BEST BET: DICK DALE
By Barry
Gilbert
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 9, 2005
9 p.m. June 10, 2005, at Mississippi Nights, 914 North First Street. $16-$18. 314-421-3853.
The terms "hero" and
"legend" are applied to way too many people these days,
but few have earned them in the context of rock 'n' roll more
than pioneer Dick Dale. The King of the Surf Guitar and the
Father of Heavy Metal, Dale, 67, influenced guitarists from Jimi
Hendrix to Eddie Van Halen, as well as everyone who ever strapped
on a Telecaster. Dale for years worked with the Fender guitar
company toward the holy grail of undistorted volume and deeper
tones. And, with "Let's Go Trippin'" in 1961, he
invented the rapid-fire picking and reverb-heavy chording to
which surf bands such as the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean put
words. Cancer nearly cost him his life in 1966, and a surfing
accident his leg in 1979. But Dale survived to become cool again
in 1994, when Quentin Tarentino used his hit version of
"Miserlou" in "Pulp Fiction," and he has been
touring and recording steadily ever since.