Island Free Press ...Local News

Island People …The weird world of Big Wave Dave

By JOY CRIST

Turn on Charter Cable’s Channel 12 at just the right time of day or night, and you’ll catch an episode of Big Wave Dave’s television show, showcasing local businesses as well as his own business ventures, in a pretty unusual way.

There are two current episodes running for the 2008 season, both featuring our hero, Big Wave Dave, as he tries desperately to save Hatteras Island without getting any credit for actually doing so. In the first episode, he rides a tsunami that’s threatening the island all the way to Ireland, and in the second episode, he has to convince Queen Elizabeth I not to follow through on her maniacal plan to take the island back under England’s rule. In both episodes, he’s joined by a cast of supporting characters, including local artists, restaurateurs, fishermen, and his trusty English reporter sidekick who doesn’t seem to wear anything but a red suit.

It’s odd, head-scratching television, and for those who are in on the joke, it’s really funny.

Big Wave Dave is the alter-ego of David Dixon, a 15-year local of Hatteras Island, known for the Avon law firm of Dixon and Dixon, which he runs with his wife, Jean Louise.

"I worked at a DA’s office,” Dixon says, “and we kept vacationing here and going to the beach, and we finally opened Dixon and Dixon 15 years ago.”

But while David Dixon has been well known in the community for years, Big Wave Dave didn’t make his appearance on the local scene until 2007. After thinking about running a 30-second advertisement for his local business, David discovered that it would be more economical, and a lot more fun, if he invested in a 15-minute segment on Channel 12 instead. The only problem was trying to figure out how to fill 15 minutes.

Luckily, Dixon had a good background in film. He attended film school in England before filming his first episode, and he formed friendships with a few of his film school colleagues.
The next step was to come up with an idea and a leading man.

“I thought, I got it. I’ll be Uncle Dave,’” says Dixon, and he approached his wife with the idea of Uncle Dave during a walk on the beach. He said that he told her that he would have all these nephews and nieces and he would show them all the things to do on the island and she said, “That sounds like a pedophile.”

Deterred for a moment, Dixon discussed the Uncle Dave idea with an old friend at Pop’s Raw Bar, and was disappointed when he said the exact same thing.

“Then my friend said, ‘You’ve always been Big Wave Dave to me,’” says Dixon, and the character was born.

His debut was in a summer 2007 episode called ‘101 Fun Things to Do on Hatteras Island,” in which Big Wave Dave and his young friends explored the beach, tried surfing, and made some pretty neat crafts with a couple simple beach ingredients.

But the “101 fun things to do on Hatteras Island” theme didn’t carry over into 2008.

“Stewart Couch [of Hatteras Realty] wanted to do that concept and did a nice job on it, so the concept this year was different’” says Dixon.

Instead, Dixon got in touch with his two friends from film school in England, Trevor Hughes and Claire Baker, and launched an entirely different genre, full of weird adventures.

“They were in film school with me in London. I came up with the idea and script, but for the camera angles and cinematics, I have to give all the credit to them. They did a phenomenal job.”

The end result is a series of quirky adventures. When Big Wave Dave goes to surf the big wave that’s threatening to crush Hatteras, he stops by the Dolphin Den, has a brief shot in front of the Village Grocery, and finally makes his way to the Albatross Fleet, where they have a little time to do some charter fishing before Big Wave Dave has to save the island. Naturally, his red-suited news reporter partner is by his side the entire time.

“When she’s fishing in her red outfit….I think that’s brilliant,” says Dixon.

Once an exhausted Big Wave Dave arrives in Ireland, a stranger on the shore greets him, as he staggers up the beach, and Big Wave Dave tells him of the giant wave he just rode all the way from Hatteras Island.

“Around here, we call that an ankle wetter,” the stranger says with a laugh as Big Wave Dave collapses on the sand.

What’s the moral of the story?

Who cares? It’s funny.

“It’s quirky British humor, works ‘smashingly,’ or ‘spot on’ as they say,” says Dixon.

Not everyone gets the joke, but for those who do, the little nuances pop up, no matter how many times you see an episode.

“One of the examples that is more obvious is that we misspelled so many things in the credits, but that was intentional,” says Dixon. “But some stuff is so subtle – it’s really pretty sophisticated for being so earthy.”

As a result, Big Wave Dave has become a local celebrity of sorts.

“I went to the beach and an 8-year-old came up and hugged me. I didn’t know who she was, and she said she recognized Big Wave Dave.”

Another fan asked him to sign a Big Wave Dave T-Shirt, to “Billy.”

“I signed it ‘To Billy, one cool dude’ and you would have thought he met Dustin Hoffman.”

Of course, Big Wave Dave’s crew has also gotten the benefit of the extra attention. In the Queen episode, Antoinette Gaskins of the Gaskins Gallery sends a gift to appease the queen.

“They [visitors to the gallery] asked Antoinette at the gallery if she really sent a gift to the queen, and I’ve been asked if I really surfed to Ireland,” says Dixon.

New episodes are in the works, with aliens landing on Hatteras Island and Big Wave Dave going back in time to learn a little history on the sand. There’s even talk of a Sunday episode in which Big Wave Dave meets God, though Dave admits that tackling that topic is tricky.

“It’s a little sensitive,” he says.

Filming is scheduled to begin later in 2008 with new episodes for 2009.

David Dixon’s love of film doesn’t end with the rolling of the credits. His Avon convenience store, appropriately named Big Wave Dave’s, is in the process of establishing a 40-seat independent movie theater.

Expected to be open for Labor Day weekend, the theater will be able to serve beer and wine and will showcase primarily independent films -- movies that aren’t generally available to an everyday audience, let alone an audience on Hatteras Island.

“I’d go to film festivals, and I loved these films and loved the festival feel, and I realized there were really great movies that were never going to be shown anywhere,” says Dixon.

In addition to showcasing independent films, the theater will also feature local musicians and national comedians several nights a week.

The theater is also expected to be open well into the off-season, with election results on the big screen in November and Christmas movies, such as “It’s A Wonderful Life” during the holidays.
As for the television show, Dixon says the quirky episodes work and attests the main purpose of his unusual endeavors is to bring more attention, interest, and respect for all things Hatteras Island.

“There’s great talent on the island, and the whole goal is to showcase that, whether it’s the TV show, local musicians, or the store,” says Dixon.

In the meantime, the next time a tsunami approaches the island or a British Royal sets his or her sights on our community, we can all breathe a little easier knowing that Big Wave Dave and his buddies are on the job.