Ridley Pearson talks about money

One of the most curious and yet strangely wonderful finds was discovering the author interviews at Bankrate.com, which–not surprisingly–focus on the financial side of the writing life. The latest subject is Ridley Pearson, who talks about his investment habits, how utterly forgiving his parents were, and the origins of the Rock-Bottom Remainders:

Quite a shift from starving musician to successful novelist, yes?

It was sort of  earth shattering. As was joining the Remainders in 1991. A media escort came up with the idea (for an all-author band) when she realized she had toured with a bass player, a rhythm player, a sax player,a drummer, and called us all up. When I found out who the other members would be, I realized I was going to get to meet the biggest authors in America! We had a fabulous time doing it. There were no egos at all. We all made great friends, and Steve King said after the gig, “Let’s all get on a rock bus and do a tour.“So we spent three weeks on the road together and they fused these friendships. We’ve all cross-pollinated each other; I’ve written a project that tied in with a Stephen King miniseries that made me seven figures, Mitch Albom is writing fiction, Dave Barry is writing mysteries. These friendships are the most important friendships I have. They just happen to be with some of the biggest selling authors in the world. Being around these guys is just inspirational to me.

Thirteen years later, they still tour around, playing semi-well and showing off Amy Tan’s dominatrix outfits.