Surf guitarist headlines Cruise Night event

Darleene Barrientos

The city’s 11th annual Cruise Night experienced a bump in the road

Friday, but the event should be smooth sailing, even though its

scheduled headliner bowed out because of a bout with acute pneumonia.

City officials discovered Friday morning that Dave Davies, the

founder and guitarist of the band The Kinks, was hospitalized in

London. In a pinch, Dick Dale, legendary surf guitarist of the late

1950s and ‘60s, agreed to step in and headline the event he helped

introduce 11 years ago.

Cruise Night is expected to draw 35,000 people between 5:30 and

10:30 p.m. July 17 along Brand Boulevard. Dale will perform, along

with rockabilly band Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys and garage pop

band The Neptunas.

“We understood it was short notice,” said Annet Peairs, who is

handling Cruise Night’s public-relations campaign. “But he was very

gracious.”

Dale was the headline performer of the city’s first Cruise Night

11 years ago. Dale, who has been credited with inventing surf music

in the late ‘50s, was nominated for a Grammy award for his recording

of “Pipeline” with the late Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1988. Dale was

hailed as the King of Surf during the ‘60s and has been called the

father of heavy metal by Guitar Player magazine.

Most of the musical acts booked for Cruise Night have gone

smoothly, city spokesman Ritch Wells said.

“This is the first time this has happened in the 11 years we’ve

been doing Cruise Night,” he said.