ENTERTAINMENT The Calgary Herald SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1974 PAGE 49 Rock group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, constantly disbanding and re-grouping, are rumored to be all-time champs at preparing exorbitant contract riders. ; From left, David Crosby, Neil Young, Graham Nash and Steve Stills Many promoters regard demands for extra 'essentials' as 'out-of-hand ego-tripping' Rock band contract riders can be promoters nightmare A contract is a binding legal agreement between two parties. Some contracts are simple, some are complicated. In the rock and roll business, they're often likely to be very, very complicated. The simple part of a contract for a rock and roll concert is the opening section specifying the date, place and By Eugene Chadbourne (Herald staff Writer) time. After that, the going gets rough. And the roughest part of all is the rider. A contract rider is an additional group of clauses supplementing the regular contract. In the rock business, you can usually judge how successful a group is by the length of its rider. " The typical rider for a rock performance is basically a bill of goods and services required by the group to ensure the concert will run smoothly. . Clauses usually deal with sound system, lighting and security requirements as well as specifying a certain amount of comfort for the musicians backstage. Many riders are short and sweet, stipulating the essentials needed by the group for a trouble-free concert. J Others, however, are exorbitant, 50-page novellas which have been described by many rock promoters as completely out-of-hand ego trips. So far, there's been one positive effect of Calgary's poor track record of attracting big-name rock groups. Promoters and concert workers here have yet to experience a really major run-in with an exorbitant rider, even though there have been instances where things were less than comfortable. One group asked for a bucket of chilled oranges But with all signs pointing toward a major escalation of Calgary's budding young, rock concert scene, promoters are busy building up the emotional muscles required to deal with the big names. According to local promoters and agents, contract riders can become exorbitant in two distinct areas. First, a group putting on an especially complex stage show full of technical effects is liabls to come through with elaborate, detailed requests for lighting and sound equipment as well as demands for something very few promoters can actually do anything about the dimensions of the stage on which the group is to perform. ' Since these soecifications will usually wind up enhancing the entertainment value of the show and satisfying the audience, promoters are willing to grin and bear it. The second area, however, is something people who put on concerts aren't all that happy about. Many riders describe in minute detail the refreshments food, drink. cigaFette r the group requires backstage, and sometimes filling these reaaests can become extremely nerve-racking. In Canada, coming up with American brands of cigarettes and liquor for the rock groups often means a minor but time-consuming task. Other requests such as buckets of chilled oranges, vintage French rose chilled to a specified temperature, steaks done to perfection served backstage, and assorted sandwiches all add tip to more problems on top of the usual intense rigamarole a promoter goes through on the night of a concert. 'Bigger you are, the bigger ycur rider has to be' All In all. fulfilling a contract rider can be a hair-pulling experi?nce. And one question promoters often ask themselves is why? Why are rock musicians young, suDDOsedly anti-esta-MMiment rb?ls behaving like dandies of the jet-set? "Ice hc-e! Oranges thee! Wine here!" SMidio Citv aeent Gord Wi'on laughs. "It's an ego thing, that's all it is. The bigger jou are, the bigger vow rider has to be. When you stoo to hink of it it really bugs you. Why would anybody need a 25-page rider? It's ridiculous." Frank Middleton. also of Studio City which handles many of the negotiations and arrangements necessary to bring a rock group into the city puts it even stronger. "These rock stars -, . . Uiey get up there and make it big and they realize they can get anything they want, and pretty soon they start living up to the role. "Anybody that has 22,000 people paying $6 apiece to see them in every city," Mr. Middleton says, "or a million people buying their record every- , v ' & f it $ x &i ti ! nwti'k'liltiri DAVE HORODEZKY ... never had bad experience time they put one out, anybody that has that happening to them will become an egotist. It's as simple as that." Edmonton promoter Ron Hry-ckowian, a former Studio City man now doing independent concert promotion, says rock musicians prepare exorbitant contract riders in order "to feel like stars. Your average rock group that makes it good goes com-petely on ego trips." ,r - 7 - - " - - 4 li m I ... , - - Vi? 1 - - it . - a ' - ' ; ?