Bands Not Nuts on Backstage Goodies

The new book “Schott’s Food and Drink Miscellany” mentions that the Beach Boys once specified in a contract that they must be served the following goodies backstage: “One small bowl white (no red) pistachio nuts.”

I was reminded of a story about Van Halen making a similar backstage demand -- for a bowl of M&Ms;, with all the brown candies removed.

It may be that the Beach Boys and Van Halen had similar motives, however, and weren’t just trying to throw their weight around.

A Van Halen rep explained that the band had so much heavy equipment that it had to ask promoters for numerous specifications to avoid onstage disasters. And the brown M&Ms; exclusion was inserted into the lengthy contract just so the band could figure out if anyone had bothered to read the thing.

Details, details (cont.): As we all know, the world is inundated with contracts and all matter of paperwork that go largely unread.

A colleague once showed me an environmental impact report of several hundred pages that, midway through, contained a mild profanity; the author obviously was confident that no one would read the report word for word.

And several years ago, Peter Lee sent me a parcel map that contained a whimsical reference to some developers from outer space (see accompanying).

Unclear on the concept: Catherine Yamaguchi of La Mirada noticed that a “quality”-conscious company’s concerns evidently didn’t extend to carefully reading its own spelling (see accompanying).

More food for thought: Some other backstage requests of stars collected in “Schott’s Food and Drink Miscellany” -- Cher: “Two 20-ounce bottles of Cherry Rush Gatorade.” Frank Sinatra: “Twenty-four chilled jumbo shrimp.” Britney Spears: “One bag Cool Ranch Doritos; one box Altoids, red.” Aerosmith: “Corn on the cob; fresh ears; cooked three minutes only.” Rolling Stones: “Smart, well-groomed hostesses to assist in serving food.” I didn’t realize the Stones had such an interest in good grooming.

Feedback: After I printed the sales receipt from David Burns of Sunset Beach (see accompanying), Jim Glass and Ed Schlossman pointed out that one reason Burns saved so much money was that the tax on his purchase was just one penny. Added Schlossman: “Don’t tell Arnold about this!”

miscelLAny: I mentioned on Wednesday that L.A. has the world’s longest drive-through mural, a 236-foot work on the San Diego Freeway that depicts marathon runners. Which prompted Jerry Parsons to write that he was on the 405 one day when traffic was so bad that “several of the runners in the mural passed me.”

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083; by fax at (213) 237-4712; by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes. com.