the day the music died

in dallas, texas the next evening a seventh grade boy sat at the kitchen table doing his math homework listening to a buddy holly song on the radio. after the song was over the dj remarked holly had died in a plane crash the night before, along with the others. he put his pencil down and looked at the radio in shock and just sat there and cried. that boy was my father.

fastword it's 1981 and a nine year old boy is going through his father's record collection and notices a buddy holly. he proceeds to ask his father who this was and he let the young boy put the album on the record player. it was then and there a father passed on his love for buddy holly to his son.

most if not everyone knows the story. if you don't here is a brief summary. (via fiftiesweb)

On a cold winter's night a small private plane took off from Clear Lake, Iowa
bound for Fargo, N.D. It never made its destination.

When that plane
crashed, it claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "Big Bopper"
Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson. Three of Rock and Roll's most
promising performers were gone. As Don McLean wrote in his classic music
parable, American Pie, (annotated) it was "the day the music
died."

Performing in concert was very profitable, and Buddy Holly
needed the money it provided. "The Winter Dance Party Tour" was planned to cover
24 cities in a short 3 week time frame (January 23 - February 15) and Holly
would be the biggest headliner. Waylon Jennings, a friend from Lubbock, Texas
and Tommy Allsup would go as backup musicians.

Ritchie Valens, probably
the hottest of the artists at the time, The Big Bopper, and Dion and the
Belmonts would round out the list of performers.

The tour bus developed
heating problems. It was so cold onboard that reportedly one of the drummers
developed frostbite riding in it. When they arrived at the Surf Ballroom in
Clear Lake, Iowa, they were cold, tired and disgusted.

Buddy Holly had
had enough of the unheated bus and decided to charter a plane for himself and
his guys. At least he could get some laundry done before the next performance!

That night at the Surf Ballroom was magical as the fans went wild over
the performers.

Jiles P. Richardson, known as The Big Bopper to his
fans, was a Texas D.J. who found recording success and fame in 1958 with the
song Chantilly Lace.

Richie Valenzuela was only 16 years old when Del-Fi
record producer, Bob Keane, discovered the Pacoima, California singer. Keane
rearranged his name to Ritchie Valens, and in 1958 they recorded Come On, Let's
Go. Far more successful was the song Valens wrote for his girlfriend, Donna, and
its flip side, La Bamba, a Rock and Roll version of an old Mexican standard.
This earned the teenager an appearance on American Bandstand and the prospect of
continued popularity.

Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holley (changed to Holly
due to a misspelling on a contract) and his band, The Crickets, had a number one
hit in 1957 with the tune That'll Be The Day. This success was follwed by Peggy
Sue and an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. By 1959, Holly had decided to
move in a new direction. He and the Crickets parted company. Holly married Maria
Elena Santiago and moved to New York with the hope of concentrating on song
writing and producing.

Dwyer Flying Service got the charter. $36 per
person for a single engine Beechcraft Bonanza.

No, the plane wasn't
named American Pie. It only had serial numbers, N3794N.

Waylon Jennings
gave his seat up to Richardson, who was running a fever and had trouble fitting
his stocky frame comfortably into the bus seats.

When Holly learned that
Jennings wasn't going to fly, he said, "Well, I hope your old bus freezes up."
Jennings responded, "Well, I hope your plane crashes." This friendly banter of
friends would haunt Jennings for years.

Allsup told Valens, I'll flip
you for the remaining seat. On the toss of a coin, Valens won the seat and
Allsup the rest of his life.

The plane took off a little after 1 A.M.
from Clear Lake and never got far from the airport before it crashed, killing
all onboard.

A cold N.E wind immediately gave way to a snow which
drastically reduced visibility. The ground was already blanketed in white. The
pilot may have been inexperienced with the instrumentation.

One wing hit the ground and the small plane corkscrewed over and over. The three young stars were thrown clear of the plane, leaving only pilot Roger Peterson inside.

Over the years there has been much speculation as to whether a shot was
fired inside the plane which disabled or killed the pilot. Logic suggests that
encased in a sea of white snow, with only white below, Peterson just flew the
plane into the ground.

don mcclean's "american pie" claimed it "the day the music died." here he is performing it.

buddy holly's "true love ways" was my parents first dance at their wedding and out of respect for my father teaching me about buddy holly and music it was at ours as well.