-r t it. - ... I .. . - w - - i imii i -' " -"--yil i'l. -- r- - -I llqv-. -:-:' flM M - i mm Wi 'WfAM n Aii ' iM Most promoters will admit that most of Uie requirements written out in riders are necessary - that without them, a promoter could take advantage of the musicians he is hiring. Calgary promoter Dave Horodezky, who has handled concerts by the biggest groups coming into Calgary, says the majority of promoters may get stuck at the last moment simply because they never closely read the rider in question until the day the group arrives. "Some of them don't even read the thing until the last minute," he says. "Here's the way it's supposed to work. When you get the contract you read the rider, and if there's a clause you can't fill you phone the agency for an adjustment. Usually you can work these things out. I've always felt the rider was there just to give you a basic idea of what the group wants." In his three years of promoting rock concerts on the Calgary scene. Mr. Horodezky says he has never had a "really bad experience" with a rider. He's filled lots of requests for distilled water, air-conditioned limousines, dry ice, hard-to-get brands of tequila and demands for stage dimensions which he considered "beyond the norm." "But I've never really had a problem," he says. "I probably will as the bigger groups start to come." Every promoter has a list of groups to watch out for, bands that are rumored to make completely unreasonable requests. The Rolling Stones whose every tour is a news event reportedly present promoters with book-length documents which are kept strictly confidential. Other performers are known for certain quirks one big soul singer insists on a certain exact temperature in night clubs while a few select groups are considered complete nuisances, asking for everything they can get and more. In the grapevine of rock promotion, no group has a worse reputation for contract riders than the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young aggregation. A loosely-formed combo which is liable to break uo and reform at a moment's notice, the band still enjoys success as one of the top money-making attractions in the rock business. Individually, each member of the . group especially Neil Young and Steve Stills pack an equally powerful box-office punch. Both Young and Stills, too, are known as tyrants when it comes time to preparing a contract rider. It's a subject that Frank Middleton eniovs talking about. He's currently helping to handle negotiations with Neil Young over several concerts in Western Canada, and before moving to PAUL BUTTERFIELD AND HIS GROUP BETTER . . . Butterfield (second from left) Calgary, worked as an advance man for Young and the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young group! It was Mr. Middleton's job to co-ordinate tours by moving from city to city one jump ahead of the tour he was working with. "I was supposed to see whether the promoters had read the rider and knew what was happening, what they had to do. I had to see whether" all the arrangements were made. In some cities things would be beautiful, all ready to go, while in others all hell would be breaking loose." Confusion like that caused him many a headache, but in retrospect he can understand what it Was like for promoters and their crews when someone like Neil Young was coming to town. "I could tell you stories about his contracts that would make your hair curl, man," Mr. Middleton says. "It was just page after page of incidentals, and it was four times as bad with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. "To start with, there's the equipment. They'll insist on special sound equipment, I think it was from some firm in Dallas, so that . had to be shipped all over the place. That was a real hassle. Neil Young always wants Baby Duck wine "Then there was the backstage action. Neil Young always wants a bottle of Baby Duck wine, perfectly cooled in a bucket. He specifies his meal, too, exactly what he wants to eat, exactly to his taste. If he wants a steak and says he wants it medium-rare, it bloody well has to be medium rare or there's no show. "He wants music sheet paper in his room." Mr. Middleton says, "whatever hotel he's staying in there has to be music sheet paper, a Martin D-45 guitar and supply of Bic ball-point pens in case he gets an idea for a song. Sometimes he insists that stuff sheet paper, guitar, pen be on hand at all time, in the limousine when he travels from the hotel to the gig and back just in case he gets an idea. "Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young? They could get anyway with anything, and they do. As I remember it," Mr. Middleton says, "They'd require two limousines to pick them up at the airport. And it had to be two they didn't want to ride four in one. And the people that picked them up had to be short-haired guys wearing suits, they thought it would be dumb to ride a limousine being driven Dy some m , . r..rv.-.r M.-?-r' M rlTKJW 11 c a it 'rata? . 1 urn. 'Tv' DAYS HAVE A NINE-PAGE CONTRACT RIDER canceiiea eomonron guy with long hair and jeans. And sometimes it's really hard to find straight-looking guys anymore, especially to go pick up Crosby. Stills, Nash and Young at the airport." Mr. Middleton says that the group would insist on acting like "Gentlemen of the World at every city they stayed in . "They would specify dru'iks. Crosby would want Canadian Club rye- Nash has White Light Rum. And they'd have their bassist and drummer with them, so you'd wind up with six completely different demands for suppers, six completely different demands for American brands of cigarettes. Neil Young wants two packs of Winstons backstage. "They want strings for guitars. In one city they wanted 'shapely women' to serve them dinner. All this stuff adds up, and if it isn't done