The Rock Bottom Remainders is a rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 band consisting of published writers, most of them both amateur musicians and popular English-language book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

, magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

, and newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

s. The band took its self-mocking name from the publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

 term remaindered book

Remaindered book

Remaindered books are books that are no longer selling well and whose remaining unsold copies are being liquidated by the publisher at greatly reduced prices...

, a work of which the unsold remainder of the publisher's stock of copies is sold at a reduced price. Since their formation they have gained nearly $2 million for charity from their concerts.

The band members include Dave Barry

Dave Barry

David "Dave" Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.-Biography:Barry was born in Armonk, New York,...

, Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

, Amy Tan

Amy Tan

Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...

, Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...

, Cynthia Heimel

Cynthia Heimel

Cynthia Heimel is a playwright, television writer, and the author of several satirical books which are aimed primarily at a female readership. To those who have heard of her but have not read her books, her works are probably best known for their unusual titles.Heimel's first book Sex Tips for...

, Kathi Kamen Goldmark

Kathi Kamen Goldmark

Kathi Kamen Goldmark is an American author, columnist, publishing consultant, radio and music producer, songwriter, and musician...

, Sam Barry

Sam Barry (author)

Samuel "Sam" Barry is an American author, columnist, publishing professional, and musician. Barry writes a national column and blog for BookPage with his wife, author Kathi Kamen Goldmark...

, Ridley Pearson

Ridley Pearson

Ridley Pearson, born on March 13, 1953 in Glen Cove, New York, is an American writer. Pearson has historically written suspense and thriller novels for an adult audience, but has also begun branching out by writing adventure books for children....

, Scott Turow

Scott Turow

Scott F. Turow is an American author and a practicing lawyer. Turow has written eight fiction and two nonfiction books, which have been translated into over 20 languages and have sold over 25 million copies...

, Joel Selvin

Joel Selvin

Joel Selvin is a San Francisco-based music critic and author known for his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle which ran from 1972 to 2009. Selvin has written books covering various aspects of pop music and has interviewed a large number of musical artists...

, James McBride, Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom

Mitchell David "Mitch" Albom is an American best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, dramatist, radio and television broadcaster and musician. His books have sold over 30 million copies worldwide...

, Roy Blount Jr., Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the former Republic of Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before...

, Robert Fulghum

Robert Fulghum

Robert Lee Fulghum is an American author, primarily of short essays.He has worked as a Unitarian Universalist minister .During this same period he taught drawing,...

, Matt Groening

Matt Groening

Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....

, Tad Bartimus, Greg Iles

Greg Iles

Greg Iles is an American bestselling novelist who lives in Natchez, Mississippi.Iles was born in Stuttgart, Germany, where his father ran the U.S. Embassy Medical Clinic. He was raised in Natchez, Mississippi, where he attended Trinity Episcopal Day School and graduated from the University of...

, as well as professional musicians Josh Kelly on drums, and Erasmo Paulo on saxophone. The original band members collaborated on a book about the band, Mid-Life Confidential. Published author Al Kooper

Al Kooper

Al Kooper is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears , providing studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills to...

 also was a member for some time.

History

The Remainders was founded by Kathi Kamen Goldmark in the early 1990s. Kathi was then a musician whose day job was in book publicity. Through this, she met many prolific authors. One day while driving one of the authors around she came upon the idea of making a band of them. It stuck. The Remainders' first performance was in 1992 at the American Booksellers Association

American Booksellers Association

The American Booksellers Association is a non-profit industryassociation founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States and Canada. The ABA and its members support freedom of speech, literacy, and programs that encourage reading...

 convention in Anaheim, California

Anaheim, California

Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...

. A review of the concert, appearing in The Washington Post

The Washington Post

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

http://www.rockbottomremainders.com/washingtonp_article.htm, claimed it was "the most heavily promoted musical debut since The Monkees

The Monkees

The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

."

The Remainders also played at the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

 in Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

 in 1995.http://www.davebarry.com/gg/halloffame.html

In April 2010, they began the Wordstock Tour presented by the Pearson Foundation and We Give Books, benefiting the children and schools of Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

.

Quotations

• "We play music as well as Metallica
  Metallica
  Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
  
   writes novels." -Dave Barry
  Dave Barry
  David "Dave" Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.-Biography:Barry was born in Armonk, New York,...
  
