2 THE OPENING ACT FEBRUARY 2�9, 2022 STAFF RAISING THE CURTAIN ON THIS WEEK’S ISSUE What we’re into MUSIC BY MEAT LOAF contact us EDITOR Lisa Britton Go! Editor editor@goeasternoregon.com 541-406-5274 Sarah Smith Calendar Coordinator calendar@goeasternoregon.com SUBMIT NEWS Submit your event information by Monday for publication the following week. Go! Magazine is published Wednesdays in the Wallowa County Chieftain and Blue Mountain Eagle. It publishes Thursdays in The Observer, Baker City Herald and East Oregonian. A s I grow older, the pop culture icons of my youth die. One by one, with increasing frequency, my idols pass away. And when they go, I am reminded of younger days and I revisit my past. This was how it was with David Bowie and Tom Petty not too long ago. I heard of their deaths, and I replayed dusty CDs for days. Most recently, I’ve placed Meat Loaf’s “Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell” on loop. It is what I’m into now. More than any other album, this group of tracks takes me back. It is desperately angsty. Filled with pain and longing, the songs fi rst Jason Kempin/Getty Images Meat Loaf, center, and country artist John Rich, right, perform at Redneck Riviera Nashville on March 27, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee. hit me at just the right time. Of course, “I’d Do Anything for Love” is the song that everyone Your Adventure Awaits! Thousands of titles Unlimited # of sessions at ’ 2400 Resort Street Baker City, OR 97814 Explore the ONLINE LIBRARY at www.bakerlib.org 541.523.6419 info@bakerlib.org remembers, and not just for its amazing music video. It has some lines that can be shouted out on a long drive alone and other lines that can be tenderly whispered to a lover. Every song on this disc is a memory though, speaking to a younger version of myself and the up-and-down emotions of a teenaged life. “Out of the Frying Pan (and into the Fire)” and “Objects in the Rear View Mirror” are a couple of my other favorites to this day. But I even enjoy some of the cringi- est parts of the album, such as the spoken word part of “Wasted Youth.” Throughout the album, I’m either singing along or laughing at myself and the seriousness I felt toward this music back then, years ago. In both cases, I’m happy. RIP, Meat Loaf. You made an album that will stick with me for years to come. — ERICK PETERSON, EDITOR, HERMISTON HERALD