"Contract Rider"
from the Groupie Feminism art series
Attributions
American Girl Accessories except for the contract and open call print-outs, drugs, cigarettes, swizzle sticks, matches, Amaretto, rhinestone stud, m&ms, Coke bottle lighter, peanut butter pretzels, brown paper lunch bag, can of beer, cotton balls, rhinestone stickers, gold ground and silver wall:
Rolling cart in pink and gold with removable top tray
Contract rider
Various contract rider requests from online open call
A deck of cards
A library card that shows books on a bookcase shelf
M&Ms, 85 plain (1 chipped) and 1 peanut
A pack of Marlboro cigarettes
A pack of matches
A bottle of Coke that’s also a lighter
A rhinestone stud
4 swizzle sticks (3 pearl-tipped and 1 pink gem-tipped)
An orange heart sticker
A blue flower sticker (representing wildflowers)
An orange or pink star sticker (representing the stars in the sky)
Cotton balls (representing clouds, the sky and drugs)
Gold matte board floor (representing the sun)
Silver matte board wall (representing the moon)
Croissant on a folded pink cloth napkin
4 decadent desserts, two covered in chocolate icing and two covered in pink icing and both with edible ribbons
A cucumber sandwich and 3 macaroons: purple, orange, yellow, on a pink paper doily
Heart-shaped waffles with strawberries and yogurt on a white plate on a pink doily with decorative white and scalloped edging
A carafe of maple syrup
A white tray of fruit (banana, blueberries, apple, orange, lemons)
A thick sandwich with a olive on top with a bag of chips and some peanut butter pretzels on a white plate decorated with an orange starfish
Sushi on a red plate decorated with white flowers
A bowl of flowers and honey
Two slices of buttered toast on a folded pink napkin
Brown paper sack with peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an Oreo cookie, and a pear
Heart-shaped pizza with pizza box and pink napkins
A can of beer
Two beverage cans with red straws
A gallon of milk
A carton of orange juice
A bottle of champagne that’s also a candle
A bottle of booze (to represent a variety of alcohol but this bottle is actually Beckett’s non-alcoholic Amaretto)
A orange drink with slice of lemon and pink flamingo straw
Two soft drinks with red-striped straws (one is a Diet Dr Pepper, one is purple)
A pink milkshake with whipped cream and a cherry on top, with a white straw
A pink smoothie with whipped cream and a strawberry on top, with a green-striped straw
A lavendar smoothie with white straw
A hot pink smoothie with yellow straw
A coffee pot with coffee, it’s orange rim indicates decaf but it could be caffeine coffee anyway!
A cup of caffeine-rich coffee
Grey teakettle with orange flowers
A cup of tea
A cup of milk in a glass decorated with red hearts
Beverage in a to-go cup
Mug of hot chocolate
Bottled water
Watermelon on a white cloth napkin with a flower and leaf insignia
Fork
Napkin
Drugs: Valium, Lorazepam, Hydrocodon
Two cotton balls
A bouquet of flowers
A love letter from a groupie
A star rhinestone sticker
A flower blue rhinestone sticker
14” x 9 1/2” x 10”
2025
Artist Statement
Sometime in the 1980s, when I first heard that Van Halen stipulated no brown m&ms on their contract rider, I realized rock stars could ask for and receive whatever they wanted, and that a contract rider spelled it out. For years Van Halen’s stipulation would just appear in my mind as a visual - a shiny candy - and I’d ponder personal preferences.
I created this artwork because I was recently thinking how great it would be to have a contract rider for my every day life. So I thought I’d post an open call on social media, asking folks what they’d want or bring. Here’s my open call, posted on Facebook 5.18.25, and on Instagram 5.26.25:
If you were a groupie in any era, what food and drink would you bring to your favorite band? If you were a musician in any era, what food or drink would you want brought to you? Your answers will be in an art project I’m making, and you will be credited (unless you’d rather be anonymous). Thank you!!!
I just asked my sweetie, Wayne, the singer/songwriter in the Thirsty Brats (1980s) and the Luxury Cruisers (1990s), and he said: “Depends. Is it groceries? Or a meal? Sandwiches would be good, from Lanza Brothers (on Main Street near art brewery district).”
On 5.24.25, I amended the post (as if it were a contract rider) with the following:
I’m really trying to figure out what I’d want! I have yet to figure it out. But maybe I’d like best something I’ve never had but that is definitely decadent. Maybe a creamy French pastry or dessert and a complex coffee or tea concoction. Or: a regular coffee from a New York deli, in that blue and white to go cup, and a bagel and cream cheese from a New York deli, and in a brown paper sack, oh how I’d love that so much!
