When the first wave of punk swept through America and Britain during the rather moribund mid-1970s, it became so fertile because punk was inclusive, participatory and democratic. Into its ranks swept musicians, fashion designers, artists, radio personalities, photographers and writers, as well as filmmakers and documentarians.

Dale Brooks, who passed away on November 19 at his home in Marble Falls (age 60), was a seminal character from those times. I met him while he filmed the Island reunion gig a few years back, and Brooks' audiovisual skills and vision helped propel local acts like the Hates into the video age and caught touring acts like the Dils during their rare, short-lived jaunts into middle America. Though Brooks was a longtime supporter of electric cars, eventually becoming president of the Houston Electric Auto Association, today Rocks Off would like to shed light on his forays into local music.

Like many, he began his pursuits by preparing well in advance of punk's zero hour.

"I first met Dale Brooks after he graduated in 1973 from the old High School For the Performing and Visual Arts [one year before noted roots-rocker Robert Earl Keen]," says Christian Arnheiter, founder of iconic Houston punks the Hates. "I'd recently stopped playing funk with Nathan Faulk and started making tentative musical steps forward with Robert Kainer when I was introduced to Dale."

Dale had a show called Taking Over Television at KTRU-Rice Radio. According to his brother, Glen Brooks, the slot featured "Dale holding forth on production equipment, camera techniques and his theories on the future of the media."

"Robert and Dale had become fast friends while at KPFT," he continues. "Dale had a show called 'Taking Over Television,' at Bellaire Cable Television, which helped familiarize him with studio equipment. A few years later, Robert and I teamed up for our own show, 'Destroy All Music.'"

Dale's outlook seemed to gestate at this time, balancing between artful pursuits and social consciousness. As Arnheiter explains, "Dale seemed born to be involved with video before he'd even left high school he'd made a video of the downtown tunnel system, which was brand new at the time. He also tackled other projects such as a film about female prisoners in Texas and a collaboration with Ted Barwell on a performance-art project that was being pitched to the curator of the Museum of Fine Arts. [Note: the previous three paragraphs have been modified after original publication to correct some factual errors.]

As punk took hold in Houston, Brooks' own technical prowess became indispensable, paving the path for preserving the cultural zeitgeist -- the fans, the bands and the venues.

"Coinciding with the birth of the Hates came the Video Boyz, made up of Dale and Ted, who would not only film Hates shows at the Island but also would set up televisions on the stage and play videos between sets," And eventually the Video Boyz added a third member: Robert Burtenshaw." [Note: Burtenshaw soon became the primary owner of Numbers, where he was much better known as "Robot." He passed away in July 2013.]

But music and VHS were by no means Brooks' only passion.

"In addition to wild music, the technical aspects of video, and the occasional foray into late '70's/early '80s drug culture, the three of them shared a great love of motorcycles," Arnheiter says. "Ted favored British touring bikes, Dale preferred German motorworks, and Robert loved Japanese street bikes. They made quite the entrance wherever they went."

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