THE GODFATHER

Holy shit, it's summer! You know what that means: force feeding you surf music to keep me in the mood. Make no mistake, at this end it's a matter of priorities and surf music takes care of two: surf and music. I've listened to a lot of surf music and Dick Dale is still my favorite. He may not be rated by other aficionados as the best (Eddie and the Showmen are strong contenders) but he was the first, and he actually waxed up. There are other reasons he's my favorite but we don't have to go into that right now. I'll gush about his character later. There will be more Dick Dale posts this summer.

These are from his first self-released LP Surfer's Choice. He was just starting to use reverb. "Let's Go Trippin'", despite being an all-time surf classic, has no reverb at all. "Surf Beat", another song that ranks on my all-time intro list, is awesome. He starts the song and yelps something like "yeahh, lokumoa" or possibly "yeahh, look 'em over"; I've been listening to the song for decades and have never been certain of what's said. And a couple beats later, it's another mangled message. That's the part of Dick Dale that I like, His vocal delivery. Like his "Take i' off!" in ":Take It Off", and "Shake an' stomp!" in "Shake n' Stomp". He doesn't try to be pretty.

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Listen:
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Surf Beat mp3 at Internet Archive
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Take It Off mp3 at Internet Archive
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Shake n' Stomp mp3 at Internet Archive
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Let's Go Trippin' mp3 at Internet Archive

BECAUSE, HE GOT WET.

Guitar instrumentals have been around as long as guitars. That you know. When did surf music become a thing? One could argue that the Ventures and Duane Eddy, along with others, laid the groundwork in 1960 and 1958 respectively. That's not really that much of a stretch, but my money is on the year 1961, when guitar instrumentals started charting in higher numbers. That in itself isn't enough to pinpoint the inception but something else happened that year. Dick Dale and the Deltones released "Let's Go Trippin'". It's notable that the record did not have reverb on it (that was right around the corner). Why would that be considered surf? The guitar player surfed.

Here's a few instrumentals that were hits in 1961. And two that didn't make it out of Southern California.

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Listen:
The Ramrods - Ghost Riders in the Sky mp3 at Internet Archive
Jorgen Ingmann and His Guitar - Apache mp3 at Internet Archive
John Barry Seven - The Magnificent Seven mp3 at Internet Archive

Dick Dale and the Deltones - Let's Go Trippin' mp3 at Wish I Were There
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Deltone Rock mp3 at Review Stalker

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.

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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

THE CUSP

Dick Dale is one musician that I've always respected. I've been thinking about him lately. He's eighty or something, and having some health issues. I do think that he is the King of the Surf Guitar. There are others who might be better technically, others more adventurous, and so on, but to me surf music began with Dick Dale. And not the earliest Dick Dale. Songs like "Let's Go Trippin'" and "Deltone Rock" were really just guitar instrumentals. "Miserlou" was ground zero. "Surf Beat". Enter the reverb. Enter surf.

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Listen:

Dick Dale and the Deltones - Let's Go Trippin' mp3 at Wish I Were There
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Deltone Rock mp3 at Review Stalker
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Miserlou mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog

SONG THE THRIFT STORE TAUGHT ME

Martin Denny and band.

A couple nights ago some friends were over, and we were talking about the record selection at a local antique mall. Pretty varied stuff, very little classic rock and crap like that, stuff that you see everywhere. It's more like a slightly beat up Bud Shank, maybe Harry Belafonte, Wayne Cochran. It reminded me that I have a record stashed there that I check on every time I go there. An autographed Korla Pandit LP, in pretty good shape, but a little too pricey. That's why I've been sitting on the fence. Pandit's music is okay, I just like the idea that he existed, albeit with a made up backstory.

Korla Pandit. The nut.

