35 Cities, 35 Toilet Seats

MARCH 6--If you're considering booking Mary J. Blige for a concert or TV appearance, be prepared to make a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond.

That's because the 35-year-old R&B singer's performance contract stipulates that her dressing room include a "private toilet (with new toilet seat)." According to her current concert rider, an excerpt of which you'll find here, Blige also requires, among other things, six cans of "Schweeps Ginger Ale," Aveda candles, and a tub of Red Vine licorice. Oh, and her ten bottles of water "absolutely, positively must be FIJI."

Blige is equally demanding when it comes to the rider her people forward to hotels, where she checks in as "Mrs. Jefferson." In that separate document, Blige requires a presidential suite and asks that the hotel not rent a connecting room if there is one. She demands that her "Do Not Disturb" sign be honored by housekeeping personnel. This is such an important point that it is driven home with 26 exclamation points.

And forget about operating any vacuums or noisy equipment in the hallway outside Mrs. Jefferson's suite. Blige & Co. even want to be apprised of any "construction or redecorating" occurring "in or near the hotel." If such work forces them to decamp, "relocation...will be at expense of the hotel." Of course. (3 pages)