Dick Dale at the Houston House of Blues!

I've talked a little about Dick Dale before in another entry but just a little refresher for those of you who missed it, Dick Dale is a guitarist and songwriter who pioneered the playing style/genre of surf-guitar: a style characterized by tremolo picking, exotic scales, and rich fender spring reverb. The man was the first to use one-hundred watt amplification and was also influential in American pop music during a time when most American artists were simply trying to copy the music of British Invasion bands. Here's an example of little ditty he wrote in the 50s and played last night at the show called "Mr. Peppermint Man":

He walked the line between pop and experimentation. Along with standard catchy pop tunes he also wrote a number of virtuosic guitar driven songs like "the wedge" and "Misirlou" (both of which were played last night).

Miserlou^

The Wedge^

He started in the 50s and has been extremely active ever since. Here are some of his more current songs:

One of my favorite newer Dick Dale songs, "Esperanza"^

Nitro^

During the show he performed these along with many surf-guitar covers adapted to fit the constraints of his signature and they were so incredible. Some of these include surf versions of "Ghost Riders in the Sky", "Fever", "House of the Rising Sun", and "Hava Nagilia". He even played drums, trumpet, and a bass with drumsticks proving that even at 72 he's still an incredible showman and performer. He took lots of opportunities to talk to us, tell stories, and I never got the feeling that he was watching the clock if you know what I mean. He even closed the show with a moving and patriotic rendition of amazing grace dedicated it to the troops overseas.

I even got an autograph from Dick after the show. He started signing autographs literally as soon as the show ended (something I've never seen before) and didn't charge me anything to sign my ticket or anything like that. Just as I anticipated, he was a total class act. He's been a hero for me since I was fifteen and it was an absolute pleasure to see this living legend in concert. I've waited to see Dick Dale for years!

Here's a video of Dick playing some badass harmonica:

Another of him on guitar: