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[Caution: very LONG! My apologies I got carried away!]
Last Wednesday, Dane and Scott (drums and bass of both the
Troubadours and the Madeira) and myself went to see Dick Dale in
Detroit (Ferndale, to be more precise). I have seen DD at least six
or seven times by now ('93, '94, '95, '96, '98, '00), and each time I
enjoyed the show less and less, even walking out before the end
both '98 and '00. I swore I wouldn't ever go see him again back
in '98, and the only reason why I did in '00 is because the Space
Cossacks played a show with him (Rendezvous Ballroom Reunion in Costa
Mesa, CA). I've grown really tired of his routine, all the bullshit
how he's of the people, the Indians and the indigeneous, blah
blah blah', 'we're destroying the environment, blah blah blah,'
talking about all the things he's accomplished and how wonderful he
is, and speaking in third person. And, more importantly, I just
started getting really bored with the music. I got very tired of all
the jamming, something that he does not do well. And I hated the
heavy-metal rhythms in the classics that I still love.
Well, in light of all this, I fully expected never to go see him
again, but I found out he was coming to Detroit. Since the rest of
my band(s) never saw him, and since Dane the drummer is a huge fan of
Dusty, I thought, well, what the hell. I've known Sam since '97 and
Dusty since at least '98 (and we all played on the New World
Relampagos CD), and I hoped that we could get together before the
show. Both of those guys are princes among men, so I was looking
forward to that at least. Lo and behold, DD's show was probably the
best I'd ever seen! I was shocked to hell... A lot of it was due to
Dusty and Sam, who were pretty awesome.
The three of us (Dane, Scott and me) had dinner with Dusty, and hung
out with both him and Sam right before the show and for a while
after, which was pretty damn cool. Those guys are just fantastic,
and I really love being around them. Dusty freely shared drumming
insights with Dane, and gave us a lot of stories of rock'n'roll
excesses from his days with Lita Ford, and the multitudes of other
gigs he's had over the last couple of decades. Dick was running
pretty late, which was OK by me, since we were chatting away
backstage. His Strat (The Beast!) was just casually lying there on
the sofa, so I asked if I could play it, which they OK'd, as long as
DD doesn't see it! So, they kept a watch while I plucked and
strummed for a few minutes. This is the original Strat, given to
Dick by Leo Fender, back in '60 or '61. It was originally white with
a tortoiseshell pickguard, but around '64 he repainted it gold
sparkle, and put a white pickguard on it. As everybody knows by now,
the strings on it are huge. I've gotten really used to pretty heavy
strings (12-52), but these were definitely thicker than that (he
claims 15-60). He's got a pretty low action on the guitar, though,
so it felt comfortable to play the guitar. It's beat to hell,
though, it's in a really bad shape. The lower frets are TOTALLY
gauged out! There's no way he can play a note on the first few frets
and sustain it in tune. It just wouldn't happen. Also, the nut is
partially cracked. And four lower (I think) strings are strung the
wrong way around the tuning heads - instead of clockwise, they're
strung counterclockwise, so there isn't a straight pull from the nut
to the heads! Very weird! I pointed this out to Sam, who was
shocked to see it. He asked DD's guitar tech, and the guy told him
that Dick personally asked him to string it that way. I don't get
it... Sam also told me that two of the pickups in the guitar aren't
original - they were stolen when the guitar was in a shop in the
seventies, and the replacements are stock seventies Strat pickups -
the secret of DD's tone is finally revealed! :) Dick doesn't use the
backplate, and he's got five springs tightened to hell, and then a
wooden block wedged in between the bridge and the body, to ensure
that the bridge doesn't move one iota (I think Clapton's Strats are
set up the same way). The paint is in really bad shape, too,
especially where the arm rests on the body, where there is hardly any
paint left. The neck is quite worn, and the lacquer, where there is
any left, has turned brown. There are only bits and pieces left of
the Fender logo on the headstock, too. But, with all that, the
guitar has a very resonant and 'woody' sound when strummed
unplugged. It actually really sounded like his tone, even unplugged,
which was a bit surprising but cool. Like I said, because the action
was pretty low, it felt comfortable to play. And it's a very light
guitar, which is also quite nice. He's also got a prototype
pickguard on the guitar with a tuner built-in. One of the switches
on the guitar engages the tuner, and there are little LEDs on the
side facing his head so he can quickly tune.
Since I played Hank's original Strat (that Bruce Welch now owns and
which was used to record Apache, Man Of Mystery, and all the other
early hits) back in September at Shadowmania North America in
Toronto, and now DD's Strat, I feel very privileged. In fact, I'm in
disbelief that I played the guitars of the two guitar players who
probably influenced me more than anybody else! And funnily enough,
they're from the same era: Hank's Strat is a '59, one of the last pre-
CBS maple-necked Strats, while Dick's is from soon after that.