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Listen:
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Miserlou mp3 at Rocky 52 1962
Korla Pandit – Misirlou mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens 1958
Enoch Light – Misirlou mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens 1959
Martin Denny – Misirlou mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens 1960
Video:
Korla Pandit - Misirlou at YouTube

THE '62 SINGLE-ONLY SLEEPER

Here's a few random instrumentals, starting with Doug and the Galaxies' "Sundown", which then reminded me of "Boss" by the Rumblers. I couldn't find it, the Rumblers, other than a YouTube thing, so you get Billy Vaughn's version. Meandering along, I ran across quite a few other instrumentals scattered around Beware of the Blog including "Jungle Fever", one of the more obscure early Dick Dale and the Del-Tones instrumentals. Given that it wasn't an album cut, and as a single had to compete with "Miserlou" released the same year (1962), there's a reason it isn't better known.

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Listen:
Doug and the Galaxies - Sundown mp3 at Rocky 52
The Rumblers - Boss (streaming) at YouTube
Billy Vaughn - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Jungle Fever mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichidan

CLASS PROJECT

This is a fun and liberating experiment. I was browsing the offerings from Bear Family, a label known for reissues. They had an Dick Dale album, Live on the Santa Monica Pier, and with the listing were fifteen samples, each thirty seconds long. You see where I'm going? I clicked on all the samples in quick succession, until they were all playing at once. It was a rush, a glorious racket. After one faded out, the rest followed, in the same order they were originally clicked on. When it was over I was wishing I had a record of it. So I did it again, this time clicking out of order with different amounts of delay, then clicking on samples as they ended, and kept the mess going for a couple minutes, composing my own surf noise symphony. If that sounds like fun to you, the link to the page at Bear Family is below. If it's not your thing, or worse, you question why it would be anybody's thing, then you're in the wrong place.

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Click frenzy here:
Dick Dale - Live on the Santa Monica Pier at Bear Family
Visit:
Past Dick Dale posts Scroll down the page.

WALKED THE WALK

All it took was one photo and it became Dick Dale oddball night. Randy Nauert posted the photo below on Facebook today. Nauert was the former bass player for the Challengers, one of the biggest of the first wave of surf bands back in the early sixties. He knows of what he speaks/posts. He was also a life long friend of Rick Griffin. But that's another story. Anyways, he posts a lot of cool shit on Facebook.

When I saw the photo, I looked for a similar high resolution uncropped copy of the photo, so I could link to it (the one on Facebook can't be linked). I couldn't find one, but it lead to a succession of Dick Dale oddballs, so there you have it.

The first thing to check below are the videos, very cool footage, and surprisingly good quality, of a very early performance in a club in Anaheim. It's a packed house, a lot of bodies moving. The odd thing is that there's no footage of him playing guitar, only drums, sax, and in the second video just singing. Go figure. But it is notable, particularly because the crowd continues to bee bop their heads off, during during his "Look Ma, I'm Gene Krupa" portion of the song. Then, an 6:31, the birth of pogo dancing. The second video has him singing "Greenback Dollar", again without a guitar, and again, the crowd keeps going. Those kids are nuts.

Check the photo above. The lean, the one foot in the air, the look on his face, the collarless jacket, the drum head, the well lit room, the checkered floor..., does that not epitomize that era of surf music? (Large version here.) Nevermind the fact that Dale actually did get wet (see the photo at the top of the post).

The other stuff down there is just random crap that I ran across. A couple are lesser known songs. "Taboo" is exotica noir, spooky sounding or just chill, depending on your predilection. "Death of a Gremmie" sounds like some prankster swapped out Link Wray's distortion and plugged him into a reverb. (Hate to be that guy.) It's Dale trying his best in the baddass game. Maybe his picking hand was fatigued after all that staccato picking 'n' shit.

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Listen:
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Taboo mp3 at Internet Archive
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Death of a Gremmie mp3 at Internet Archive
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Surf Beat mp3 at Internet Archive
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Mr. Eliminator mp3 at Internet Archive
Video
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Teen Beat/All Night Long at YouTube Pogoing commences at 6:31
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Greenback Dollar at YouTube
Podcast:
Dick Dale and the Birth of Surf Rock at NPR 13 minutes, from Fresh Air 

IT IS, BY ANY NAME.

