Day 19: From Rock Star to Roadie

After the Woodstock recording disaster, Meat, Leslie, and Pearl (Meat's very young stepdaughter) retreated to NYC. Meat couldn't handle the artifice of fame and coke wasn't helping. He only left his apartment to play baseball in the park, desperately seeking to reconnect with those who had known him before Bat became a phenomenon. He wanted to believe that he hadn't changed,  that he was the same "huckleberry" from Texas, that he hadn't let all the adulations go to his head.

Reality is such a cackling bitch.

Eventually, he surfaced to take his new bride to hang with two of his friends who had remained constant through the upheaval and their wives - Billy Joel and John Belushi. One was a great influence. One, well, one had very tragic ending. When the challenge of "who can do the most coke" was issued and accepted, there wasn't much further to fall. Yes, yes, Meat Loaf won that sad challenge.

So, what does a multi-platinum recording artist do when he can't sing? He fell back to his other great talent. ACTING.

Bands Make It Rock. Roadies Make it Roll.

Roadie

The Story of a Boy and His Equipment

Meat had the lead as Travis, a MacGyver of roadies. The comedy was filled with cameos of music stars - Debby Harry (aka Blondie), Alice Cooper, Roy Orbinson, Hank Jr., etc. It was a farce, mockery, a comedy that could have done well. It opened the same day as the Blues Brothers. Kind of explains what happened there.