Fender really was making great guitars back then
.
Anyway, onto the show. Dick finally showed up (and I quickly put the
guitar down before he came to the room J), and we went into the club,
which was packed probably about 400+ people there. As I already
mentioned, Dusty and Sam are really kicking Dick into gear. I've
seen DD with Dusty twice, but now with Sam on bass, it was a
different beast altogether. The show benefitted by Dick keeping the
bullshit talking to a minimum, which made a big difference (though,
as a few people reported, he did at one point rub the guitar
violently on the cab, making it squeal and whatnot, only to then
say "that's how I treat my women" oh brother
). I thought
he actually played pretty sloppy, made a lot of mistakes, especially
in the beginning of the show, but it didn't matter. They kept the
jamming bits pretty short, and stuck to mostly playing songs, which
Dusty and Sam pummeled into the ground. They opened with Nitro, and
played mostly
newer stuff: Bello Horizonte (which Dick introduced with a prolonged
dedication to women and how hot they are, how they can really dress
up to make him get all hot and bothered, blah blah blah), Third Stone
from the Sun (pretty boring), Smoke on the Water (even worse - just
the riff with a bunch of jamming in between), and bunch of other
songs that I don't know the names of. He also did several so-so
vocals: Fever, Bring It On Home To Me, Mr. Peppermint Man, a few
others. Of the oldies he played Miserlou (of course), Hava Nagila
(not double-picking all the way through like on the original, which
made it lose some power), Taco Wagon, Peter Gunn, and the Victor,
which Scott, the bass player for the Troubadours and the Madeira,
called out for. He was going to bullshit his way out of it, but
Dusty shouted out 'The Victor!!' (Thanks Dusty!), to which Dick was a
bit taken aback, but then started playing it. Sam claimed he didn't
know the song, but I sure as hell couldn't tell!! Dick was actually
asking `how does it go?' and Dusty sung out the intro for him! At
that point DD joked that Sam wasn't even born when he recorded the
song. It sounded great, though I think he got a bit lost in the
middle, and didn't do the stop and then the high part, but rather
went into a newer song that sounds very similar to The Victor, though
I can't remember the name of it now. He also played Let's Go
Trippin', and maybe a couple of other oldies, though I can't remember
them now. Not too many overall. The biggest surprise of the night
for me was Amazing Grace. I read a few reports that he was doing
this song for the troops, and though he didn't specifically mention
the troops or Iraq, he did say that they'll play the song
until `everybody returns home.' (Incidentally, he did have two or
three songs with the theme of coming home: Bring It On Home to Me, a
fifties or early sixties songs, can't remember by whom, and one or
two others I wonder if that was intentional to tie in with the
theme of bringing the troops home?) But I expected that he would
sing it, which he didn't - it was an instrumental, and I gotta say
that it sounded very good. It was emotional and a bit grand. He
clearly borrowed the arrangement and feel of Third Stone from the
Sun, to which he seguewayed when the song was finished. It was very
cool.
A few more words on Dusty and Sam. Sam played like a punk machine
that he is, very aggressively and hyperactively and responsively,
obviously listening and responding to Dick's unexpected changes. A
few songs into the show he actually broke not one, but TWO bass
strings in one song!!! I've never seen such a thing, but that gives
you an idea of the intensity with which he plays. Dick and Dusty
finished up the song, while the roadie retrieved Sam's own old,
battered P-bass. I also found out that Sam's using the gold-sparkle
P-Bass that Fender's Custom Shop made for Dick's wife several years
ago, when they started the endorsement deal with him. Oh, on the
side note, Sam also said that the Toyota (is that right? can't
remember now) commercial with Dick has really started bringing a lot
more people to the shows again, it's had a big impact. And Dick made
a six-figure salary from it not bad for one day's work! And on to
Dusty he was the best I'd seen him yet with Dick. So fluid and
powerful. He even made Dick's metal rhythms swing, by subtly varying
them. He had several short solos, which were jaw-dropping, as
usual. The most impressive part was when Dick got on the drum set
behind Dusty, and they did the dueling drumming thing. I've seen
Dick do this every time, but usually it would just be Gene Krupa-
style tom stuff that was kinda boring, quite frankly. Not this time.
Dusty later told me that he's persuaded Dick to really go for it, and
the result was stunning: Dick can REALLY play! Holy shit, it was
amazing. They were like one person with four arms, with a lot of
rolls and accents, both on the snare and toms. It really blew me
away, even more so when Dusty told me that it was all pretty much
improvised. Dusty was going full out, and Dick was able to keep up,
which I couldn't believe. Dick really is a natural musician, and he
did a fair amount of trumpet playing at one point of the show, which
was fantastic, too. Dusty later told me that he's seen him play the
piano once where he just blew everybody away saxophone, too. But
with all that musical talent, or maybe because of it, Dusty also told
me that in the seven years he's been playing and touring with Dick,
he's never once heard him actually LISTEN to any music. Incredible
.
