6 ms·

In case anyone is confused, I believe the reference to "no brown M&Ms" is a reference to Van Halen's contracts: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/brown-out/ htt

In case anyone is confused, I believe the reference to "no brown M&Ms" is a reference to Van Halen's contracts: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/brown-out/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/brown-out/ > So, when I would walk backstage, if I saw a brown M&M in that bowl … well, line-check the entire production. Guaranteed you’re going to arrive at a technical error. They didn’t read the contract. Guaranteed you’d run into a problem. Sometimes it would threaten to just destroy the whole show. Something like, literally, life-threatening.

cpeterso 5y ago
Did Van Halen ever actually cancel any shows because of brown M&Ms? The Snopes article says David Lee Roth found a brown M&M, but the show proceeded (and technical problems caused damage to the venue floor). "I found some brown M&M’s, I went into full Shakespearean “What is this before me?” … you know, with the skull in one hand … and promptly trashed the dressing room. Dumped the buffet, kicked a hole in the door, twelve thousand dollars’ worth of fun. The staging sank through their floor. They didn’t bother to look at the weight requirements or anything, and this sank through their new flooring and did eighty thousand dollars’ worth of damage to the arena floor. The whole thing had to be replaced.
- jjeaff 5y ago
  Vandalism and destruction of property is a crime, even if you say you will pay for it. I guess if you are rich or famous enough, everyone just let's everything slide.
  - ceejayoz 5y ago
    Unless, of course, said destruction of property is in said contract. Otherwise, "smash therapy" places couldn't exist. If I were writing contracts for rock stars, I'd probably look to account for tantrums and raging parties in the wording.
travisjungroth 5y ago
There's something I don't get about that method, as clever as it sounds. The method is if there are brown M&Ms, then check the entire production for safety. What about the else? Don't check everything? So if the person in charge of the green room happens to be on top of things and picks out a few M&Ms, they don't line-check the entire production even though there could be something "literally life-threatening"? It's easy to say that the brown M&Ms acted as a signal, but I can't think of any way to depend on that signal that isn't reckless. Just check the actual production, since that seems to be an option.
- hallway_monitor 5y ago
  If we were designing a critical system around this, I suppose I would create several unrelated triggers that, if found, would invoke an extra-detailed review of all work in the show.
- hashkb 5y ago
  The baseline assumption is that they read your contract and do everything. It's their job to get it right. If they're attentive to the stupidest thing in your contract, they probably did an OK job on everything else. Sure, it's still possible to be electrocuted during the show even if the M&M's were right. But, rock stars are not going to arrive early every night just to stay alive. The buck has to stop somewhere, and EVH decided it was in the bowl of M&M's.
  - jjeaff 5y ago
    I don't buy that this trick would be effective, though I like the sentiment. I would guess that the detail of m&m color could very often be overlooked due to its insignificance and create a false signal. For one, the same people in charge of safety like riggings and electrical are not going to be the same people that are supplying the refreshments. I can also imagine a high number of people like myself reading that part and think it's a joke or purposely ignoring it because there are much more important issues to deal with and because I'm not much into indulging the ridiculous whims of self important people.

cpeterso 5y ago

Did Van Halen ever actually cancel any shows because of brown M&Ms? The Snopes article says David Lee Roth found a brown M&M, but the show proceeded (and technical problems caused damage to the venue floor). "I found some brown M&M’s, I went into full Shakespearean “What is this before me?” … you know, with the skull in one hand … and promptly trashed the dressing room. Dumped the buffet, kicked a hole in the door, twelve thousand dollars’ worth of fun. The staging sank through their floor. They didn’t bother to look at the weight requirements or anything, and this sank through their new flooring and did eighty thousand dollars’ worth of damage to the arena floor. The whole thing had to be replaced.

jjeaff 5y ago
Vandalism and destruction of property is a crime, even if you say you will pay for it. I guess if you are rich or famous enough, everyone just let's everything slide.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  Unless, of course, said destruction of property is in said contract. Otherwise, "smash therapy" places couldn't exist. If I were writing contracts for rock stars, I'd probably look to account for tantrums and raging parties in the wording.

travisjungroth 5y ago

There's something I don't get about that method, as clever as it sounds. The method is if there are brown M&Ms, then check the entire production for safety. What about the else? Don't check everything? So if the person in charge of the green room happens to be on top of things and picks out a few M&Ms, they don't line-check the entire production even though there could be something "literally life-threatening"? It's easy to say that the brown M&Ms acted as a signal, but I can't think of any way to depend on that signal that isn't reckless. Just check the actual production, since that seems to be an option.

hallway_monitor 5y ago
If we were designing a critical system around this, I suppose I would create several unrelated triggers that, if found, would invoke an extra-detailed review of all work in the show.
hashkb 5y ago
The baseline assumption is that they read your contract and do everything. It's their job to get it right. If they're attentive to the stupidest thing in your contract, they probably did an OK job on everything else. Sure, it's still possible to be electrocuted during the show even if the M&M's were right. But, rock stars are not going to arrive early every night just to stay alive. The buck has to stop somewhere, and EVH decided it was in the bowl of M&M's.
- jjeaff 5y ago
  I don't buy that this trick would be effective, though I like the sentiment. I would guess that the detail of m&m color could very often be overlooked due to its insignificance and create a false signal. For one, the same people in charge of safety like riggings and electrical are not going to be the same people that are supplying the refreshments. I can also imagine a high number of people like myself reading that part and think it's a joke or purposely ignoring it because there are much more important issues to deal with and because I'm not much into indulging the ridiculous whims of self important people.