Word: pittsburgh
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Buffett is sitting in a darkened room, his eyes welling with tears. He's surrounded by other people who are crying--a Pittsburgh multiplex crowd experiencing Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Leaving the theater after the movie, Buffett is speechless, an unusual condition for him. "Whoa," he says finally. "Not a big popcorn movie." Soon he is talking seriously about thoughts the film stirred up. "My dad, J.D., was in the Army Air Corps, a crew chief on C-47 transports in China," he says. "He was on a flight over the Himalayas when fire broke out belowdecks...
...though his concerts deliver moments of beauty and power--a song called One Particular Harbor gets people dancing but with tears in their eyes--they also deliver mindless ditties like Cheeseburger in Paradise. "The set I'd like to do is all ballads," he says over dinner in Pittsburgh. "But the carnival atmosphere wouldn't allow it. You've got to do what's necessary for the business...
...next morning Buffett jumps on his mountain bike to ride through the streets of Pittsburgh, spreading good cheer. He is trailed by two assistants, one of whom records his escapades with a digital video camera. Buffett follows this routine on every stop of the tour. This afternoon the footage will be cut at a backstage editing suite, then projected on giant screens during the show--a canny bit of marketing that appeals to the fans' civic pride. Buffett rides by the Heinz 57 factory, rows up the river on a mahogany scull, goofs around with some preschoolers and winds...
More numerous are the power men who shone in unjoyful ages and in the half-light of provincial parks. Hack Wilson hit 58, but in 1930 Chicago wasn't ready to party. Ralph Kiner flattened balls, but did so in Pittsburgh, which is the Big City only if you're in Cincinnati...where Frank Robinson was huge, before he went to (equally frowzy) Baltimore. You get the idea: it's an uncommon man at an odd moment who can play in the league we're speaking...
There's only one time when Boom-Boom relaxes. At Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium in May, Zambelli Internationale put on a gargantuan show that had George fidgeting all week in anticipation. "You're dealing with explosives," he said. "It's like a battlefield. Anything can happen...