back to archive page

Deke's Fourth Annual Guitar Geek Festival
January 20, 2007


At the Jolly Roger Hotel Ballroom in Anaheim, California

Thanks to Spencer Hunt and Melody for the photos!


Darrel Higham kicks off the Geek Fest with a tribute to Eddie Cochran.






Crazy Joe Tritschler, king of nerdabilly, rocks the house with his great version of "Caravan" and his new show-stopper, "Flight of the Beverly-Bumble-Billies."










Jeremy Wakefield demonstrates the most bizarre "talking steel guitar" effect, sending his steel guitar through Raina Brody's vocal cords so when she sings it sounds like a steel guitar singing through her!










The crowd is in disbelief at what they are hearing. Quite bizarre!




Del Casher, assisted by Nikki Tedesco on bass, leads the crowd through a set of everything from "Dark Eyes" to "Sugarfoot Rag" along with some good old-fashioned comedy bits that leave the audience groaning for more!










Deke takes the stage for his own set, playing his new Hallmark Deke Dickerson model guitar. He is ably assisted by Crazy Joe Tritschler, who helps out on the TNM Custom doubleneck for "Can't See The Forest for the Trees."










Shredmistress Rynata, a female heavy-metal guitarist from Germany now living in LA, tears up the crowd with her wicked shredding prowess! Rynata had a great time hanging out with the guitar geeks and proclaimed Brian Lonbeck to be a "country-western shredder!"










The always-incredible Brian Lonbeck gets the crowd rowdy with his doubleneck version of "Duelin' Banjos" and his new original, "Brian's Barn-Burner," as well as a host of other classic Joe Maphis instrumentals.










Wally Hersom on bass.




Chris "Sugarballs" Sprague plays drums for every set, all night long!




Kid Ramos of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Hollywood Fats band, and many more plays a set of high-octane rhythm and blues--a crowd favorite!








Herb Remington, legendary steel guitar player from Houston, wows the crowd to a standing ovation with songs he played with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in the 1940s! There isn't a dry eye in the house when the eighty-years-young "Herbie" is finished.












Then come the LEGENDS OF SURF GUITAR! First, Deke, Mel Bergman, and Chris Sprague warm up the crowd with a few choice instrumentals.




Next up is Paul Johnson of the Belairs, who starts things off with a Duane Eddy classic, "Ramrod."




Eddie Bertrand, of the Belairs and Eddie and the Showmen, comes up to join Paul Johnson on their surf classic "Mr. Moto."




The Belairs: Eddie Bertrand third from the left, Paul Johnson in the foreground.




A vintage shot of Eddie and the Showmen (Eddie second from the left).




Eddie Bertrand tears into "Squad Car," one of the all-time great surf classics (written by Paul Johnson, who stays up to play rhythm behind Eddie)!






Willy Glover of the Pyramids gets up to do "Penetration," and the boys don bald heads in honor of the Pyramids' original bald-headed gimmick (Glover is at the far left in the vintage picture).








Jim Masoner of the Lively Ones performs "Surf Rider" with original Lively Ones drummer Tim Fitzpatrick-- note somebody is holding up the original album.








Bob Spickard and Brian Carman of the Chantays do "Pipeline," and it sounds just like the record!






A vintage shot of the Chantays (Bob Spickard back row left, Brian Carman in the middle).




Jim Fuller of the Surfaris--the man who played "Wipe Out!" (second from the left in the vintage picture).








The phenomenal Nokie Edwards of the Ventures.








The grand finale... The million-man surf jam! All the guitarists from the Geek Fest plus a couple dozen audience members join in on "Pipeline" to close out an incredible night!




Selections from the vintage guitar museum.