Brown M&Ms

I like Van Halen, particularly the song "Jump", the video makes me chuckle as the the guys look like they are having fun. David Lee Roth is a character in a few different ways. There was a story floating about that Van Halen has a clause in their contract that a bowl of M&Ms must be in the dressing room and there are to be no brown M&Ms in the bowl. And yes, it has been reported that David Lee Roth has thrown hissy fits because of finding brown M&Ms in the bowl. A hissy-fit prejudice for brown M&Ms, that's an indication of a bona fide, grade A, whack-a-doodle. Or is it?

This week I read an article on Van Halen's Diamond Dave and the brown M&Ms. Yes he did throw hissy fits when seeing the little brown candies of "melts in your mouth and not in your hand", but there's a solid reason why. Van Halen was the first band to use a much greater quality lighting system than any other band in the industry at the time. With this ramped-up lighting system, the stage setup (electrical, support, you name it) was different than the norm and if the stage was not set to spec, delays of time,  and increased costs occurred not  to mention a few other things. To say the least this got old and immensely frustrating real quick because it meant that someone didn't read the details of the contract.

Insert the brown M&Ms. If the band saw brown M&Ms, that was a clue-in as to what else in the contract was not read and followed? Hint: has to do with the lights. So the whole hissy-fit wasn't at all about the candies in the dish, it was all about contract carelessness. I say that the brown M&Ms was a stroke of brilliance. More to ol' Diamond Dave than shaggy hair and spandex.

There was one other thing about Diamond Dave that I found quite interesting: he has studied Kung Fu since he was 12. Indications are that the style was Wushu, but the noteworthy part is that he is also a martial artist. Dave tells of when he started Kung Fu and asked his Master if learning Kung Fu was hard. The Master replied "no, learning Kung Fu is easy, it's showing up every day that's hard." Right he is.
Sherri Donohue
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