How I became Dave Grohl's most unlikely fan. [View all]

[JohnnyRingo]

Nirvana's founding member Dave Grohl and I have little in common except for the Northeast Ohio town of Warren. Located about twenty miles NW of Youngstown, it is Grohl's place of birth. I wasn't born there, but as the nearest big city, it's where I discovered many of my life's experiences. I could say I wasn't born there, but I "grew up" in Warren Ohio. I still go there for nights out and enjoy the bands that play the local bars.

Dave Grohl on the other hand, only lived there for a few years when his parents divorced, moving to Virginia and eventually to the West Coast where he and a small band of young men made music history. While Dave Grohl was born in Warren Ohio, he didn't grow up there, and that's where our frail common thread would have ended.

By the time Grohl's mother was bringing him home from Trumbull Memorial Hospital in 1969, I was already sixteen years old, probably sitting in the Courthouse Square singing war protest songs, getting high, and worrying about funding my first car. A couple decades later, when Nirvana hit the charts, I appreciated the unique talent of those three young men, but my taste in music ran in another direction.

A few years ago a friend who owns a silkscreen shop downtown told me he and a group of local fellow musicians were going to designate the alleyway behind his store to Dave Grohl. It would be known as "David Grohl Alley", and had the backing of the mayor at the time. He told me they were going to invite the Foo Fighter to the dedication and planned to jam with him on old Nirvana songs at the occasion. I was polite and wished him the best in that, but I knew he was just setting himself and others up for disappointment. Even months later, when he informed me that Grohl was indeed committed to the date, I remained a silent but hopeful skeptic.

Dave Grohl wasn't Warren's only famous son, Neil Armstrong spent some of his youth there and took his first airplane ride at the same airfield I first flew from as a boy. I even attended the same school he went to, but when the city built a small park at the site of that defunct airport in his honor, did Mr Moonwalk come to the dedication? Hell no he didn't, he was Neil Effin Armstrong and he has more important things to do.

Dave Grohl did show up that day four years ago to cut the ribbon on the humble alley that now bears his name. He stuck around the entire day, schmoozing with the local musicians and artists who made it happen, and joined them onstage to play a few Foo Fighter hits. Dave Grohl didn't do that because it was such an enormous honor, or because he can't afford bad press from smiting a few zealous fans. He showed up here that day because that's the kind of person he is, and I join Warren in saluting him for remembering his roots and proving that the true worth of a man isn't how wealthy he is, or how many hit songs one pens, but how he treats the people who don't really matter.

For those who understandably aren't about to travel 3,000 miles in Dave Grohl's shoes to see it, I offer my photo tour of Dave Grohl Alley. Thank you Mr Grohl, from one of your now biggest (and oldest) fans.

This is the first artwork as one enters the alleyway. I just happened to get my Triumph in the frame;


A lot of fans contributed as evidenced by the diverse art along the way:




Looking west down the way we see Grohl beating a perpetual rhythm on the kit:


The artist, like the band, blurs the line between grunge and metal:


Just love this mural. I really think it's the feature of the alley:


Some of the art eludes the eye unless you look for it:


This is the centerpiece of the tribute. If you look close you see that vandals are discouraged by proud residents of the studio apartments above:


On the way out at N. Park Ave, we're given a final thought to take along.