LSUDad Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 By: Associated Press Updated: Jan 02, 2019 06:27 PM EST FILE - This Oct. 25, 1995 file photo shows Toni Tennille, left, and Daryl Dragon, the singing duo The Captain and Tennille, posing during an interview in at their home in Washoe Valley, south of Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/David B. Parker, File) NEW YORK (AP) — Daryl Dragon, the cap-wearing “Captain” of “The Captain and Tennille” who teamed with then-wife Toni Tennille on such easy listening hits as “Love Will Keep Us Together” and “Muskrat Love,” died Wednesday at age 76. Dragon died of renal failure at a hospice in Prescott, Arizona, according to spokesman Harlan Boll. Tennille was by his side. “He was a brilliant musician with many friends who loved him greatly. I was at my most creative in my life, when I was with him,” Tennille said in a statement. Dragon and Tennille divorced in 2014 after nearly 40 years of marriage, but they remained close and Tennille had moved back to Arizona to help care for him. Dragon and Tennille met in the early 1970s and soon began performing together, with Tennille singing and Dragon on keyboards. (He would later serve as the Captain and Tennille’s producer). Their breakthrough came in 1975 when they covered the Neil Sedaka-Howard Greenfield song “Love Will Keep Us Together,” which Sedaka himself recorded in 1973 and had been released as a single in Europe. The Captain and Tennille version topped the charts — and acknowledged Sedaka’s authorship by singing “Sedaka’s back” at the end of the song — and won a Grammy for record of the year. They followed with a mix of covers such as “Muskrat Love” and “Shop Around” and original songs, including Tennille’s “Do That to Me One More Time,” which hit No. 1 in 1980. They also briefly starred in their own television variety show. A Los Angeles native, Dragon was the son of Oscar-winning composer Carmen Dragon and singer Eloise Dragon and was himself a classically trained musician. Before he was with Tennille, he played keyboards for the Beach Boys and was dubbed “The Captain” by singer Mike Love, who noted Dragon’s fondness for sailor’s caps. He is survived by his older brother, Doug Dragon, and two nieces, Kelly Arbout and Renee Henn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSUDad Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 Dr. Hook’s Ray Sawyer, ‘Cover of Rolling Stone’ Singer, Dead at 81 Alabama-born singer featured on hits like “Sylvia’s Mother” and “When You’re in Love With a Beautiful Woman” as member of Rolling Stone cover-gracing rock act DECEMBER 31, 2018 9:05PM EST DANIEL KREPS Andre Csillag/REX/Shutterstock Ray Sawyer, the Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show member who sang the 1973 Shel Silverstein-penned hit “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone,'” has died at the age of 81. Page Six first reported Friday that Sawyer died in Daytona Beach, Florida following a brief illness; a representative for the band confirmed the singer’s death to Rolling Stone. The Alabama-born Sawyer – who founded the group with Dennis Locorriere, Billy Francis and George Cummings – was a member of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show from 1969 to 1981. A few years before the band’s formation, Sawyer lost his right eye in a car accident; Sawyer wore an eyepatch that made him resemble the Peter Panvillain Captain Hook, which served as the inspiration for the Dr. Hook moniker. In 1970, Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show’s demo tapes wound up in the hands of author and songwriter Shel Silverstein, who recruited the band to become a vessel for his music: The group would turn Silverstein-written tracks like “Sylvia’s Mother” and “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone'” into hits and released two albums of Silverstein-penned songs, 1971’s Dr. Hook and 1972’s Sloppy Seconds. The latter single, a tongue-in-cheek paean to the magazine and rock stardom with Sawyer on vocals, became a Top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and resulted in Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, in caricature form, receiving a Rolling Stone cover in March 1973 as well as a profile of the New Jersey-via-Alabama act. “From unknown bar band to the cover of ‘Rolling Stone,’” the profile noted of the band’s sudden ascension. Following their Silverstein partnership, the band shortened their name to Dr. Hook and enjoyed a string of hit singles in the mid- to late-Seventies, including “Only Sixteen,” “A Little Bit More,” “Sexy Eyes” and “When You’re in Love With a Beautiful Woman,” which became a Number One hit in the United Kingdom. Bruce Springsteen also notably served as Dr. Hook’s opening act in 1973. After nine albums with Dr. Hook, Sawyer left in 1983 to pursue a solo career; he previously released a self-titled solo LP in 1977. While Locorriere maintained ownership of the official Dr. Hook moniker, Sawyer toured as Dr. Hook featuring Ray Sawyer over the past few decades. However, health issues forced Sawyer to stop performing live in 2015. Locorriere said in a statement to Rolling Stone, “Although I hadn’t been in contact with Ray for many, many years it does not erase the fact that we were once close friends and shared an important time in both our lives. Deep condolences go out to his family at what must be a difficult time.