In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Dave Grohl and his mother Virginia discussed Nirvana, Amy Winehouse, and Kurt Cobain.
“Nirvana was playing Saturday Night Live, and I went to New York to see them,” Virginia says. “Charles Barkley was the host, and I told my class I’d get him to sign some autographs. But if there were any [bad] reports from the substitute, then they would be null and void.”
Dave Grohl also discussed talking with Amy Winehouse’s mother Janis for her new book. “The Amy Winehouse story hits close to home because there are some parallels between Amy and Kurt [Cobain],” says Dave Grohl, who wrote the book’s foreword.
Like Kurt’s mom, Wendy Cobain, Virginia was a single mother. She writes movingly about her relationship with Wendy, and argues that educators can create arts programs that meet the needs of bright kids who don’t quite fit in. “She understands there are some kids who work outside of conventional systems,” Dave says. As for her own son’s legendary good nature, Virginia remains amazed. “I didn’t need to tell him that even when we just had peanut butter and jelly for dinner he should still say thank you,” she recalls. “He thanked me every time.”
