How Meat Loaf Changed My Life
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We recently offered up a meaty 20% discount on all our stuff ’cause the financial world was collapsing all around us in tiny little shards. Things haven’t gotten a whole lot better, but I’m tired of being so preoccupied with gloom, so I’ve decided to change the reason for the discount — which we’re keeping in place until November 7.
OK, 20. That’s the percentage of the discount, and it’s also a pretty important number to me. You see, Laura and I just marked the 20th anniversary of our first meeting. I’d love to tell you it was a romantic encounter on a moonlit beach, and that I rode up on a horse and swept her off her feet. Yeah, I’d love to tell you that but I can’t. Actually, the fateful moment that led to a wonderful marriage, a happy family and, yes, to the very existence of Children’s Book Insider and Write4Kids, was made possible by the goofiest rock song of all time.
Yes, now it can be revealed, future generations of the Bard family tree, it all began because of Paradise By The Dashboard Light by Meat Loaf.
Fall, 1988. Your humble correspondent is standing glumly in an oldies-themed club on 43rd Street in Manhattan (named, with delightful 1980s’ understatement, Shout!) when he spies a beautiful girl with long reddish hair in a rose colored dress. Incredibly, she’s standing alone. Knowing that it’s only a matter of seconds before some Wall Street yuppie descends, he leaps into action. Heart beating fast, he makes a beeline toward this vision in red and somehow manages to blurt out “Hi. Wanna dance?” She wants to dance. Your humble correspondent is elated. Just then, the Motown song that was playing fades out and he hears the opening blasts of guitar.
Na-na-na-nana. Nanana-nana…..
Dear god, it’s Paradise By The Dashboard Light. A song about a guy’s infatuation with a woman that ultimately morphs into a marriage so bad he literally prays for death.
Worst. Omen. Ever.
But sometime around the moment when Phil Rizzuto starts shouting “He’s rounding third and heading for home!”, your narrator realizes that he and this ravishing beauty are laughing hysterically over the fact that their “song” would forever be Paradise By The Dashboard Light. And so it is today.
That was twenty years ago. And now you have a much happier reason to enjoy this:
20% off across the board on everything at Write4Kids.com.
Subscriptions, renewals, ebooks, whatever.
Click this link:
http://www.on2url.com/app/adtrack.asp?MerchantID=35139&AdID=60546
You’ll be brought to our product page and the 20% discount will show up in your shopping cart. (If, for some reason it doesn’t drop me an e-mail and we’ll make it right.)
And Meat Loaf, if you’re out there reading this, thanks bro.
October 29th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Happy 20th Anniversary of your meeting! That is a fantastic ‘how we met’ story … and a hilarious ‘our song’! Thanks for sharing!
October 29th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Mr. Loaf, as the NYTimes calls him, plays a less pivotal role in my life, I must admit, but that’s a great story. Bat out of Hell was the very first CD I bought, by the way. And happy 20th anniversary of meeting, indeed!
October 29th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Hey, Jon — Thanks for the story. And here I thought it was going to be about making meatloaf to get through these tough times. BTW, We share that 20-year-since-meeting time with you.
It was good seeing you at the Kid Lit Bloggers Conf. Thanks for all you do for writers!