A few final remarks: though he was his usual sexist pig, there was
one VERY young looking girl (18-20), quite pretty, too, just in front
and to the side of me. Well, at several points of the show she just
went into this absolutely blissful state with a huge smile on her
face, even breaking out into laughter, seemingly caused by DD's music
and shenanigans ooops, excuse me, I meant showmanship. And Dick
even started coming on to her and her friends at one point of the
show. I don't get it, quite frankly. Given that most surf music
doesn't draw many women, we must be doing something wrong, and Dick
something right! Maybe we should all start emulating him? Nahhh
.
Afterwards, Sam and Dusty came out in the audience, and we chatted
until the club threw us out. DD was beset by adoring fans, but we
didn't actually even go say hi to him. I've met him enough times,
and he's always been nice enough, as long as the conversation was
about him. But we just had too much fun with Dusty and Sam. Anyway,
there you go. A memorable night. It's really nice to still have
Dick criss-crossing the country, with all his faults. As Frankie
Avalon told Annette in the eighties movie Back to the Beach when she
pointed out that "Dick Dale and at least two Del-Tones" are playing
at a club, "Honey, we could come back in year 2000, and Dick would
STILL be playing!" Well, he's way beyond that now, and still going
strong
Good for him and us.
Ivan,
Very nice review...exspecially the part about the Beast.
Bill
--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
wrote:
> [Caution: very LONG! My apologies I got carried away!]
>
> Last Wednesday, Dane and Scott (drums and bass of both the
> Troubadours and the Madeira) and myself went to see Dick Dale in
> Detroit (Ferndale, to be more precise). I have seen DD at least
six
> or seven times by now ('93, '94, '95, '96, '98, '00), and each time
I
> enjoyed the show less and less, even walking out before the end
> both '98 and '00. I swore I wouldn't ever go see him again back
> in '98, and the only reason why I did in '00 is because the Space
> Cossacks played a show with him (Rendezvous Ballroom Reunion in
Costa
> Mesa, CA). I've grown really tired of his routine, all the
bullshit
> how he's of the people, the Indians and the indigeneous, blah
> blah blah', 'we're destroying the environment, blah blah blah,'
> talking about all the things he's accomplished and how wonderful he
> is, and speaking in third person. And, more importantly, I just
> started getting really bored with the music. I got very tired of
all
> the jamming, something that he does not do well. And I hated the
> heavy-metal rhythms in the classics that I still love.
>
> Well, in light of all this, I fully expected never to go see him
> again, but I found out he was coming to Detroit. Since the rest of
> my band(s) never saw him, and since Dane the drummer is a huge fan
of
> Dusty, I thought, well, what the hell. I've known Sam since '97
and
> Dusty since at least '98 (and we all played on the New World
> Relampagos CD), and I hoped that we could get together before the
> show. Both of those guys are princes among men, so I was looking
> forward to that at least. Lo and behold, DD's show was probably
the
> best I'd ever seen! I was shocked to hell... A lot of it was due
to
> Dusty and Sam, who were pretty awesome.
>
> The three of us (Dane, Scott and me) had dinner with Dusty, and
hung
> out with both him and Sam right before the show and for a while
> after, which was pretty damn cool. Those guys are just fantastic,
> and I really love being around them. Dusty freely shared drumming
> insights with Dane, and gave us a lot of stories of rock'n'roll
> excesses from his days with Lita Ford, and the multitudes of other
> gigs he's had over the last couple of decades. Dick was running
> pretty late, which was OK by me, since we were chatting away
> backstage. His Strat (The Beast!) was just casually lying there on
> the sofa, so I asked if I could play it, which they OK'd, as long
as
> DD doesn't see it! So, they kept a watch while I plucked and
> strummed for a few minutes. This is the original Strat, given to
> Dick by Leo Fender, back in '60 or '61. It was originally white
with
> a tortoiseshell pickguard, but around '64 he repainted it gold
> sparkle, and put a white pickguard on it. As everybody knows by
now,
> the strings on it are huge. I've gotten really used to pretty
heavy
> strings (12-52), but these were definitely thicker than that (he
> claims 15-60). He's got a pretty low action on the guitar, though,
> so it felt comfortable to play the guitar. It's beat to hell,
> though, it's in a really bad shape. The lower frets are TOTALLY
> gauged out! There's no way he can play a note on the first few
frets
> and sustain it in tune. It just wouldn't happen. Also, the nut is
> partially cracked. And four lower (I think) strings are strung the
> wrong way around the tuning heads - instead of clockwise, they're
> strung counterclockwise, so there isn't a straight pull from the
nut
> to the heads! Very weird! I pointed this out to Sam, who was
> shocked to see it. He asked DD's guitar tech, and the guy told him
> that Dick personally asked him to string it that way. I don't get
> it... Sam also told me that two of the pickups in the guitar
aren't
> original - they were stolen when the guitar was in a shop in the
> seventies, and the replacements are stock seventies Strat pickups -
> the secret of DD's tone is finally revealed! :) Dick doesn't use
the
> backplate, and he's got five springs tightened to hell, and then a
> wooden block wedged in between the bridge and the body, to ensure
> that the bridge doesn't move one iota (I think Clapton's Strats are
> set up the same way). The paint is in really bad shape, too,
> especially where the arm rests on the body, where there is hardly
any
> paint left. The neck is quite worn, and the lacquer, where there
is
> any left, has turned brown. There are only bits and pieces left of
> the Fender logo on the headstock, too. But, with all that, the
> guitar has a very resonant and 'woody' sound when strummed
> unplugged. It actually really sounded like his tone, even
unplugged,
> which was a bit surprising but cool. Like I said, because the
action
> was pretty low, it felt comfortable to play. And it's a very light
> guitar, which is also quite nice. He's also got a prototype
> pickguard on the guitar with a tuner built-in. One of the switches
> on the guitar engages the tuner, and there are little LEDs on the
> side facing his head so he can quickly tune.
