Patti

[greg]

I was speaking with Steve steinman last week and says Patti has now retired

[nightinr]

I wonder what she does now?

[letsgotoofar]

For a while, she was talking about going into mental health, maybe being a therapist. I don't know if she still has the time, patience, or inclination, but I think the patients would at least never have a dull moment trying to get themselves on the right track with her help.

[ThatWriterGuy]

I can reliably inform you that Steve Steinman is full of shit.

[nightinr]

Do you have any news WriterGuy? Would be great to launch a new Kitchen Sink series...

[allrevvedup]

Originally Posted by ThatWriterGuy

I can reliably inform you that Steve Steinman is full of shit.

I'd have thought whatever she is doing at the moment, retiring in your early 60s may be nigh on impossible in the current financial climate!

Either way, I hope she's doing ok. She's been great with me in any social media interaction I've had with her.

As for Steve Steinman, I am occasionally tempted to check out his show but then I see the price of the tickets and the temptation fades.

[Evil One]

Originally Posted by ThatWriterGuy

I can reliably inform you that Steve Steinman is full of shit.

I thought this was common knowledge years ago

[nightinr]

So we still don't know what Patti is upto?

[ThatWriterGuy]

Originally Posted by nightinr

Do you have any news WriterGuy? Would be great to launch a new Kitchen Sink series...

Nothing I can tell you in terms of music. Played a handful of international gigs. Otherwise it's been full on family for the past 6 years. We should respect Patti's wishes of privacy in that respect.

There's a project that's been ticking away in the background -- a good one -- but I can't tell you anything about it at this stage. Given the state of the world, and personal circumstances (family), she just hasn't felt like making music. I don't blame her, to be honest.

RE Kitchen Sink. I think it served its purpose. We only started that to exorcise some demons. I think it achieved its goal (especially since, not even halfway through the story -- barely getting started, in fact -- we decided to shelve the remaining episodes as a page turned, Meat passed away, and it just felt like the right thing to do).

Maybe it'll be back in some other form one day.

Who knows

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by ThatWriterGuy

I can reliably inform you that Steve Steinman is full of shit.

Maybe they tried to get Patti to do some dates like they did with Lorraine Crosby right?
She probably declined (or did not respond - which is more likely I bet) and they took that as a "retired" or whatever.

If she ain't in the Paul Crook band she's definitely not going to be in any lesser official thing.

I enjoyed the few shows of Steve Steinman I saw but somehow it feels like a long time ago (think it was 16-17 years ago?), even though watching Meat for the last time is pretty much 13 years ago already too. That whole period between 2004-2014 seemed like an entire lifetime somehow.
There was at least 1 show to look forward to almost every year, truly strange!
No idea why I bothered with the tribute stuff so much when the genuine thing was around almost every year, I guess one gets in a habit of things...

So many shows, so much internet drama.
I remember people complaining at the time over ticket prices (£60ish?). They have tripled / quadrupled since then it seems!
Springsteen last year was £180 for a side block seat. Great shows but the political ranting is pathetic at those prices, totally NOT professional.
I can't imagine a British rock star going over to the USA and ranting about Keir Starmer every night. Who knows, maybe it is happening.

Still glad Patti was included in the final European arena touring dates with Meat in 2013,
and I always see it as positive inspiration that she at least tried to do that UK tour the following year.

I really wanted it to be the start of something more permanent around here.

If I seem bitter or annoyed it's purely due to frustration of witnessing a massive talent on stage and no longer being there.
Patti definitely was the one who should have been carrying the Meat Loaf / Steinman flame onwards I think.

[nightinr]

Its always intrigued me what band members do day-to-day. Granted in the glory days they might be touring for a few months at a time and maybe helping with new music.

But even during the glory days Meat often had multi year breaks. How do they fill their time and make some money?

I might be wrong but I doubt they were paid big money even during tours.

[letsgotoofar]

Sometimes, filling their time and making their money proved difficult.

For example, in a story recounted on TWG's podcast with Patti, at one point in some downtime, Jim Steinman really wanted Patti to be in his impending Broadway production of Dance of the Vampires; I can confirm she was on his wish list for an actual role as far back as the initial reading, but by the time the show was actually getting ready to start production, the offer on the table was the understudy slot for the role of Magda. She aced the singing audition (it's a Steinman musical, it's a female supporting lead, she could do "All Coming Back" in her sleep), but then it came time for the dance portion; if you're only understudying a large (or even large-ish) role, they're gonna put you in the chorus as well, and that entails learning choreography. They were seeking dancers with extensive experience in jazz, tap, and ballet, and teaching the kind of steps you might see in Thriller. (I suspect they were seeing how they'd do with the "vampires coming out of their graves" number based on that description.) Well, anything more complicated than the sort of frontwoman moves she could bust out onstage with Meat was unfortunately beyond her, so after a bit of time gamely trying to absorb the dance combination everyone was being taught, she apologized to the casting director for wasting their time and left.

(Despite that, Jim was still campaigning for her, but Meat, upon hearing she'd been trying out for the show, reportedly put her on retainer so she couldn't be available, I guess because being on retainer meant she had to keep her schedule open -- or at least any other engagement was subject to employer approval -- in case Meat got bookings. More of that ambivalent relationship between him and Jim, I guess. As if that weren't enough, she apparently got an earful from Meat's accountant about how much this was costing him...)

Anyway... considering how Vampires went in New York, it's safe to say she dodged a bullet. Still, I think she'd have sung the shit out of it and been very funny in it, had they entered it with her in mind from the beginning and tailored it to her strong suits. (And, ideally, had it been a better version, more similar to the German original.) In case anyone's curious how that would have sounded and has a creative enough imagination, she'd have been the blonde in this scene.

[nightinr]

The problem with music, theatre, art etc is it is very peaky and troughy. And once you get to a certain age it appears to be more difficult. Hopefully Patti made enough money to be comfortable.