Buddy Holly: The tour from hell

StarTribune ^ | 1/25/09 | PAMELA HUEY

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

The rickety old bus pulled out of the Duluth Armory late on Saturday, Jan. 31, 1959, and headed across St. Louis Bay into the frigid Wisconsin night.

On board were some exhausted, stinky rock 'n' rollers and their harried manager. The Winter Dance Party tour had just finished its ninth gig in as many days and was headed east for Appleton and Green Bay, for shows 10 and 11 on Sunday.

But as the temperature plunged to around 30 below and the wind howled, fate intervened. The southbound bus creaked to a stop as it struggled up an incline on Hwy. 51 about 10 miles south of Hurley.

Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, Waylon Jennings, Dion and the others were stranded on a remote highway in the northern Wisconsin forest. They huddled under blankets and burned newspapers to try to stay warm. Buddy's drummer was nursing painful frostbitten feet.

[JoeProBono]

The Picks - Buddy Holly Not Fade Away Tribute

[SunkenCiv]

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[Fresh Wind]

Nerdiest looking cool guy ever.

I think this picture captures Holly more as he was...

[nmh]

Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhgO8rZs1Fg&feature=PlayList&p=E487640C1D82CACE&playnext=1&index=86

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x9PPtPmoy4&feature=related

Crash site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UYVEe30Te0

[nmh]

Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhgO8rZs1Fg&feature=PlayList&p=E487640C1D82CACE&playnext=1&index=86

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x9PPtPmoy4&feature=related

Crash site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UYVEe30Te0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lGx3UPpMw&feature=related

[Fresh Wind]

Rave On-Best Holly song ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxvvvc1DfAo

[ApplegateRanch]

I ought to give you a big bop for this, since my holly is buried under 8 inches of snow, with more coming.

A frozen bus is just what I need to read about with it hovering around 0F, and dropping another 10 tonight. And I broke a hydraulic line on the bulldozer, so I can’t even clear the road, if the frozen beastie would deign to start. Maybe if I burned newspapers under the oil pan?

I’d rather be under the boardwalk, since there’s no way I’m going to get up on the rooftop.

At least the DVR works, so I can listen to Serius-5, until the power goes out and the music dies.

[SunkenCiv]

I guess the answer to my old musical question:

[singing] ApplegateRanch won’t you come out tonight

...is a resounding, no? ;’) It’s been under 20 degrees for most of the past couple of weeks, and yesterday it was just plain cold, with or without the lovely gusts of wind. Yow. I’m off work today, but have to go do some errands, and plan to go do that any second now...

[SunkenCiv]

This topic got me thinking how nice it would be to hear some BH, and I dug out the “from the original master tapes” CD. That’s what I’m talkin’ about... “Well... All Right” is one of my favorite songs, not just by BH (I’ll put up with the Blind Faith version), but “Think It Over”, “Rave On”, “I’m Lookin’ For Someone to Love”, “Everyday”, “Not Fade Away”, “Peggy Sue”, and “That’ll Be The Day” are also great, so I’m taking this one along on my errands. Also taking along “Psychedelic Sundae: the Best of Vanilla Fudge”, just because sometimes ya gotta.

[wolfcreek]

Same part of the country, another Texas musician:

Stephen “Stevie” Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Ray_Vaughan#Death

[eleni121]

Buddy was good friends with another genius of that era -—Eddie Cochran (died too young too)

[Mrs_Stokke]

The headstock isn’t right on the guitar.

You're right. The one on the statue looks like a bass.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Yeah, without Eddie, Blue Cheer and The Who would have had one less big hit record....

[Keith in Iowa]

For the next week or so you might visit http://www.globegazette.com/ for the goings on in my home town to commemorate the day the music died.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Thanks for that, Keith!!

[Nam Vet]

I sure remember the news. I was 13 at the time. Ricky Nelson was another who died in a plane crash on tour. New year's Eve or so in '85.

Nam Vet

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I remember Ricky...

;-)

[eleni121]

Without Eddie and Buddy and Chet and Chuck and James et al - the Brits wouldn’t have had much of anything.