>
> Since I played Hank's original Strat (that Bruce Welch now owns and
> which was used to record Apache, Man Of Mystery, and all the other
> early hits) back in September at Shadowmania North America in
> Toronto, and now DD's Strat, I feel very privileged. In fact, I'm
in
> disbelief that I played the guitars of the two guitar players who
> probably influenced me more than anybody else! And funnily
enough,
> they're from the same era: Hank's Strat is a '59, one of the last
pre-
> CBS maple-necked Strats, while Dick's is from soon after that.
> Fender really was making great guitars back then
.
>
> Anyway, onto the show. Dick finally showed up (and I quickly put
the
> guitar down before he came to the room J), and we went into the
club,
> which was packed probably about 400+ people there. As I already
> mentioned, Dusty and Sam are really kicking Dick into gear. I've
> seen DD with Dusty twice, but now with Sam on bass, it was a
> different beast altogether. The show benefitted by Dick keeping the
> bullshit talking to a minimum, which made a big difference (though,
> as a few people reported, he did at one point rub the guitar
> violently on the cab, making it squeal and whatnot, only to then
> say "that's how I treat my women" oh brother
). I thought
> he actually played pretty sloppy, made a lot of mistakes,
especially
> in the beginning of the show, but it didn't matter. They kept the
> jamming bits pretty short, and stuck to mostly playing songs, which
> Dusty and Sam pummeled into the ground. They opened with Nitro,
and
> played mostly
> newer stuff: Bello Horizonte (which Dick introduced with a
prolonged
> dedication to women and how hot they are, how they can really dress
> up to make him get all hot and bothered, blah blah blah), Third
Stone
> from the Sun (pretty boring), Smoke on the Water (even worse - just
> the riff with a bunch of jamming in between), and bunch of other
> songs that I don't know the names of. He also did several so-so
> vocals: Fever, Bring It On Home To Me, Mr. Peppermint Man, a few
> others. Of the oldies he played Miserlou (of course), Hava Nagila
> (not double-picking all the way through like on the original, which
> made it lose some power), Taco Wagon, Peter Gunn, and the Victor,
> which Scott, the bass player for the Troubadours and the Madeira,
> called out for. He was going to bullshit his way out of it, but
> Dusty shouted out 'The Victor!!' (Thanks Dusty!), to which Dick was
a
> bit taken aback, but then started playing it. Sam claimed he
didn't
> know the song, but I sure as hell couldn't tell!! Dick was
actually
> asking `how does it go?' and Dusty sung out the intro for him! At
> that point DD joked that Sam wasn't even born when he recorded the
> song. It sounded great, though I think he got a bit lost in the
> middle, and didn't do the stop and then the high part, but rather
> went into a newer song that sounds very similar to The Victor,
though
> I can't remember the name of it now. He also played Let's Go
> Trippin', and maybe a couple of other oldies, though I can't
remember
> them now. Not too many overall. The biggest surprise of the night
> for me was Amazing Grace. I read a few reports that he was doing
> this song for the troops, and though he didn't specifically mention
> the troops or Iraq, he did say that they'll play the song
> until `everybody returns home.' (Incidentally, he did have two or
> three songs with the theme of coming home: Bring It On Home to Me,
a
> fifties or early sixties songs, can't remember by whom, and one or
> two others I wonder if that was intentional to tie in with the
> theme of bringing the troops home?) But I expected that he would
> sing it, which he didn't - it was an instrumental, and I gotta say
> that it sounded very good. It was emotional and a bit grand. He
> clearly borrowed the arrangement and feel of Third Stone from the
> Sun, to which he seguewayed when the song was finished. It was
very
> cool.