If you've been hanging around here for a while, you might have noticed instrumentals all over the place. I dig 'em. So forgive me if I already pointed you towards Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban's weekly series, aptly named "Instrumental 45 of the Week".  I probably have at some point. But, this week it's a cover of the Rumblers' "Boss" and I ain't gonna pass that up. The Rumbler's version itself is a cover of the Strangers "Caterpillar Crawl". The one Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban just posted is by Billy Vaughn "and his Orchestra", despite the orchestra consisting of only guitar, bass, sax and drums. Around these parts we call them bands. But it's a worthy take. All three are pretty badass, something like Link Wray lightening up a tad, with a sax player getting his licks in. I'm a little partial to the Rumblers version because the sax has a good honk to it. Revelation of the day? Dick Dale played it live and it wasn't the best thing I've ever heard.

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Listen:
Billy Vaughn - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 1964
The Rumblers - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 1963
The Strangers - Caterpillar Crawl mp3 at Rockin' Dog 1959 The source
Dick Dale - Caterpillar Crawl (live) at YouTube 2011 Follows it with "Rumble". Okay then.
Visit:
Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban's Instrumental of the Week series

MUST BE JACKED UP ON SOMETHING

I make no excuses for posting surf music in November. It's Dick fucking Dale. Wasn't going to be a Dick Dale night necessarily, but being that it was 80 degrees today, and the water temp still hovering around 65, it didn't feel like November. So when I ran into "Mr. Eliminator", all bets were off. Just listen to these non-hit Dick Dale things. Although sounding different, particularly the early cut, "Del-Tone Rock" (before he eloped with reverb), there's one common thread that runs through all of these. It's their unrelenting pace.

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Listen:
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Del-Tone Rock mp3 at Rocky 52 1961
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Night Rider mp3 at Rocky 52 1963
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Mr. Eliminator mp3 at Hell's Belles 1964

MORE THAN REVERB

Oh yeah baby, this weekend is Memorial Day weekend, three days off with plenty of time to get in the water, roast weenies, and toss back some cool ones. You will, of course, need a soundtrack, and what better soundtrack than surf music? Many surfers would poo poo the idea that reverb drenched guitar instrumentals are what real surfers listen to, but I don't care, because Dick Dale invented the genre and he surfed. And I don't care what his skills were in the water, he's good with a guitar and he's a nice guy. I know, I've met him and had a pretty lengthy conversation with him. The man is unguarded and genuine. Check this video. This was years after my encounter, and he's every bit as generous with his time as he was decades earlier. Someone asks him if he has any advice for up and coming musicians. He lays it all out, barely coming up for air, as if he'd given the same advice many times before. You might know it as Punk Rock Distribution 101, or the SST business model. Nearly two decades earlier, there was Deltone Records. The man knows of what he speaks. And that is why the system hates Dick Dale.

Even if he sucked as a musician, that short clip would be worth viewing. But he doesn't suck. And anyone who might think of disputing his rightful ownership of his self invented title, King of the Surf Guitar, is not worth arguing with. I know a guy who dismissed him outright because he didn't like his voice. Yes, I know how it is. Raquel Welch's knees turn my stomach too.

A dripping wet tip of the hat to Adam over at Diddy Wah for posting "Night Rider", the flip side of "The Wedge". That's what prompted me to re-post that video and reaffirm my utmost respect. Say what you want. In this house, Dick Dale is king.

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Listen:
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - The Wedge mp3 at Internet Archive 1963
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Night Rider mp3 at Diddy Wah Go there to get it 
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog 1962
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Mr. Eliminator mp3 at Hell's Belles 1964
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Peter Gunn mp3 at ATumblr.com (?) 1975 
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Deltone Rock mp3 at Review Stalker 1961

I AM SURFER

That guy above is Korla Pandit. I'm not interested in his back-story. I'm sure it's colorful. Maybe not. I just don't want to ruin the image I have my head, as some weirdo of yore. I ran into an old clip of him performing "Miserlou" and it was just my kind of old school low key weird. I thought it might be the original version, but the song actually dates back to 1927.  Regardless, I'd already started on this tack and I'll be damned if I'm going to rattle my skull for another topic. Besides, it's a great song, one of those that's really hard to fuck up. That kind of good. Assuming you know Dick Dale's version well, dig on the one by Ray Maxwell at Diddy Wah.

