Nothing s more useless than liner notes that try to describe what you re already listening to.You ve got the music, you don t need someone telling you what it sounds like. But in the spir-it of VH1 Storytellers, it just might be worth telling the story behind the album — talking abouthow this particular recording came to be.

Here s the lowdown. VH1 has a series called Storytellers in which great singer/songwriterstell a small audience the stories behind how they wrote there best known songs, and thenplay them. Pretty simple, but very effective television. The idea is that music on TV generallyfails when it tries to recapture a big concert experience. So much of what makes a showgreat at Madison Square Garden — the big stage, the huge speakers, the roaring crowd, thelights, the set, the smoke bombs, the dry ice (okay, I m dating myself now) just gets lost orcomes off as overblown when you re sitting at home on the couch in your underwear, watchingit squeezed down into a little box.

Storytellers goes the other way. The concept behind the series is, TV can t capture what itfeels like to see a rock show in a big place — but TV can do one thing really well: it can putyou face to face with someone and let them talk to you. Our attitude was, if we can t make atelevision show that feels like a concert hall, let s go the other way — let s give people at homean experience no concert hall can duplicate. Let s give them a chance to have a musiciantalk and sing right to them. Let s make a show that feels like you re at a party at a greatmusician s house and it gets to be around midnight and someone hands him a guitar and hestarts telling you about his songs.

Ray Davies did the first VH1 Storytellersin 1996. He s a master songwriter and awonderful raconteur. He proved it couldreally work. Before Ray s episode hadeven aired, a couple of other Brits, ElvisCostello and Sting, agreed to give it ago. By the time Garth Brooks, Billy Joel,and Elton John said they d take a crackat it, VH1 had a hit series.

Enter Meat Loaf. We talked about MeatLoaf doing the series from day one. Hissongs are already great stories, and he sthe kind of vivid character the cameraloves. Hey, the guy s a serious actor aswell as multi-platinum rock star. Whocould be better?

There was just one hang-up (and it s thesort of thing that bothers no one in thereal world but gives us TV producers anexcuse to have meetings to justify ourjobs): Meat Loaf doesn t write his ownsongs. He has his own sound, his ownpersona, songs are written FOR him.But like, say Frank Sinatra and ElvisPresley, Meat doesn t make up songs forhimself. He makes other people s songshis own. In fact, Meat Loaf does Elvisand Sinatra one better — he sings songsthat are written for (and in some waysabout) him by his longtime collaboratorJim Steinman.

So we said, let s do the show with MeatLoaf and Jim Steinman, the man whowrote most of Meat s hits. Meat Loafsaid, great, that ll be fun. Steinmanagreed, but he was living in London,working on a stage musical with AndrewLloyd Webber. We had to keep movingthe shoot date around to accommodateSteinman s schedule.

Finally we got a window that worked foreverybody: New York City on October 5,1998. That s when this album wasmade.

Around October 3, Meat rolled into townfor rehearsals. We d already been talk-ing about how to make the show work,and Meat had given us lots of greatideas — the first was that he wanted it tolook not like it was happening in some-one s living room, but in a locker room.(He said, if you want me to really openup and be at home it s got to be either alocker room or a kitchen.) We thoughtthat wa a pretty good idea and we got towork designing a set.

I arrived at rehearsals with the director and producer and we sat there with our hands in our pockets nodding our heads whileMeat Loaf and his band played the songs. Then I got up and started throwing my weight around, saying you gotta do this anddon t forget about that and the stories need to be like this and remember to Meat Loaf listened with the same expression youhave on your face when the cop is giving you the lecture before he gives you the ticket. He nodded and asked if they could tryanother song. I sad go ahead. He cued the band to play "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth." He was singing itgreat, and when he got to the chorus he handed me the microphone and said, "Now you sing it." I looked t him. He said,"SING IT!" like the high school gym teacher telling you to get up that damn rope. I sand it. The band grinned. The director andproducer tried not to laugh. Meat Loaf took back the microphone and said, "Now you sit down."

Lesson learned. We can all stand around and talk about it, maybe we can even help. But Meat Loaf s the guy who s going toDO it.

And when the chips were down, man, he did it great. Every good show starts with a series of disasters. This was no excep-tion. I won t bore you with the lighting truss or the monitor problems, but the big headache was the last minute word thatSteinman was sick in London and wasn t going to show. We said, "Oh, no, what do we do?" Meat Loaf said, "Don t worry."

The show run-through was hilarious. Meat announced he needed adesk, we came up with one. Then he announced he needed one of themen on the crew to lie on the desk. We drafted somebody. Then heannounced he needed a woman. One of the producers stepped for-ward. Okay, Meat said, now you have to climb up on the guy andstraddle him. You can imagine the protests, laughter, and threats ofcomplaints to be filed with the VH1 human resources department. ButMeat Loaf adopted his "Do it for the coach" persona and pretty soonthe Storytellers crew were acting out the romantic audience participa-tion section of "Paradise By the Dashboard Lights." (Note to Amy:thanks again for not filing the sexual harassment papers.)

