59 years ago today; The Day the Music Died

[Dennis Donovan]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died

On February 3, 1959, rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event later became known as "The Day the Music Died", after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his song "American Pie" in 1971.

At the time, Holly and his band, consisting of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch, were playing on the "Winter Dance Party" tour across the United States Midwest. Rising artists Valens and Richardson had joined the tour, as well. The long journeys between venues on board the cold, uncomfortable tour buses adversely affected the performers, with cases of flu and even frostbite. After stopping at Clear Lake to perform, and frustrated by such conditions, Holly chose to charter a plane to reach their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Richardson, who had the flu, swapped places with Jennings, taking his seat on the plane, while Allsup lost his seat to Valens on a coin toss. Soon after takeoff, late at night and in poor, wintry weather conditions, the pilot lost control of the light aircraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza, which subsequently crashed into a cornfield. Everyone on board was killed. The event has since been mentioned in various songs and films. A number of monuments have been erected at the crash site and in Clear Lake, where an annual memorial concert is also held at the Surf Ballroom, the venue that hosted the artists' last performance.

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[Croney]

1. I was 14.

[oberliner]

2. Why organize a tour of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa in January/February?

That part never made sense to me.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Plus, the tour date locations were not linear...

...scattered among cities and towns that required long bus trips between them. Add the broken heater in the tour bus into the equation and you see what led the musicians to charter the Bonanza.

[RandomAccess]

6. Because it doesn't snow 24/7/365

and because they were young. Young = fearless.

[USALiberal]

16. Because that is WHAT BANDS DO! nt

[milestogo]

4. Singer Dion DiMucci was supposed to be on that flight

but he couldn't afford the $29 airfare. He's still performing.

[USALiberal]

18. It was $36 dollars. Like $300 today. nt

[Ferrets are Cool]

5. Bye, bye Miss American Pie...nm

[RandomAccess]

7. Miss American Pie

[TomSlick]

13. Thanks for posting this.

The theme song of my misspent youth.

[RandomAccess]

14. Well, it got you here, didn't it?

Your misspent youth, that is. So not so misspent.

[TomSlick]

15. No regrets - well, no serious regrets.

As you say, it got me here.

[RandomAccess]

17. There ya go

[Greybnk48]

8. I was 10 years old, and remember it clearly

as I'm sure most people old enough do. It was shocking.

[Persondem]

9. Thank you for the reminder. I did not know the date of this tragedy. K & R nt

[Kirk Lover]

10. I was not born the day the music died, nor when the song about it was written.

But I'm here to attest that the music did not die that day...because someone who was not yet born would be introduced to that era and with that, the music has lived on.

[Dennis Donovan]

11. No one takes the phrase "The Day the Music Died" literally...

...except you, I suppose.

[Kirk Lover]

12. I guess you missed what I was going for...but that's ok !!! )

[Rhiannon12866]

19. Important reminder!