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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.
