Fat Out of Hell

"Someone else might have written 'Bat Out of Hell,' but Meat Loaf claims he should be the only one to use the phrase in connection with music.

"The beefy rocker, whose real name is Michael Aday, is suing Jim Steinman, who wrote the original song of the same name, alleging he has wrongly claimed ownership of the phrase. The 1977 'Bat Out of Hell' album and its 1993 follow-up, 'Bat Out of Hell II,' sold 48 million copies." --AP

This news item brought back memories of my actual, real-life brush with Meat Loaf in 1979.

I was the Program Director of WFOM Radio, north of Atlanta. I had traveled to Birmingham, AL for a broadcasters convention. Mr. Loaf was in attendance.

Late one evening, I strolled into the hotel lobby with our station's owner. We stopped behind a large chair or, perhaps, a love seat. In it, as we discovered, sprawled the immense serving of Meat Loaf himself. The more-than-chubby singer was alone.

Without a word between us, my boss moved to the entertainer's side, tapping him on the shoulder. Jerry leaned down and politely said to Meat Loaf: "Excuse me, are you The Kalin Twins?"

Meat Loaf looked a bit befuddled and said: "No."

We continued our stroll out of the room.

• File: music, mikedurrett, confidential, humor, humour, celebrities, life, entertainment, overheard