Dick Dale at Cabooze on 5/9/03

By: David de Young

As wind from several onstage fans blew the black ponytail at the end of his graying, thinning head of hair held in place by a black headband, Dick Dale sauntered onto the stage at the Cabooze Friday night shortly after 11 p.m. wearing a glittery gold guitar and an aura the size of Texas. At the end of this musical promenade he pointed at the poster of Buddy Holly hanging on the back wall of the club and asked "Where's my fucking picture?" (He had apparently made the same remark at his previous Cabooze appearance a year ago.) Again tonight he referenced the fact that back in the day (when he was still driving a 1941 Flathead) Buddy Holly used to open for him.

A remake of "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" allowed Dale to demonstrate his prowess at working the crowd. This was followed up by a power metal song so thrilling (it might have been "Eliminator" from 2001's "Spatial Disorientation") I scanned the room for some of the younger metal bands in town who might take a queue or two from this man, but alas, from my vantage point, this appeared to be another "old guy show." ("Old guy show" is a way of saying the average age was around my 38. I might have been one of the younger audience members when I come to think of it.)

During a cover of "House of the Rising Sun" it struck me that I've seldom seen someone play the guitar with so much damned confidence. Sammy Odelle on bass, who has just been filling in for about 3 weeks, seemed both overjoyed and confident to be sitting in and backing up the man. Throughout the entire set, the electricity Dale's persona exuded from the stage was as much Witch Doctor as it was Rock Star.

Dale announced he'd had a birthday May 4th. Born in 1937, that would make him 66 by most accounts, two months younger than my father! "My brain never left 30 and my body ain't buyin' it," Dale said as the band segued into the sexy "Fever" popularized by Peggy Lee, but written by Johnny Davenport and Eddie Cooley. One of few Dale originals of the evening was "Miserlou," known to many as the theme from Pulp Fiction. (Photographer Steve Wolf, for one, was disappointed that Dale didn't delve more deeply into his own catalogue.) But at the same time, anything Dale touched seemed to become his own.

Seeing Dick Dale live for the first time felt much like going to church. But rock and roll church ...while drunk. The band charged through a medley of "Wipeout" followed by "Mr. Peppermint Man" and "Bo Diddly." (Hearing the latter song live drove home how much "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow is a rip off.)

Dale picked up some sticks and played a drum solo on the drums as Dusty Watson, his drummer of five years, continued to play. He then knocked out something otherworldly on the bass with those sticks as Odelle continued to fret it (see photo.) If that wasn't enough (as if a guy who plays the guitar upside down and left-handed without restringing it hasn't demontrated enough musical prowess already) Dale suddenly whipped out a silver trumpet for a sweet and sassy solo during a bluesy number with the repeated lyric "I've got my fingers on you mama, better do what daddy says."

After a dual acoustic number with Odelle, who had switched from bass to guitar, Dale boasted he'd known Johnny Cash since he was selling records out of the back of his car. Next musical stop: a version of "Folsom Prison Blues." For "Smoke on the Water," Dale left the stage and made his way through the crowd while playing through a wireless pickup. I'm told he even popped out the front door of the club momentarily, though I couldn't see from my vantage point stage center. Apparently, the stage, the room and even the Cabooze itself was too small for this man's show.

Band members:

Dick Dale - Guitar
Sammy Odelle - Bass / guitar
Dusty Watson - drums

Official website: http://www.dickdale.com

Some background info on Dick: http://www.nipp.com/infoband.asp?txtid=1094

More: http://www.rockfetish.com/dickdale.asp

Location Info: Cabooze
Artist Info: Dick Dale

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