50 years ago today.....

[J.R.69]

On Feb. 3, 1959, I was a 17-year-old Freshman at UT, cooking breakfast at a co-op at 6 a.m. when one of the guys came in and said that Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper had been killed earlier that morning in a plane crash.

I was cooking scrambled eggs and spam, and the guy who told me about their deaths was named Jeff Mullins, from Dallas.

Funny how you remember such things.

 

[FAST FRED]

Buddy Holly was my favorite rocker in the 50s and I remain a loyal fan.

The plane crashed about 1:00 AM.

The musicians had earlier played at The Surf Ballroom in Mason City, Iowa.

The gig before the Surf Ballroom, the musicians had played in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Then they rode through a blizzard in a bus with a broken heater to the Iowa performance.

Buddy decided to fly after that night's show so he could do his laundry and get a little rest and a plane was chartered for $108.

Dion DiMucci of Dion & The Belmonts was initially offered one of the three passenger seats, but he thought the $36 cost was too much - it was more than the monthly rent for his family's apartment in New York City.

Buddy then reserved the seats for the two Crickets.

Waylon Jennings wasn't an original Cricket (they were bassist Joe B. Maudlin and drummer Jerry Allison), but he was playing Fender electric bass and in the group for this tour along with Tommy Allsup on guitar.

Allsup was talked out of his seat on the plane by Richie Valens.

Jennings gave up his seat so The Big Bopper could have it.

Waylon only did this because Buddy asked him to, as J. P. Richardson was miserable with a cold.

Waylon's last words to his mentor, Buddy, were something like, "OK, Hoss, but I hope the damn plane crashes with all of you on it."

Jennings said that in petulant jest, but he regretted those words deeply for the rest of his life.

The tour bus drove all night and reached the next stop (the National Guard Armory in Moorhead, Minnesota - some 400 miles away) about noon on the 3rd.

That's when the others first heard about the crash.

The show went on without The Crickets and Bobby Vee, a local talent, took Buddy's slot for a few shows (thus jump-starting his career) until Jimmy Clanton and Frankie Avalon joined and finished what was left of the tour.

Years later, I read how a newly elected Iowa Sheriff was going through desk drawers in his office and found Buddy's geeky signature glasses, where a previous Sheriff had stored them away.

This was sometime in the seventies, I believe.

He could have sold them or kept them, but he sent them to Buddy's grateful parents.

They're on display at the Buddy Holly Museum in the Depot District in Lubbock, along with Buddy's Stratocaster and his personal record collection.

The crash was attributed to pilot error in properly determining the horizon using the plane's instruments, along with very poor to no visibility and, possibly, ice on the wings.

Aircraft N3794N was found in a snow-covered field, less than five miles from the runway it had just used for take off.

It seems likely that the pilot, who was instrument certified (but relatively inexperienced), had misread the Sperry gyroscope, which displays the nose angle in inverted form.

He believed he was climbing, when in fact he was diving, and he flew the aircraft into the ground at or near its top speed of 170 MPH.

It sounds a little like what John Kennedy did off Martha's Vineyard.

Everyone aboard appeared to have died instantly and only the pilot's body was found still inside the cockpit.

Buddy, Richie and The Bopper were thrown up to 40 feet from the aircraft by the impact.

Rave on.

 

[Third Coast]

I recall hearing that Peterson had failed his instrument rating tests and should not have been flying at night. That combined with an inaccurate weather report pretty much doomed them from the start.

 

[Texoz]

That was only a few years before I was born, but I know enough about music to still understand and feel the effect.

I always forget how young they all were. Just puppies getting started in the music world. The troubador's life is rough one. If the drugs & alcohol don't get you, the bus, plane or helicopter crashes might.

 

[Hornius Emeritus]

I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride

 

[I Am Texas]

But something touched me deep inside

 

[accuratehorn]

The day the music died.

 

[FAST FRED]

I was driving to school and heard it on the radio.

He was my favorite.

I've been to his grave and driven around to see most of the places he lived and played in Lubbock.

There's a small trophy case in the hall of the elementary school he attended with class pictures and a baseball glove.

I recommend the Buddy Holly statue and museum in downtown Lubbock, if you are ever there.

The museum has some of his record collection and they're all records that I had purchased myself.

I've even toured the Norman Petty studio in Clovis, NM, where he recorded many of his hits.

You have to arrange it through the Clovis Chamber of Commerce.

If I'm ever in Iowa, I'll visit the Surf Ballroom and the plane crash site.

Whenever my band plays, we all put on black-rimmed glasses, just like his, and do a medley of his songs: "Peggy Sue," "True Love Ways" and "That'll Be The Day."

I am a very big and ever loyal fan.

Rave on.

Listening to the greatest hits of Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison is a fine way to pass the time driving through West Texas.

And, if you're ever near Wink, TX, NW of Odessa, drive through that isolated little town, visit the Roy Orbison Museum and cogitate on him writing "Only The Lonely."

 

[HookemDanno]

I've been to the Surf Ballroom several times (during my previous life in exile in Iowa). Backstage, there is a coin epoxied to the floor where supposedly the seats got divied up...at least that is the tour guide lore.

The facility itself was being restored (10+ years ago) to its appearance in the early 40's. It was really cool for me being a Big Band fan to see all the greats who toured through there in addition to the great early Rock'n Roll acts that passed through places like that.

It really kind of made me think about accessible live music used to be as opposed to now. Austin is a rare exception and is now a major market. I can't think of any "big" acts that would stop at a city the size of Mason City now...

Danno

 

[He Man]

In reply to:

---

---

 

[iowahorn11]

I've driven by the Surf Ballroom more times than I can count. One of my good friends has a lake house in Clear Lake about a half mile from the Surf Ballroom, where I spend a fair amount of time in the summer. This past summer was my first time ever going inside the Surf. My parents were barely alive when it happened, and I'm not into his music, but even I could appreciate the historical signaificance of that place.

If you're a fan and ever in north central Iowa, make a stop in Clear Lake and check it out. Its not like there's anything else to do.