John Legend - Blog 1

    John Legend will be UNT’s guest entertainer/speaker for this spring’s Distinguished Lecture Series. He will be performing songs as well as delivering a speech on Feb. 7. The lecture tickets are free to students prior to the event, and can be picked up on the third floor of the Union at the information desk with a valid school i.d.

    The lecture series is paid for by the school with funds delegated from student services fees, but the question with this series is, are the guest speakers trying to ask too much? Many people can agree that entertainers are divas but is there a line they can cross that makes them too high maintenance? For the 2011-2012 school year, the Distinguished Lecture Series requested $200,000 from student services fees and was allocated $180,000. The $180,000 was for just this one school year to bring in Robert Gates and John Legend. This allocated money is for travel expenses, comfort expenses and payment for their involvement. John Legend’s comfort expenses seem to be a bit out of the ordinary.

    I went shopping with a staff member in Student Affairs Administration who is in charge of the lecture series. She brought along only a short part of Legend’s requests.
    • One (1) steamer or steam iron, with board
    • One (1) hot water kettle (cannot have been used to make coffee in the past)
    • One (1) pack of Dixie Insular Coffee Cups (16 oz size)
    • One (1) box of Ricola throat lozenges
    • One (1) Honeybee honey or equivalent
    • One (1) Organic Throat Coat
    • Fourteen (14) bottles Fiji water, 8 oz bottles must be ROOM TEMPERATURE

    This is the exact appearance of the part of the shopping list that we were shopping for that particular day. When I first saw it I did not think much about it until I started looking for the items. The steamers were more than $30 which for a one time use I felt was too much. As a student I felt the money should not be spent excessively to pamper one performer. He also does not get to keep the steamer so I did not want to over spend on a once used item. The hot water kettle was also expensive considering the school has coffee pots that adequately warm up water as well as a microwave. But the performer demands it so we have to provide it.


    To my surprise Dixie brand does not make their coffee cups in 16 oz but only in 12 oz. There was an off-brand that made a 16 oz but what specified detail was more important? The brand or the size? [insert joke about size here.] So to be on the safe side we bought both. Ricola throat lozenges do not come in boxes so I was starting to get the feeling these details were fake. He gets the bag of them like everyone else in the world. The Honeybee honey did not exist on the selves of the grocery store but the list did say “or equivalent” and I was deeply tempted to get him the “Great Value” brand but had to fight the urge.

   Again the request of “organic throat coat” did not seem to exist so we moved onto the last item on that one list. The Fiji water. I was no longer surprised to find out that they do not make 8 oz bottles. They make 330 mL, 500 mL, 1 L and 1.5 L. The smallest is a little over 11 oz. If he wanted that particular brand of water then he would have to deal with the size of the bottles. And if he so wished he can empty some water to make it 8 oz. He even gets a few extra bottles because there was no way to buy 14 in any variation of packages. When we were finally in line to check out I was informed that these were not even the “craziest” of his request or requests in the past from other entertainers. Now when I go to his performance on Feb. 7, I will look at him differently.

   The rest of his request list was not shown to me but if this was a small example of his demands and the advisor in charge said they were not even anything compared to the rest then I will let my imagination do the rest. With this shopping trip I got to thinking about how his demands communicate to other people. And how it would be difficult to PR for him. As his PR agent you would want to sell him to others for shows and appearances but if they heard he has such high requests would they want to hire him? Is he the new Diana Ross? I am starting to think it would be easier to PR for someone more like Taylor Swift who is more down to earth and sweet. Or is that just the perspective identity her PR agent has created for her? [I have heard from people who have met T Swift that she really is as nice as she seems.]

   If people from other venues saw the full list of his requests for UNT would they want to bring him in after? I have to believe no they would not. There comes a time where asking for the moon is too much. Hot water and honey for a singers throat is understandable and maybe some mixed nuts and a diet coke but specifications on size and brands are a bit much. And the rumored couch he asked for in his dressing room is over the top. Is this the work of a PR practitioner if I decide to go into entertainment PR? If so then I need to rethink corporate or a new career. I felt like an errand boy for some rich snobby family as I had to go find the items on his list. I did not like it and if I were to PR for someone independently, I hope they do not make demands like these because sooner or later said demands will ruin people’s perception of the entertainer.