Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude

I enjoyed the hell out of this. I mean, what's not to love?

There's hilarious stories of a bunch of writers—who mostly did not know each other—being slammed together into a trainwreck of a band that apparently was awful—but having so much fun with it, they went on tour a year later...when they were slightly less awful.

The funny stories are truly funny. But there's also a lot of sobering stories along the way. Barbara Kingsolver's recent divorce. Dave Marsh's daughter losing her fight with cancer. Tad Bartimus's mother unresponsive in a hospital. And, weirdly, in some way, this entire trainwreck somehow being the thing that came along at exactly the right time to pull them, if not out of their misery, at least pull them far enough show more away to gain some perspective on it.

With each of the main players taking the stage, it's interesting to hear the same anecdotes, but from different perspectives. Through it all, everyone seems to have a wonderful time, and yet, it's Tabitha King (wife of the famous Stephen) who is praised a lot through the book, yet comes across somewhat acerbic in her own essay, and she's the one that indicates that it was not necessarily a lovefest all the way around. Interesting.

Still, it's fun, it's funny, it's rock 'n' roll, and that vial of crack just keeps showing up, despite the warnings. show less

Mid-life Confidential, the Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude was a sweet, innocent, naive and charming look into the making of a literary band. The line-up of participants was interesting and varied, but the big ticket draws were, of course, the authors. Top writers like Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan and Barbara Kingsolver, to name a few, drew the crowds into the shows and got this band so pumped up to the point, they actually believed they were a band! A far cry from Motley Crue, they were still badass in a Maalox, Tums and Vick's sort of way.

The chapters in the book are written by each of the members and various supporting players. Funny, honest, poignant--everyone shared their moment in the sun show more with a unique style and if you listen closely, through all the jokes, you can feel how special and memorable this tour meant to each and every one of the cast members. I think each unique voice added a different feel to the book and shed light from a different viewpoint. Good, bad and ugly, The Rock Bottom Remainders rocked. By the end of the book, I believed in them--I believed they were a real band too!

To you RBR-- I light my Bic and squeal! Oh, and here's a pair of my baggy 'ol drawers thrown up on the stage for good measure. show less

I may regret it at some point, but I'm going to pass this book along to someone else without finishing it. I read the acknowledgments, the "documentary history", and part of the first chapter (written by Stephen King), and realized I don't really want to slog my way through the rehash of the Rock Bottom Remainders 1993 tour. Bless their hearts, it appears the gang had a great time, and if I ever run out of stuff to read I may find a copy of this at the library, but right now it holds no appeal.

Lots of successful writers (Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan, and, uh, Roy Blount, Jr.?) who wish they were rockers try their hand at touring as a band. No, really. Each chapter is written by someone else, and they're all pretty lame. At least there wasn't a CD inside the front cover.