technorati claim post

Technorati Profile

Turtlenecks & Wine 2007

Meat Loaf Review

By EVAN PARKER PIERCE

News Staff Reviewer

 

Let me get this out of the way to start: Meat Loaf was a rock star years before I was even born. That’s may not be saying a lot, but even with classics like “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and “Anything for Love,” the Loaf never had the same influence on my generation as, say, Led Zepplin, the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. But after seeing him perform Tuesday at Darien Lake Performing Art Center, I’m struggling with my preconceived notion that Meat Loaf was simply a rock’n’roll novelty.

True, his act was – and still is – an over-the-top operatic epic, but that’s exactly what current pop culture seems to love. Today’s big ticket trends are gigantic fantasies like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, while bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco traffic in pop theater; the songs that make up Meat Loaf’s Bat out of Hell albums are of similar stuff. They’re huge, dramatic and more than a little bit campy. And that’s what the Loaf gave his audience Tuesday.

Show opener “Into the Fire” established Meat Loaf’s larger-than-life persona very literally – giant inflatable versions of his entire band exploded onto the stage with the song’s first chords. His band’s sound was as massive as his image, with eight members lending to an almost orchestral-like fullness of sound.

But the trademark of Meat Loaf’s shows is the theatrics, and his band were a big part of that. His back up singers were more than just midriff baring babes, in “I Want My Money Back,” they were both audible and visual representations of temptation, clad in black and white, posing the questions of conscience from opposite sides of the stage. Slightly overwrought, to be sure, but it’s drama that even today’s most serious acts don’t even attempt.

But the Loaf also dodges pretentiousness that comes with heavy theatrics with a self-deprecating sense of humor and an ability to cut loose and simply have fun. In break leading into “Anything for Love,” the Loaf poked fun at his own hefty image (“I was in the shower with all of you, naked, and we all looked beautiful,” he said.). His show also had fun with his long rock star tenure. After an intermission, the band took the stage in garb that would fit in at The World’s Largest Disco, with fringe vests, zebra go-go boots and Meat Loaf reincarnating his younger self – long hair, sloppy tuxedo and red bandanna in his hand to mop his brow.

All the fun had the bittersweet feel of a farewell tour, however. Opening and intermission montages celebrated his career in music and the movies, but seemed like posthumous retrospectives. The Loaf also gave somewhat of a farewell address, saying, “I’ve never said this before, but it is an honor and a privilege to play here in Buffalo.” Lastly, and most disturbingly, it seemed Meat Loaf’s health might be catching up to him. Though laboring through shows is part of his schtick, cracks showed through. His voice cracked where his bellow used to shine, and a clearly out-of-breath Meat Loaf slumping on stools, monitors and microphone stands.

Regardless of whether or not Meat Loaf has another tour in him, the 56-year-old gave himself a send off that removed the tarnish of datedness from his material, refreshing his devotion to drama and theatrics.

old friends

Ah the magic of Myspace.

I finally found an old friend that I lost touch with two years ago. She moved to California, and I missed her terribly. After exhausting all my other efforts, I happened to search MySpace for her, and lo and behold, she turned up. And, as fate would have it, she is in Buffalo for a week.
See, that’s how Myspace will continue to thrive, even with this bull-oney of the new Murdoch-owned marketing vehicle it has become: it keeps connections with friends going. People change e-mail addresses, change hometowns, change whatever, but if there’s one thing people of my generation check in on at least every-so-often, it’s Myspace.

I’m going to meet her in a couple minutes. I throw up a shot or two of the happy reunion if it’s worth it.

UPDATE: Here’s a pic of me and my old friend, Gratchen (yes, with an A). She’s pretty awesome, and moving to Sacremento as we speak. She’s a classic, one of a kind friend.

Inner Harbor potential

I’m going to this, but i’ll be late:

Carl F. Burgwardt………………….

Visions of our Inner Harbor Possibilities…

“Into the PAST Lane”

FREE  – Lecture – power point presentation & short open discussion

7:00 PM – Tuesday, 18 July 2006 – BECHS Auditorium, Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society    25 Nottingham Court, Buffalo, NY

The first phases of the Inner Harbor Historic District are finally now becoming a reality with the re-watering of the Commercial Slip only a few months away.  Next year, the remaining site-work of the district will continue using the balance of the budgeted funding to complete the funded portion of Empire State Development Corporation’s project.  The result will then leave lower Main Street with a cleaned-up cobblestone streetscape, some designated foundation relics, a re-watered Commercial Slip and a couple of new museum buildings for the relocated Naval & Servicemen’s Park but little more to support a successful or dynamic tourism objective.  Little has yet been announced or even discussed for what’s to follow in the numerous development sites in the historic district. 

