February 3, 1959. The Day the Music Died.
 

Loss of three great musicians that day.

A friend that lived across the street from me in The Villages before I moved was at Buddy Holly's last show. His mother worked making and selling popcorn in The Surf Ballroom. She was also there.

His father for a mail carrier and had to change his route because the road next to the cornfield was blocked by emergency vehicles.

Talking to him about that day is fascinating.

The day the music died - Feb 03, 1959 - HISTORY.com

Their average age was around 22.33.

I was only 12 but at the Moorhead, MN armory waiting to see them. It was the night that Bobby Vee got his start...

I stopped by the Surf Ballroom once when I lived in Iowa

According to music pundits the music that shifted American culture dramatically wasn't rock and roll but Hip Hop and Rap

From the history.com article:

"On this day in 1959, rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight headed for Moorehead, Minnesota. Investigators blamed the crash on bad weather and pilot error. Holly and his band, the Crickets, had just scored a No. 1 hit with “That’ll Be the Day.”


Wrong!

“That’ll Be the Day" was a big hit in late 1957.

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I think I'm more upset today about the loss of these musicians than I was when I first heard about the plane crash. I think we were in Germany (could have been the Far East), when a classmate ran up and cried, "The guy who sang 'Diana' was dead." I was a huge Paul Anka fan, so was visibly upset. I am ashamed to say that when I found out it was Buddy Holly, I was relieved. In my defense, I was only eight at the time.

Saw The Buddy Holly Story at the Sharon. They ended the show with a rendition of American Pie.
BTW, the show was big city top notch. Thank you to the Morses for this super nice venue. The production was flawless and the cast sparkled.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27ll_Be_the_Day

Good catch.

We saw the show at the Sharon, it was great, American Pie was a highlight, tears in my eyes.

I had not been born yet as I came out in the early morning of 2-24 in 1959. Ironically, my Dad's birthday was met with a crash of a small plane in their backfield in Itasca, IL. That's near O'Hare.

My uncle the Itasca Fire Chief was one of the people who helped clean up the mess of the crash of Flight 191. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americ...nes_Flight_191 It haunted him up to his death in late 1994. He had a hard time talking about it with me when I lived in Itasca for four months or so while helping with my paraplegic uncle who lived down the street from the the retired fire chief. 30 Years Ago Today: American Airlines Flight 191, Worst Single-Plane Accident | The Cardinal

I stopped at the Surf Ballroom when rving through the Midwest.
Inside there I got the directions to the site where Buddy Holly's plane crashed. It's off on a lonely dirt road 4-5 miles away. Someone erected a 6 ft. pair of black glasses there, staring out at the cornfields. You walk down a dirt path to the actual crash site and there is a small memorial with items people have left there.

Thanks for sharing Midvale.

yes, Midvale, that is a very touching post! thank you.