By DONNA BALANCIA
A fundraising page for funeral and medical expenses for the late King of The Surf Guitar, Dick Dale, has been established by his wife, Lana Dale.
On the Go Fund Me page, since taken down, Lana Dale wrote the following:
“As many of Dick’s fans now know, Dale passed away late Saturday night, coincidentally about the same time he would have been ending one of the thousands of shows he performed at since 1955.
“Because of laws that govern burials, I was left with a limited amount of time (days-not weeks) to find a suitable place for Dick’s new home.
“On Sunday afternoon, Joey and I found just the place where Dick Dale music lovers could visit, sit under the shade of a tree and strum their guitars, strike up a conversation, but to fund that site I was faced with an expense of over $55,000.00 and that does not even cover medical expenses.
“Dick was hospitalized for the past thirty days, often under intensive care,” Lana Dale wrote.
“Like many performers from the mid fifties, when Dick began his career, travel expenses touring consumes most of the pay received, so, at this time in Dick’s career, being very sill, he was unable to tour much.
“Compounding that predicament, because of the advent of Napster and other media where people can upload music for free, entertainers royalties from music composed was reduced to pennies.
“As stated above, I am not only devastated by my husbands death, but I am faced with a very short period of time to obtain funds which I do not have, to purchase the grave site mentioned above, a place Dick deserves for all the joy he brought to thousands of fans since 1955, the past fifteen years while he was severely ill.”