WATERLOO - Start with one black leather sofa.

Add a bag of crispy kettle-cooked potato chips and a set of black towels.

Throw in an assortment of fruit juices, sports drinks and bottled waters.

The result? One (hopefully) happy Bret Michaels, the headliner for tonight's My Waterloo Days Young Arena concerts.

"Booking these national acts is not just picking up the phone and getting a hold of the William Morris Agency," said festival director Jay Stoddard, referring to the famous international talent organization. "There's a lot of negotiation that goes back and forth about where you are going to house them, what they are going to feed them, and, of course, what goes in their dressing room."

And for Michaels, that means transforming a drab hockey locker room into a warm-up area fit for a king of rock 'n' roll.

"The requests are actually pretty simple in the grand scheme of things," said Paul Ferguson, music coordinator for My Waterloo Days. "We don't give them everything, but the things that are going to make them comfortable and happy, because a happy musician is a happy show."

Event organizers will be rolling out the red carpet all weekend long as they welcome national acts to Young Arena.

On Friday, 'tween sensation Jordan Pruitt received an electric tea kettle, meat tray, pickle spears, chips and a multipack of Starbucks double espresso coffee drinks in her dressing room.

Christian artist Mandisa will cozy up to a mug of Throat Coat tea with lemon and honey before her Sunday show.

"For her vocal cords," explained Ferguson.

All artists will be furnished with room-temperature water to take on stage with them. Michaels, a diabetic since age 6, will be supplied with six to eight bottles of 100 percent orange juice to help regulate his blood sugar.

"We give them what we need to," Ferguson said. "Nothing was too out of line."

Dressing room perks are all part of the package when booking big-ticket stars, said Jennifer Blocker, special events coordinator for the National Cattle Congress.

Although she won't name names, Blocker says visiting musicians routinely request customization of their McElroy Auditorium pads.

"One artist wanted leopard print furniture and matching throw pillows," she said. "And some of them want actual workout equipment delivered or rented for them so they can work out within the arena."

Another musician asked to go skeet shooting before her show.

"They are on the road 24-7 during their tours and this is just a way to make sure that they get all of their at-home things while they are on the road," Blocker said. "Plus, they're stars. They can request it if they want it."

Contact Mary Stegmeir at (319) 291-1482 or mary.stegmeir@wcfcourier.com.