schmiggens
Outrageous
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Registered: Apr 2003
Local time: 11:07 PM
Location: In The Zone
Posts: 18704
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HUSTLE IS ON TO MEET STARS' WHIMS
At this weekend's MTV awards extravaganza, inexhaustible armies of helpers and handlers will ensure that no celebrity whim goes unmet.
One A-lister requires an in-room piano, another 50 towels a day. A third high-octane celebrity only drinks Kabbalah water (Madonna perhaps?), forcing staffers at Miami's Mandarin Oriental to scour Google to track down the blessed liquid.
And so it goes for the raft of concierges, housekeepers, personal assistants, caterers, chauffeurs and bellhops tasked with tending to the whims of the cosseted stars in town for this weekend's 21st MTV Video Music Awards.
''We do as directed,'' said Mitchell Beer of Executive Limousines, the company providing 150 luxury rides for the show. ``We don't ignore the illegal, but we do ignore the weird.''
The National Hotel is stocking up on goat's milk, the only thing No Doubt's Gwen Stefani deems suitable for her cereal. The Mandarin has massage therapists on call 24/7. At the AmericanAirlines Arenaitself, where performers and presenters get their own backstage rooms, organizers are fielding a flurry of demands, some eccentric, others quotidian, others borderline odd.
Among them, according to MTV's Michele Dix (who wouldn't divulge names): One hip-hop performer wants catfish strips and mashed potatoes; another ''very popular pop artist'' requires extra crispy Kentucky Fried Chicken. A young rock group asked for a DVD of '70s balladeers Journey. Another asked for two large bags of M&Ms -- peanut and plain -- along with six little cups and bowls, a quirk ascribed in earlier published reports to Usher.
''He separates all the colors himself before he does any appearance or show,'' Dix said. ''It's something therapeutic, we think.'' (No demands yet to remove brown M&Ms from bowls of the candy, a strange but true request made by Van Halen).
MIRROR, MIRROR
By now, MTV staffers have pretty much seen it all. But one celebrity decree, made several years ago, had the most jaded handlers taken aback. Adding new dimension to vainglory, an iconic rock star demanded that someone carry a full-length mirror in front of him backstage at all times ''just to make sure he looked great,'' said Dix. The job fell to a rank-and-file MTV office assistant, who met the rock star on the red carpet and spent the next five-and-a-half hours walking backward around Radio City Music Hall, reflecting an outsized ego back to itself.
''You know, you don't ask questions,'' Dix said.
Not that anyone complains about kowtowing to celebrities: Half of Miami's stylists, makeup artists and hairdressers are falling over themselves for a chance to coif and primp the overpaid and famous.
South Beach's Van Michael Salon, where haircut prices run in the triple digits, are sending six stylists to tame celebrity manes backstage for free. Sabrina Crews, who manages stylists and makeup artists for her company, Blink Management Inc., went door-to-door to major record labels in New York, trying to convince them to sign over star tresses and faces.
But while the labels that foot the artists' bills seemed receptive, Crews said their stars weren't quite so keen. As the most casual celebrity watcher knows, few self-respecting rock stars travel without their personal ''glam squad'' -- a stylist, a hair person and a makeup person. ''Not everybody has them, but I would say 99.9 percent do,'' said Yvette Noel Schure, the publicist for Beyoncé, who's nominated for five awards.
Beyoncé's glam squad includes her mother, Tina, who doubles as her stylist. ''It doesn't take much to get Beyoncé ready. She's not going to bring in a truckload of folks,'' said Schure. ''I mean, the girl's gorgeous.'' Ashlee and Jessica Simpson are also being styled by their mom, says the sisters' publicist, with celebrity hairstylist Ken Paves also in tow.
All this imported help has left local stylists deflated. ''I thought we would've gotten more calls. It would just be nice for the whole market to sort of benefit from it,'' said Danny Santiago, who styles Dwayne ''the Rock'' Johnson.
Hotels and clubs, for their part, are hustling to lavish celebrities who have it all with even more.
STYLISH SCENE
The Sagamore Hotel's tented ''Style Villa'' features four days of free manicures, designer jewelry, pedicures, and celebrity psychics. For OutKast's party, the Miami Marketing Group is transforming Mansion nightclub into a ''fusion of Madagascar, Africa and Paris,'' says head organizer Brian Gordon. ''They've seen everything, so the question is, what are you going to throw at them?'' The answer: two simulated waterfalls, live trees, caged girls dressed as wild animals, Moulin Rouge performers and dancing candelabras.
Yet for all the opulent parties and wildly varied requests, the most common celebrity demand is for the simplest of childhood comforts: PB&J.
''No matter what genre, people like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,'' said Dix. ``I guess that goes back to kindergarten.''
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08-26-2004 09:53 AM
It's nice to know that behind all that glitter and glamour, most of them are just normal average everyday people. Normal average everyday people who need 50 towels, Kabbalah water and a mirror carrier, but normal people none-the-less. 
