Only Bob Dalley could transform a desert state into the capital of surf music.
Dalley, a 47-year-old who never learned to surf and lives in a Victorian-style home in West Jordan, is the big Kahuna of surf music.He's written the only extensive books on the history of surf music, writes the quarterly Salt Lake City Surf Music Appreciation Society Newsletter and has had his own surf songs released on compact discs in Australia, Germany and California.
He also has been contacted recently by a German film company to work on a surf music documentary.
Although only five members of the Salt Lake City Surf Music Appreciation Society live in Utah, more than 200 subscribers around the world are card-carrying members. The newsletter is also sold in music stores in California and Australia.
As a teenager growing up in Southern California, Dalley fell in love with the clean melodic sound of surf songs such as "Pipe Line," "Baja" and "Wipe Out."
Classic surf music, which emerged in the early '60s, was an instrumental interpretation of the feeling of riding a wave. The use of the reverb makes the guitar sound as if it were being played underwater.
Surf music's popularity was short-lived; it ended with the "British Invasion." Dalley blames the assassination of President John F. Kennedy for the success of the Beatles and the demise of surf music. Surf music, he said, left with America's innocence.
But, Dalley couldn't forget surf music. In 1980 he started the Surf Raiders. A surf band that released three CDs and performed all over Southern California. Dalley played lead guitar and his wife, Linda, played the keyboard.
While starting the band, Dalley called some of his old surf music idols asking for tips. Eventually these interviews evolved into magazine articles and finally into Dalley's book, "Surfin' Guitars: Instrumental Surf Bands of the Sixties."
To fund the publication of the first edition in 1988, Dalley sold all of his amplifiers, guitars and surf records. The book was reviewed in Rolling Stone and MTV.
Soon after publication, his work in micrographics for the LDS Church moved him to Salt Lake City. He thought his transfer might isolate him from the world of surf music, but somehow his fans tracked him down. He kept receiving calls from people who wanted his book.
Later, he set up a surf music Web site: (http://www.pobox.com/(tilde)bob.dalley).
Soon Dalley became bogged down with the nearly 50 calls a day generated by his Web site. Because many people asked the same questions, he decided he could save time by printing a newsletter.
Dalley, who works at the LDS Granite Mountain Record Vaults, now spends all his spare time reviewing at least 35 CDs and 10 vinyls with titles like "Tiki-A-Go-Go," "Susan and the Surf-tones," and "Gidget Must Die" for his newsletter.
Though few people realize it, surf music is bigger now than it ever was. Surf tunes can be heard in commercials and movies. "Pulp Fiction" had five surf songs.
"It just exploded; there's really no sign of it letting up," Dalley said about the surf music revival.
There are excellent surf bands in Germany, Sweden and Finland. Now, all Dalley hopes to do is win his home state to surf music.
"Surf music is very relaxing and healthy," he said. "You can listen to it without putting your hands over your ears."