W atching Meat and his band lay out the show we knew we had nothing to worry about — this was going to be a blast. But wehad a new problem. All the songs were really, really long and all the stories were great — and also long. How the hell would wefit this into a one hour show? More immediately — how the hell would we fit a fifteen minute opus like "Paradise" into the eightminute blocks between commercials?

Leave it to Meat Loaf. He said, "Well, when we get to the place where you have to go to a commercial, "I ll stop and say, Wellbe back with the rest of this song after these messages. " The band tried it, we all fell over laughing. We said, "Can we reallydo this?" Meat said, "Who s stopping us?" That seemed to be a pretty good attitude to take for the rest of the production.

I can t tell you how much fun that night turned out to be — I don t have to, you can hear it. Meat drew the studio audience intothe show, into the songs, into his world just as he pulled in all of us VH1 ers. What really knocked everybody out was how pow-erfully Meat Loaf the man uses his training as an actor and his chops as a singer to create something big and grand that some-how, at its core, feels very real and intimate. I have no idea of the depths this guy who used to be M.L. Aday draws on to makehis music. But for a sound that is so broad and accessible, it can really shock you with how deep it can go.0

When the Storytellers filming was over and everybody was done slapping eachother on the back and taking credit for Meat Loaf s work, when the last tradeshot was snapped and the last fan had filed out of the studio, Meat came outand looked around and said, "I really enjoyed this. I d like to do it again. In fact,I d like to buy this set from you and take it with me."

I figured he was kidding, or just caught up in the emotion of what started outrough and turned out to be an extraordinary night. But as usual, Meat Loafmeant what he said. In 1999 he put together a VH1 Storytellers tour and hit theroad with the locker room set and the stories to tell, and all those songs that arethe soul property of Meat Loaf, but belong to everybody.

Bill FlanaganExecutive Producer, VH1 Storytellers

DAMON LA SCOTT - GuitarNative New Yorker Damon La Scott is a former major label (East West/Elektra) recordingartist with the band Redbelly. Over the years he has recorded, performed and toured with countless other artists.

In addition to playing guitar, Damon's major commitments and passions in life include hisfiancé, Jo Hook, his family, vegan raw foodism, being a program leader for personal transfor-mation, playing ice/roller hockey (when Meat Loaf lets him), and weight training.

JOHN MICELI - DrumsBefore joining Meat Loaf eight years ago, John toured with Blue Oyster Cult on their 20th

Anniversary National Tour; and with Marcello, CBS recording artists, on their National DebutTour. In 1997, John teamed up with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow for their

"Stranger In Us All" U.S. and European Tours.

John's musical accomplishments have been recognized by the industry withendorsements from Sonar Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Gibraltar Hardware,

Evans Drumheads, and Vic Firth drum sticks.

John was also featured in an international print ad campaign for Sony cassette tapes, which appeared in Rolling Stone, People, Spin, Circus, and US magazines.

When he's not touring, John teaches drums at the Long Island Drum and Guitar Center, and is publishing two drum instruction books featuring his unique

double-bass style; "Lead Switch," and "Sticking in the Foot."

Most importantly, John's the proud papa of two beautiful children; Anna and Scott.

PATTI RUSSO - VocalsHaving been with Meat Loaf since 1993, she's come a long way since kicking the

bus after she thought her audition didn't cut it!

When she's not touring or recording with Meat, she keeps busy doing jingles and working on her own material.

"I just want to say thanks again, Meat and Leslie, for taking a chance on me. Oh yeah, hi Mom! Hi Choomy! Hi Seer! Luv ya!"

TOM BRISLIN- Keyboards ,VocalsTom Brislin is a New Jersey-based keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter who appears regularly inthe New York area. A child prodigy of classical piano, he started playing in rock bands at the ripe old age of ten.

Since then, Tom has performed and/or recorded with artists in many styles of music, includingjazz saxophonist Michael Brecker, pop singer/songwriter Glen Burtnik, and has been with Meat Loaf since 1998.

Currently, Tom leads the modern-rock band "You Were Spiraling," and had produced the band's two CDs "You Were Spiraling," and "The Hello CD."

When not playing music, Tom can be found writing a book, masquerading as a nightclub kid, and completing his Jedi training.

PEARL ADAY - VocalsRock and Roll certainly runs in the family! "Storytellers" is Pearl's fourth tour with herfamous father. No stranger to the music scene, she's recorded three albums with Meat Loaf,is currently working on a new album with her Los Angeles-based band "Stella," and has beenfeatured on the latest "Filter" album.

Pearl thanks her beautiful parents and family; her husband; and her faithful friends including "road family" past and present for her wisdom and love of music.

Let us not forget Curtis!

RAY ANDERSEN - Keyboards, Guitar, VocalsRay was born in NYC and grew up in New Jersey, where he currently lives. Listening to his favoriterecords, he would copy what he heard, but soon realized he couldn't play chords and melodies on thedrums, so he picked up guitar and piano. He's never had a lesson on any instrument.

