Happy New Year everybody.  This month marks the two year anniversary of this website.  It started out as a funny idea I shared with my friends.  I then bought the domain name and wrote the first post, “21 Reasons Why I Hate Dave Grohl” which is still the most read post on this site. 

In the spirit of reflection, I reviewed the posts from this year and picked my favorite ones, which ended up being six.  These were the ones I found the funniest and also the most personal.  And so, without further ado, here they are:

Brother Howe Releases New Single One Day After Foo Fighters Release Theirs in which the fictional editor of the website makes his first appearance and I apologize to Jeff Daniels.

White Limo in which I buy my own White Limo and show that Dave Grohl is a nerd.

I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl (Too) in which I invite Dave Grohl to come to my house and punch me in the face.

Dave Grohl Directing Documentary in which I throw out a link to Jonathan Coulton, a funny singer guy I like.

Foo fighters. Joan Jett. David Letterman. in which I have my first ever contest and someone even won!  Hurray! 

Dream Dave Grohl Lives At Disney World Now in which Dream Dave Grohl make his one and only 2011 appearance and delivers the best punch line of the year.

I hate Dave Grohl.

I had another Dave Grohl dream last week.  It has been awhile.  But this is one of the funniest.

I remembered (in my dreamworld) that he lived at  Disney World (of course, why not?).  There is a secret entrance on Main Street that leads to their living quarters, but they have to walk from there to the front gate of the park to get in and out. So as I was driving in I spotted Dave and Taylor Hawkins walking right in front of my car, unfortunately I was too close and Dave gave a highly annoyed glance at my car because I was literally inches away from hitting them.  I was practically stopped, but oh well.  Not good.

I knew this would be a bad time to approach him so I parked the car with my wife and we came back, but of course they were gone.

Later, they came back and I saw Dave talking to an admirer.  I quickly walked up when they were through, extended my hand and shook his.

“Mr. Grohl!  Jason, I’m not sure you remember me, but we met twice already this year,” I said. “Here at Disney World.”  

He faked like he remembered, but then after I mentioned some of the things we had talked about he really did remember. “Oh yeah, how are you?”  “Good, good.”

Then we had a fairly lengthy conversation.  I had a lot of things I wanted to tell him apparently.

At a certain point he said, “You know I was thinking about you the other day and wanted to give this to you,” and he handed me a greeting card.  I opened it and before I could read what he had hand-written he explained,

“I was asked recently to score some music for a small independent movie that I don’t have time to do.  But I said, ‘I know just the guy for you who would love to get his music in a movie and he’ll do a really good job.’  So if you’re interested, give this guy a call.”

I was stunned.  And incredibly flattered.

“Wow, thanks!  That is really, really great.  I HAVE been wanting to do that.”

Then I started to worry.

“This isn’t a crap project is it?” I said. “Where I work we have certain projects that we call “Loser Projects,” or “Crap Projects” if you will. And you, my friend, do not take on or participate in crap projects, which makes me wonder if this is a crap project.

“Case in point, let’s talk about the new Muppet’s movie you cameo in.  That movie is getting great reviews.  And I thought, ‘Of course!  I would expect nothing less of something Dave Grohl is involved in.’”

He laughed politely but looked a little funny like he wasn’t sure if I was joking or not.  Not wanting to offend him, I assured him I was.  We talked for a few more minutes and then he said, “Actually, I’ve got something I should tell you.  That movie score I was talking about?  Well, it’s kind of a gay porn.”

What?  I don’t want my music used for that!  How do I get out of this?  Dave Grohl himself recommended me for something and I’m going to have to turn him down somehow.

I hate Dream Dave Grohl.

I'd like to take time out of our regularly scheduled programming so I can promote myself just a little bit!

American Man, Brother Howe’s long awaited full length album is now available through a pre-release private launch!   It is for email subscribers and fans from December 6th through 12th only.  

Here’s what you get:

A high-quality digital download of the album with two extra bonus tracks that will not be on the cd. You’ll get instant access to a zip file with high quality 320 kbps mp3 files downloaded directly to your computer.  

