S/D: Dick Dale

If you buy his album from the website, apparently you get a free signed photo with it... http://www.dickdale.com

Yeah, go for Better Shred Than Dead, a two disc Rhino comp which essentially replicates the earlier Rhino set and adds on a lot of things done since then, up to date through the late nineties.

But what he had the most of was Dick Dale. Surfer's Deluxe, etc, all the classics. My brother and I would tease him constantly because we thought Dick Dale was so corny. This judgement was made entirely on the album covers and the titles of his songs (lots of food references, the track listing looked like Cibo Matto in retrospect.) Never actually heard the records which were probably too damaged to play anyway.

Fast forward to the mid 90s. I'd come to realize that Dale was something special, fell in love with "Let's Go Trippin," which I heard on some surf comp I picked up a few years before. Dick Dale is back in the public eye b/c of Pulp Fiction, and I see him in a club on his Tribal Thunder tour. Unbelieveably great show, three-piece band w/ him and two young guys, and Dale was a monster on guitar. Afterward I get him to sign an autograph for my Dad, which he now has framed in his office.

Heh -- I've mentioned it before, but Chad Demmon from the Astronauts became a middle high school history teacher in my more-or-less hometown of Coronado. Never actually took any classes from him aside from a couple of days at the start of a school year.

Then, of course, he rips through a surf version of a Hendrix song and breaks several picks/strings and solos on his G string.

That's entertainment.

Am I misled in thinking it unbelievable the massive SOUND of Dick Dale in the 1950s???? As someone said above, it's like Pantera, and what was it, the Eisenhower administration at the time (actually, closer to Kennedy, but still...).

I've been listening to The King non-stop for 2 years now, and I'm still astounded by the power of his sound.

If all goes according to plan, I'll see him in May. Can't wait. Although he seems like a cock in some interviews I've read, the man has a right to be as badass as he wants.

Still going - finally going to see him in about a week from now.

Dick Dale, fuck yeah

He is 75 and now has cancer, and his ex-wife & son are in jail for allegedly blowing up a propane tank

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/surf-guitarist-dick-dales-son-and-ex-wife-arrested-in-so-cal-after-propane-tank-explosion/2012/10/16/4b54e998-17c4-11e2-a346-f24efc680b8d_story.html

i was coming here to say "donkey dick dale", but now i just feel bad.

shooting a propane tank is pretty stupid but to hold them on $500,000 bail for it seems extreme to me.

Jill Monsour, 45, and James Monsour, 20, were arrested on suspicion of possessing an explosive device in public. They remained jailed Tuesday on $500,000 bail each, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department website. District attorney spokesman Chris Lee said prosecutors were still reviewing the case and no charges had been filed.

The Monsours were arrested at about 3:30 a.m. Monday near Dale’s isolated home in Wonder Valley, radio station KCDZ-FM reported.

Investigators determined that the Monsours placed a 5-gallon tank of propane atop a burning woodpile and then shot it with a gun, causing it to explode, the station reported.

Dale, who said he is fighting cancer and other illnesses, added that his medical expenses make it impossible for him to provide bail for his son and ex-wife.

It was not immediately clear whether his son would be able to perform with him on a concert tour scheduled for November and December.

“He wanted to do this tour, but if they’re in jail, what can be done?” Dale asked.

His son is sometimes his drummer

This picture is pretty amazing. I can't imagine what that Vegas scene was like, I'm guessing late 60s?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sg101.forum.photos/DLDmcayDSPuNGQ3zkNHy_g.jpg

Looking closer, it's probably in Anaheim not Vegas going by the address. It is still pretty damn strange.

Swanky...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/94207108@N02/8711962508/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWjHsI9P0UY

'my husband is a professional musician. he is Dick Dale: King of the Surf Guitar. and we don't have any idea what you're talking about'.

saw him last year at a local dive bar. it was mindblowingly loud and awesome. he had his amp head hanging from the ceiling (i assume this is for optimal reverb) and blasted through a lot of great stuff with only 2 backing musicians. his wife was looking on and manning the merch tables and helping hold everything together. after the show she passed out business cards for Dick Dale, it was so sweet how she was looking after him. i've heard that longmont call, that is their dynamic in a nutshell.

i didn't realise until recently that a big part of his sound is that he uses insanely heavy-gauge strings - i wonder if he can feel anything at all through the calluses on his fingertips

Not much to add really, except to say I saw DD in a little bar in SW Florida in 93 or so. The descriptions above sound quite similar to what I saw, except he had his son on drums. It was a great time. And yes the main thing I remember is how huge his strings were. Like power cables ffs!

he gets them from Guam IIRC

LOL! Ya got me! Good timing too.

isn't he the one who is near-death but has to tour for his medical bills

yes and when you say that it seems like a bad move to harass these people.

His "Hava Nagila" (the 1963 version) storms.

This is one of those threads I expect a "death revive" from. Glad it's not that.

Haha, yeah, me too!

Still touring!

I remember learning that he was of Lebanese descent and having an aha moment, about the presence of all those Middle Eastern scales in surf music. Was he the first one to do that?

Don’t know if he was the very first but he’s certainly known for that.

> Was he the first one to do that?

Is your question:

(a) was Dick Dale the first person to use the double harmonic scale in surf music?
(b) was Dick Dale the first person to use the double harmonic scale in western popular music?

if (a), yes he invented surf music/surf rock/surf guitar.
if (b), that's a good question. When did Umm Kulthum or klezmer cross-over?

