Dale's Tale

Dick Dale, king of the surf guitar, has died.  He recorded a ton of guitar instrumentals in his heyday, the late 50s and early 60s, and helped define the surf rock sound.

He never completely went away, and had a bit of a comeback in the 1990s when Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction repopularized Dale's famed version of "Misirlou."

I saw him some years after that, performing live at the Amoeba record store up my street.   Everyone was waiting to hear "Misirlou." He played the first few notes then stopped, saying if you want to hear the whole thing, you'd have to pay to see him at some club where he was booked that night.  Kind of a dick move, Dick.