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchertiger Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 RIP+ The Captain. Always thought he was so cool as a kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSUDad Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 By: Leah Doherty Updated: Feb 02, 2019 06:26 PM CST 153 Video Local News Lubbock police identify man found dead, ask public's help Man arrested, claims deadly shooting in Central Lubbock was self defense Littlefield Police arrest man for sex with 13-year-old girl Lubbock Police investigate dead body, circumstances of death unclear REMEMBERING COLUMBIA: a fateful Saturday morning in the skies over Lubbock & West Texas LUBBOCK, Texas - February 3 marks the 60th anniversary of the death of Lubbock legend, Buddy Holly. Fans from all over the world made the trip to Lubbock for the celebration of his life. Paul Kemp said he grew up listening to Buddy Holly with his brothers. After 60 years he was able to make the trip to Lubbock. "It's a pretty exciting experience for me after anticipation for so many years," Kemp said. "It is pretty exciting for me and i'm glad to be here." Another fan, Ray Scholes, said he traveled from the United Kingdom for this event, and that it is a lifelong dream come true. "To actually be in places I've only looked at in pictures," Scholes said. "It is surreal half the time i'm thinking is it happening." Events put on by the Buddy Holly Center are going on all weekend. Sebastian Forbush, the Center's education and volunteer coordinator, said he hopes this weekend shows people how important Buddy Holly was to not only Lubbock, but to Rock and Roll. "I don't think we really realize how important he was not only to us here in Lubbock but all over the world and really putting Lubbock on the map," Forbush said. You can find a full list of events from the weekend at the link below. https://ci.lubbock.tx.us/dep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSUDad Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 By: John Parmer Updated: Feb 03, 2019 07:35 AM PST 3K KENOSHA, Wis. - (AP) - Ten days before the music died, rock ‘n’ roll was alive and well in Kenosha. Teen heartthrob Buddy Holly joined rising stars Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson for the second stop of the infamous Winter Dance Party tour on Jan. 24, 1959, at the Eagles Ballroom. More than 1,500 screaming teenagers squeezed into a packed ballroom to witness a performance that would soon become — certainly far sooner than anyone envisioned — a significant piece of music history. Just one month past her 13th birthday, Kenosha resident Pat Keating arrived hours early to assure a front-row spot at the stage. “My girlfriend and I stood there for four hours without moving,” Keating said to Kenosha News. “We were both in love with Buddy Holly. I remember when he came out, it took at least 10 minutes before everyone would stop screaming to let the poor guy sing. But once he started singing, nobody made a noise.” The Winter Dance Party opened the previous night at George Devine’s Ballroom in Milwaukee. After a successful encore performance in Kenosha, the grueling, non-stop tour quickly took a turn for the worse as freezing temperatures and constant, broken-down buses created difficult, if not dangerous, conditions. The final straw was when the bus stalled in Duluth, Minn., and Holly’s drummer, Carl Bunch, was hospitalized due to frostbite on his feet. Eleven days into the tour, Holly refused to step foot on another bus. The bands rocked their now-legendary performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, before Holly booked the next flight he could find to the tour’s next stop in Moorhead, Minn. The chartered plane, carrying Holly, Valens, Richardson and pilot Roger Peterson, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all four people aboard. Through Don McLean’s hit song “American Pie,” Feb. 3, 1959, would become known as “The Day the Music Died.” “We cried,” Keating said. “We couldn’t believe it. They were all gone. All of them.” After being plagued by the cold and flu throughout the tour, band members were well-rested and full of life in Kenosha. Holly, a 22-year-old Texas native, played all of his hits in Kenosha including “That’ll Be the Day,” ″Rave On” and “Peggy Sue.” Richardson’s rousing set included his classic hit “Chantilly Lace.” Valens, a 17-year-old rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, brought girls to tears with “Donna” and blew the roof off with “La Bamba.” “The Big Bopper was all over the stage,” said Keating, who attended Washington Junior High School at the time. “He had so much energy. He was nuts. He looked like a goofball, but was so much fun to watch. “Then Buddy came out, and everyone was in awe. Girls were crying like the Beatles were performing. Ritchie Valens was so laid back and quiet. We all thought maybe he was a little shy or something.” It was one of the most energetic shows of the tour and also the most documented, thanks to the diligence of local photographer Tony Szikil. The 84-year-old Kenosha resident was working a wedding reception at the Eagles Ballroom that night and knew if he got done early enough, he’d be able to head upstairs and photograph the concert. As the ceiling shook above, Szikil reluctantly stayed with a demanding bride and groom who refused to let him leave early. “I was able to get upstairs, but not soon enough,” Szikil said. “At 9:30 p.m., I told the bride and groom, ’I’ll give you a free 8-by-10 for your book, if I can leave. They said, ‘No, you’re going to be here until 10:30 p.m.’ “The floor started bouncing up and down from the concert. I said, ’I’ll give you two 8-by-10s. They said, ‘No.’ I did one going-away shot at 10:40 p.m. and the groom says, ‘One more.’ I said, ‘No, I’m going upstairs!’” Szikil walked into the ballroom as Holly finished his last song, “Peggy Sue.” His 24 photos taken that night will be forever shared as a stunning, visual remembrance of the famous tour. Several of his photographs clearly captured an enamored Keating in the front row. “There’s Ritchie Valens on stage, and there’s me, left of the microphone, clapping my hands with a big smile on my face,” Keating said. “I was famous.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSUDad Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 Previous HIDE CAPTION Dion (center) and the Belmonts were part of The Winter Dance Party, along with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. (Charlton Publications, via Wikimedia Commons) HIDE CAPTION This is a rare photo of one of the Feb. 14, 1959, “Shower of Stars” shows in Peoria, the first big rock concerts in the city. Shown here are Waylon Jennings, left, and Tommy Allsup, backup musicians hired by Buddy Holly, who died earlier that month. (Photo courtesy Kathy Shumaker via Sevan Garabedian) HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 3, 1959, the evening edition of the Journal Star carries front-page news of the same-day deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. A secondary story announces that the tour’s Feb. 14 stop in Peoria will go on as scehduled, with replacement performers. HIDE CAPTION This ad appeared in the Journal Star to promote the first big rock and roll shows in Peoria, both on Feb. 14, 1959. The stop here included replacements for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson, who had died that month in a plane wreck. HIDE CAPTION Buddy Holly, shown in an undated photo. (Brunswick Records via Wikimedia Commons) HIDE CAPTION Rock singer Ritchie Valens is shown in this 1959 photo. (AP Photo) HIDE CAPTION J.P. Richardson, known as the “Big Bopper,” is shown in an undated photo. (AP Photo) HIDE CAPTION A poster showing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson hangs on a wall in the Surf Ballrom, Jan. 9, 2009, in Clear Lake, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) HIDE CAPTION In this Jan. 9, 2009, photo, flowers adorn a memorial at the spot where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson crashed, killing all aboard on Feb. 3, 1959, near Clear Lake, Iowa. The three young singers were in a single-engine aircraft flying in a light snowstorm in 1959 when the pilot apparently lost control. Holly decided to fly because his tour bus was having heating problems. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) HIDE CAPTION After the 1959 deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, others artists -- including Fabian, pictured in this undated photo -- were added to the tour. (Charlton Publications, via Wikimedia Commons) (General Artists Corporation, via Wikimedia Commons) HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 3, 1959, the evening edition of the Journal Star carries front-page news of the same-day deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. A secondary story announces that the tour’s Feb. 14 stop in Peoria will go on as scheduled, with replacement performers. HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 15, 1959, the Journal Star reports on the previous night’s rock and roll show -- a first for Peoria -- that involved replacements for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson, who had died that month in a plane wreck. The hit of the shows was