Inspiring...|| 74 yr. Dick Dale rocking The Blank Club || January 6, 2012

There was nothing more I needed Friday night than to roll into The Blank Club and hear the legendary Dick Dale blast through his setlist with his son, Jimmy Dale on Drums and Sammy Bolle from Agent Orange & Slacktone.  It was a thing of beauty and the exact therapy my little brain needed.  My good friend and artistic sage, Joe Izzo, succumbed to his long battle with cancer the day before.  Seeing a man who himself has been battling cancer for the last 3 years of his life get up on stage and totally and completely rock it (like no other 74 year old I know could ) was very inspirational.  And I believe it was an inspiration that was felt throughout the packed crowd that night.  It is good to see a sold out show at The Blank Club.  It is even better when the artist is deep into his golden years.

60s Dick Dale

The show was phenomenal.  Me and my buddies (thanks guys for dragging me off the couch) sidewinded right up to the front side of the stage and enjoyed a man who was truly in his element. Heck, he has been doing this the majority of his time on earth and I am sure he will be doing it even more where he is going.  It was great seeing Jimmy rocking it out on drums and really expanding as a musician too.  A while back he was playing guitar with his father and really learning the ropes.  Dick Dale is known for being a task master to his band.  Never a set list and always keeps the band guessing.  I saw Jimmy look over at Sammy several times and give a big sigh of relief while wiping his brow after nailing the untold direction that his father was heading into; a true jam.  It was brilliant. 
But I noticed something else in Jimmy's eyes.  This twenty year old kid was enjoying the moment.  He knows that these live performances with his father are a gift and that they will not go on forever.  He is seizing the opportunity that is in front of him and making the most of it.  Truly inspirational.

It was an energetic show and the crowd ate up every last moment of it.  They did not wander home after catching half the set.  Even the ones who were mostly grey on the head were still front and center watching history unfold in front of their eyes.  Life has only one direction; death.  We are all going to be there some day.  The only thing we can do until we find ourselves knocking on the gates is enjoy ourselves.  The men on the stage that night were doing just that.  To quote Dick Dale up on stage that night, "a while back I had tubes coming out of me, doctors opening me up and radiation shooting through my body...but I'm still here."  And if you are reading this, so are you...

To sum up the performance, the last thing Dick screamed into the mic while closing out his set is...

"You people are my medicine.  Thank you!"