Click here to check it out

You wanted a physical copy of the album?  Well as another bonus, if you order the digital download, you have the option of  pre-ordering an autographed copy of  the physical cd for $4.99 as well.  These come in a handsomely packaged fold-open digi-pak (sorry I don’t have pictures yet, but the proofs look great and we’re really proud of them).  And you can pre-order as many copies at this price as you want and have them mailed to your home in time for Christmas (just in case you wanted to have a few extra copies for gifts or stocking stuffers).  

However, there is a limited run of 100 the physical cd’s so if they run out, we won’t be able to ship in time for Christmas.  If you want to be sure to get your copy, you’ll want to act fast.

This deal is only available through our website and is not available now on iTunes, Amazon or in any stores.

Click here to check it out

Congratulations to Foo Fighters on being nominated for six Grammy's this year.  Pretty good for an album recorded in a garage.  Here are the categories:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR – WASTING LIGHT.  Competing against Adele and Lady Gaga, I'm not sure how good of a shot they've got at this one.

BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE – “WALK”.  "Performance" means "song" and they are competing against Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, the Decemberists and Radio Head, there is stiff competition, but not a bad chance.

BEST HARD ROCK PERFORMANCE – “WHITE LIMO”.  Others in this category are Mastedon, Megadeth, Sum 41 and Dream Theater.  White Limo is a great, hard rock song and I think the Foo's have a good chance at this although I'm not sure they really should win.  Yes they should.  It's Hard Rock, not Heavy Metal. 

BEST ROCK SONG – “WALK”.  Not sure why this is different than Best Rock Performance.  I must admit I don't understand these categories.

BEST ROCK ALBUM – WASTING LIGHT. Others nominated here are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kings of Leon, Wilco and Jeff Beck.

BEST LONG FORM MUSIC VIDEO – FOO FIGHTERS: BACK & FORTH. 

So anyway, Dave Grohl beat me and got nominated for a bunch of Grammy's.  Good for him. 

Foo Fighters were on David Letterman last night.  Again.  When I saw the tweets yesterday that they were playing last night with Joan Jett, my first thought was, "Awesome, I'll check that out tomorrow on the internet!"  That is way past my bedtime.  As always, Letterman had some very nice things to say:

"These people have affected my life in many delightful ways and I'll always be grateful for those lovely influences.  So my thanks to the Foo Fighters."

Who talks like that?

So here's a bit of trivia for you.  David Letterman had the Foo Fighters play his first show after having open heart surgery and if I remember correctly (Editor's note: due to budget cuts the fact-checkers for this website were recently laid off ) Letterman said, "It's my pleasure to have my favorite band, playing my favorite song. Ladies and gentlemen...Foo Fighters!"  Then they played a song. 

I now have a spur of the moment idea for a CONTEST.  Seriously, I did not think of this before writing this post.  Come to think of it, I didn't even think of writing this post before writing this post.  Living on the edge, baby.  Living on the edge.  Okay, back to that exciting contest I just thought of:

The first person who can name the song in the comments section below that the Foo Fighters played on Letterman's first show after open heart surgery will receive a digital copy of our new album that is coming out (soon, oh so soon). 

So here is the video from last night's Letterman show.   (If this video gets taken down, the whole episode can be found at http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/video/?pid=rkBt_7d5XpIanQeen2XGGHOEvwSViOZy)

Welcome back.  Joan's voice is sounding great I thought.  I also got confused because when I heard that they were playing Bad Reputation, I was thinking they were doing their version of Bad Reputation by Thin Lizzy that's on their covers album.  But then I was like, oh yeah, Joan Jett wrote a song with the same title.  That makes more sense now.  Sometimes I am an idiot.

So the Foos can add yet another cover to their repertoire.  I read an interview recently and guitarist Pat Smear said that they are the only band he knows of who will learn a cover song and then play it in front of 55,000 people an hour later.  Or live on TV for millions of viewers. 

And still sound great.

I hate Dave Grohl.