I think I’d bring: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (because that’s what Linda Ronstadt made when some famous musician asked for dinner) and a Yahoo! Maybe some vegan m&ms.
Here are the responses, which are included on the serving cart in this Contact Rider assemblage :
May 18, 2025
Drugs.
May 18, 2025
Oh and crisps for the munchies.
May 18, 2025
Peanut butter pretzels.
May 18, 2025
Pitcher of chilled caipririnha ( Brazilian sugarcane rum drink), and a stack of Thai sticks laced with opium.
May 18, 2025
When my sister Giulietta Karras, Cynthia Albritton and I went backstage after the Band played in Chicago (I think in 82), they served sushi in the dressing room. Levon Helm came up to us and offered us some. I was deeply impressed.
May 18, 2025
I would bring Tea and Toast.
May 18, 2025
I’d bring The Rolling Stones a New York pizza and some egg creams.
May 19, 2025
Depends? As in adult diapers?
May 19, 2025
I wish I had groupies. Well, I had one. She would come to gigs and hang around after the gig while we were breaking down our gear. She said, “I’ll pay you just to talk to you. I know you need money because you’re a musician.”
May 21, 2025
Hmmm ... I would want someone to bring me a good bottle of genuine champagne - none of that sparkling wine garbage - with two glasses, because I share! I'd have it after the show, of course.
Also, sliced organic pink lady or cosmic crisp apples, sprinkled with lemon juice to keep them from bringing. Nice and light for when I'm performing~~~
May 24, 2025
Blue berries for energy and waffles to absorb the beer.
Around May 28
ladygr1nningsoul
Marlboro Reds and a bottle of Coke.
Sharon also wrote to me via messenger 5.18.25:
I would bring Tea and Toast, for the Beatles of course, especially Paul.
I also researched online contract riders, and the one I decided on for this assemblage is based on Pink Martini’s from 2021. The serving cart is standing on it.
Before reading the various contract riders in detail I’d figured it was just rampant human desire gone amok in a culture that privileges pleasure and hierarchy over moderation and self-reliance, but now I see how important some of the desires are, for example, lemon and tea for the throats of singers, clean towels (I mean, is that so wrong to request?), and salads, and ripe fruit, filtered water (also quite reasonable).
Imagine someone else getting all that for you. It would be so terrific to simply wake up and only focus on your art. Not the shopping/cleaning/cooking/accounting/bill-paying/errands. I mean, it’s like if your life is a nonfiction book then having all that help would be like having an assistant do your transcribing and bibliography.
I love that Iggy Pop wanted a deck of cards for strip poker, that Blondie wanted smoothies, that Al Green always had flowers for the fans, and that the Bee Gees wanted plants in their dressing room. The Ramones requested milk and orange juice. That Jack Nicholson said he wanted fresh fruit and water when Bob Geldof asked what he’d like (Jack was the introducing host in the U.S. for Live Aid in 1985). Lana Del Rey wants a tea kettle, ginger and a pizza! My mom told me on 7.18.25 that she’d want a book case of books.
I want candles, hot water, green tea, vegan treats. Soft lighting. But if I could have anything at all like these really rich people can? It would be very easy to get outrageous with that! I want…wildflowers on every path I walk, and stars overhead, and the sun and moon and ocean. The sky. Oh wait, I already have all that. And so do you. We don’t have to be rock stars to be given that.
Bibliography
BBC. “From Bey to Biebs: Here’s What 7 Stars Have in Their Backstage Riders.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5JRq8DfKscqt0LWvvgf1Fvt/from-bey-to-biebs-heres-what-7-stars-have-in-their-backstage-riders Digital link. Accessed 8.10.25.
Cross, Alan. Alan Cross’s Journal of Musical Things. “Ongoing History Daily: The Ramones Rider.” July 24, 2025. https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/ongoing-history-daily-the-ramones-rider/ Digital link. Accessed 8.13.25.
Graham, Bill and Robert Greenfield. Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out. Doubleday, 1992.
Rapp, Allison. “101 Hilarious Rock Tour Rider Requests.” Ultimate Classic Rock and Culture. February 13, 2024. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/rock-tour-rider-requests/ Digital link. Accessed July 7, 2025.
Editors. “Backstage.” The Smoking Gun. 2025. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstage Digital link. Accessed July 7, 2025.
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice. Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. United States: CNN Films, 2019.
Pink Martini contract rider. https://pinkmartini.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2021-CONTRACT-RIDER-v210511-general-1.pdf Digital link with PDF. Accessed July 7, 2025.