https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHGJEdjCoeU" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHGJEdjCoeU

Apparently the whole M&M thing was a test to make sure that the venue actually read through the important technical documents carefully. They had a fairly elaborate stage/lighting set-up (for the time) and it would have been a safety hazard if things weren't done to specification.

And, I bet, a code violation by the venue if some of those specifications were not met.

They were not the only band to have had issues with it in LA, btw ... apparently PF and ELP also had them, and TD seems to have had some issues, mostly in Europe, where the venue could not even supply enough electricity to run all the equipment!

How's that for insane?

Frenetic Zetetic wrote: Yeah, the M&M gimmick was to prove nobody was reading their load in sheets and food rider.

Yeah, I know. That's why I started the OP with "If" just as an inside example.

BaldJean wrote: not prog, but composer Eric Satie ate only food that was white

Wow. I wonder why (and what he ate).

I've heard Steve Howe doesn't let anybody shake his hands.

Apparently Jimi Hendrix wouldn't record vocals if anybody could see him.

I see what you did there. Wonder as in wonder bread.  

I met Steve Howe briefly and I remember everyone talking about that while I was in line to get an autograph. Apparently Robert Fripp is the same way but not Steve Hackett(who's hand I shook). Speaking of Fripp though I made the mistake of trying to speak to him before a show(he was opening for Porcupine Tree as a solo act doing the soundscape thingy). Apparently what he does is he stands back and looks at the stage in order to prepare himself for his performance(a kind of a spiritual preparation I guess). When I spoke to him he gave me what I call "prayer hands" but didn't say anything. I didn't take it personally though. He has a bit of a reputation anyway for certain things and I guess that is just one of many things that some might find to be a bit strange.

I never heard that about Jimi though.

A lot of mozzarella?

in his book Memoirs of An Amnesiac, Satie described his diet: “My only nourishment consists of food that is white: eggs, sugar, shredded bones, the fat of dead animals, veal, salt, coconuts, chicken cooked in white water, moldy fruit, rice, turnips, sausages in camphor, pastry, cheese (white varieties), cotton salad, and certain kinds of fish (without their skin). I boil my wine and drink it cold mixed with the juice of the Fuchsia. I have a good appetite, but never talk when eating for fear of strangling myself.”

I remember years ago, the first time I lived in Oregon (late 70's), there was a group of people who were following some "guru," or another, who believed that, similar to horoscopes, depending on when you were born, you should only eat a certain colour of food...Seems like, from what we know now, that it would be difficult and not particularly healthful, either, although he did manage find quite a mix....Can't think eating camphor would be really good for you though...must not have ingested a lot of that....

the fat of dead animals and mouldy fruit? I can't see that diet catching on.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Apparently Robert Fripp is the same way but not Steve Hackett(who's hand I shook). Speaking of Fripp though I made the mistake of trying to speak to him before a show(he was opening for Porcupine Tree as a solo act doing the soundscape thingy). Apparently what he does is he stands back and looks at the stage in order to prepare himself for his performance(a kind of a spiritual preparation I guess). When I spoke to him he gave me what I call "prayer hands" but didn't say anything.

I've got to say I understand Fripp very well here. I wouldn't exactly be in talkative mood either before important presentations (or the few gigs I did long ago).

I would've liked to contribute something about Fripp but I can't recall it properly. In the early eighties I read a feature, I think in Sounds, by a music journalist who wrote about his experiences. I thought it was Steve Lake but having done a bit of research about Steve Lake now I think that's wrong because I don't know whether he ever wrote for Sounds and by the end of the seventies he was already pretty much done as a music journalist whereas the person I'm talking about was new to the job 1975 at the earliest if I remember correctly. Anyway, this guy lived with Robert Fripp for a week or so (it was at some point between Red and Discipline with KC temporarily not existing) and wrote about a number of weird things like hygiene obsession and how Robert would go on about how the world wasn't ready for his genius. Pity that I have to recollect this from my not very reliable memory so don't take this as "information". Anyway, if anybody can remember this thing, please fill my holes. Probably unlikely but some people here are walking encyclopedias, aren't you? 

maybe it was Alan Bangs

I thought Bangs is a TV and radio guy, but to my surprise the German Sounds archive actually throws up an interview that Bangs did with Fripp. This is not the feature I'm looking for but who knows? Maybe.