I showed up at Rod's house a little early and we drank the obligatory couple o' beers while we waited for KC to show up.  We eventually headed out about 7:15 or so and made out way to the Recher Theatre in towson.  For those of you who have never been there, the Recher is a great place to see a show. It's all open, no seats, a good little snack bar, and they sell beer.  The
closest thing I can compare it to is the 8x10 club in Cross St Market.

Anyway, as we hung out drinking, we watched one of the most diverse crowds I've ever seen pile into the theatre.  There were everything from yuppies to biker guys, goth, punks, it was all there.  The opening band came on around 9:00 and they were called The Martini Bros.  The Martini Bros were a lot of fun.  The lead singer/guitarist had a great stage presence and they were all having a ball on stage, which I like to see.  Somewhere during their 40-minute set they transformed from The Stray Cats to the Adolescents, and it was all good old-fashioned high energy Rock & Roll.

After a short break, Dick came on.  Now I have studied and played music one way or another for most of my life, from trumpet to piano, to guitar.   I've seen a lot of different shows with different kinds of music, and I can honestly say that
I'm not sure I've seen another show that I enjoyed as much as Dick Dale.  This guy put on a helluva show and was backed by 2 other great musicians. Between the classic Dick Dale guitar riffs and the storytelling, some of the highlights included Acoustic tributes to John Lee Hooker and Johnny Cash, a
heartfelt speech about loving and respecting your parents, a 20 minute version of Deep Purple's classic "Smoke on the Water" in which he exited stage left, disappeared and re-emerged through the fire exit on the side of the building (playing the whole time) and proceeded to wander through the entire crowd, from the front of the building to the back..  All in all it was a great show. 

"it definitely exceeded expectations" - Rod Rodgers

Scott