Moonlighting

Joey Public

by Chris Wright

Last Monday you could hear the heartbeats a block away as local boy Joey McIntyre -- ex-New Kid and darling of the Total Request Live crowd -- took his place behind the bar at the Good Life in Cambridge.

For the past few weeks, the Central Square bar has been attempting to liven up Monday nights by inviting various "stars" to be guest bartenders. They had a radio-show producer two weeks ago, then a couple of local photographers, but for pure squeal value they hadn't seen anything like Joey. Dressed in a blue short-sleeved shirt, jeans, and a porkpie hat, McIntyre poured and pumped amid flashing bulbs and a babel of yelped orders. Fuzzy Navels were fudged and Long Island Iced Teas were mangled, but no one was complaining. "I've never gotten sick off alcohol," said a woman sipping a pinkish concoction, "but I want him to get me sick." Another was afraid to stand up, lest she lose her spot at the bar. "I won't even go to the bathroom," she said. "I've waited 12 years for this."

Some fans were a little more blasé than the woman with McIntyre's autograph tattooed on her shoulder. Twentysomethings Nicki, Bethany, and Laurel -- organizers of an annual NKOTB convention in Boston -- have met McIntyre so many times that it's not a big deal anymore. "I've seen him 18 times in the last year alone," said Laurel. "But are we friends? No. We're fans."

Being a Joey McIntyre fan is not without its hardships. "I never asked to feel the way I do about him, because most of the time it sucks," said 21-year-old Crystal, who had flown in from California with her friend Amber on a sort of pilgrimage. As McIntyre fiddled with a bottle of vodka, Crystal looked on lovingly. "Does he ever sit there going, 'I'm the Joe McIntyre'?" she wondered.

A wide-eyed woman said she will go to "any length" to see Joey, but added, "There's only so much you can do without stalking him." Later, she looked on while another fan sketched a map on the back of a napkin.

"She already knew where he lived," explained the map-drawer. "I was just showing her where he lives in relation to me."

McIntyre insisted he's not troubled by the devotion he inspires.

"I don't understand celebrities who whine about privacy," he said. "We have the control." True to his word, McIntyre remained attentive, courteous, and in control throughout the night, despite the blinding cameras and the nonstop cries of "Joe! Joey!"

"It was fun," he said afterward, "except I kept bumping my head looking in the fridge for the merlot."