Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Terms of Entitlement

by carol

Success can be defined in many ways. For actors, it may be an Emmy or Oscar on the mantle. A singer may take pride in receiving a Grammy or Tony. A politician wins an election. Hey, getting a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame gets your picture in the paper too.

Or … maybe you’ve hit the big time when you can demand a rider in your contract.

Sarah Palin insists on having prescreened questions, first-class round trip tickets, bendable straws, and an audience profile at her public appearances.*
 
In her 2010 world tour rider, Rihanna’s (real name: Robin Fenty) particular dressing room needs included: a six-foot couch that needs to be "White, Cloth, Plush (no leather)" and "wide enough for her to stretch out on and sometime take a nap." Animal print throw pillows ("Cheetah, Leopard") cannot have sequins. Since Rihanna's arena digs are often locker rooms normally occupied by basketball and hockey players, the spaces need to be spruced up with "Icy Blue Chiffon" placed atop drapery and "Archipelago Black Forest Candles." The bathroom, of course, must be "spotless," and the toilet has to be deep cleaned before the star's arrival.*

A baby boomer band is at the point that its rider states three oxygen tanks and three masks be provided backstage for their use. That's one requirement on the AC/DC 2008 tour rider. The band's alcohol requirement consisted of exactly one case of Heineken in bottles, though the rider noted, in bold letters, "no beer in dressing room prior to show." Presumably there are no restrictions on their requested small selection of "fun size" candy bars before a concert. Ditto that tasty assortment of imported cheese and crackers (of course, "English cheeses and water crackers preferred").*

Underage Justin Bieber’s tour rider is quite tame when compared to others. The singer wants concert promoters to provide mixed nuts, potato chips, herbal teas, some Vitamin Water, and deli, vegetable, and fruit platters. Bieberphiles may be interested to know that Justin’s candy of choice focuses on gummy treats: Swedish Fish (in the U.S.) and Big Foot (for Canadian shows). The singer also needs one Vicks Personal Steam Inhaler, Purell antibacterial soap, and an assortment of plain white t-shirts and “lo-rise” socks.*

Along with other performers, Jennifer Lopez took part in a remake of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" for charity and was at Miami's Big Time studio on October 20 to film her cameo in the accompanying music video.  The production crew was given a detailed rider by Lopez's reps describing what needed to be in place prior to her arrival. It included a 45' trailer with triple slide outs and two entry doors equipped with hair sink and make-up station. Her dressing room required flowers, tables, drapes, candles and couches, all of which had to be white.*

Beyonce asks for Pepsi products only, Honey Nut Cheerios, Ginger Root, a two-man love seat, constant temperature of 78F in dressing room, freshly scrubbed toilet cleaned with disinfectant, as well as no sweets, chocolate or crisps in her dressing room.*

Johnny Depp is reported to like his dressing room decorated with Moroccan drapes and filled with candles and water pipes.

Knowing that Hawaii Five-0 star Alex O’Loughlin is an easy-going Aussie, I imagine his contract rider might be quite simple, perhaps with requests such as these:
  • 3 cases of Australian bottled water (preferably from Sydney)
  • 1 chocolate cake and a spoon
  • Snausages in variety pack for Reggie
  • 1 Bowflex or Total Gym  to hang clothes on since he won’t have time to exercise
  • 5 packs Nicotine gum and 1 box Cuban cigars
  • HDTV (minimum 42” screen) with dvd’s of Family Guy AND Xbox game system hooked up to TV with latest, most violent Xbox game
  • iPhone charger base plus extra batteries
  • Bags of chocolates for bodyguards to throw out as a distraction while fending frenzied fans off Alex
Did I miss anything important? Something Alex must have?

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/beyonce-knowles-rider

6 comments:

  1. Hey, somebody must know out there - does/did he smoke?

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  2. Alex has acknowledged his fondness for cigars and has admitted to smoking cigarettes (this was reported by an interviewer). Based on comments he made during Three Rivers, he stopped for health reasons but still struggled with his enjoyment of a good cigar. There is a candid photo of him with a cigarette taken while filming the H50 pilot. Given all the BTS shots of him chewing gum, we're assuming he uses it to "deal."

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  3. Think you covered his basic needs very well, although he looks so thin these days, somebody must have forgotten the cake! Hope he is doing well with the quitting. I take my hat of to anybody that can quit something bad they started in their youth (I stopped smoking 5 years ago after being hooked for 20 yr...and I am thankful for the grace to do so, every day since then)

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    Replies
    1. If he still smokes, he covers it quite well. In last night's Hawaii-50 he was involved in kick boxing, and he does a lot of stunts and runs quite a bit on a show. If he's still smoking, I'd bet he hurts a lot after some of that strenous activity!

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