  
  • "Rock Bottom Remainders? Who the hell are they?" -Kirk Hammett
    Kirk Hammett
    Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
    
    , Metallica
    Metallica
    Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
    
    
• "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
  Bruce Springsteen
  Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
  
  
  • "I picked up one of the two guitars I'd been using, and just as we were about to start, Stephen King tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'We have a special guest.' I turned around, and there was Bruce Springsteen. I still don't know how he came to be at this convention; I don't believe he's a bookseller. All I know is, he was picking up the other guitar. My guitar. 'Bruce,' I said to him. 'Do you know the guitar part to Gloria?' This is like asking James Michener if he knows how to write his name." - Dave Barry
• "People are throwing panties at you. They certainly never do that at my book-signings." -Matt Groening
  Matt Groening
  Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
  
  
• "There's an audience out there, and the key is to kick it in the ass." -Stephen King
  Stephen King
  Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
  
  
• "Roy actually coined the term for our genre of music; 'hard-listening music.' " -Dave Barry
• "Most people seem to think critics are as useful as tits on a priest." -Joel Selvin
  Joel Selvin
  Joel Selvin is a San Francisco-based music critic and author known for his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle which ran from 1972 to 2009. Selvin has written books covering various aspects of pop music and has interviewed a large number of musical artists...
  
  

Concerts

• 1992, Anaheim
  Anaheim, California
  Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
  
  : American Booksellers Association
  American Booksellers Association
  The American Booksellers Association is a non-profit industryassociation founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States and Canada. The ABA and its members support freedom of speech, literacy, and programs that encourage reading...
  
   convention
• 1995, Cleveland
  Cleveland, Ohio
  Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
  
  : The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (opening)
• A version of the band with at the very least Barry and Albom and Ridley Pearson
  Ridley Pearson
  Ridley Pearson, born on March 13, 1953 in Glen Cove, New York, is an American writer. Pearson has historically written suspense and thriller novels for an adult audience, but has also begun branching out by writing adventure books for children....
  
   and Warren Zevon
  Warren Zevon
  Warren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
  
   also played at the Miami Book Fair in 1997

Songs covered include

• "Gloria"
• "If the House is a Rockin'..."
• "In the Midnight Hour
  In the Midnight Hour
  "In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. It was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be murdered in April 1968...
  
  " (The Rock Bottom Remainders performed this song during an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
  The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
  The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...
  
  . Host Craig Ferguson
  Craig Ferguson
  Craig Ferguson is a Scottish American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, and producer. He is the host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show that airs on CBS...
  
  —himself the best-selling author of Between the Bridge and the River
  Between the Bridge and the River
  Between the Bridge and the River is a novel written by Craig Ferguson.The novel has been characterized as a satire of religion and the entertainment industry...
  
  —played the drums. Just before the performance, he joked that "the only reason [he] wanted to write a book was so that he could play with this band." Dave Barry was also the first guest on the show.)
• "Louie Louie
  Louie Louie
  "Louie Louie" is an American rock 'n' roll song written by Richard Berry in 1955. It has become a standard in pop and rock, with hundreds of versions recorded by different artists...
  
  " (Matt Groening claims he uses the "explicit" interpretation of the lyrics and Dave Barry claimed that it was so filthy that the U.S. Constitution should be amended to prohibit it.)
• "Rockaway Beach
  Rockaway Beach (song)
  "Rockaway Beach" is a song by the American punk rock band the Ramones from their 1977 album Rocket to Russia. The song was written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone in the style of the Beach Boys and other early surf rock bands. The song is about Rockaway Beach, Queens, where Dee Dee liked to spend time....
  
  "
• "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
  These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
  Jessica Simpson recorded her own version of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" for the soundtrack to the film The Dukes of Hazzard . Simpson's cover was co-produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and was released as the soundtrack's first single in 2005)...
  
  "
• "Wild Thing
  Wild Thing (The Troggs song)
  French singer Amanda Lear covered "Wild Thing" for her comeback album Secret Passion and added a synthpop feel to it. The single was produced by Christian De Walden and released in 1987. On the B-side another Secret Passion track was released, "Aphrodisiac", whose French language version...
  
  " (In one broadcast of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
  Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
  Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an hour-long weekly radio news panel game show produced by Chicago Public Radio and National Public Radio. It is distributed by NPR in the United States, internationally on NPR Worldwide and on the Internet via podcast, and typically broadcast on weekends by member...
  
  , Barry revealed this song as a band inside joke, since Roy Blount always mistimes his single vocal line: "You move me.")
• "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
  You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
  "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1967 in Woodstock, New York, during the self-imposed exile from public appearances that followed his July 29, 1966 motorcycle accident. A recording of Dylan performing the song was first officially released on the Bob Dylan's Greatest...
  
  "
• "You Can't Judge a Book by its Cover"
• "You May Be Right
  You May Be Right (song)
  "You May Be Right" is a single written and performed by rock singer Billy Joel from his 1980 album Glass Houses. The song reached #7 on the US charts, but failed to chart in the UK unlike his preceding and succeeding singles "All for Leyna" and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"...
  
  "

Discography

Several RBR songs are featured on the double album Stranger than Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction (Rock Bottom Remainders album)

Stranger Than Fiction is an album by various performers, most of whom are professional writers and amateur singers, released in 1998 on Kathi Kamen Goldmark's "Don't Quit Your Day Job" Records...

("Don't Quit Your Day Job" Records), also featuring other noted authors' comic attempts at song. http://www.dqydj.com/prod15.htm