I got to see him once over in Tampa.
I used to "know" him because I saw him all the time in Malibu when I was working for surf filmmaker Hal Jepsen. They were pretty good friends. Dale used to rag on Hal about his drinking...A LOT.
Dale was a straight-edge kind of guy, no booze and no dope.
Dick Dale was a sweet soul, a bit badass and fiery at times but I call it passion. He had a big heart and just wanted to be the cool Daddy-o that spread the love around.
I don't know if The Malibu Inn is rightly referred to as his home base but the man probably lit that place up more than two hundred times in his career. He battled rectal cancer, kidney failure and diabetes for the last twenty years.
My heart goes out to Lana, his darling wife. She's an MS-er just like my Karen.