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Listen:
Korla Pandit - Miserlou mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens 1951
Fariborz Lachini - Miserlou mp3 at Lachini
Quadro Nuevo - Miserlou mp3 at Pierre Kaufmann 2004
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Miserlou mp3 at ATumlbr (?) 1962
Ray Maxwell - Miserlou mp3 at Diddy Wah Go there to get it.
Video:
Korla Pandit - Miserlou at YouTube

NO MATTER WHAT, IT'S ALWAYS WET

I don't know how many of you live in Southern California, probably very few, and even fewer that get in the ocean on a regular basis, Those of you who do, you know what kind of summer we had. Insanely warm water, unusually clear days (no June gloom), and a handful of good swells to boot (including the all time south swell a couple months ago). It really hasn't let up. There's yet another swell that is just now starting to die down, but still, with 72 degree water (about six degrees higher than normal) entirely do-able. If you know, you know, this shit never gets old.

After going the whole summer with only sporadic postings of surf music, you'll have to indulge me. I was poking around and found that a post at Big O with over forty obscuros is still up, and if you missed it the last time, and you're into oddball surf music, you know what to do. The bonus is that they're all ripped from vinyl, so there's the well played surface noise that us pre-mp3-ers find so comforting, You surf music dabblers can just check the few single songs scavenged from other sites below, but if you want to hear "Siboney" by The King Pins, or "High Wall" by the Debonaires, stuff like that, you really should head over there.

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Listen:
Aki Aleong & the Nobels - Panic mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
The Hollywood Tornadoes - The Gremmie, Pt 1 mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban

The Torquays - Escondido mp3 at Office Naps

Dick Dale & the Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Astronauts - Hot Dogger mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Danny and the Seniors - Banzai Pipeline mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Johnny Barakat and the Vestells - The Wedge at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Lively Ones - Surf Rider mp3 at The California Girls
The Chantays - Pipeline mp3 at Rocky-52.net

The mother lode:
Surfer's Mood - Forty plus songs, all at Big O Archive (Roio) Go there to get 'em.

LIKE I NEED AN EXCUSE

You know there's no way I was going to miss out on an opportunity to do a cheap post on a day when the Wedge was going off. It was all-time today, as in huge, reportedly 20+ feet, though it depends on you measure it. But it was big by any standards, that I know from the scads of videos already on YouTube. Very rarely does it get that big during the summer. So, thank you Wedge, for tonights easy out. You made me think of Dick Dale's song named after you. Of course, that would be the one song I was unable to find a good quality rip of. Nevertheless, the Dick Dale Wedge connection will serve as a fuss free exit. It's summer, it's surf music and there's a swell somewhere, so shut up.

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Listen:
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Deltone Rock mp3 at Review Stalker 1961
Dick Dale and His Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog 1962
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones- Riders In the Sky at Massacritica (?) 1963
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - The Wedge mp3 at Internet Archive 1963  Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Mr. Eliminator mp3 at Hell's Belles 1964 Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Peter Gunn mp3 at ATumblr.com (?) 1975
Dick Dale - Miserlou (acoustic) mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens 1993
Video (all shot today);
The Wedge - Slow motion footage of the ride pictured above at YouTube
The Wedge -  More rides at YouTube
The Wedge - Drone footage at YouTube

LEFT COAST

It was a Dick Dale sorta day today. Rather than dish out the ones we've all heard a zillion times, here's a few lesser know songs. (If you're a dick head, you know these.) Did you know that Hal Blaine, Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, then in the Wrecking Crew, all played on Dale's major label debut LP, King of the Surf Guitar? It was his second LP, and his first on Capitol, so, without looking it up, my guess is that the label was throwing money into their new act. None of the songs down there are from that album. The first two are from his first LP, Surfers' Choice, self-released on Del-Tone Records. "Let's Go Trippin'" and "Miserlou" are on it too. If you're going shopping, start with that one.

