Caelan
16 Aug 2005, 16:48
Meat Loaf fetches Hair of Dog tour
By Linda Laban
Tuesday, August 16, 2005 Boston Herald
Michael Lee Aday's acting resume includes roles in 'Fight Club,' 'The Mighty,' 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' 'Wayne's World' and 'Crazy in Alabama.'
But he's best remembered for another title: 'Bat Out of Hell.'
Michael Lee Aday is the sometime stage name of larger-than-life singer-turned-actor Meat Loaf.
Or is it actor turned singer?
'I consider myself a dog trainer,' said Meat Loaf in a teleconference to promote his Hair of the Dog Tour, which arrives tomorrow at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston.
He's joking. At least we think he's joking. Although Meat Loaf points out that he really loves his pooch, Angus.
Then he turned serious.
'I'm an actor who sings,' said the man The New York Times refers to as Mr. Loaf. 'I started as an actor. Then I did music, then I did acting. Kind of back and forth.'
'Bat Out of Hell,' a rip-roaring hit in the late 1970s, gave Meat Loaf international superstar legs. But his first dose of success came several years earlier, when rock music and theater first united in such fist-pumping musicals as 'Hair,' which featured Meat Loaf as a cast member in a West Coast production.
That experience brought him to New York, where he worked in off-Broadway musicals, including 'More Than You Deserve,' written by his future collaborator and 'Bat Out of Hell' composer Jim Steinman.
Despite the theatricality of Meat Loaf's music, he shrugs off any suggestion that his concerts are Broadway-like spectacles.
'It's a rock and roll show,' he said. 'Dead-on rock and roll. It's theatrical in the sense of how it's staged and how we do it, but is it a Broadway show? No.'
When this tour is over, Meat Loaf will finish up a third installment of the 'Bat Out of Hell' series. It's due out next year, which will get it on the shelves in time for the original's 30th anniversary in 2007.
But don't count on seeing him back in Boston with a 'Bat 30' tour. After dealing with several recent major health issues, including heart surgery, Meat Loaf says his touring days might be numbered. What he's hoping for is a Las Vegas residency, just like Celine Dion. 'That's going to be fun,' he said. 'That will have some orchestra and all kinds of great things.' Meat Loaf would not supply details of his planned Vegas extravaganza. But bet on it being as outsized as the man himself. You can take the boy out of Broadway, but you can't take the Broadway out of Meat Loaf.
By Linda Laban
Tuesday, August 16, 2005 Boston Herald
Michael Lee Aday's acting resume includes roles in 'Fight Club,' 'The Mighty,' 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' 'Wayne's World' and 'Crazy in Alabama.'
But he's best remembered for another title: 'Bat Out of Hell.'
Michael Lee Aday is the sometime stage name of larger-than-life singer-turned-actor Meat Loaf.
Or is it actor turned singer?
'I consider myself a dog trainer,' said Meat Loaf in a teleconference to promote his Hair of the Dog Tour, which arrives tomorrow at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston.
He's joking. At least we think he's joking. Although Meat Loaf points out that he really loves his pooch, Angus.
Then he turned serious.
'I'm an actor who sings,' said the man The New York Times refers to as Mr. Loaf. 'I started as an actor. Then I did music, then I did acting. Kind of back and forth.'
'Bat Out of Hell,' a rip-roaring hit in the late 1970s, gave Meat Loaf international superstar legs. But his first dose of success came several years earlier, when rock music and theater first united in such fist-pumping musicals as 'Hair,' which featured Meat Loaf as a cast member in a West Coast production.
That experience brought him to New York, where he worked in off-Broadway musicals, including 'More Than You Deserve,' written by his future collaborator and 'Bat Out of Hell' composer Jim Steinman.
Despite the theatricality of Meat Loaf's music, he shrugs off any suggestion that his concerts are Broadway-like spectacles.
'It's a rock and roll show,' he said. 'Dead-on rock and roll. It's theatrical in the sense of how it's staged and how we do it, but is it a Broadway show? No.'
When this tour is over, Meat Loaf will finish up a third installment of the 'Bat Out of Hell' series. It's due out next year, which will get it on the shelves in time for the original's 30th anniversary in 2007.
But don't count on seeing him back in Boston with a 'Bat 30' tour. After dealing with several recent major health issues, including heart surgery, Meat Loaf says his touring days might be numbered. What he's hoping for is a Las Vegas residency, just like Celine Dion. 'That's going to be fun,' he said. 'That will have some orchestra and all kinds of great things.' Meat Loaf would not supply details of his planned Vegas extravaganza. But bet on it being as outsized as the man himself. You can take the boy out of Broadway, but you can't take the Broadway out of Meat Loaf.