Remembering Buddy-Abe,Harry, Buddy and Herb Part Three

I can't remember if I cried
when I read about his widowed bride
but something touched me deep inside
the day the music died 

Since Buddy Holly is Alan's "thing", Ruth has agreed to let me write this post using the first person.

I don't think it's a big secret to anyone who knows me, even slightly, that popular music is a driving force in my life; it is my passion, and one that I shared with my children, all of whom could name the four Beatles before they could recite the alphabet. Other families have family traditions of attending sporting events; our family's tradition is to attend the Ann Arbor folk festival. Music has always been, for me, a great source of comfort, and of joy, and an entree to making friends, and the basis of some of the great experiences and trips of my life (see, e.g., my earlier posts on the 50th Anniversary of the Philadelphia Folk Festival and the 10th Anniversary of the Austin City Limits Festival).  The big joke beween Ruth and me is that I missed Woodstock because of my Bar Mitzvah and I missed the 25th Anniversary of Woodstock because of my bypass. Anyway.......

Photo on Wall of Surf Ballroom 

 Buddy Holly has always been, to me, one of the most important musicians in rock and roll, and one of the musical artists that I love and respect the most.  I can give a lot of reasons for this, but here are just a few:

• He was a musical genius. He was 22 when he died; his career really started when he was 20; in an 18 month period he recorded a lifetime's worth of hits that he had written, including "Peggy Sue", "Rave On", "Not Fade Away", "True Love Ways",  "Maybe Baby", and "That'll Be the Day".  
• His songs stand the test of time. You can still hear modern versions of the songs I listed in the first point today; no one is recording "Johnnie B. Good" or "Rock Around the Clock" anymore, but there are new versions of Buddy Holly songs being done by artists all the time. The Grateful Dead played "Not Fade Away" alone over 500 times. His influence actually grew after his death, it didn't "fade away." 
• He was a major influence on many of rock's greatest musicians. While John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn't see him in person, they did watch him on television when he toured Britain (only the second white rock and roller to do so) and indeed the name "The Beatles" was a tribute to Buddy Holly's "Crickets" (McCartney bought the Holly catalog in 1975); Keith Richards did see him on that British tour (and the first hit for the Stones was "Not Fade Away"); Elton John was so influenced by him that he started wearing glasses although he didn't need to just to emulate Buddy (and became nearsighted for doing so), and young Bobbie Zimmerman drove from Hibbing and caught Buddy Holly in Duluth, Minn on January 31, 1959, two nights before Buddy played in Clear Lake. 
• He started off as a simple rock song writer; another reason I like him so much is that, when I was first learning to play guitar, it was easy to play most of his songs using a standard three chord progression; but then his sophistication came out in things like "True Love Ways".  Even the simple songs were produced using then complex techniques including multi-tracking; and using experimental sounds, like toy pianos. 
• His story is so compelling and tragic.  Born in September of 1936; playing on the local Lubbock radio stations and cutting acetates by the age of 16; opening for Elvis at the local venues by 17;  touring by 18,  playing the Apollo (the Apollo? not a big hit at first but the audience there eventually warmed up to him) at 20; on Ed Sullivan and a true rock and roll star by 21; married at 21, and dead at 22  leaving a 6 months pregnant widow behind. He wasn't like other rock and roll stars with extravagant lifestyles or abusing booze or drugs; he was actually fairly conservative and quiet. 

Playing at the Surf Ballroom (Photo taken by a fan who was there) 

I think everyone knows that when he finished playing at the Surf Ballroom on February 2, 1959, he chartered a small plane to fly him, his guitar player Tommy Allsup, and his bass player Waylon Jennings to the next stop because the bus on which the Winter Party musicians rode was terrible (in fact Holly's drummer had frostbitten feet).  Jennings gave his seat to J.P. Richardson (Big Bopper) because Richardson had the flu; Allsup lost a coin flip and Ritchie Valens wound up in the last seat. The plane took off from the Mason City airport shortly after midnight and crashed in a corn field outside of Clear Lake less than five minutes later.