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Listen:
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Deltone Rock mp3 at Review Stalker 1961
Dick Dale and His Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog 1962
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones- Riders In the Sky at Massacritica (?) 1963
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Mr. Eliminator mp3 at Hell's Belles 1964
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Peter Gunn mp3 at ATumblr.com (?) 1975
Dick Dale - Miserlou (acoustic) mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens 1993
Pre-surf:
Dick Dale - Ooh Wee Marie (streaming) at YouTube  1959
Visit:
Previous Dick Dale post Videos and what not
Dick Dale official site
Dick Dale at Wikipedia

SURF'S UP, PARDON THE CORN

Earlier today I was talking to a guy I know, and was ending the conversation saying that I'd talk to him on Monday. "I probably won't be back by then, I'm going to the Ranch." Knowing he's more than a bit waterlogged, I asked if it was a surf trip, and he answered that there was a sizable swell coming, and it's supposed to be one for the ages.  "I'm bringing my nine-six elephant gun. This is a big one. Waimea's at thirty foot today, and the swell is headed here. The Maverick's contest is on, Sunday at 8:00. It's going to be online." Holy shit! This probably doesn't mean a damn thing to most of you, but I was ten types of worked up. Mavericks is California's premier big wave spot, and the Mavericks Invitational is not held unless the surf is sizable, as in massive, and clean enough to warrant a gathering of the worlds best big wave surfers. The last time it was held was two years ago, and given the ever improving technology, this years coverage should be something to see.  The contest is being sponsored by Go Pro, a company that manufactures small waterproof video cameras that sports nuts of all types have taken to strapping to themselves and doing their own narcissistic home movies. Normally an advance in "look at me" technology isn't something that winds my watch, but in this case it will afford landlubbers an opportunity to see what it looks like when you're on a big...make that huge wave.  Some of the surfers will be wearing the cameras, and that, a close up big wave encounter shown in real time, isn't something you're likely to see again for a while.

To post a few surf songs seemed like a no brainer. Though for waves this hairy, surf music is a little trite. So, there's one down there from Bach, as in Johann Sebastian. You might think it an odd choice, but it's been used in more than a few big wave sequences in surf movies of yore. There's also a link to the Mavericks Invitational site, where you'll be able to watch (Sunday, January 20, 8:00 AM, Pacific Standard Time), and a link to the trailer to the recent feature film Chasing Mavericks.

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For the heavy shit:
J.S.Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor mp3 at Bach Net
Four foot and under:
The Rumblers - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Aki Aleong & the Nobels - Panic mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
The Hollywood Tornadoes - The Gremmie, Pt 1 mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Dick Dale and the Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Astronauts - Hot Dogger mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Danny and the Seniors - Banzai Pipeline mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Johnny Barakat and the Vestells - The Wedge at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Charles Wright and the Malibus - Runky mp3 at Office Naps
The Torquays - Escondido mp3 at Office Naps
Calvin Cool - El Tecolote mp3 at Office Naps
Richie Allen - Caveman mp3 at Office Naps
Visit:
Mavericks Invitational official site, Live streaming coverage, Sunday, January 20, 8:00 AM, Pacific Standard Time
NOTE: The Mavericks Invitational can also be seen here. The official site is not responding as of 7:04 AM, Jan. 20, so if that's still happening, this is your best bet.
Chasing Mavericks trailer at YouTube

GET WET

Hey! It's almost summer! I've been out of school for a zillion years but there's still something about this time of year that has me lame ducking my way through finals that I don't have, and anticipating a solid three months of accelerated goofing off. Back when schedules didn't really exist, it meant just sitting around on the beach, getting in the water, going for a soda pop or rolled tacos, and then repeating the process the rest of the day. Nights were spent hanging out with friends and maybe the odd kegger. Back then, that would be my routine just about every day for the duration of the summer. It's still the ideal around here and, to be honest, has stunted my growth in a number of ways. But, it's hard to argue with the pleasure of walking home barefoot, with salt and sand caked all over you.

