From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars

By: Virginia Hanlon Grohl (foreword by Dave Grohl)

Hennepin County Library hardcover 214 plus bibliography and acknowledgements

Published: 2017

Genre: non-fiction, motherhood, rock stars

 

I don't know how this title came across my radar, but it was so interesting! I love how she focused on the moms of these stars. It was nice to learn about the mothers who raised these famous musicians.

 

Mary Weinrib was one of the interviewees. Her son Gary Lee "Geddy Lee" was in Rush. Her story was amazing! She was a Holocaust survivor.

 

Page 84: Mary shakes her head at the memories of those difficult times. She was in the middle, trying to keep peace between her hard-rocking son and her kosher-keeping mother. "I survived the war and the concentration camps," she recalls. "But I also survived the war in my house. When I was a kid, I didn't know I'm gonna come out alive. But I knew I'd come out of this alive . . . bruised, but alive!"

 

Turbulent teenagers . . . can definitely be a challenge! 

 

Hanlon Grohl included several vignettes throughout the book of interviews with other moms. One of them really caught my attention.

 

Page 89 (Vignette #5): My favorite event is the Kennedy Center Honors annual presentation. On one prestigious evening each year, a few of our best and brightest artists are chosen to be honored for their lifetime of work in the arts. Other artists perform their music and sing their praises as these icons receive medals. The event is filled with newsmakers and newswriters. . . . After these, all eyes turn to the first balcony, where the president and his wife are seated next to the honorees. There are many standing ovations.

 

Ugh. I feel sorry for artists under our current administration. What a farce the "Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Arts" has become. I'm glad that it used to be an amazing experience to participate in the honors.

 

A LOT of these moms recognized that their talented children were struggling in regular school classrooms. A LOT of these musicians were seen as underperforming and "not working to their potential."

 

Page 127: Val fairly simmers as she tells the story. She and I have both been through this territory many times. It is hard to forgive school programs that can't find ways to generate interest from kids who show great talent and commitment to artistic endeavors. It is my profound hope that someday, somehow, our school systems will begin to reflect the diversity of their student population.

 

In this section, the author is talking with Val Matthews, mother of Dave Matthews (of the Dave Matthews Band). The moms of many, many rock stars are included in the book. Kelly Clarkson, Pharrrell Williams, Dr. Dre, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown, and so many more are included. Very cool.

 

Page 139: Zac is still grateful for the dinners the Meekses and other families cooked for him and for his Christian faith for keeping him "solid" during that time. 

 

This is when Zac Brown's dad and stepmom relocated but let him live in his own apartment to finish his senior year of high school.

 

Page  141: As my afternoon with Bettye came to an end, I was more convinced than ever that the things mothers are most proud of are the magnanimous efforts our sons and daughters make that reach far beyond their music and their fame.

 

This idea that the parents are most proud of their famous kids when they are good human beings. I can relate! (Not with the famous kid part, but of being thankful that they are wonderful people.)

 

Page  174(Vignette #10): It should be noted, though, that most of us secretly value unreported acts of generosity and kindness even more than prestigious trophies. We are most proud of commitments to family or community that reveal the real essence of the man or woman our child has become, that show us "It's times like these you learn to live again . . . / It's times like these you learn to love again," as the songwriter I'm so proud of put it.

 

Again, she addresses the pride and love she has for Dave AND her daughter Lisa a lot in this book. It really is a beautiful testament to mothers' love. She included Kurt Cobain's mom and Amy Winehouse's parents in this, acknowledging how the darker side of fame can be painful.  

 

Page 201: She says her philosophy of good parenting is quite simple: "Anybody in the world can raise a child well if they pay attention to him. That's my theory. you really have to listen, to pay attention."

 

This comes from Mary Morello, mother of Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello. For a woman born in 1924, she was quite the traveler and free thinker. It was fascinating to read about all these different women.

 

Page  207 (Vignette #12): "Food Fighters?" people asked me for years. "No, Foo," I explained, trying to sound patient. "From the World War II flying squadrons that thought there were UFOs waiting to invade European fronts." There are varying interpretations of the name, but all agree that foo was the mispronounced French word for fire, feu. That's really all I know about it. I wasn't consulted on naming the band, and that's probably a good thing. Weird as it was, Foo Fighters sounded a lot better to me than the names of some of David's earlier groups: Dain Bramage and Freak Baby. Band names mystify me. The Beatles, for example. Misspelled by young lads who were playing their guitars when they should have been doing their lessons? Or a word cleverly coined from the noun "beat"? Pink Floyd. What's that about?

 

I think my favorite parts were all the photographs and the interview with Pharrell's mom. This book was a delight. But I still don't really know why I requested it from the library . . .  Oh! And Dave Grohl was in Nirvana until Kurt Cobain's death. Then he formed the Foo Fighters. It's a pretty cool story. His mom (the author) died in August 2022, five years after publishing this book.