Well.....the legendary Dick Dale actually flew his private plane into Auburn to perform a show Saturday night at the Auburn Event Center; But to hear Dick tell it he almost actually did fly into Auburn having made his initial decent without remembering to put his landing gear down. Apparently an alert passenger/instructor saved the day by ordering him around for another pass to correct the situation thus avoiding the possible disaster. At 72 years old the "King of the Surf Guitar" is still going strong....but I doubt a belly landing on a cold Auburn morning would have done much to enrich his current West Coast tour.
It was the fourth or fifth time I've seen Dick, so to speak, and once again he didn't fail to thoroughly entertain me and all the other Dick Heads in attendance. Having never been a truly rabid Grateful Dead fan I could never really call myself a Dead Head...but I will admit to gladly being know as one of Mr. Dale's legions of Dick Heads....a term he lovingly throws around accompanied by his patented smirky grin.
Dick's show, for those of you who are uninitiated, is a loud and intense eclectic layered mixture of original heavy metal surf style guitar tunes and patented original cover versions of songs....the likes of wish you will never hear done in an even remotely similar fashion. "House of the Rising Sun" , Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" and a tribute to Ray Charles classic "Say What?" are a few that come to mind.
Dick's well oiled three piece band seldom even pauses between numbers...preferring to continue the upside down left handed Stratocaster onslaught in rapid fire order, save for the occasional personal story from Dick or to introduce the Drummer or bass player.
Dick's original instrument was the drums and he delves into that area a couple of times...assisting the drummer on one of his solos and also banging out a tune with drum sticks on the strings of the bass guitar...naturally as the bass player is playing it!
And of course he always remembers to play his signature tune Miserlou which never fails to turn the crowd into a frenzy bunch of pimply screaming adolescences for a couple of minutes. Dick even breaks out the trumpet for the occasion.
So ya....if you ever get a chance to see Dick in person I highly recommend it......he is an original...the likes of which we will likely never see again.
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1 comment:
I've been calling you a dickhead for years now and finally it doesn't earn me a beating.
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