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The Day the Music Died

L

lifejogger

Lost in Texas
50 years ago today Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash. I was only 9 years old at the time but I remember listing to him on the radio and my older sister's records. Even today I still like to hear his songs, imagine what he might have accomplished if he had not been killed back then.
 
lifejogger said:
50 years ago today Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash. I was only 9 years old at the time but I remember listing to him on the radio and my older sister's records. Even today I still like to hear his songs, imagine what he might have accomplished if he had not been killed back then.
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And let's not overlook Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.
There were three talented musicians lost on that flight.
:kilroy:
 
Wow, it's been 50 years! Doesn't seem that long ago - guess my "old fart year compressor" has kicked in. :d
J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson might have gone on to be better known as a songwriter than a singer, but I'm sure Richie Valens would've become a big superstar like Buddy Holly or Elvis. He was on a roll after "La Bamba" became a hit.
 
TARPSBird said:
Wow, it's been 50 years! Doesn't seem that long ago - guess my "old fart year compressor" has kicked in. :d
J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson might have gone on to be better known as a songwriter than a singer, but I'm sure Richie Valens would've become a big superstar like Buddy Holly or Elvis. He was on a roll after "La Bamba" became a hit.
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Tarps,...........Maybe you're aware of this, but Waylon Jennings gave up his spot to "The Big Bopper" since Richardson was recovering from the flu. How fate plays a hand we'll never know. I was in 8th grade at the time. Don McClean expressed it so well in his song "American Pie."
 
I love Zappa.....:woot: Moving to Montanna?????


I too remember the loss of the great three........
 
brad kaste said:
Tarps,...........Maybe you're aware of this, but Waylon Jennings gave up his spot to "The Big Bopper" since Richardson was recovering from the flu. How fate plays a hand we'll never know. I was in 8th grade at the time. Don McClean expressed it so well in his song "American Pie."
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I read somewhere once that for years Waylon really suffered from the "Survivor's syndrome" after giving up his seat.
 
jmig said:
I read somewhere once that for years Waylon really suffered from the "Survivor's syndrome" after giving up his seat.
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I also read that Kris Kristofferson was in the same boat. I can't remember all of that but seems that both gave up that flight to Buddy Holly and the rest.
 
JoeW said:
I also read that Kris Kristofferson was in the same boat. I can't remember all of that but seems that both gave up that flight to Buddy Holly and the rest.
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Joe, it is 6:00 AM here. I just got up 15 mins ago and the coffee is still dripping. So, I could be wrong :costumes: However, I don't think Kristofferson was there? I was a fan of Kris Kristofferson and read a lot on his life. I found him to be a very interesting and paradoxical individual.

Kristofferson was the son of a USAF general. About the time of the crash he would have been in college or in England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Afterward he joined the Army and became a Captain and helicopter pilot.

Some of his early song writing was done when he worked 7 & 7 on offshore platforms in Louisiana as a helicopter pilot for PHI.
 
Zappa, next to Bill the Cat, the most worshiped idol I have! :d


From the accounts of the legendary "day the music died," and the fatal plane crash that took the lives of a pilot and three young performers are many as we look back from 50 years later.

According to the Palm Beach Post, one man's perspective is a bit more unique than most -- had he not given up his seat, he would have been on that tragic flight. The man is Dion DiMucci, leader of doo-wop group Dion and The Belmonts.

In early 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Dion and The Belmonts were on the Winter Dance Party tour, playing gigs all across the Midwest. "Rock and Roll wasn't a business. We were inventing it," Dion says. "It was very new. We didn't have any light shows. We just turned on the lights and turned on the mic."

On the night of February 2, Holly was fed up with traveling around from town to town in freezing cold buses, and arranged to charter a Beechcraft B35 Bonanza to the next gig. The Big Bopper was in too, leaving the third seat up for grabs. Dion says he won the coin toss, but gave up his seat to Valens.

Dion remembers telling Valens, who was sick and unaccustomed to the cold Midwest winter, " 'You need to get a hot bath and a warm room. You go.' I was in a group, and he was alone out there. I think I'm doing him a favor..." His voice trails off.

As the fated young performers headed to the airport, the rest of the entourage loaded up on the icy yellow school buses and headed off to Fargo ND, their next stop along the way.

Tour manager Sam Geller broke the tragic news to the others on the tour the next morning at a Fargo motel. "He came over to us as we were walking in with our suits hanging in bags over our shoulders and said, 'Hey, guys, something terrible happened. Their plane crashed. They're all gone.' "

"I remember just sitting there alone on the bus, and Buddy's guitar was on the back seat, Ritchie's outfit was hanging from the luggage rack ... There was the Big Bopper's hat, just sitting there," Dion says. "It was baffling to me. You just wonder what life is about, where you're going, what does it matter? My mind started spinning."

"They were so much a part of my life," Dion reflected from his home in Boca Raton, FL. "I didn't realize how much. All I know is, I still miss those guys.

It wasn't Kris Kristofferson Joe, it was Waylen Jennings. Jmig's right about Kristofferson being a very young man at that time.


Me, I was pimply teenage bronkin' buck with a pink carnation and a pick-up truck. :friday:
 
jmig said:
Joe, it is 6:00 AM here. I just got up 15 mins ago and the coffee is still dripping. So, I could be wrong :costumes: However, I don't think Kristofferson was there? I was a fan of Kris Kristofferson and read a lot on his life. I found him to be a very interesting and paradoxical individual.

Kristofferson was the son of a USAF general. About the time of the crash he would have been in college or in England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Afterward he joined the Army and became a Captain and helicopter pilot.

Some of his early song writing was done when he worked 7 & 7 on offshore platforms in Louisiana as a helicopter pilot for PHI.
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I could be wrong too. I'm very dim on this. But I read a story printed in a paper or maybe an article somewhere. Maybe it wasn't K. K.
My memory stick needs re-charging.
 
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