Early in his rare solo acoustic headlining performance at Notes & Words 2018, Dave Grohl at once revealed his laid back humor and his insightful personal pondering on life and how it intersected with the feelings of the evening in his stream of consciousness commentary leading into one of his famous Foo Fighters songs: “As I was thinking about the setlist earlier… 15 minutes ago… [laughs] I thought that maybe that I would begin the set with this song, but then decided not to… But I think that this song is one of the ones that makes most sense tonight. I wrote this song in a period of my life where I was down… and I finally stopped and took at look at everything I had and all the things that I’d taken for granted. A wonderful home and appreciation of life, and love, and my friends. And the good things, and the good people, and the big picture and how we’re all connected in some way. I wrote this song and it’s called “Times Like These”.  Every year, there is magic all around at the Notes & Words: Benefit For UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital event, and it was off the charts again Saturday night, as per tradition.  The format remained the same – entertainment including both writers and musicians on stage – and this year featured musicians Dave Grohl with Emmett Reeed and Oakland School for the Arts, as well as writer George Saunders and, as always, writer and event host Kelly Corrigan.  The highlight of the evening for sure was watching Dave perform on stage with his two very talented daughters, Violet and Harper Grohl.  Not just the music, but the opportunity to see a loving family share with the crowd in such an amazing, candid and joyful way.  And all this good will went toward making new happy beginnings as seen with some of the real life stories shared by families who have been helped by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

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