The Foo Fighters are undeniably one of my all time favorite bands, and Dave Grohl is one of my all time favorite rock guitarists (right up there with Don Henley - two drummers who are or became vocalists… hmm…). Which makes it slightly odd I suppose that the first Foo Fighters song I officially covered was in fact written by and sung by Taylor Hawkins, another drummer! Its a great pop song, although I’ve read that Taylor was never happy with the lyrics, I think he wrote them the same day they were recorded! In addition to being fun to sing, it has a very approachable solo which is itself fun to play.

Sadly Taylor was lost far too soon, and we won’t get any more opportunities to hear him play and sing this song, but I feel fortunate that I was able to see them live a number of years ago and that they did play this song. Hopefully my playing and video do justice to the song and to his memory.

In December of last year I asked friends and co-workers to share suggestions of songs I could cover after I shared my acoustic cover of Neil Young’s song Old Man. I got a few suggestions, including this song by Don Henley from his 1989 album of the same name.

Unfortunately my co-worker and friend who made the suggestions passed away suddenly a few weeks ago, and as I was processing that loss, I decided that I would go back and record one of her suggestions. Obviously I chose “the Don Henley” song, his voice is in my opinion one of if not THE best male vocals in music. I had no idea how poignant and fitting the song would be until I started working on it.

I’m sorry Mary that I didn’t record it in time for you to hear it, and I don’t know if I “nailed it” like you thought I would, but I did my best.

Two years ago I once again decided I was going to commit to making music. Two years later, I’m finally actually doing it.

I first heard this song as part of a Live BBC performance Neil Young did in 1971. At the time I didn’t realize how much the song had influenced me, but at some point over the next year I was working on a song idea of my own. In the process of working on my song, I had this nagging suspicion that I was ripping off a song, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out who or which one. I didn’t want to spend time and effort working on a song, only to find out that I’d remade someone else’s song, so I spent time instead trying to figure out which song it was.

At the time I had just finished one of the Foo Fighters documentaries, so I was sure it was one of their songs, but after re-listening to their entire catalog (and all the documentaries) I still couldn’t find the song. At some point I decided I may have heard the song in a video on YouTube and so I started looking through my YouTube watch history… a daunting task on its own. And there, I finally found the song whose chord selection had inspired my own. In the end the songs were different enough that I felt like it was worth continuing, but I wasn’t done with Old Man just yet.

As I finally launch my YouTube channel with gear reviews, original songs, and covers, it seemed fitting to come back to this song. We’ll see if I stay committed to this effort any more effectively than I have previously, but at least I managed to solve the mystery, and cover a great song.

The idea is to write a quick post after each series the Oakland A’s play this season. Mostly anecdotal thoughts, probably some statistics tossed in because I probably just can’t help myself.

The opponent: Rangers

The Results:

1. A’s: 9 vs Rangers: 4
2. A’s: 3 vs Rangers: 2
3. A’s: 2 vs Rangers: 4

What happened?

Game 1: Cahill wasn’t quite as good as in his first game, but he kept it close, kept the team in the game, and the offense came through with late runs. Semien went deep again and he’s starting to look pretty comfortable hitting lead-off. Then a hustle hit for Lowrie and 2 out hits/runs. Lots of fun!

Game 2: Triggs gets another win! After several no-decisions in games he pitched well, the offense came through and got Triggs the win! Unfortunate that Treinen who has been one of the more consistently effective relievers only got to throw one pitch, hopefully he won’t be hurt long. ANOTHER series win! 3 series wins in a row after losing (or splitting) the first 5 and now they’re 2 games over .500!

Game 3: Alright, it looks like whatever had Kendall Graveman completely out of sorts might be mended. He took the loss again, but he went 6 solid innings and gave up only 3 runs. He also worked around a couple of errors by the defense, picking them up and not letting things snowball. Its a shame that the A’s made some questionable baserunning decisions and couldn’t come through with the runs/hits to get Graveman his first win, but thats two games in a row where he’s pitched effectively for stretches, and this was definitely an improvement over the last outing.

What do we know?

Again, its hard to sweep any team, and by winning the first two games to guarantee the series win the A’s put themselves in a position for a chance to be greedy and go for the sweep. This is the second 4 game win streak the A’s have had in very quick succession, When the Red Sox ended the A’s last 4 game streak they immediately got back onto a roll. It will be interesting to see if in the next series against Houston the A’s can do the same.

Who’s Next?

The A’s stay on the road and in Texas, facing off with the Houston Astros.

The idea is to write a quick post after each series the Oakland A’s play this season. Mostly anecdotal thoughts, probably some statistics tossed in because I probably just can’t help myself.

The opponent: The Red Sox

The Results:

1. A’s: 3 vs Red Sox: 7
2. A’s: 3 vs Red Sox: 0
3. A’s: 4 vs Red Sox: 1

What happened?

Game 1: Disappointing - a buzzword so far… Graveman actually pitched fairly well, although after a quick and easy top of the first, and then being spotted 3 runs in the bottom, he immediately gave them back. 6 of the 7 runs landed on his ERA as well, but I put those more on Pagan for giving up the grand slame to Moreland. Hopefully this is actually a start to build on for Graveman.

Game 2: MANAEA IS THE MAN!!! NO HITTER!!! His stuff was great, he was calm and composed, nothing phased him. The no hitter is impressive but to do it against the hottest and best team/offense in all of baseball?!?! As impressive as it was, it wasn’t all THAT surprising… Manaea has been REALLY good all year so far. The offense did just enough against Chris Sale, Semien was involved in all three runs including taking Sale deep. It will get lost in the shuffle, but Sale went 7 innings and had 10 strikeouts himself. In the post game interviews Manaea admitted that he didn’t realize the Semien play had been ruled an error (he assumed it was a hit) and so he didn’t know he had a no-hitter going until he noticed it on the big screen in the 8th inning… Nothing much else to say except… NO HITTER!!! oh, and a chance to win the series against the best team in baseball and get back to a .500 record.

Game 3: Daniel Mengden vs David Price = Pitcher’s duel?! Mengden was solid, 6 1/3 innings, and only giving up 1 run? He may not have gotten the win, but he put the team in a position to win, and the offense came through. They may not have scored as much as against the White Sox but they continue to hit, especially with 2 outs. From not winning any of the first 5 series to winning 2 in a row! And against the best team in baseball too!

What do we know?

Now that the offense is clicking, the starting pitching is starting to carry some of the load too. The A’s are finding themselves staying competitive late into the games and the bullpen is almost trustworthy. Most importantly its exciting and fun to watch the A’s!

Who’s Next?

The A’s head back on the road, starting with the Texas Rangers.