MORE THAN REVERB, A MAN.

It was a heavy morning, waking up to the news that Dick Dale had passed away. I've said it before, "this one hurts", but this one really hurts. There's so much that could be said about him and his music. He was an icon of surf music, the self proclaimed "King of the Surf Guitar". Accurate or not, he was there at the beginning and was one of the most visible surf guitarists in the history of the genre, gigging consistently for over fifty years. If you like surf music, you know that Dick Dale was the man.

I first heard about Dick Dale in the early seventies from a review in Surfer magazine of a Surfers Stomp, what was essentially a revue, a bunch surf bands that had been big back in the day. Whatever it had said about Dick Dale, it sent me on a hunt for his records. Back then his entire catalog was out of print and thrift stores and garage sales yielded nothing. I watched and waited. Had to. He had made the list without me hearing a note. I was already familiar with surf music from the countless Lively Ones, Challengers and Surfaris LPs you practically tripped over in thrift stores. But, alas, no Dick Dale.

When I was in high school my older sister had a boyfriend that was from San Clemente and after interrogating him, my brothers and I found out that he had heard Dick Dale, but not really being a music fiend he was unable to give us a definitive description of what his sound was like. Nonetheless, Dick Dale was on the want list and would remain there. Then in 1975, out of the blue, a new Dick Dale LP. It was a titled as a greatest hits collection, but all of the songs had been re-recorded specifically for this release. My brothers and I didn't give a shit. We finally got to hear what Dick Dale sounded like and we were in awe. After the release of that LP, thanks to the "once on, never off" want list, in the ensuing years we were actually scoring some of his original releases. We hadn't yet seen him live.

Dale had been playing the Tahoe/Reno/Vegas circuit for several years when he finally had a gig in my neck of the woods, around '79-'80. Two nights, two shows per night if I remember correctly. I went both nights, once with my buddies from the beach, and once with a friend from the punk scene. After the first set on the first night, I approached Dale and asked to sign my copy of Surfers Choice, not something I'd ever done. In fact I was against that sort of fandom, but I had waited too long to see this person perform and thought I might not ever get the chance again. Now, here is the deal. Dick Dale gave me, a kid he had never met, as much time as I wanted. Super gracious, not a speck of condescension. He talked, and he boasted, but it was like the exaggerations of an uncle telling his war stories embellished over the years. There was doubt when he started talking story about both Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Cochran, but I didn't give a shit. Really. What impressed me the most was that I was there talking one on one with Dick Dale about Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Cochran. When he handed my record back he had signed it "To my friend Tom". And that's exactly what he made me feel like. A few weeks later one of the local punk fanzines made comments about one of there own missing whatever the show of the week was to go see surf music, as was if they thought they were outing me as some sort of defector. In my mind they were fucking idiots.

Dick Dale made me feel like his friend. That was big. I spoke with him a couple other times in ensuing years, and although he didn't remember me from previous meetings, that was to be expected. This was over a period of several years. But he was always the same, totally nice and accommodating. To wit, the video above, shot in 2007, roughly twenty seven years after I met him, and he is just as accommodating. The person who shot it asked him if he had any advice for up and coming musicians. Boy, did he get a helluva answer. Dale gives away his playbook. This is Indie 101, maybe not as effective these days, but the gist is. Don't be a sucker.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~  

Listen:
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Miserlou mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Night Rider mp3 at Rocky 52
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Jungle Fever mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichidan
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Ghost Riders In the Sky mp3 at Rocky 52