My Rider
I know it’s going to be a good set when they’ve actually read my rider and left Doritos in the green room - IN A BEAUTIFUL WHITE BOWL. Also Lady Miss Kier will DJ at this party, so you know, that kind of rules.
Walked around the convention center today, saw some TVs, some robots, some internet devices. Ate a BBQ pork sandwich, by mistake. I’m now soundchecking in some fancy suite at The Palms in preparation for the Digital Freedom Campaign party. Rock!
January 7th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
For those of us not “in the know” perhaps you could explain what a “rider” is?
January 7th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Perhaps you should soft rock a cover of Groove is in the Heart.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
A rider is a line in a contract about requirements the venue must meet for the performer to perform there. Often time performers put obscure things in them to make sure that the venue management are actually reading the whole thing. A famous one is a bowl of m&m’s with all the green ones picked out, if I remember correctly.
-sv
January 7th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
“Ate a BBQ pork sandwich, by mistake.”
You’re a STAR, JoCo! You don’t have to put up with that. If you *order* fried peanut butter and banana you should *get* fried peanut butter and banana.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Does the rider actually include “beautiful white bowl”, or just the Doritos?
BTW, I heard a clip from “Ikea” on the radio today. It was WCBS NewsRadio 880 AM and they were teasing the story about some guy who’s going to live in an IKEA store for a week. They used the song to intro the tease.
Woo Hoo! JoCo goes Mainstream!
January 7th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
yeah for doritos in white bowls!
January 7th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
…s o.. if terer were no Doritos, then there was no JoCo????
How can you be sure of the Authenticity if the fore mentioned chips?
AND…
Are there any ROBOTS or MONKEYS in this… ‘rider’????
HmMMMM?
®
January 8th, 2008 at 12:01 am
That some guy, if I remember correctly, is Mark Malkoff…who’s also the audience coordinator for the colbert report? I think so. He did the 171 Starbucks thing, right?
January 8th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Back when I worked in France, I had the pleasure of lining up acts for a city festival. Some of the riders were real pieces of work. One of our acts actually walked because we were unable to locate and install a pink toilet seat in the “loge” we had built for them at an open-air venue. JoCo should feel free to be more adventurous with his requests. These places will probably indulge him.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:52 am
The Flying Karamazov Brothers rider always includes non-menthol shaving cream (for a potential “pie-in-the-face” without the stingy stuff - Gillette meringue they call it) and a box of non-lubricated condoms for their wireless mic packs. In Utah the theater refused to provide the condoms, even when it was explained what they were for. Stupid Mormons.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:00 am
I’m pretty sure the green M&Ms was Van Halen.
Possibly the best rider of all time, though, is Iggy Pop’s - I’m having trouble reaching the Smoking Gun site at the moment, but here’s their blurb about it from Google cache:
Lust For Laughs
Iggy Pop’s concert rider funniest in rock history?
OCTOBER 4– As if you need another reason to love Iggy Pop, the veteran rocker (and his band The Stooges) have the single most entertaining concert rider TSG has ever obtained. The document–all 18 pages of which you’ll find below–describes Iggy’s requirements in terms of amplifiers, security, lighting, stage set up, and dressing rooms. But unlike most similar documents, Iggy’s rider is written in a rollicking, stream-of-consciousness fashion that delivers multiple laughs per page. Apparently written by roadie Jos Grain, the Iggy rider is peppered with witty gems, tasteless asides, and typos. For example, in describing how Iggy’s dressing room should be made to “look less like a typical rock & roll dressing room,” the rider suggests that promoters “just let someone loose with a little bit of artistic flair…Er, do you know any homosexuals?” Explaining the need for two heavy duty fans, Grain notes, “So that I can wear a scarf and pretend to be in a Bon Jovi video.” Also, don’t miss the backstage requirement of a Bob Hope impersonator for Mr. Pop. (18 pages)
January 8th, 2008 at 1:49 am
“Ate a BBQ pork sandwich, by mistake.”
Was this the “Hey! Who ate my sandwich!?” kind of mistake or the “Nom nom nom… OMGWTFBBQ!?” type of mistake?
January 8th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Rich’s comment was the first time I have ever seen OMGWTFBBQ used where it literally made sense. Win.
January 8th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Seconded. I cracked up for a good two minutes upon reading that. Rich wins several internets for that comment.
January 8th, 2008 at 5:50 am
The M&Ms were Van Halen, except they wanted the brown ones removed. Allegedly it was used to test the promoter because of the size of their stage set, but David Lee Roth reportedly did use it as an excuse to trash a few dressing rooms.
The Smoking Gun does have a large collection of riders, some of which are amusing. Metallica, for example, insist forcefully on bacon with every meal, and Paul McCartney was fairly particular about the floral arrangements he wanted delivered backstage.
I was working with a nonprofit many years ago that was considering hiring Tom Paxton to do a benefit (unfortunately, we decided it would cost too much), but I got to see his rider. The most he asked for in the catering department was a pitcher of water.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Everything benefits from bacon. If I were as famous as Metallica, I would demand bacon, too
I’d never heard the theory that wacky rider clauses were actually to make sure the people in charge at the venue were actually reading the fine print. I always just assumed it was strictly an ego/power trip thing.
If I ever had the chance to make a rider, seriously, I’d probably ask for a representative sampling of cool local products–you know, if the city is known for its special beers, angora wool, or hand-blown glass objects. It would be a good way to get a flavor of the town I’m performing in even though I probably won’t see much apart from the airport, the freeway, and the venue.
January 8th, 2008 at 9:12 am
How do you say… delicious?
January 8th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Ate a BBQ pork sandwich, by mistake.
Ah, now I understand the unwillingness to come to Memphis.
January 8th, 2008 at 9:59 am
HODGMAN CALLED YOU BEAKER! Are you the Beaker to his Dr. Bunsen Honeydew?
January 8th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Seriously. “Groove Is In The Heart.” Cover it. I mean, “Baby Got Back” made you a legend, but channeling Q-Tip, Maceo Parker and Bootsy Collins can lead to nothing less than epic.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Heck … get Lady Miss Kier to reprise her vocals on it. Yes. This is good.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Lavish! But no more than you deserve.
I have a beautiful white bowl like that one; I feed my cats loaves of disgusting fish-meat-byproducts in it.
January 8th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Oh ok, I see. Now I know what to do when I get famous.
January 8th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Even Dick Cheney has a rider. He requests Diet Caffeine Free Sprite (redundant) and the TV turned to FOX News.
January 8th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I hope they remembered your official stalker (as per the rider) to scoot around the floor in front of the stage and take pictures.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
So there I was, 10 minutes to show, and I needed to find enough brown M&M’s to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouln’t go on stage!
January 9th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Sorry, but upon seeing that image, all I could think was ‘Soylent Green is people!’ Huh… On that note, make sure to have a bowl of doritos with all the green ones picked out, just in case.
January 9th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Dangit.
Now I have groove is in the heart stuck in my head.
January 24th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
The riders aren’t all insane diva demands… performers can find out the hard way that a venue is lacking in very basic ways, and without reasonable requirements spelled out can wind up in a pretty wretched environment, be it backstage, onstage, or wherever one ends up sleeping before the trip to the next gig.