Here's a fun list I happened upon a few weeks back at Gibson.com.  Why didn't I post it then?  I don't have a good answer for you there.  No time I guess!  Oh well, I hope I can be forgiven.  I knew numbers 10, 4, 3 and 2.  The other ones were new to me, with 5 being my favorite:

And now the article from Gibson.com:

With all the attention that’s been lavished upon the Foo Fighters and Them Crooked Vultures – not the mention Nirvana – it would seem no stone’s been unturned when it comes to examining the inner and outer life of Dave Grohl. Still, we managed to uncover a few little-known tidbits about the gifted songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

10. His first drum kit consisted of pillows and furniture.

“Until I was 17, I didn't have enough money to get a drum set,” Grohl told Uncut in 2007. “But I knew the configuration of a drum set, so I’d set up a pillow between my legs as a snare drum, and I’d use my bed as a tom and a chair as a high hat. I’d just play along with the records all day long, [mostly] fast hardcore punk rock albums like Bad Brains and Minor Threat. It was great. And it was cheap.”

9. The first song to get his attention for its drumming was … The Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein.”

 “I remember being really inspired by that song,” Grohl told Mojo in 2005. “Up to that point I would just listen to whatever my parents or my sister were listening to, things like the West Side Story soundtrack, Carly Simon and The Beatles . But when I heard ‘Frankenstein,’ I thought, ‘Wow, everything about this song stands out – the riffs, the keyboards and particularly the drums.’”

8. The classic album he would most like to have been involved with was by… The Zombies.

“I would have loved to have been in the studio when The Zombies recorded [their 1968 masterpiece] Odessey and Oracle,” Grohl told New Musical Express in 2011, when asked which classic album he would most liked to have put his stamp on. “It’s such a simple record, and such an amazing album, but the sounds are really primal and raw because of the technical limitations of the time. So yeah, probably that.”

7. His favorite Beatles song is… “Julia.”

“If I could write just one song as beautiful as ‘Julia,’ I would achieve my life’s goal,” Grohl told Classic Rock magazine in 2009. “That song has such a soothing and healing quality to it. I could hear it a thousand times in a row and it would draw me in every time. The guitar and vocals are so delicate and right – they’re celestial. When I found out it was about Lennon’s mother, who abandoned him, and returned then died, it made it even more amazing.”

6. His favorite Paul McCartney song is also a Beatles song.

Q magazine asked Grohl to name his favorite McCartney track in 2010. “You can't even answer that question,” Grohl responded. “It's just not fair – but I’m going to say ‘Blackbird.’ It’s such a beautiful piece of music, perfect in composition and performance, and in its lyrics and in the range of his voice. Learning that song made me a better guitar player and gave me a better appreciation of songwriting. It’s musical bliss.”

5. He almost got the chance to play with… Little Richard.

“I was doing a soundtrack for the film Backbeat in 1992,” Grohl told New Musical Express, in 2011. “[Producer] Don Was assembled a bunch of musicians to play the music, and we were doing a cover of ‘Long Tall Sally.’ Little Richard was living in a hotel just up the street from the studio, so we gave him a call, to see if he would come down and jam with us. He said he wanted $10,000 to do it. We were all like, ‘Well, I’ll put in $2,000...’ but in the end we just decided, ‘Nah.’ I wish we’d have done it.”

4. He did get the chance to play on a Michael Jackson song… sort of.

In 2011, Grohl told Classic Rock the story of how Lenny Kravitz asked him to play on an unfinished Michael Jackson song that Kravitz and Jackson had worked on in 1992. “Lenny sends over the track, and I sit down with Butch Vig and we record this huge [drum track],” Grohl explained. “I sent it to Lenny and he's like: ‘Dude, this is going to be awesome.’ I'm like: ‘I’m on a Michael Jackson track!’ A month goes by, and another, and another, and I still haven’t heard anything. Finally, I hear the song online. You know what they used? One snare hit. That’s it. I don't know who’s playing drums, but it ain’t me.”

3. He hates drum machines.

Grohl delivered a rant against modern technology to London’s The Sun in 2011. “All that [expletive] ruins music these days,” he said. “Drum machines work for pop artists, but when it comes to rock and roll, don’t [mess around] with the human element. I had favorite drummers because of their inconsistencies. Modern production has robbed drummers of personalities, and it really pisses me off.”

