Ladies and Gentlemen, For Your Listening Pleasure, The Dick-Tones

By Tim Parks

This interview with pioneering musician Dick Stillwell is a transcript that was conducted for the upcoming Netflix docuseries, Girls and Boys, which will highlight girl groups and boy bands from the 1960’s through the present.  

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. It’s a real privilege to be able to, I’m a longtime listener and first-time caller.     

Oh good, you have a sense of humor. You are going to need it for my story.  

Speaking of...How did you land on the name The Dick-Tones and how did you first meet Dick Curtis?  

[He visibly and audibly gulps before answering]  

It just seemed like easy math. Two Dicks are better than one. 

We started like any good partnership should, in having a commonality. We were both in the chorus at Pasadena High School in our senior year, and there was an instant chemistry that felt like something going on besides our love of music.  

We began having jam sessions in my garage on Las Luna Street, shredding on our guitars. At the time, we were heavily influenced by the surf music phenomenon that was so prevalent in Southern California. And it seemed like kismet or whatever you want to call it that we were both named Dick because we considered Dick Dale to be a God. 

On the subject of guitar virtuosos...your neighbor was Eddie Van Halen. What do you remember about him? 

Well, I wasn’t quite done telling our backstory, but that’s fine. We can circle back, I’m sure. 

Sorry about that. But yes, we can. 

Good, it’d be on the rude side not to. There’s a lot of tales to tell there. I remember he and his brother Alex as being...now how do I put this? “Politely rambunctious” kids is a good descriptor. They would come by when we were practicing playing for school dances and the like. By this time, we had Tommy “Sticks” McGee on drums and were really honing our sound.  

Now can we get back to Dick and me? And me and Dick as it ended up becoming one rainy afternoon. 

Certainly. Please continue. 

[A faraway look is in his eyes, and he shakes his head as though they were full of rocks, which seemed appropriate as he was stoned from the pot he had clearly smoked prior to the interview. He wore its scent like a cologne.] 

Now where was I? That’s a rhetorical question, so you don’t need to chime in. The connection I felt to Dick was something I didn’t want to let him know about. Or myself. I knew that being a homosexual was not only a dirty thing, according to my mother, but it was also dangerous in the 1960’s.  

I was surprised to learn that he had the same inclinations, and they popped up, so to speak, as we were writing the lyrics to our surf opus “Waxin’” in my bedroom. My parents were off visiting my grandparents in Laguna Beach for the weekend.  

[He breaks into opening line] 

“Waxin’ The Stick with Dick and Dick. Get on your boards and ride/ Dropping in on those waves like visiting an old friend/ I hope this summer never ends.”  

And wax our sticks we did. All weekend. It was both heaven and hell, where I was sure I was going to burn. But my bigger concern was how this could potentially derail our creative endeavors. 

Is it ok to interject here?   

Certainly.  

Didn’t it just make your bond stronger? 

[His red rimmed eyes, which looked like he had been crying, formed tears that slid down his cheeks.] 

It did. We were a team, in it to win it. Until... 

Until he was killed. 

[He nodded his head, as if controlled like a puppet on a string] 

Why is it that the police raiding The Underground Club on Santa Monica Boulevard, and the subsequent melee that followed, doesn’t get talked about as much as Stonewall? 

That’s the million-dollar question. Considering how many were injured...and killed. 

[He whispered the latter.] 

And the fire.  

Yes, the one that Dick tried to put out. Just like our dreams of making it into the mainstream were snuffed out. We were so close, our record with that asshole at Star Records was close to being released. “Waxin’” was in the Top 10. His beautiful hands caught fire when he tried to put it out. He probably would never have been able to play again. But I’ll never know that. No one will. All I know is that I still miss him every day. 

And that’s when your drug habit took hold, right? 

Yes. 

[He shifted uncomfortably in his chair] 

And led to you punching out the mascot on a live children’s program. 

[He hangs his head, the albatross around his neck unable to make the shame take flight. And then looks me dead in the eyes] 

Yes, I beat the shit out of Bongaroo on Imagination Station. I only got the job because of my friends Johnny and Belle Sapphire, who were the hosts. 

You toured with them as part of The Reach for the Star Tour after, Dick’s, uh, accident, right? 

Yes, they took me in like family. I’m even godfather to their twins, who you know from The Yee Yees and B.F.F. And I repaid them by assaulting a man in a kangaroo suit that played the bongos. In fairness, he did call me the other f word. But I was able to rebound from it. I learned a lot about myself following that. 

Any advice to the younger generation that has re-discovered your music?  

Know your history and who paved the way for the lives you have. Oh, and never punch a man in a kangaroo suit on live television in front of horrified children! Or do, that choice is up to you. Life’s mistakes can be its blessings.