So, here's some surf stuff. The one that I really wanted to point you towards isn't really surf music in the classic sense. It's "Boss," by the Rumblers, a song that sounds like the missing link between the Northwest sound of bands like the (Fabulous) Wailers, and surf music. I don't know what it is, whether it's the driving beat, the sax, or possibly a key change; but there's something about it that just sounds so sinister. (If you only listen to one song below, that should be it.) The others down there are a nice mix of different takes on the surf sound, with some familiar names and some oddballs; some with organ, some with almost fuzz, and some absolutely soggy with reverb.

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Listen:
The Rumblers - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Aki Aleong & the Nobels - Panic mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
The Hollywood Tornadoes - The Gremmie, Pt 1 mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Dick Dale & the Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Astronauts - Hot Dogger mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Danny and the Seniors - Banzai Pipeline mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Johnny Barakat and the Vestells - The Wedge at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Lively Ones - Surf Rider mp3 at The California Girls
The Astronauts - Quiet Village mp3 at Goof Spot
The Chantays - Pipeline mp3 at Rocky-52.net

I, DICKHEAD

A few days ago I was listening to Dick Dale and the Deltones first LP Surfers' Choice, and as "Let's Go Trippin'" was playing, a song I've heard exactly fourteen thousand and forty six times, it hit me how awesome it was.  Especially considering it was very early in his recorded output (his first record to be accurate), and (this is a big one) recorded without his trademark dripping reverb.  It's a simple, yet effective, guitar instrumental with little flash.  It is basic, as in basically fucking awesome.  There are many people, and I'm not necessarily one of them, that think surf music, particularly instrumental surf music, begins with Dick Dale.  But, Dick Dale was the first to get steady airplay, regional though it was.  From 1961 to 1963, he was the man.

  

Dude, are you gonna guard her or what?

As the popularity of surf music dimmed with the onslaught of Beatlemania, Dale kept it going playing in Vegas, and appearing elsewhere when a call would come in.  In the early seventies there was an review in Surfer magazine of a Surfer Stomp revival sort of thing, that featured Dale and other surf acts.  This was where he first popped up on my radar.  I had yet to hear his music, but whatever it said in that review, it wet my whistle.  A little later, while on a camping trip, my older sister's boyfriend, who was from Orange County (the epicenter of surf music), told my brothers and I that he had actually heard Dale's music. He was then interrogated at length.  Drilled.  It would be a couple years before I finally heard Dick Dale's music, when GNP-Cresendo released Dick Dale & the Deltones's Greatest Hits in 1975, which did include a lot of his hits, albeit rerecorded.  That made little difference, as it was only about ten years after his initial splash, the sound was there, and my brothers and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference without something to reference anyway.  Nevertheless, along with most of our friends from the beach, we were hooked. 

Look at them.  They're just two peas in a pod aren't they?

During the next few years, we would scour thrift store record bins for his records, and we managed to accumulate almost all of his early output. By the time he played locally, around 1980, we were as familiar as young adults our age could be.  I went to a couple of his shows that weekend and met Dale, who was more than gracious with the surprisingly few fiends that approached him.  In the weird mix that Dale drew, after one show the fiends included my beach friends and an Elvis impersonator named Kanikie (armed with an old school autograph book).  After another show it was myself and my friend, industrial musician Boyd Rice (Non), and again, Kanikie.  (I snapped a photo of Boyd with Dale, and it's been spread about a good deal since then due to Boyd's notoriety in decidedly non-surf circles). Dale told stories of the old days, and spoke at length about other musicians, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Cochran among them. It was like an older brother filling you in.  He was probably the nicest "famous" musician I've ever spoken with.  (Not that that's it's a regular occurrence.  Joey Ramone is the only one who comes close.)  I'll cite two examples that further this case.  One is that my brother actually spent a day with him (which I mentioned before here), and came back with the stories.  The other is the video below, which I think should be spread far and wide amongst musicians.  It's great stuff, advice on how to rule your own game in the music industry.  Not only is he giving advice as though he really cares, it's amazingly eloquent when you consider it was a random question asked after a gig.