2. His childhood fascination with UFOs remains intact.

“When I was 10 or 11, I had this romantic idea that there was something outside the world we know,” Grohl told Uncut in 2007. “I’ve always done my own little investigations here and there. I’ve never been visited by aliens or had any sort of close encounter, but I’ve had a couple of dreams that were really vivid, dreams where the sky implodes and it's the dawn of this new era where we learn to live in the same world as things from other planets.”

1. His all-time favorite guitar riff is… the one in Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog.”

“My favorite guitar riff of all time has gotta be ‘Black Dog’,” Grohl told Q, in 2007. “It has these wicked turnarounds where John Bonham stays in 4/4 time, but John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page turn the riff over. Jimmy played his guitar with swagger; it was in his shoulders. ‘Black Dog’ just drips, it’s so smooth. It has groove and a pulse, and it sounds easy enough, but when you actually wrap your hands around a guitar, you realize that it takes a little more than what you got.”

Here's the link to the original article:

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/dave-grohl-0929-2011/

Okay, when you find yourself talking to a reporter in front of a camera about someone and his secret project, and this someone happens to be a rather famous guy that people will probably be very interested in and said famous guy has not as of yet made any sort of announcement about anything whatsoever concerning said secret project, you might just want to just shut up.  Like right now.  Zip your lips.  Stop talking.  Quite simple really.  In the grand scheme of things.  (Editor's note: In his head, the author is sounding just like Ricky Gervais in those last two sentences).   See the video at 1:26 to see what I mean.

Unless.

Said famous guy has secretly told you to discreetly leak his said secret project to create extra media hype and public interest...

Of course!!!  Why didn't I think of that sooner?  Crafty devil, that Dave Grohl.  It took awhile for this cynical mind to arrive at the obvious conclusion, but now that I know the impossible-to-prove truth, it does nothing to distract me from the fact that Dave Grohl is working on becoming a filmmaker of all things.  As if he hasn't done enough already, being a rock star, rock n' roll hall of fame shoe-in, collaborator to everyone (and I do mean literally everyone), founder of supergroup that's super cool and not lame like every other supergroup and...shall I go on?  No, I will stop there. 

And zip. My.  Lips.

But why does he have to keep doing other cool things?  (Editor note: author has turned very whiny).  He keeps doing things that I'd...kind of...like...to do.  In my warm, fuzzy, secret heart.

I hate Dave Grohl.

Well, I don't know if Dave Grohl has this trouble, but we are having a heck of a time picking the band photo to use on the back of our new album.  This is the last step we have before sending the album off to the printers!  So I would like your help.  The band photo that gets the most votes wins and it will go on our album.  So if you can take a quick couple of seconds, look them over and pick which one you like best in the survey below it would be MUCH appreciated.  Thanks for your help!

Update: The results are in and the winner is A, with 56% of the votes!  I realized after I made the form that I effectively split the vote between C and D.  However, even taking those two together, they didn’t have as many votes as A, so A is the winner.  Thanks for everyone who cast a vote!!!

If you are a Foo Fighters fan and a Pink Floyd fan, then this video will send you into Pink Foo heaven.  There is so much Dave Grohl in the news lately, that this is starting to be hard work!  And I was just starting to think maybe I didn't hate Dave Grohl so much any more.

Not sure if this is really a Prodigy Mix of Foo Fighter's White Limo, but hey, it's kinda interesting (original link here).  I'm not sure if I'm doing a service or a disservice by posting this, but let me know what you think. 

What do I think?  Well, let's see.  First of all, I'm not a Prodigy fan or an electronic music fan and for all of Dave's comments about how they didn't use any computers and that no self-respecting rock band should need to use computers at live shows, this is rather ironic.  But it is interesting to me to listen to it and hear some of the individual tracks brought out by themselves, like the guitars or the vocals.  I can hear the vocals clearer in this version. 

I think it's worth listening to about twice.  No, one and a half times.