While tickets for Thursday night’s Dick Dale show at the Triple Door might be a steep (and downright recession-flouting) $35, here are some arguments in favor of shelling out for the chance to soak up the guitar legend’s 8:00 pm set.

1) Dude pretty much single-handedly invented “surf guitar.”

2) His legacy comprises more than just narrow-minded and painfully generic surfabilly acts; traces of Dale’s influence can be heard in everything from the kinetic noodling of punk breakouts Abe Vigoda to any post rock band with an unfailing boner for 16th-note picking.

3) Dale’s interpretation of Greek standard “Miserlou”—or, as bros the world over know it: the “Pulp Fiction theme song."

4) Dick Dale is left-handed, and learned to play upside-down on right-handed guitars. To this day, he plays guitars with inverse stringing (E, B, G, D, A, E).

5) Dale claims to be the “Father of Heavy Metal” because he worked closely with Leo Fender to develop a new kind of guitar amplifier which had the capacity for then-unheard-of helpings of loudness. He still performs with this type of amp.

Five more reasons (one one reason not to go) after the jump.

6) Similar to “Miserlou,” Dale has an insanely fun version of “Hava Nagila” that's more high-speed chase than bar mitzvah soundtrack.

7) He wrote this at the top of his website’s “tour” page (ostensibly during his 2008 battle with cancer): “OK MY CANCER WARRIORS..... My great surgeon Gary Hoffman found tissue growing in my canal during my latest Rectal camera scan…” So ballsy. So casual. So rad. Also rad: the animated .gifs and colorful Times New Roman text on his hilariously dated homepage. And yes, he capitalized the word “rectal."

8) Alliterative names are always cool. With the exception of Leona Lewis.

9) He is 72 years old and still touring.

10) This may be because he hasn’t eaten red meat since 1970.

And in the spirit of fairness, here’s one good reason NOT to see Dick Dale:

“My 17 yr old son Jimmy will be opening for me
playing drums for FCC (Forever Came Calling).”