IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Jones. He hosted a party for AC/DC with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as surprise entertainers.

An outgoing personality who takes his music more seriously than he does himself, Grohl naturally draws people in. Besides, how do you not like a guy who shows up at stage doors with a wide smile and a bottle of whiskey?

Grohl had no shortage of material when he decided to spend much of his enforced downtime writing a book called “The Storyteller,” on sale Tuesday. Call it the typical tale of a high school dropout who becomes the drummer in Nirvana, then after unspeakable tragedy transformed himself into the singer, songwriter and guitarist for a band that sells out arenas.

And, at age 52, he still listens to his mom.

In fact, he counts his mother Virginia as one of his best friends. As he writes in “The Storyteller,” she was influential in him joining Nirvana.

His time as the drummer in Scream, the Washington-area punk band that Grohl left high school to drum for, was winding down. But he was loyal, and conflicted when he got an invitation to come to Seattle in 1990 and jam with Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic.

The message that burns through “The Storyteller” is to those who watch him onstage now: Deep down, I’m just like you. I’ve worked hard to get where I am, but I obsessed over the same music you do. I’m a fan.

Associated Press Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters has written a memoir, “The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music.”