<em>Is Anybody There?</em>: The Day the Music Died

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens & "The Big Bopper" J.P. Richardson. I was only 3 when the deaths occurred, so I really don't remember anything about the event when it happenned. But growing up in Iowa, the many newpaper articles over the years, as well as the movie La Bamba, & other movies & TV shows about it make this sad event a part of my Iowa identity.

For those few of you who don't know the story, it was on this date in 1959 that a plane crash took their lives. They had made an unscheduled stop in Clear Lake, IA at the Surf Ballroom (still there) as a part of their "Winter Dance Party" tour throughut the Midwest. Buddy Holly was tired of the various problems with the bus & other travel problems. He chartered a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza, operated by Dwyer Flying Service of Mason City, Iowa, to fly to Fargo, N.D. which was across the Red River from Moorhead, MN, their next stop.

The Crickets were originally supposed to go with Holly. The Bopper approached the Crickets bassist Waylon Jennings (yes, he was part of the band at the time) & asked Jennings to take his place. Jennings agreed. Then Valens asked Crickets guitarist Tommy Allsup for his seat. They eventually agreed to flip a coin to determine who took the flight.Valens called heads & won the toss.

Despite the snowy weather, at about 1 am the plane took off from Mason City Municipal Airport. About 5 minutes later, it crashed on the Albert Juhl farm, about five miles northwest of the airport. (I have been to the site.) According to the Coroner's Report, the "wreckage lay about 1/2 mile west from the nearest north-south gravel road and the farmhomes of the Albert Juhl's and the Delbert Juhl's. The main part of the plane lay against the barbed wire fence at the north end of the stubble field in which it came to earth. It had skidded and/or rolled approximately 570 feet from point of impact directed northwesterly." Except for the pilot, all the bodies were found to have been tossed away from where the plane crashed. (Follow the link to read the rest of the report. But proceed with caution. Unlike the death certificates, it isn't super graphic, it does describe the exact locations, positions & conditions of the bodies.)

The Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report placed the main blame on the pilot, 21 year old Roger Arthur Peters. It said "that the probably cause of this accident was the pilot's unwise decision to embark on a flight which would necessitate flying solely by instruments when he was not properly certificated or qualified to do so. Contributing factors were serious deficiencies in the weather briefing, and the pilot's unfamiliarity with the instrument which determines the attitude of the aircraft."

In 1971, Don McClean released a tribute to Holly, Valens & the Bopper called American Pie. There have been several movies about them. A Buddy Holly Documentary is currently being made by Montreal filmmaker Sevan Garabedian. He is looking of any photographs or other memorabilia from the Winter Dance Party tour of 1959. He is offering a reward for pictures taken at the Melody Mill on Feb. 10, 1959. You can contact Garabedian at sevan1@sympatico.ca or by calling 514-931-6959.The documentary should be completed by spring 2010.

Growing up, I regularly heard their music, as well as American Pie. While we can only guess at what might have been, we do know what they left behind. & even though they are gone, their music remains. For that we are very fortunate.

Buddy Holly:

That'll Be The Day -- No. 1 (1957)