Give a listen to a few below, and, for crying out loud, get some of his stuff.  Most of the new stuff that passes as surf-ish is just crap. And you kids, quit fucking throwing that term around.

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

Listen: 
Dick Dale & the Deltones - Let's Go Trippin' mp3 at Wish I Were There 
Dick Dale & the Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog 
Dick Dale & the Deltones - Deltone Rock mp3 at Review Stalker
Dick Dale & the Deltones - Mr. Eliminator (streaming) at The Notes
Visit:
Dick Dale official site
Dick Dale fan site
Dick Dale at Wikipedia

QUINCY IRBY LIVES

Try as I might to find a common theme among songs on the same post, this one is kind of an exception. The reason is because it's for my brother, Tim, who passed away in 1997 and was a brilliant guitarist. His birthday is January 13, which this year falls on a Friday, hence the image above. So, here's just a few of guitarists that he dug.

I had to start it with Johnny Winter, because that's the first guitarist that I remember him trying to emulate, and he had it down; to the point that you could name an era of Johnny Winter and he could improvise something in that style, be it bottleneck blues, or electric rock 'n' roll. The cut below, an alternate take of "Dallas," begins with Johnny Winter muttering "unlucky thirteen" which, of course, meant I had to post it.

He was also into surf music, deep. Beginning with the omnipresent garage sale Ventures, and then onto the Surfaris, the Challengers (who he would later christen "dodes"), the Lively Ones and so on. We knew about Dick Dale, but, believe it or not, at the time all of his records were out of print and nearly impossible to find. Finally, around 1975, Dick Dale released a new album with re-recorded old material and some new stuff. It blew away all of the other bands. Tim got it bad. A few years later (around '80) he started a surf band, the Evasions, with a guy he met through a classified ad, Richard "Skid Roper" Banke (who Tim would call Braniac, because Richard had suggested "The Braniacs" as a band name). A while later, he would get the opportunity to be sent to Dale's house, to shoot him for a friend's music column. He spent a day, one on one, with the King of the Surf Guitar. Dale took him out on his boat, played piano, and played an unreleased song on acoustic in the middle of a tour of the house. He gave Tim his phone number and told him to call him any time (and, as any brother would, he later proved it by calling him while I was present).

Tim, Del Mar Fair, mid-80s

That's only two, and though there's a few others down below, this will have to be continued later. I can see where it's going, I could go forever about all of the guitarists he loved. Besides Johnny Winter, Dick Dale, Cliff Gallup (Gene Vincent), Paul Burlison (Johnny Burnette), Neil Young and Karl Precoda (Dream Syndicate), all represented below, there's the man, Chuck Berry, Billy Lee Riley, Scotty Moore, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Ron Wood, Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, Hendrix, Clapton, Duane Allman, Leslie West (Mountain), Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Tommy Collins, Joe Maphis, John Fogerty, Ronnie Montrose, Jimmy Page, Rick Derringer, Jeff Beck, Ron Asheton, Johnny Thunders, Paul Johnson, and on and on. His tastes were varied, but it was always about the guitar.

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

Listen:
Johnny Winter - Dallas mp3 at David Fullmer
Dick Dale & the Deltones - The Wedge mp3 at 4Shared
Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps - Cat Man mp3 at LYWL
Johnny Burnette & the Rock n' Roll Trio - Honey Hush mp3 at RocknDog.com
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Down By the River mp3 at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends
The Dream Syndicate - Halloween mp3 at The Mad Mackerel