Still touring!

― Sam Weller

he literally has to tour to stay alive, due to America's fucked up health care system:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6663777/surf-guitar-legend-dick-dale-touring-illness

His is not a case of lacking health care -- he’s double insured -- but of insurers refusing to pay for the replenishment of supplies he says is necessary to keep his stoma infection-free. That’s why Dale says he has to tour, to make up for thousands of dollars of uncovered medical expenses every month. "My only income is what comes in when I’m on the road," he says (with "Misirlou" bringing in performance rights payments but no writing royalties).

Seems like reasonable place to derail and bring up Qosh Tar, a Uzbek/Tajik 'tar workout I've been obsessed with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87VON-10kpo

https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/music/surf-guitar-king-dick-dale-on-donald-trump-and-our-money-hungry-government-7785254

But Dale leaves politics out of his guitar playing, which after nearly 60 years is still beautifully exhilarating. "People see me on stage and they say, 'How does he do it?' On my days off, they've had to feed me intravenously and I've had to do some shows sitting on a stool. But when I look out at the audience, I always get my strength back."Great if true---and it does happen for some; I knew a roadie for a performer who got to that duality---but all too often artists been forced to continue on the road long after they should have quit, because they couldn't afford to (the Rhythm & Blues Foundation was founded to rectify some of this, re shady contracts etc., and Sweet Relief meant to help health coverage-wise).

"should have quit" because it was part of a vicious circle: the longer they stayed on the road, the worse they got musically and otherwise, sinking through the biz, and eking out a miserable existence. Check out Ruth Brown's autobio, where she busts Atlantic Records and others for responsibility. Bonnie Raitt called out Eric Clapton for not contributing more to the Foundation, which helped some of the artists who helped make his career possible, musically, that is.

Ruth Brown was a great performer until the end though, at least the shows I saw. But yes, I've seen a number of older artists get worse "musically and otherwise."

Got scared when I saw this bumped. Go Dick Dale!

xpost, right, she wasn't talking about her own health-related problems, but what she saw and heard happening to many others.

:(

http://californiarocker.com/2019/03/17/rip-dick-dale-king-of-the-surf-guitar-passes-away-at-82/

RIP

saw him a couple of times and the sound of that guitar was extraordinary.

Ugh, usually a thread revive like this freaks me out, because I assume that person has died. This is a rare instance where that did happen and it turned out the person didn't die, and then he dies anyway. RIP.

Damn... RIP.

Geez, RIP

Josh OTM - RIP. :(

Listening to Tribal Thunder now. There's an amazing version of Duke Ellington's "Caravan" on it, plus this mind-roasting opening track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuHs_mhg9Nk

oh FFS

RIP

Oh no.

noooooooooooo

The loudest show I've ever been to was a Dick Dale show, and this was in the nineties, when I'd seen a shitload of loud bands. It was GREAT, too. I threw all that shoegaze shit away after that!

RIP.

Well shit. I promise not to revive any old threads about other elderly musicians I admire...

John Peel (of course) loved his music. I remember hearing Dick do some great sessions on the show -- I think some are still around on Youtube.

RIP.

not to diminish his accomplishments at all but a lot of "dick dale in later years" remembrances kind of tiptoe around or leave out the part about his being a trump supporter

(citation https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/music/surf-guitar-king-dick-dale-on-donald-trump-and-our-money-hungry-government-7785254 )

That was posted on Friday.

didn't see, sorry

His grandparents were immigrants from the Middle East and he was beset by huge monthly medical bills, so yes that was disappointing. However, I suppose it was not really surprising given he was an octogenarian male.

oh well, at least Link Wray's glorious legacy can't be soiled by association with the orange man!

I wonder what version of misirlou he was familiar with... wild to imagine him hearing this and deciding he knew just how to soup it up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT3CSg7HmmY

He's mentioned in interviews he learned it from his uncle (playing oud) while Dick accompanied on derbake.

Dick Dale's 90s comeback trilogy of recordings made in his rediscovery via Pulp Fiction are really good.

Tribal Thunder
Unknown Territory
Calling All Spirits

The cool thing about his comeback is that his sound is there just with a real live raw hifi 90s production. Lots of interesting melodies across these tracks, many of them newer written pieces by Dale.

I just love that sharp twangy guitar. If you don't know these three records, they are worth looking up on the streaming format of your choice, it's great driving music.

Yep, as I mentioned way upthread, I saw him at Maxwell's (a tiny club in Hoboken, NJ) on the Tribal Thunder tour and it was one of the loudest, most face-ripping shows I've ever seen. He was awesome.

A question that comes to mind that I don't think I have ever seen said in articles/interviews with Dick Dale, how long did his club run to what year back in the 60s? Dale kind of ran/ worked the same club down on near the beach in LA, his band like a house band in the 60s, but I have never heard how many years that went etc. I know he did not play for a time and at some point fairly early had a fight with Cancer, but I think that might have been in the 70s.

The Rendezvous Ballroom? It was destroyed by fire in August 1966. The last show I see listed in setlist.fm is The Beach Boys in April 1963.

In the 1970s Dale bought the Playgirl Club on Harbor Bl in Garden Grove and eventually renamed it The Rendezvous. Other bands played there in addition to Dale's - there's a great, fractured Ramones show from 1979 there that's up on YouTube. I think the club shut down in the 1980s when he got kicked out of Orange County - the LA Times had a good rundown of his lost years.