Chatter: What's In A Diva's Dressing Room?

Oops, we did it again.

We have in our grubby hands some concert riders to the stars. Not sure what they are? It's the outrageous requests that stars make while on tour so that concert promoters in each town go mad trying to find a way to get two identical keys made for Britney Spears' dressing room. "Key? Who has a key?" You can hear the house manager yelling!

And then there are all of those vegetarian requests, especially from Christina Aguilera. Try to find soy in some small Wisconsin town where whole milk is a staple.

Then there's Cher, who must have a TV with VCR including a cable hook-up with the following channels as "must haves": Turner Classic Movies or AMC. Is she trying to catch a rerun of "Mask" or "Moonstruck," perhaps?

And forget cell phones. Landlines are a "must" for Cher and Britney with unrestricted calling and unlisted telephone numbers.

Here are some other incredible "rider" stories, courtesy of The Smoking Gun.com.

We've selected some highlights from each, and the list is by no means complete:

Britney's Home Away From Home

Each room must have a lock with a key and two copies of each key made available to the tour manager and productions manager.

Dressing room: Please feel free to "dress room up" to give an apartment feel.

An UNLISTED, unrestricted (but I was only calling half way across the world! Justin's in Europe somewhere!) outgoing telephone line will be required for Britney's room. Publishing of this phone number and/or any incoming calls will result in $5,000 fine payable by the promoter.

Dressing room food (1999 tour): Two boxes of Pop-Tarts, one box of Captain Crunch and one box of Fruit Loops, one large bowl of candy bars, 12 bottles of Evian water, orange juice, grape juice, cranberry juice, hot soup, deli tray, fruit tray, vegetable tray, etc.

Dressing room food (2000 tour): Box of red Altoids, bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and one bag of WOW! Doritos, small bowl of fresh tuna salad with Hellmann's mayo, eggs, relish, white albacore tuna only! Tin General Food's International coffee (1) French vanilla and (1) Suisse Mocha.

What A Girl Wants, But Doesn't Need

A police escort? Your tax dollars at work.

Upon request by Christina Aguilera's representative, police escorts must be arranged in order to facilitate the band vehicles arrival to and departure from the venue. This escort must be empowered to route the vehicles through any potential traffic delay. Under no circumstances are the vehicles to be allowed to encounter any delays due to traffic.

Christina Aguilera Dressing Room Musts:

One six pack of Coke (Not Pepsi and No Diet)

Carnation Instant Breakfast original malt flavor

One small container of Nesquick chocolate flavor

Organic Whole Milk (health food store)

Full fat vanilla soy milk (must not contain canola oil, barley oats or malt of any kind)

Soya Kaas Soy Cheese

Power bars, Cliff bars, Balance bars

One roll of APS film 200 speed exposure

Four votive candles with matches

One small bottle of Flinstones Vitamins with extra vitamin C

Platter assortment of gums and mints

Cable-connected Cher

In addition to cable TV, Cher requires a drape outside of the dressing room door to ensure privacy for the artist.

Also, one direct-dial phone number is for Cher's use only. (Must be for all those calls to Turner Classic Movies.)

Lined trash receptacles are required.

Cher's dressing room "musts":

One 8-inch foot table covered with a white tablecloth

One comfortable non-folding chair

One three-seater comfortable, clean couch

One two-seater comfortable, clean couch

One coffee table

One end table for phone to be placed on.

Small bowl of M&M's

Small bowl of mixed nuts

One large assortment of fresh cut Casa Blacca lilies or gardenias

12, 16 oz. BLACK Solo cups.

No lamps, fake plants or pipe and drape inside the rooms are needed. Please keep it simple, the rider says. Ah, except for that private phone number and cable TV hook-up.

Also, the wigs need a room for themselves. One Wig Room is requested. Plus a room for Dr. Stacey so that a massage table can be set up.

Mariah Has Lots Of Meals

Plenty of food on the Mariah Carey tour, including lunch, dinner and a late-night meal. Whoa! Watch those calories.

Bottles of 16 oz. Evian are the only acceptable water for the dressing rooms.

Lunch: Lunch should continue for four hours and serve approximately 60 people. One hot soup: Tomato, black bean, minestrone, chili, vegetable, etc.
Assorted salads: i.e., salad bar, tomato with mozzarella, Caesar, spinach with hot bacon dressing, served with a variety of dressings. Cheese and crackers. Fresh-baked breads. Potato or tortilla chips with dips or fresh salsa. Several hot and cold dishes: One local dish, pasta dish, deli sandwiches, including wafer thin honey-roasted turkey breast, tuna salad (must be albacore white tuna in water only), hamburgers, french fries, chicken pot pies, ribs, tabasco sauce, ketchup.

Dinner: Dinner will commence 10 hours after load-in and should continue for four hours and serve 100 people.

One hot soup: Different from lunch

Assorted salads with dressings: Different from lunch

Fresh cheeses and crackers.

Fresh baked breads.

Several hot dishes (examples): grilled fish or shrimp, baked, barbecued or fried chicken, roasted turkey, stuffed pork chops, steak, baked ham, barbecued ribs, Italian, Mexican, Cajun, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Greek or local cuisine with appropriate side dishes (examples): baked or mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, steamed vegetables, wild rice, black beans, stuffed peppers. Also available for dinner must be a selection of homemade desserts.

Late-Night Meal: In some cities, a midnight meal will be needed.

OK, and then just roll them out of the city to the next tour stop.

In Mariah's dressing room: Sugarless gum, one box of Bendy straws, one director's chair, two hot air humidifiers, two air purifiers, one bottle of Cristal champagne, chilled, etc.

Although We're Focusing On Divas...

Prince:

There are items listed for Prince, however the one below was worth a special mention:

All items in this dressing room must be covered by clear plastic wrap until uncovered by main artists. This is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

Michelle Solomon's gossip column, Celebrity Chatter, appears each Monday. Got a question about a celebrity? E-mail us (please include your first name, city and state) and we'll find you the answer. Michelle Solomon@Celebrity Chatter.