>
> A few more words on Dusty and Sam. Sam played like a punk machine
> that he is, very aggressively and hyperactively and responsively,
> obviously listening and responding to Dick's unexpected changes. A
> few songs into the show he actually broke not one, but TWO bass
> strings in one song!!! I've never seen such a thing, but that
gives
> you an idea of the intensity with which he plays. Dick and Dusty
> finished up the song, while the roadie retrieved Sam's own old,
> battered P-bass. I also found out that Sam's using the gold-
sparkle
> P-Bass that Fender's Custom Shop made for Dick's wife several years
> ago, when they started the endorsement deal with him. Oh, on the
> side note, Sam also said that the Toyota (is that right? can't
> remember now) commercial with Dick has really started bringing a
lot
> more people to the shows again, it's had a big impact. And Dick
made
> a six-figure salary from it not bad for one day's work! And on
to
> Dusty he was the best I'd seen him yet with Dick. So fluid and
> powerful. He even made Dick's metal rhythms swing, by subtly
varying
> them. He had several short solos, which were jaw-dropping, as
> usual. The most impressive part was when Dick got on the drum set
> behind Dusty, and they did the dueling drumming thing. I've seen
> Dick do this every time, but usually it would just be Gene Krupa-
> style tom stuff that was kinda boring, quite frankly. Not this
time.
> Dusty later told me that he's persuaded Dick to really go for it,
and
> the result was stunning: Dick can REALLY play! Holy shit, it was
> amazing. They were like one person with four arms, with a lot of
> rolls and accents, both on the snare and toms. It really blew me
> away, even more so when Dusty told me that it was all pretty much
> improvised. Dusty was going full out, and Dick was able to keep
up,
> which I couldn't believe. Dick really is a natural musician, and
he
> did a fair amount of trumpet playing at one point of the show,
which
> was fantastic, too. Dusty later told me that he's seen him play
the
> piano once where he just blew everybody away saxophone, too. But
> with all that musical talent, or maybe because of it, Dusty also
told
> me that in the seven years he's been playing and touring with Dick,
> he's never once heard him actually LISTEN to any music.
Incredible
.
>
> A few final remarks: though he was his usual sexist pig, there was
> one VERY young looking girl (18-20), quite pretty, too, just in
front
> and to the side of me. Well, at several points of the show she
just
> went into this absolutely blissful state with a huge smile on her
> face, even breaking out into laughter, seemingly caused by DD's
music
> and shenanigans ooops, excuse me, I meant showmanship. And Dick
> even started coming on to her and her friends at one point of the
> show. I don't get it, quite frankly. Given that most surf music
> doesn't draw many women, we must be doing something wrong, and Dick
> something right! Maybe we should all start emulating him? Nahhh
.
>
> Afterwards, Sam and Dusty came out in the audience, and we chatted
> until the club threw us out. DD was beset by adoring fans, but we
> didn't actually even go say hi to him. I've met him enough times,
> and he's always been nice enough, as long as the conversation was
> about him. But we just had too much fun with Dusty and Sam.
Anyway,
> there you go. A memorable night. It's really nice to still have
> Dick criss-crossing the country, with all his faults. As Frankie
> Avalon told Annette in the eighties movie Back to the Beach when
she
> pointed out that "Dick Dale and at least two Del-Tones" are playing
> at a club, "Honey, we could come back in year 2000, and Dick would
> STILL be playing!" Well, he's way beyond that now, and still going
> strong
Good for him and us.
That was a work of art! Thanks Ivan...
Surf on, rick!
-----Original Message-----
From: ipongrac [mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 10:55 AM
To:
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Dick Dale in Detroit - VERY LONG!
[Caution: very LONG! My apologies - I got carried away!]
Last Wednesday, Dane and Scott (drums and bass of both the
Troubadours and the Madeira) and myself went to see Dick Dale in
Detroit (Ferndale, to be more precise). I have seen DD at least six
or seven times by now ('93, '94, '95, '96, '98, '00), and each time I
enjoyed the show less and less, even walking out before the end
both '98 and '00. I swore I wouldn't ever go see him again back
in '98, and the only reason why I did in '00 is because the Space
Cossacks played a show with him (Rendezvous Ballroom Reunion in Costa
Mesa, CA). I've grown really tired of his routine, all the bullshit
how he's of the people, the Indians and the indigeneous, blah
blah blah', 'we're destroying the environment, blah blah blah,'
talking about all the things he's accomplished and how wonderful he
is, and speaking in third person. And, more importantly, I just
started getting really bored with the music. I got very tired of all
the jamming, something that he does not do well. And I hated the
heavy-metal rhythms in the classics that I still love.
