Today I am switching it up a bit. I just finished reading Dave Grohl’s “The Storyteller” and biography. My blog story is still about hope and strong women….in training. It is because of Dave’s commitment to being a Dad and how he managed some very tricky situations to be there for his girls. His girls have picked up the reins of music themselves, all on their own, although the inspiration was all around them.
Violet Maye (born April 15, 2006), Harper Willow (born April 17, 2009), and Ophelia Saint (born August 1, 2014)
Case in point. Dave is a very humble man and doubted his abilities as a musician many times. He was asked to do things out of his comfort zone many times as well. One year he was asked to play the Beatles “Blackbird” for the Academy Awards memorial segment. He felt unprepared to pull it off. Then his daughter came home one day from school dejected because she couldn’t get any of her friends to sing “Blackbird” with her at the school talent show. The Beatles” who? So, Dave asked her if he accompanied her on his guitar, if she would sing it. He saved the day and on the night of the show, she sang her heart out, much to the shock and delight of those listening. Most had no idea she could sing. She told her dad he had to do it on the Oscars. She inspired him.
Dave’s inspiration 
Next story that really showed how he would go to the ends of the earth for his girls, is when he was on tour in Australia with his band the Foo Fighters, when a change of dates to the “Father Daughter Dance” came in from his wife. Now, this one was extra special because he would be taking his middle daughter as well, something she had been looking forward to while watching daddy accompany her older sister with tears in her eyes. He had made a promise that he was unwilling to break. Dave jumped into action contacting the “Tour” organizers and found a way to postpone one show, by one day, while getting all the components in place. Finished a show, jumped off stage into a waiting car, that took him to a waiting private plane, that took him to Sydney for the LONG flight to LAX. He arrived home, got cleaned up and off he went with his girls a few hours later. Then it was time to reverse the process back to Australia. Next stop Perth. All this in less than 48 hours. When he said goodbye to his girls, big hugs, thanks Daddy, and back to their friends. Dave knew they’d remember this night forever.
Now this one still brings me to tears. Dave got his love of music from his mom when she would take him into Washington DC, across the river from where he grew up in Virginia, to a small jazz club. Dave would study the drummer and then go home and pound away on his pillows to copy what he had heard; a very quick study to what was to come. No formal training, completely self taught and one of the richest drummers in the world today, although he can play many instruments now! His mom’s sister lived outside of Chicago and each summer they would go there for an extended vacation. This is where his cousin introduced him to more underground bands at small venues around the city. He was hooked for life.
A couple decades later his band The Foo Fighters where playing at a sell out crowd at Wrigley Field, across the street from the one of those small venues he used to play in. When he walked off the stage at the end of the show he burst into tears and just sat sobbing. His bandmates knew he was okay and quietly changed out of their sweaty performance attire. That night hit him hard because of his realization of where he was. Dave had his mom at this show and for her 70th birthday he asked the crowd to sing it to her, 70,000 fans in unison singing to his mom who always supported his path. At the backstage party, his mom was center stage and his wife holding court for all the guests. What a gift to his hero!
Dave is a hero in how he lives his life always remembering and appreciating his journey. Lately, his daughter Violet is spreading her own wings by joining him on stage. She is “unaffected” by the glitz and glam because she’s had the grounding of having parents that showed up.
Violet singing with the Foo’s, “My Hero”
Click the link to see her other performances making her daddy proud.
Dave Grohl Singing with His Daughter Is Always Amazing (yahoo.com)
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