For those of you who missed Dick Dale’s three-hour talk on Oct 8, here is the Cliff Notes version …
Prologue: Dale began the Surf Rock movement in the 1950s and has been performing and recording ever since. He has been called the “”King of Surf Guitar,”” the “”Father of Heavy Metal,”” the “”Forefather of Rock and Roll,”” and the “”Father of All the Power Players in the World.”” Dale’s music has had a strong following for many years and many of his songs have been used in movies, commercials, TV shows, and even the “”Space Mountain”” ride at Disneyland. His most famous song, “”Miserlou”” is not only the theme song for the movie “”Pulp Fiction,”” but the inspiration as well. On Oct. 8, Dale spoke to an enthralled crowd at Geisel Library as part of the opening of the new “”Art of Surfing”” exhibit.
The Story: “”Don’t worry about yesterday because you’ve already spent it, leave it alone … Don’t worry about tomorrow … Savor today like a fine wine … Don’t sweat the small stuff … My son Jimmy is an old soul in a young body … Music soothes the beast… I don’t play to musicians … It’s not about how fast you play … Who ever said ‘You’ve got to love yourself first,’ I’d like to strangle that person …. We perceive things as they shouldn’t be … You should throw your ego out the window … You have to love someone else first … Music is a door opener … Find the beauty in every kind of music … In Europe, everyone has a cell phone attached to the side of their head like some kind of wart … And everyone has bike … The system hates me … You shouldn’t fight the system … There are more people in the grass roots than in the system … It’s not wise to openly fight the system, you should do it in a sneaky way … Be a big fish in a little pond … Your product is only as good as your marketing … You get nothing but recognition, and that doesn’t pay your bills … No drugs, no alcohol, no caffeine, no more cigarettes … Tarantino created “”Pulp Fiction”” out of the song Miserlou … The people in the system are not normal people … There’s nothing wrong with making money as long as it doesn’t take your soul … There are only two pure things on this earth, a baby human and a baby animal; what they become is what we make them … Music is an opener to someone’s heart … I’m a MAC guy … PCs are a piece of crap … People called my music ‘devil music, evil music, dirty music’ … I’ve never wished for anything except the health of my mother … Focus on doing, everything else will come together … People say that you are only as good as your last show, but that’s not true. you’re only as good as your next show … Playing is a vehicle … The world isn’t big enough to separate people … I play to the grass roots people who count on the one … I used to pay $50 to the Beach Boys for opening for me … What’s a good band? Any band who sweats while playing, except for those who destroy equipment … I’m still playing with the original equipment from the ’50s … I have never named anything myself. Everything has been named by the public … Trust no one but yourself … Make your own decisions for yourself … Rap is a rhythm … I listen to nothing … I listen to sounds, never words … The only thing I dislike is watching a bass player playing with his finger … It sounds like oatmeal …””
Epilogue: “”I enjoyed this and I’m amazed that they let me talk that long.””
