Forty-seven years ago this morning, the airplane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson ("The Big Bopper") crashed just a few minutes after taking off from the Mason City, Iowa airport. They had just played the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake and were heading to Moorhead, Minnesota (the town where I would go to college some three decades later).
Buddy Holly was 22 years old, Richardson was 28, and Valens was only 17. Elvis was in the military when they died. They would have never heard of the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. I often wonder what would be different about the American music scene if they had lived to meet John, Paul, George, and Ringo, play at Woodstock, and start growing grey hairs. Though we can never know the answer, the question itself is part of their legacy. It's as if you can see that question in the picture of the smiling, bespectacled musician--forever young--his music frozen in time, unchanging, for future generations to discover anew.
Did you know Waylon Jennings, who was in the band, was supposed to board that plane, but at the last minute switched to the tour bus? It took him a long time to get over that, and several years later recorded a track called Buddy Holly Medley. I will be playing it and a whole lot more interesting songs and interview clips on my Treasure Island Oldies Show this Sunday, Feb. 5th from 6 to 10 Pacific. The last hour will be devoted entirely to The Day The Music Died. Hope you can listen and maybe join the chat room too at www.TreasureIslandOldies.com