The Alchemist, December 8th, 2009, Vol. 2, No. 101
Vol. 2, No. 101
LEGENDARY SURF ROCK GUITARIST RETURNS!
The “King of the Surf Guitar,” Dick Dale is returning to Corvallis, and to Squirrel’s Tavern, on Wednesday, December 9. This visit comes as something of a surprise just a few months after his last show in town this past summer. Dale had planned to tour Europe for a while but things fell through and now he’s doing another tour down the West Coast because touring is one of the things he likes best.
“I can’t wait to see everybody,” Dale told this reporter, “Everybody’s been sending me e-mails saying ‘I don’t want to wait another year.’”
Now, some of you may still be wondering “Who is Dick Dale?” or “Why is he King of the Surf Guitar?” First off, to some he’s even more than that:
“Put on a Dick Dale recording and you will bare witness to a talent and innovation that defines not just a musical genre but a way of life,” says Craig Farrell, a member of Corvallis’ own zombie surf rock band They Won’t Stay Dead!!, “But to see him live is to expose yourself to a power and virtuosity that blurs generations and causes reason to splinter.”
So most of us weren’t around when “Let’s Go Trippin’” kick started surf rock music, nor did we ever see Dale or anyone else on the Ed Sullivan Show. Let’s skip closer to present day: go watch the start of Pulp Fiction and then come back to this article. Good. That guitar riff: Dick Dale! His music still pops up everywhere, from Black Eyed Peas albums to Guitar Hero games. You may not know it, but you’ve heard Dick Dale’s kick ass guitar playing already.
“I play my music to the grassroots people,” Dale said, “I play on the pulsation so they can feel it.”
After a renewed bout with rectal cancer that kept Dale from returning to Corvallis so soon after his show at Squirrel’s a few years back, Dale has been back on the road ever since.
“I do like the club circuit. I can reach down and touch people from the stage,” Dale said, adding, “I play just as hard whether it’s for one or one thousand.”
Of course, music isn’t all that drives Dick Dale. This is a man that doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t eat red meat, and is clean in most every way. He has another nickname, “The Cancer Warrior.” Not only has he fought off his own cancer, but Dale is a surviving beacon to persons of all ages with cancer and other diseases. He is very frank about his own illness and he says that speaking about it in public has given many others the inspiration to do the same.
“I rode the train of pain and I’m still here,” Dale said during the interview, “I’m coming back for the regulars and those coming out of the closet with their diseases.”
On his last trip to Corvallis, Dale explained, a woman came up to him and told him about how she’d recently had her third brain tumor operation and still had to come out to the show. This sort of thing happens to him everywhere, at home and on tour, and he’s happy to be helping people.
“I bring out of people things they’re afraid to say,” Dale told this reporter, “I’m standing on the stage playing guitar but I bleed like them.”
If music is good for the soul, then this show should help you on all fronts. You’ll even have the chance to say hello, to chat, or to get an autograph as Dale likes to hang around awhile after he plays. So let nothing stop you, because Dale will let nothing stop him.
“I’m going to keep playing the guitar and that’s that.”
The show is at 9 PM at Squirrel’s Tavern. Tickets are $25. If surf rock is stuck in your brain and you’re hungry for more, They Won’t Stay Dead!! is playing at Bomb’s Away Cafe on the 18th.
~Robin Canfield
