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.