Well, in light of all this, I fully expected never to go see him
again, but I found out he was coming to Detroit. Since the rest of
my band(s) never saw him, and since Dane the drummer is a huge fan of
Dusty, I thought, well, what the hell. I've known Sam since '97 and
Dusty since at least '98 (and we all played on the New World
Relampagos CD), and I hoped that we could get together before the
show. Both of those guys are princes among men, so I was looking
forward to that at least. Lo and behold, DD's show was probably the
best I'd ever seen! I was shocked to hell... A lot of it was due to
Dusty and Sam, who were pretty awesome.
The three of us (Dane, Scott and me) had dinner with Dusty, and hung
out with both him and Sam right before the show and for a while
after, which was pretty damn cool. Those guys are just fantastic,
and I really love being around them. Dusty freely shared drumming
insights with Dane, and gave us a lot of stories of rock'n'roll
excesses from his days with Lita Ford, and the multitudes of other
gigs he's had over the last couple of decades. Dick was running
pretty late, which was OK by me, since we were chatting away
backstage. His Strat (The Beast!) was just casually lying there on
the sofa, so I asked if I could play it, which they OK'd, as long as
DD doesn't see it! So, they kept a watch while I plucked and
strummed for a few minutes. This is the original Strat, given to
Dick by Leo Fender, back in '60 or '61. It was originally white with
a tortoiseshell pickguard, but around '64 he repainted it gold
sparkle, and put a white pickguard on it. As everybody knows by now,
the strings on it are huge. I've gotten really used to pretty heavy
strings (12-52), but these were definitely thicker than that (he
claims 15-60). He's got a pretty low action on the guitar, though,
so it felt comfortable to play the guitar. It's beat to hell,
though, it's in a really bad shape. The lower frets are TOTALLY
gauged out! There's no way he can play a note on the first few frets
and sustain it in tune. It just wouldn't happen. Also, the nut is
partially cracked. And four lower (I think) strings are strung the
wrong way around the tuning heads - instead of clockwise, they're
strung counterclockwise, so there isn't a straight pull from the nut
to the heads! Very weird! I pointed this out to Sam, who was
shocked to see it. He asked DD's guitar tech, and the guy told him
that Dick personally asked him to string it that way. I don't get
it... Sam also told me that two of the pickups in the guitar aren't
original - they were stolen when the guitar was in a shop in the
seventies, and the replacements are stock seventies Strat pickups -
the secret of DD's tone is finally revealed! :) Dick doesn't use the
backplate, and he's got five springs tightened to hell, and then a
wooden block wedged in between the bridge and the body, to ensure
that the bridge doesn't move one iota (I think Clapton's Strats are
set up the same way). The paint is in really bad shape, too,
especially where the arm rests on the body, where there is hardly any
paint left. The neck is quite worn, and the lacquer, where there is
any left, has turned brown. There are only bits and pieces left of
the Fender logo on the headstock, too. But, with all that, the
guitar has a very resonant and 'woody' sound when strummed
unplugged. It actually really sounded like his tone, even unplugged,
which was a bit surprising but cool. Like I said, because the action
was pretty low, it felt comfortable to play. And it's a very light
guitar, which is also quite nice. He's also got a prototype
pickguard on the guitar with a tuner built-in. One of the switches
on the guitar engages the tuner, and there are little LEDs on the
side facing his head so he can quickly tune.
Since I played Hank's original Strat (that Bruce Welch now owns and
which was used to record Apache, Man Of Mystery, and all the other
early hits) back in September at Shadowmania North America in
Toronto, and now DD's Strat, I feel very privileged. In fact, I'm in
disbelief that I played the guitars of the two guitar players who
probably influenced me more than anybody else! And funnily enough,
they're from the same era: Hank's Strat is a '59, one of the last pre-
CBS maple-necked Strats, while Dick's is from soon after that.
Fender really was making great guitars back then....
