Rock Bottom Remainders - Quotes

Here are some quotes from and/or about the 'Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock and roll band composed (?!) of writers.

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"Your band's not too bad. It's not too good either. Don't let it get any better, otherwise you'll just be another lousy band." --Bruce Springsteen (after playing Gloria with the RBR in 1994)
"Stick to the music and leave the books to me." --Yanni, (on his book tour for Yanni in Words after learning abut the RBR)
Ce groupe est - la musique ce que Metallica est la littrature --Dave Barry à propos des R.B.R. (from a French web site!)
"We play music as well as Metallica writes novels." --Dave Barry
"Rock Bottom Remainders? Who the hell are they?" --Kirk Hammett, Metallica
"The Rock Bottom Reminders med frfattare i spetsen ... Detta var en unik musikhistorisk hœndelse, såtillvida att i stort sett alla redan var [och œr] kœnda, men inte som musiker utan kritiker, författare och serietecknare. R B R skulle bara tjœna ett syfte, en gång.": -- (something about being top of the charts in Scandinavia, from a Swedish, we think, web site)
"I'm either going to quit being a columnist, or I'll be a columnist with roadies." --Dave Barry
"People are throwing panties at you. They certainly never do that at my book-signings." --Matt Groening
"There's an audience out there, and the key is to kick it in the ass." --Stephen King
"This is a chance to make a fool of myself in a whole different part of America." --Scott Turow on the west coast tour
"Working with the Rock Bottom Remainders has added a new meaning to performing!" --Roger McGuinn [On the Remainders repertoire]
"They are the songs people made out to in the back seat of the Chevy years and years ago. They really make them feel like 20 again.....For those younger (listeners) we tell them that these are the songs they were probably conceived to. It's very important that they get the full effect and inspiration that led to their creation." --Amy Tan
"Besides, the difference between a decent rendition and a great rendition of "Gloria" is discernible to only the most highfalutin eustachian tubes, especially amid the sweatin' hordes on a dance floor, one of two requisites at any Remainders gig." --John Marshall, Seattle Post Intelligencer
"We don't play concerts......If there are seats in a row, we don't show. There's got to be a dance floor and beer at our gigs. Because the more people drink, the better we sound." --Ridley Pearson
"By the time the band launched into its first number -- "Well, the house is a-rockin', don't bother knockin'" -- the university plaza was packed, and people were perched on every rooftop and exterior stairwell within view of the stage." --Teresa Weaver, Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the Remainders gig at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, UCLA Campus Security Crowd estimate: 6,500; Remainders Tour Management estimate: 8,000)
"I said, 'Can I go blue jean surfer girl?' And they said, 'Oh, no -- slut. Serious slut.' And I said, 'OK, I prosecuted enough of those. I think I've got the look down.'" --Catherine Crier, Court TV anchor, former Texas judge and author. (guest backup chick singer at Los Angeles gig (April/03) wearing a fashionably ripped black miniskirt and fishnet stockings. Her mic was not plugged in.)
"I have no talent....I am the true rock bottom. For everyone else, it's a name. For me, it's an adjective." --Scott Turow
"When you're in the middle of playing a song, what are you thinking? I mean, are you thinking about the song? Or are you thinking, 'I am so rich?'" --Steve Martin, interviewing the band at a special event, Besides the Music, on the Los Angeles leg of the Fire in the Belly Tour (April /03)
"When we tour, it's like a camp with my favorite writers, but writing never comes up... We mostly listen to Dave Barry telling booger jokes." --Mitch Albom

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The Rock Bottom Remainders is a band that includes some of today’s most shining literary lights. Between them, they’ve published more than 150 titles, sold more than 150 million books, and been translated into more than 25 languages.

But for one week a year, they’re rock stars--artist-access-only, laminate-wearing, security-escorted rock stars with roadies and groupies.

The Remainders were founded in 1992 by Kathi Kamen Goldmark. "In the fine rock & roll tradition, the Rock Bottom Remainders were conceived in a car,” says Kathy. “As a semi-pro musician with a day job in book publicity, I spend a lot of time driving touring authors around San Francisco…I decided to form a band of authors!"

The group burst upon the world at the 1992 American Booksellers Association convention in Anaheim. A write-up in the Washington Post described it as “the most heavily promoted musical debut since the Monkees.”

Hailed by critics as having “one of the world’s highest ratios of noise to talent,” the Remainders have no music videos, no record contract, no Grammy® nominations—but do have over 159,000 hits on Google.

The Rock Bottom Remainders are Dave Barry, Tad Bartimus, Roy Blount, Jr., Michael Dorris, Robert Fulghum, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Matt Groening, Josh Kelly, Stephen King, Barbara Kingsolver, Greil Marcus, Dave Marsh, Ridley Pearson, Joel Selvin, and Amy Tan.
Four ringers help them out: drummer Josh Kelly, Erasmo Paolo on saxophone, Sam Barry on harmonica and Janine Sabino on vocals.