This talk “Into the PAST Lane” will be presented by Carl F. Burgwardt followed by a discussion by interested followers of this project.  Mr. Burgwardt is the co-owner and director of the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park, NY, a life-long Western New Yorker and a retired Buffalo executive who, with his wife, is presently seeking to re-locate their museum to an appropriate historic site at the inner harbor.  

It’s always interesting to see what local folks have imagined for the inner harbor, and with development hicupping to a start, it might give others ideas to run with.

Release courtesy Buffalo Blue Bicycle

Sunshine underground

Nothing against Miami, Phoenix or LA, but they got nothing on Buffalo summer so far:

July 10: h: 79 l:64

July 9: h: 81 l:61

July 8: h: 80 l: 57

And so on – since July 1, Buffalo’s average high has been about 80, overnight lows have been about 61. You can’t ask for more comfortable weather.

By comparison, Miami has been sweltering in humidity (average highs of 90 with Florida humidity), Phoenix is an oven, and LA is just gross.

At least the weather has been nice and catastrophe-free – hopefully a nice summer will get people excited about fixing Buffalo.

When I come back, wearing the 4-5…

It ain’t to play games witchu
It’s to aim at you..

 The Hove might be back, and I can’t wait.

I’m back too, so look for more. Soon.

Self-hating Buffalonian

I came across this reading Bill Simmon’s mail bag today:

Q: After watching Game 2 of the World Series, I suggest that Scott Podsednik’s home run may be the single greatest black ink producing sports feat of anyone with the first name of Scott, at least in this country. Can you think of any competition? Unless not, I conclude that, for a fairly common name, we Scotts have collectively come up way short in helping sports bloggers do their jobs. For sheer pub value, we’re worse than Edgar Renteria’s 2005 season.
–Scott Silveira, Ann Arbor, Mich.

SG: Oh, boy. Right now, everyone in Buffalo is banging their desks, whipping books across the room and kicking their dogs. May want to steer clear of upstate New York for awhile, Scott Silveira. That was downright cruel.

The thing is, Bill’s right.
I shouted aloud “ASSHOLE” when I read the question, not reading the response yet. And I was proud.
Oh to be a cursed sports fan.

The Body Politic

There was a time where I was obscenely concerned that The Spectrum would not make last year’s mistake of appearing too left-leaning.
Well, that’s out the window.

Today we ran not one, not two, but three Bush/Miers-bashing commentary pieces. The first was our editorial, which makes a pretty good argument about it.

The second was a column that says the Republican “cold, calculated science/economy based” versus the Democrat “emotional, impulsive heart-based” political scheme is reversed, and he illustrates this point using the Bush/Miers appointment.

The third was a small “Playlist” graphic piece where a staff member picks a theme and then makes a list of songs that go with that theme. Well, I wrote that one, and theme was funny (poking fun at GW and Harriet Miers as “best friends”) and the songs were good too (“Friends in Low Places,” “My Bestest Friend,” and “All Apologies” were highlights), but still, I should have known better.

It’s not that I’m against Bush-bashing, but I am. It’s a cheap tactic for a paper sometimes, so we can do better.

I guess it’s not as bad as The Nation, but hey, we’re not an unapologetically liberally slanted paper. We just lie about it, and say we’re balanced. Kind of like Fox News.

Don’t be light

Busy day today.

9 a.m. Marketing research (blech) meeting for The Spectrum this morning. Deciding between qualitative and quantitative analysis. Both strike me as lame ass corporate research, but we’re a college paper on the rise, so I guess getting better is where it’s at.

11 a.m. Orientation/Interview at Artvoice? Only thing for sure about this meeting is that there is a meeting. It could be an interview, could be an orientation and I’m hired. I have no idea. I just know I’m broke and I want a paying writing gig. Please be a job.

2:30 p.m. Interview with local millionaire/casino + hotel mogul Paul Snyder. Gotta figure out what I’m going to ask him, but he’s rich, so it could range between an investigation into local gambling to getting on my knees and begging for money. I’ll play it by ear.

At some point I’m going to have to go to my classes. This might be the second whole week I’ve missed class. Luckily attendance doesn’t count. Phew.

On the personal side, going to try and make a semi-romantic/fun weekend with this girl I’m working on on 75 cents or less. Any suggestions?