Anyway, onto the show. Dick finally showed up (and I quickly put the
guitar down before he came to the room J), and we went into the club,
which was packed - probably about 400+ people there. As I already
mentioned, Dusty and Sam are really kicking Dick into gear. I've
seen DD with Dusty twice, but now with Sam on bass, it was a
different beast altogether. The show benefitted by Dick keeping the
bullshit talking to a minimum, which made a big difference (though,
as a few people reported, he did at one point rub the guitar
violently on the cab, making it squeal and whatnot, only to then
say "that's how I treat my women" - oh brother...). I thought
he actually played pretty sloppy, made a lot of mistakes, especially
in the beginning of the show, but it didn't matter. They kept the
jamming bits pretty short, and stuck to mostly playing songs, which
Dusty and Sam pummeled into the ground. They opened with Nitro, and
played mostly
newer stuff: Bello Horizonte (which Dick introduced with a prolonged
dedication to women and how hot they are, how they can really dress
up to make him get all hot and bothered, blah blah blah), Third Stone
from the Sun (pretty boring), Smoke on the Water (even worse - just
the riff with a bunch of jamming in between), and bunch of other
songs that I don't know the names of. He also did several so-so
vocals: Fever, Bring It On Home To Me, Mr. Peppermint Man, a few
others. Of the oldies he played Miserlou (of course), Hava Nagila
(not double-picking all the way through like on the original, which
made it lose some power), Taco Wagon, Peter Gunn, and the Victor,
which Scott, the bass player for the Troubadours and the Madeira,
called out for. He was going to bullshit his way out of it, but
Dusty shouted out 'The Victor!!' (Thanks Dusty!), to which Dick was a
bit taken aback, but then started playing it. Sam claimed he didn't
know the song, but I sure as hell couldn't tell!! Dick was actually
asking `how does it go?' and Dusty sung out the intro for him! At
that point DD joked that Sam wasn't even born when he recorded the
song. It sounded great, though I think he got a bit lost in the
middle, and didn't do the stop and then the high part, but rather
went into a newer song that sounds very similar to The Victor, though
I can't remember the name of it now. He also played Let's Go
Trippin', and maybe a couple of other oldies, though I can't remember
them now. Not too many overall. The biggest surprise of the night
for me was Amazing Grace. I read a few reports that he was doing
this song for the troops, and though he didn't specifically mention
the troops or Iraq, he did say that they'll play the song
until `everybody returns home.' (Incidentally, he did have two or
three songs with the theme of coming home: Bring It On Home to Me, a
fifties or early sixties songs, can't remember by whom, and one or
two others - I wonder if that was intentional to tie in with the
theme of bringing the troops home?) But I expected that he would
sing it, which he didn't - it was an instrumental, and I gotta say
that it sounded very good. It was emotional and a bit grand. He
clearly borrowed the arrangement and feel of Third Stone from the
Sun, to which he seguewayed when the song was finished. It was very
cool.
A few more words on Dusty and Sam. Sam played like a punk machine
that he is, very aggressively and hyperactively and responsively,
obviously listening and responding to Dick's unexpected changes. A
few songs into the show he actually broke not one, but TWO bass
strings in one song!!! I've never seen such a thing, but that gives
you an idea of the intensity with which he plays. Dick and Dusty
finished up the song, while the roadie retrieved Sam's own old,
battered P-bass. I also found out that Sam's using the gold-sparkle
P-Bass that Fender's Custom Shop made for Dick's wife several years
ago, when they started the endorsement deal with him. Oh, on the
side note, Sam also said that the Toyota (is that right? can't
remember now) commercial with Dick has really started bringing a lot
more people to the shows again, it's had a big impact. And Dick made
a six-figure salary from it - not bad for one day's work! And on to
Dusty - he was the best I'd seen him yet with Dick. So fluid and
powerful. He even made Dick's metal rhythms swing, by subtly varying
them. He had several short solos, which were jaw-dropping, as
usual. The most impressive part was when Dick got on the drum set
behind Dusty, and they did the dueling drumming thing. I've seen
Dick do this every time, but usually it would just be Gene Krupa-
style tom stuff that was kinda boring, quite frankly. Not this time.
Dusty later told me that he's persuaded Dick to really go for it, and
the result was stunning: Dick can REALLY play! Holy shit, it was
amazing. They were like one person with four arms, with a lot of
rolls and accents, both on the snare and toms. It really blew me
away, even more so when Dusty told me that it was all pretty much
improvised. Dusty was going full out, and Dick was able to keep up,
which I couldn't believe. Dick really is a natural musician, and he
did a fair amount of trumpet playing at one point of the show, which
was fantastic, too. Dusty later told me that he's seen him play the
piano once where he just blew everybody away - saxophone, too. But
with all that musical talent, or maybe because of it, Dusty also told
me that in the seven years he's been playing and touring with Dick,
he's never once heard him actually LISTEN to any music. Incredible....
A few final remarks: though he was his usual sexist pig, there was
one VERY young looking girl (18-20), quite pretty, too, just in front
and to the side of me. Well, at several points of the show she just
went into this absolutely blissful state with a huge smile on her
face, even breaking out into laughter, seemingly caused by DD's music
and shenanigans - ooops, excuse me, I meant showmanship. And Dick
even started coming on to her and her friends at one point of the
show. I don't get it, quite frankly. Given that most surf music
doesn't draw many women, we must be doing something wrong, and Dick
something right! Maybe we should all start emulating him? Nahhh....