right, there's no concert." No promoter in Calgary has ever had an experience to match Mr. Middleton's descriptions of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young on the road, but a concert last winter with the Paul But-terfield band Better Days and British rock singer Rory Gallagher came too close for comfort. Studio City agents such as Mr. Middleton and Mr. Hryckowian were in on the concert arrangements, and were surprised to find Butterfield's contract rider to be a nine-page doozy. "We weren't expecting that. Paul Butterfield is not a star. He isn't a big name. When I saw that contract," Mr. Hrychowian says, "I just about . . . well I just about threw up." In comparison with the stories about Crosby. Stills, Nash and Young and The Rolling Stones, the Butterfield contract is no big deal. But the element of surprise threw promoters off, and the experience turned out to be hectic. The Butterfield rider basically covers all the terms of a concert. It starts with specifications about ticket pricing, box-office receipts and the form of payment the group requires. On the fourth page, a clause printed in capital letters states: "NO PORTION OF THE PERFORMANCE RENDERED THEREUNDER MAY BE PHOTOGRAPHED, RECORDED. FILMED, TAPED OR EMBODIED IN ANV FORM FOR THE PURPOSE OF REPRODUCING SUCH PERFORMANCE AND EMPLOYER AGREES THAT IT WILL NOT AUTHORIZE ANY SUCH RECORDING WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING PROHIBITION. IT IS UNDERSTOOD TO INCLINE MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE. PRESS AND EMPLOYER'S STAFF." 4ji e.tra chore for the promoter confiscating cameras. Concert promoters agreed that the equipment specifications, listed on pages six through eight, were more detailed than usual. Here's an example of what the band required: (a) Twenty-two Shure SM-57 microphones, to be equipped with boom stands and nine to be equipped with straight 'stands ; . . (b) An input mizer console with twenty-four low impedance, individually equalized input channels. This console must be located in the audience area, in a position to be determined by Artist's sound engineer, and connected to the stage by a 'snake' of at least 150 feet in length. Accessory equipment for use in conjunction with the input mixer console must include one UREI 1176 N Linvted. one Altec 729A Acousavoicette Graphic Equalizer and one electronic crossover panel. Four clauses cover lighting requirements (c) A Stage monitor system including seven Bose 800 floor monitor speaker cabinets. The monitor system will be mixed, powered and equalized independently of the main program system. The monitor mixing facility will be an input mixer console containing at least ten low impedance, individually equalized input channels. It shall be located in an onstage position to be determined by the Artist's . sound engineer. One Altec 729A Acou-stavoicette Graphic Equalizer shall be available to use with the monitor system. This monitor system shall be powered with at least four Crown DC-ISO power amplofiers. (d) A main program speaker amplification system consisting of: Six speaker cabinets containing two 15-inch Gauss speakers. Two speaker cabinets each containing one Altec 815 low-frequency horn and two Altec 42184 speakers. Two multicellular horns (1 X 2) with Altec 238C drivers. Four dual sectoral horns with Altec 288C drivers. Two Altec 805B horns (small 2 X 4) with Altec 283C drivers. A minimum of six Crown DC-300 power amplifiers. There are lighting reouirements. set down in detail in four clauses. And backstage, "the employer will provide at his sole expense one hour before performance time ... 24 assorted sandwiches, one gallon of milk, one case of Coca-Cola, one bottle of amber Bacardi Rum. and three cases of Schlitz beer. The milk, Coca-Cola and beer must be cold and ice and cups shall also be provided ..." 'You accept even the biggest of the ego-trips' According to Mr. Hryckowian, the group was so hard to please at the Edmonton engagement that the concert was "practically called off. To hell with practically the show was cancelled three times in one afternoon." "We had the beer chilled in the sink, not a wine bucket like they wanted. The milk wasn't as cold as they wanted. I really hated the whole thing." Mr. Hryckowian says. "I felt like saying, okay, cancel it. Who gives a damn?' Nonetheless, Mr. Hryckowian will go on producing rock shows, dealing with the riders as they come. "There are a lot of bad contracts," he says. "But basically, they're okay. They're iust to ensure the group goes on okay. I know promoters, man , if the lighting system isn't specified they'll use some "cheap thing just to make a few extra bucks. The same with the sound. What isn't listed, a promofer wouldn't do. That's the rule. But it would be good to come up with some kind of. compromise." He lists groups such as Pink Floyd and The Moody Blues as easy to wort with. "I've seen their riders. They're very reasonable. It just says 'refreshments' for what tliev want in the dressing room." Older blues nd rock musicians such as Freddie King and Bo Diddley are "really easy to work with." he says. "But when you find a group that isn't easy to work .th, what can you do?" he says. "You read the contract, you sign it, you accept It, you accent even the biggest of the ego-trips." And there's nothing you can do about it? "No. not if you want the group to play," he says with a shrug.