ENTERTAINMENT

Dave Grohl, Ryan Phillippe vacationing at Del. beaches

Ryan Cormier
The News Journal

When you bump into Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl in Dewey Beach and he politely turns down your offer to buy his four cases of Coors Light, what's a super-fan to do?

How about help him lug all those Silver Bullets back to his car?

That's what happened Saturday when Debora Magalhães' housemate spotted Grohl on Dagsworthy Street, just a few steps away from Dewey Beach Liquors.

"He saw him and freaked out. He's like his No. 1 fan," says Magalhães, 30, of Wilmington. "After they got back to the car, they got talking and then he told us we could take a photo."

Grohl, 47, and his family have been vacationing in the Rehoboth Beach area since 2004 and have returned nearly every year since, regularly visiting summertime hotspots like Funland on the Boardwalk and Nicola Pizza on Rehoboth Avenue.

Even though Grohl is a Nicola fan, it was Grotto Pizza that got a shout-out from him when the Foo Fighters made their Delaware debut at Firefly Music Festival in 2014: "Every time I smell a Grotto pizza, God damn! What other pizza place will get you home after a drunk night in Rehoboth Beach?" he asked from the stage.

For more than a decade, August spottings of Grohl in Rehoboth, Dewey and Bethany beaches has become a Delaware summertime tradition.

STORY: Hillis: Meeting Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl made my day

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When the Washington, D.C.-area native and former Nirvana drummer first started making his summer visits as an adult a dozen years ago, there was no such thing as Twitter or Instagram. And Facebook was only a few months old.

Back in 2004, it took a while for word of Grohl sightings to spread through town by word of mouth. These days, all it takes is a search on social media to see that the Grammy Award-winner is in the First State.

On July 25, Washington, D.C.-based paparazzi photographer Marky Mark tweeted that Grohl and his family had arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport and were headed to the beach for vacation. Since then, social media has been filled with stunned fans reporting that they saw the rocker at the beach.

Over the past two weeks, fans have been posting about their Grohl sightings like Wednesday's tweet from Twitter user @idksenia, who lamented, "One of my biggest regrets in life is riding the Sea Dragon at the beach w/ Dave Grohl and not taking a photograph to commemorate that moment."

Dave Grohl with Rehoboth  Beach-based Beachcomber columnist and musician Roger Hillis on the Rehoboth Boardwalk Sunday.

While that fan didn't get a photo with Grohl, Magalhães and her Dewey Beach housemates did.

Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl poses with fans in Dewey Beach Saturday, July 30, 2016 including Debora Magalhães (front left).

After they helped him with his beer, he agreed to a group photo that shows him smiling while wearing a Gas Can Squirrel T-shirt from the "Walking the Room" comedy podcast.

Magalhães says she was at her beach house when a female friend pulled up and parked in front with Grohl soon parking in the very next spot.

"She was speechless. She was trying to tell me something and she was just like, 'I think … I think … I think … that's …' She couldn't even speak," Magalhães says. "We're both from Brazil, and the Foo Fighters are huge there, so when we posted the photo, everyone was freaking out. No one can believe it."

Earlier in the week, Grohl spoke with Rehoboth Beach-based musician and Beachcomber columnist Roger Hillis  after Hillis spotted the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer on Rehoboth Beach's Boardwalk.

Actually, he was high above the Boardwalk with friends and family.

"He and his entire posse were on top of the roof of Funland in the dark, yelling, 'Hey, look at us!' People were shouting back at them asking how they got up there. I kind of did a double take when I saw him," says Hillis, also a contributor to The News Journal and the bassist for Rehoboth-based cover band Freshly Squeezed.

Grohl isn't the only celebrity in town this week.

New Castle native Ryan Phillippe, 41, was in Bethany Beach on Wednesday

and posted a photo of Indian River Bay on Instagram, commenting simply "de."

By Wednesday night, Rehoboth Beach-based musician Paul Cullen, a former member of Bad Company, was performing and cooking for Phillippe and his family at their Bethany Beach rental home.

The actor's new USA drama, "Shooter," was set to debut this summer, but following the shootings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, it was postponed to the fall. A new date has not yet been released.

Wilmington musician Mark Bader with Dave Grohl at Funland in Rehoboth Beach on July 31, 2016.

Contact Ryan Cormier at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

DO YOU HAVE A PHOTO WITH DAVE GROHL?

News Journal entertainment reporter Ryan Cormier is looking for photos of fans with Dave Grohl at the beach. If you bumped into the Foo Fighters frontman and would like to share, email the photo to rcormier@delawareonline.com.