Afterwards, Sam and Dusty came out in the audience, and we chatted
until the club threw us out. DD was beset by adoring fans, but we
didn't actually even go say hi to him. I've met him enough times,
and he's always been nice enough, as long as the conversation was
about him. But we just had too much fun with Dusty and Sam. Anyway,
there you go. A memorable night. It's really nice to still have
Dick criss-crossing the country, with all his faults. As Frankie
Avalon told Annette in the eighties movie Back to the Beach when she
pointed out that "Dick Dale and at least two Del-Tones" are playing
at a club, "Honey, we could come back in year 2000, and Dick would
STILL be playing!" Well, he's way beyond that now, and still going
strong... Good for him - and us.
.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Ivan....wow, thanks for that great writeup!
I saw DD with Dusty & Sam last year and had the same impression: Dusty & Sam
were really kicking DD into gear, and he was really enjoying it! I remember
DD trading lots of smiles and eye contact with Dusty and Sam. He was
enjoying playing with them.
I too, am stupified by his magnetic/hypnotic effect on certain young ladies.
At the show I saw he had several of them looking at him all glassy eyed and
then they were all over him when the show was over. It's not a universal
appeal, as many of you read in my wife's report a week or so ago... :)
Great details on The Beast! That is really something that he has kept the
same guitar all these years (see the Ed Sullivan clip:)
I was really glad I got a chance to see him and that he is still out playing
and making music. More power to him.
What kind of show does he put on with his 11 or 12 year old son?
BN
Another thing I forgot to mention. I repeatedly yelled for "The Victor" when
I saw DD. I know he heard me as he gave me a puzzled look. Maybe he will go
learn it again and bring it back into the live set. It seems funny to me
that he would forget something like that, but then again, if he never
listens to music.....?
BN
Brian:
The "Father & Son" show has a certain appeal...Jimmy is a
cool kid, and it's cool to watch him and Dad playing
accoustic Miserlou and stuff like that...Dick's a proud old
man...and it's cool to see him out there with his "prodigy"
(protoge?)...the last time I saw those two, I asked Jimmy
Dale to sign my arm with a blue sharpie...I wore it for a
week...My JH students kept asking me "Who signed your arm
Mr. Pike"...
I just said "Jimmy Dale, the prince of the surf guitar"
Hey, if my dad was Dick Dale, I'd be all stoked to play
Miserlou onstage too!
anyway...thar's my two cents:
DP
--- Brian Neal <> wrote:
> Ivan....wow, thanks for that great writeup!
>
> I saw DD with Dusty & Sam last year and had the same
> impression: Dusty & Sam
> were really kicking DD into gear, and he was really
> enjoying it! I remember
> DD trading lots of smiles and eye contact with Dusty and
> Sam. He was
> enjoying playing with them.
>
> I too, am stupified by his magnetic/hypnotic effect on
> certain young ladies.
> At the show I saw he had several of them looking at him
> all glassy eyed and
> then they were all over him when the show was over. It's
> not a universal
> appeal, as many of you read in my wife's report a week or
> so ago... :)
>
> Great details on The Beast! That is really something that
> he has kept the
> same guitar all these years (see the Ed Sullivan clip:
>)
>
> I was really glad I got a chance to see him and that he
> is still out playing
> and making music. More power to him.
>
> What kind of show does he put on with his 11 or 12 year
> old son?
>
> BN
>
>
>
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> .
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>
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--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
wrote:
> [Caution: very LONG! My apologies I got carried away!]
<snip>
Thanks for the review Ivan...and I'm glad you said things about Dick
that I've never had the guts to say on a surf forum. I know that
Dick had a huge part in creating the whole surf instru genre. But
personally, his tunes, for the large part, bore the hell out of me.
He hasn't really done anything other than regurgitate the same stuff
over and over for 40 years. Aside from that, his never-ending self
promotion has turned me off more than anything.
I'm guessing that by the time Dick kicks the reverb tank and heads
off to heaven, the story will be that he recorded Misirlou in 1941,
while he was giving Gene Krupa drums lessons.
BLASPHEMY!!!
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: Shawn Martin
To:
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 11:50 AM
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Dick Dale in Detroit - VERY LONG!
--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
wrote:
> [Caution: very LONG! My apologies - I got carried away!]
<snip>
Thanks for the review Ivan...and I'm glad you said things about Dick
that I've never had the guts to say on a surf forum. I know that
Dick had a huge part in creating the whole surf instru genre. But
personally, his tunes, for the large part, bore the hell out of me.
He hasn't really done anything other than regurgitate the same stuff
over and over for 40 years. Aside from that, his never-ending self
promotion has turned me off more than anything.
I'm guessing that by the time Dick kicks the reverb tank and heads
off to heaven, the story will be that he recorded Misirlou in 1941,
while he was giving Gene Krupa drums lessons.
.
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