Phone shot from the show
I finally saw Dick Dale, king of the surf guitar, in action last Wednesday! Dale performed at the Magic Bag in Ferndale, MI.
He has played shows there pretty much annually for years. This year was my first time going to see him and it was long overdue.
The show was awesome and he can pick a guitar with crazy speed.
I’m still buzzing this week from show and my gem of the week is of course, Misirlou.
According to his official site www.dickdale.com, he became famous for creating the surf sound in the 50s and he use to break attendance records when he would play live shows in CA with his band The Del-Tones during the 60s. He is also a cancer survivor.
Dale’s era was before my time but I gained exposure to his music in 1994 after Quentin Tarantino opened his hit movie Pulp Fiction with the song Misirlou. Tarantino’s use of the song gained Dale a new younger fan base and I’m happy that I am one of them.
I have listened to his early albums mostly and I really like King of the Surf Guitar ’63.
My favorite songs are Nitro, Spanish Kiss, Let’s Go Trippin‘ and his cover of Riders In The Sky.
He actually opened the show with Nitro which kicked things off to a great start. The best aspect of the show was that it was an intimate setting and you can enjoy and appreciate the music.
Dale was quite the entertaining guy on stage too. During the show he joked that he might start a song and then in the middle start playing a different song. He further stated if he does this it’s because he forgets what song he was playing and for us fans to consider it as a two for one.
He is a phenomenal guitar player that is amazing to see live and I look forward to attending the next show!
Below is the clip of the opening credits to Pulp Fiction shared from Manoffaith108’s You Tube channel.
Music Reportage 
Leave a Reply