Writers Who Rock: the Return of the Rock Bottom Remainders
Categories: Entertainment
Of all the concerts I would love a ticket to this summer, the Rock Bottom Remainders is the one I’d really like to catch. This literary supergroup is composed of such authors as Dave Barry, Matt Groening, Stephen King, and Amy Tan, among others. These writers have once again temporarily abandoned their spots on the bestseller list to form a band that raises money for literary charities.
The band plays Friday, June 1, in New York City. If, you're like me, and can’t escape to New York right now, at least we have their band memoir, Mid-Life Confidential: the Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude. I have seen the band perform once on CBS’s The Late Late show, and I have read their book. I can tell you that their book is very funny, and their playing is not as laughable as you might fear.
The Rock Bottom Remainder’s upcoming concert, dubbed “The Still Younger than Keith tour” will coincide with Book Expo America, an annual party given by the publishing industry. Everyone involved has apparently agreed to overlook the fact that this current tour so far only consists of one concert. On this detail, Dave Barry was quoted in the May 17, 2007 USA Today: “as far as I know, we’re actually only going to be playing one time. Maybe they mean we’ll be touring around the stage.”
It is their experiences on their first tour, in 1992, which are captured in the band's loose, lively memoir. The band was founded by independent publicist Kathi Kamen Goldmark, who had the idea to form a rock band of writers, to perform at the convention of The American Booksellers Association. The group had such a good time that they decided to take their act on the road. They needed some financial backing for the tour, however, which is where this book comes in. They used the advance from their endeavor to pay for the tour.
Each band member wrote a chapter of the book, and some of the stories definitely reveal another side to some well-known writers. Amy Tan writes about she committed to the music by committing to her tour outfit, a bold, black leather number. In his chapter, Stephen King writes how he conquers his stage fright by hiding out in the bathroom before the band’s first gig. As fascinating as it is discovering what exactly scares the Master of the horror novel, it is Dave Barry’s entry that is predictably one of the funniest. Barry sums up the whole experience with a quote that eventually becomes the slogan on the concert tee-shirts: “this band plays music as well as Metallica writes novels.”
