There was always something weird about Dave Grohl’s ruse as a family man.
He was rock’s goofy dad, making dumb jokes on stage. Obsessed with grilling on the barbecue. Telling stories about his kids rolling their eyes at him, unimpressed by his place in rock royalty.
Remember this one?
It was nice to see America’s last remaining rockstar mocking himself. It made him accessible. He seemed like a regular guy.
But now…
Oof. Ouch.
But look, man, I’m not gonna judge the guy. He’s a rocker. What’s more rock & roll than cheating on your wife?
The dude is still putting out new music and touring, he’s worth hundreds of millions, and he’s holding up well for a guy my age. So okay, sure, he got a groupie pregnant.
That’s showbiz!
What, he’s supposed to castrate himself, like that TMZ doofus said? Yeah, a rocker with no balls, that’s what we all want.
But now the kooks are already coming out of the woodwork. Right after Grohl admitted it, some freak on Instagram claimed to be the mother of the baby. He denies it, and at this point he has no reason to lie. Plus, the weirdo has already deleted her entire account, which is not an indicator of credibility.
This sort of thing will probably keep happening until Grohl and/or the real mom come forward. Either way, Thanksgiving is gonna be awkward!
I know I’m jaded and probably more than a little evil, but I ain’t mad at Dave Grohl. It’s amusing to me. I just hope his new kid is worth giving up half of everything he owns in the divorce.
Long live rock & roll!
I read and write all day for work, so lately I’ve gotten out of the habit of reading for pleasure. Now I’m trying to pick it back up, and I’ve started by catching up with Hap & Leonard. In the past week, I’ve devoured four of their books that have been sitting in my Kindle inventory for years.
For the uninitiated, Hap & Leonard are the signature characters of novelist Joe R. Lansdale. You might have seen ads for the TV show a few years back.
Lansdale has written a bunch of standalone novels without those two knuckleheads, but they’re his series characters. Over the last 30-odd years he’s gifted us with a baker’s dozen H&L novels, and enough short stories and novellas to fill a couple of collections.
Hap is a shit-kickin’ East Texas redneck, but also a frustrated pacifist and a conscientious objector from the Vietnam War. He’s always getting into fights, but almost never likes it. His best friend Leonard is black, gay, Republican, and tough enough to dismantle anybody who has a problem with any of the above. Together, they’re a magnet for trouble and it’s a blast to be along for the ride.
The series started with Savage Season, all the way back in 1990. That’s where you should start. It was adapted as the first season of that Hap & Leonard show, but the book is even better. Page-turning thriller with some of the funniest dialogue in modern crime fiction.
I’m currently reading the latest in the series, Sugar on the Bones. It’s been almost 35 years since the first book, but Hap & Leonard are about the same age and still kicking ass. Much like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books, Lansdale has fudged the timeline, because those guys should be in their seventies by now.
It’s like James Bond and Batman. Action heroes need to stay young, or young-ish. (Unless the story is specifically about them getting older, like The Dark Knight Returns.) Creating a character that’s popular enough to transcend generations is a good problem to have.
If you like Reacher, you’ll probably like Hap & Leonard. And if not, reading any book is better than watching a TV show. Or scrolling Twitter all day. Or any of the other crap I waste my time on.
It just occurred to me that two of my favorite novelists are named Joe. Besides Lansdale, there’s also Joe Abercrombie. He writes fantasy with a serious mean streak, like Game of Thrones but with an even dimmer view of humanity. And funnier dialogue.
Abercrombie has a new series starting up next year. Unlike George R.R. Martin, he knows his audience is eager for more and doesn’t want to keep us waiting.
TGIF (Tempestuous Gertie Intermittently Flatulates) and thanks for reading. If you like the words I keep typing, why not pay for ‘em? What are you, some kinda jerk?
Savage Season was ten bucks on Amazon...ordered! Thanks.
Cool! I always appreciate your movie/book/music commentary.