Rock Bottom Remainders Concert

I hadn't planned on going, but the more I heard about it from patrons, the more I wanted to go, but the cost wasn't in my budget. Then Thursday morning, an email came out offering free tickets to the first five who responded, and I decided--why not? And I got a ticket!!!

This is a great show!!! You don't primarily go for the music, you go to see the authors. Some of the music is better than others, but the authors are having a good time, and it shows. Amy Tan can't sing very well, but her "These Boots are Made for Walking" is hilarious, and her Blondie is also great. Mitch Albom and his wife did a great duet. Roy Blount, Jr. kept wondering what they were trying to FREE the library from (our name is The Free Library of Philadelphia) Roy and Dave Barry had on FLP t-shirts. Scott Turow is crazy--he started off wearing a Chicago Cubs shirt, but we were kind and didn't boo him...Dave Barry's original song was a hoot, and they had Philly's own Jennifer Wiener sing back-up. Billy Collins, who had been at the Parkway Central Library for about 400 teens in the afternoon, and then in the evening for a ticketed author event finally made it and added more comedic antics.

I really missed Nils' encyclopedic mind, as I was wondering, "Ok, who did that song originally?" and "Is that a real song, or did they change it up?" I think Nils would have liked it, once he understood that no, they are not true musicians, they do this for fun and to help various non-profit organizations, like the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Here's a blurb from their website:
By day, they’re authors.
Really famous authors.

But once a year they shed their pen-and-pencil clutching personas and become rock stars, complete with roadies, groupies and a wicked cool tour bus.

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. Four ringers help them out: drummer Josh Kelly, Erasmo Paolo on saxophone, Sam Barry on harmonica and Janine Sabino on vocals.

The Remainders were founded toward the end of the last century 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.