Site of the Crash 

When we first started to plan our Excellent Adventure, I put together a list of things I had wanted to see for years but never thought I would; the crash site was among the top things on the list. I knew about the site from web pages; and when I put together the Abe and Harry trip and saw that Clear Lake was "only" 5 1/2 hours from Independence, I knew that I had to go. I'm not normally one to visit the "dead" rock and roll tourist sites-although I've been to Seattle and Paris I didn't go to Hendrix's or Morrison's graves; I've never been by the Dakota (although Strawberry Fields in Central Park is a lovely memorial for Lennon), and I prefer "live" sites, like this one from our last time in London:

At Abbey Road Studios 

Walking where the Beatles walked for the Abbey Road Cover 

But I digress (and what else is new).  In any event, this felt different; it was a place I wanted to see.

Although I thought this would be a solo journey, Ruth, ever the good partner, spouse, and friend, said that she would join me; it would be "an adventure".

And so off we went from Independence; to reward Ruth for her willingness to be great company, I reserved a room for us in the TripAdvisor No. One ranked motel in Osceola, Iowa, which was about half way between Independence and Clear Lake. I won't reveal the name, but suffice it is to say that it made us long for the luxury of the Rivers Edge Inn from the night before.

We stayed in room 6.5- that's not room 65 but room 6.5- right between rooms 6 and 7. 

Bethany didn't get her own bed in this one. 

If you are looking for a cool house in Osceola, this one was for sale right across from our motel- it's the only house we saw in Osceola and is located right on the main road with all commercial around it, but it was restored beautifully. 

We drove to Clear Lake in the morning.  I had printed off directions from the internet; if they were not right we would need to ask because the site isn't really "promoted"; there are no directional signs or anything like that.  The internet directions basically had us get off at a certain freeway exit, drive down a bunch of country roads through farm country (the country was actually pretty, in my mind) turn down a couple of gravel roads, and then look for a "giant pair of black glasses".

Ok.  We can do that. We followed the directions to a "T", and we came to this:

Right on the side of the Road 

We took Bethany and walked down the fence line next to the glasses. It was obvious that the farmer had left a path for people to walk through his field and made it easy to find and have access to the crash site.

It's about a quarter to a half mile walk down the path to the crash site monument

The actual crash site is memorialized by a couple of small, understated monuments; one for the three musicians and a separate one for the pilot. The pilot's was put up later than the three musicians. There are also some other things there but I think they were just left by fans.

The plastic box had things left by visitors 

We have a video of our walk on the farm: it's at: https://picasaweb.google.com/104736309657922602886/November8201102#5672844813770538066

I found the site very moving. We spent around 15 minutes there, and then drove into Clear Lake to visit the Surf Ball Room, which is where the three musicians played their final concert.

I don't know why it never occurred to me, but the town is called "Clear Lake" because it is on a beautiful, large, clear lake.

We walked along this path which winds around the lake to the Surf Ballroom, which is still being used for concerts. In fact, in 2009 there was a 50th anniversary concert on February 2nd, and Tommy Allsup (the guy who lost the coin flip) played.  He told the story of the coin flip and it's on You Tube-.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r4_8pjJPxo

ZZ Top was the next act playing but unfortunately not the night we were there

This monument was erected at the 50th Anniversary Concert 

The inside of the Surf has been preserved pretty much as it was in 1959; parts of it have a lot of memorabilia and is like a popular music museum; it's a great place to walk around.

These Booths ring a very large dance floor 

Photos taken by a fan in the audience on February 2, 1959

Surf Office 

Bar Area 

Route of the Winter Dance Party Tour- All over the place with no logical sense of direction 

After we went through the Surf Ballroom, we had a picnic lunch by the lake

 and started the long drive back to Detroit. It took us over 12 hours, but we had a great time talking and listening to Bill Bryson's book, "A Walk in the Woods."

And so ended our road trip;  we had a great time visiting Abe, Harry, Buddy and Herb.

Ok. Let's be honest about this.  If I had, in my marriage proposal to Ruth many many years ago, told her that if she married me she would, one day, have the rare opportunity to  drive all the way to Clear Lake, Iowa (with a dog in the car) to hike a half mile through some farmer's corn field (again, with the dog) in the middle of nowhere to pay respects to a man who died before either of us were 3 years old, I doubt there would be a Ruthalan Blog at all as there most likely wouldn't be a "Ruth and Alan".  

But that's what happened. And for that I give my wife great credit and love; the trip wouldn't have been nearly as memorable without her. Thank you Ruth for putting up with my more crazy ideas; I hope we have many more roadtrips like this in our future!!!!!!!

And now, on to New Orleans!!!