What do you get when you cross a bunch of award-winning authors, The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn, a literacy charity and a few pints? An on-again, off-again band called the Rock Bottom Remainders.
In the literary world, “remainders” are poorly selling titles in a bookstore that get sent back to the warehouse and fade into oblivion. It also was the springboard for Pulitzer Prize-winning Miami Herald writer (and guitarist) Dave Barry to form a band 12 years ago at the American Booksellers Association convention. But the spoof has since turned into an annual touring jaunt featuring fellow best-selling writers Amy Tan, Scott Turow, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Ridley Pearson and Frank McCourt. (Stephen King, who’s a member of the band, is not on the current tour.) Add in guest artist McGuinn, plus the tour’s benefactor, America SCORES, and it’s sure to be shelved in a section all by itself.
We grabbed Barry and McGuinn and asked them about the unlikely lineup.
Were you any good when you first started playing as a band?
Barry: We were terrible and were only going to do it for one night, but it was so much fun we decided to keep it going.
How does everyone’s schedule leave room for rehearsal time?
Barry: The what? What are those? We do a little, maybe a couple of hours reminding ourselves how the chords go and the song order.
What’s everyone’s attitude like as show time nears?
McGuinn: They’re pretty fearless. There’s not a lot of nerves backstage. What have they got to lose, a bad review? Warren Zevon said it best: “They better not get any better because if they do, they’re just a bad band.”
Is the vibe in the crowd more like a library or a rock show?
Barry: We try to get it in a situation where people feel comfortable about dancing and aren’t crowded by chairs. We hope there’s a bar for them to loosen up a bit.
Where do you fit into the fold?
McGuinn: The show varies from year to year, but it starts with [the authors] playing a set of mostly covers from the ’50s and ’60s. Then I come in towards the middle and perform a handful of Byrds songs and encores. I have a great deal of admiration for them as writers and them getting up there on stage shows they can do anything.
Dave, Roger gave you props!
Barry: He’s being sweet. We’re not a great band, but we’re not terrible.
Ever going to ditch your day job?
Barry: The crowds usually love us because we’re not very pretentious and certainly not trying to come across as better than them. What’s funny is that we get asked to play constantly, from just about every book fair to library opening. But with everything going on for all of us, this will just be a one-week-tour-each-year type of thing.
Rock Bottom
Remainders
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn St.
Tickets: $35
