONS, will be published next Two spring. Dan's Banner Points:Layout 1 9/2/11 3:58 PM Page 1
could see forever and sniff the clean air. But that’s a whole other story. This was all about Housekeeper Irene. With this in mind, I was rather delighted to receive an email from our book editor, Joan Baum, inviting my wife and I to Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett for a bonfire party beginning at 6 p.m. to welcome the rising of the giant Harvest Moon. It would be Monday, September 13. We would come, I wrote back. Do we need to bring anything? The next day, there arrived back in an attachment a songbook of lyrics. We would sing to the moon. Inside, I found “Moon River,” “Shine on Harvest Moon,” “Moon Shadow,” “Blue Moon” and a host of others. When was the last time anybody sang anything to the moon? We arrived at 6 p.m., the appointed time. It was still light at that hour, although the day was already waning into a sunset off to the west, which, as it sometimes does, was producing a mirrored strip of colors on the horizon over the ocean in the mist to the east. The sky, other than that, appeared clear. We easily found where our moon choir was getting ready to set up. There were several banquet tables laden with food and drink, a jeep, several dogs, about a dozen people yakking away and a semi-circle of folding chairs set up around a woodpile in a pit. The
semi-circle was clearly a theatre audience. The open side of it was where—off on the horizon— the moon would rise. Everybody would have a clear view. We were introduced around. Among those attending were Lynne Scanlon, a book publisher from Clearwater Beach; Walter Noller of East Hampton, a Command Sargeant Major, U.S. Army Reserve (who brought his guitar); Kris Warrenburg, graphic designer from Springs; Rob Anthony, the president of a computer company; Mark and Lucie Scanlon, visiting from Connecticut; Jane Hastay of Springs and her husband Peter Weiss (who also brought his guitar); Bea Derrico of Springs; MJ Vineburgh, owner of MJ & Company Catering & Party Planning of New York and East Hampton; Joanne Knight of Montauk and numerous others, including a few performers from the Naked Stage Theatre Company in Bridgehampton. We talked for awhile and drank of the beverages that had been assembled, which consisted of soda, beer and wine, and we ate of the food which was not only chips and cheese and guacamole dip, but also containers of baked, spiced chicken legs and meat ravioli. I later, by scrumbling around in some bags, found Entenmann’s cookies and cakes, ate a few for dessert and set the rest out for the others. (continued on page 16)
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