In 1991, he married his songwriter-partner, Patti M. Yodlowsky. They've gone on to form a pop/rock project called Blue Van Gogh.

Ray also enjoys working with children. He visits day care centers and sings kid's songs he writes, and lets the kids play several instruments as well as strum on his own guitar.

As if all this wasn't enough to satisfy his musical palate, along comes a call from legendary New Yorkmusician, Kasim Sulton, to ask Ray if he would be interested in filling his shoes as guitarist/keyboardist/singer in Meat Loaf's band! Besides putting two thriving projects on hold, therewasn't much to think about. Bat Out Of Hell supremely knocked the socks off Ray, and he'd been a Meat Loaf fan ever since. Who wouldn't jump at the chance of performing with one of the greatest Rock and Roll artists of this century?

KASIM SULTON - MD, Bass Guitar, VocalsKasim Sulton has been a world class musician since his first professional gig with Todd

Rundgren and Utopia in 1976 - ironically the same year he played bass guitar on Bat Out Of Hell.

Since then he has played on dozens of albums with artists as diverse as Patti Smith and CeleneDion. The "Storytellers" tour sees Kasim changing positions from guitarist/keyboardist

to bassist and Musical Director. He remains the only person beside Meat himself to appear on every track on Bat 1 and Bat 2.

The band

www.meatloaf-oifc.com

Family

Meat Loaf Touring Personnel

The BandMeat Loaf

Kasim Sulton Musical Director, Bass Guitar, VocalsJohn Miceli Drums

Damon La Scot GuitarTom Brislin Keyboards, Vocals

Ray Andersen Keyboards, Guitar, VocalsPatti Russo VocalsPearl Aday Vocals

The CrewTour Manager Bill Barclay

Assistant Tour Manager Mark "Machine" GrahamProduction Manager Geoff Perren

Stage ManagerLighting Designer

FOH Sound EngineerMonitor EngineerDrum Technician

Guitar TechnicianGuitar Technician

Keyboard TechnicianWardrobeCarpenterCarpenter

Head RiggerGround Rigger

Lighting TechnicianLighting TechnicianLighting TechnicianLighting TechnicianLighting TechnicianLighting Technician

Sound TechnicianSound TechnicianSound Technician

CateringCateringCateringCatering

Band Bus DriverCrew Bus DriverCrew Bus Driver

Truck DriverTruck DriverTruck DriverTruck DriverTruck Driver

MerchandiserPhotography PG Brunelli, Dave Hogan, Marc Hadley, Kevin Mazur,

Timothy White, Neal Preston, Meat Loaf’s own collectionTour Contact Information

Management Left Bank OrganizationBusiness Management Tribe Management

Agent RennaissanceRecord Company Beyond

International Travel Agent Valley Travel GroupSound Company Scorpio Sound Systems

Lighting Company NEG Earth LightingSet Construction

CateringFreightFreight

Bus CompanyTruck CompanyMerchandising Ted Mattes, Winterland

Art Direction Chris Jennings, WinterlandTour Book Design Carrie Toder, Imagics

PassesItineraries Smart Art

Thanks to:Euphonics Audio, AshdownEngineering, E.O. Mari Strings,Mitchell Guitars, Stewart SpectorDesigns, Sonor Drums, ZildjianCymbals, Gibraltar Hardward,Evans Drum Heads, Vic FirthSticks, Gibson Guitars, MesaBoogie Amplifiers, Korg USA,Gibson Strings, Veneman Music,Whirlwind

Nothing s more useless than liner notes that try to describe what you re already listening to.You ve got the music, you don t need someone telling you what it sounds like. But in the spir-it of VH1 Storytellers, it just might be worth telling the story behind the album — talking abouthow this particular recording came to be.

Here s the lowdown. VH1 has a series called Storytellers in which great singer/songwriterstell a small audience the stories behind how they wrote there best known songs, and thenplay them. Pretty simple, but very effective television. The idea is that music on TV generallyfails when it tries to recapture a big concert experience. So much of what makes a showgreat at Madison Square Garden — the big stage, the huge speakers, the roaring crowd, thelights, the set, the smoke bombs, the dry ice (okay, I m dating myself now) just gets lost orcomes off as overblown when you re sitting at home on the couch in your underwear, watchingit squeezed down into a little box.

Storytellers goes the other way. The concept behind the series is, TV can t capture what itfeels like to see a rock show in a big place — but TV can do one thing really well: it can putyou face to face with someone and let them talk to you. Our attitude was, if we can t make atelevision show that feels like a concert hall, let s go the other way — let s give people at homean experience no concert hall can duplicate. Let s give them a chance to have a musiciantalk and sing right to them. Let s make a show that feels like you re at a party at a greatmusician s house and it gets to be around midnight and someone hands him a guitar and hestarts telling you about his songs.