Fabian, who was mobbed by fans and had to be escorted by security at all times. HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 15, 1959, the Journal Star reports on the previous night’s rock and roll show -- a first for Peoria -- that involved replacements for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson, who had died that month in a plane wreck. HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 4, 1959, the morning edition of the Journal Star carries front-page news of the previous day’s deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. A secondary story announces that the tour’s Feb. 14 stop in Peoria will go on as scheduled, with replacement performers. HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 4, 1959, the morning edition of the Journal Star carries front-page news of the previous day’s deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. A secondary story announces that the tour’s Feb. 14 stop in Peoria will go on as scheduled, with replacement performers. HIDE CAPTION Buddy Holly is shown here in 1956, at age 22. (AP Photo) HIDE CAPTION American rock and roll singer, songwriter and guitarist Buddy Holly is shown in 1959 at an unknown location. Holly, born Charles Hardin Holley in 1936 in Lubbock, Texas, died in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959. (AP Photo) HIDE CAPTION Dion (center) and the Belmonts were part of The Winter Dance Party, along with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. (Charlton Publications, via Wikimedia Commons) HIDE CAPTION This is a rare photo of one of the Feb. 14, 1959, “Shower of Stars” shows in Peoria, the first big rock concerts in the city. Shown here are Waylon Jennings, left, and Tommy Allsup, backup musicians hired by Buddy Holly, who died earlier that month. (Photo courtesy Kathy Shumaker via Sevan Garabedian) HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 3, 1959, the evening edition of the Journal Star carries front-page news of the same-day deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. A secondary story announces that the tour’s Feb. 14 stop in Peoria will go on as scehduled, with replacement performers. HIDE CAPTION This ad appeared in the Journal Star to promote the first big rock and roll shows in Peoria, both on Feb. 14, 1959. The stop here included replacements for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson, who had died that month in a plane wreck. HIDE CAPTION Buddy Holly, shown in an undated photo. (Brunswick Records via Wikimedia Commons) HIDE CAPTION Rock singer Ritchie Valens is shown in this 1959 photo. (AP Photo) HIDE CAPTION J.P. Richardson, known as the “Big Bopper,” is shown in an undated photo. (AP Photo) HIDE CAPTION A poster showing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson hangs on a wall in the Surf Ballrom, Jan. 9, 2009, in Clear Lake, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) HIDE CAPTION In this Jan. 9, 2009, photo, flowers adorn a memorial at the spot where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson crashed, killing all aboard on Feb. 3, 1959, near Clear Lake, Iowa. The three young singers were in a single-engine aircraft flying in a light snowstorm in 1959 when the pilot apparently lost control. Holly decided to fly because his tour bus was having heating problems. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) HIDE CAPTION After the 1959 deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, others artists -- including Fabian, pictured in this undated photo -- were added to the tour. (Charlton Publications, via Wikimedia Commons) (General Artists Corporation, via Wikimedia Commons) HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 3, 1959, the evening edition of the Journal Star carries front-page news of the same-day deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. A secondary story announces that the tour’s Feb. 14 stop in Peoria will go on as scheduled, with replacement performers. HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 15, 1959, the Journal Star reports on the previous night’s rock and roll show -- a first for Peoria -- that involved replacements for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson, who had died that month in a plane wreck. The hit of the shows was Fabian, who was mobbed by fans and had to be escorted by security at all times. HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 15, 1959, the Journal Star reports on the previous night’s rock and roll show -- a first for Peoria -- that involved replacements for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson, who had died that month in a plane wreck. HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 4, 1959, the morning edition of the Journal Star carries front-page news of the previous day’s deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. A secondary story announces that the tour’s Feb. 14 stop in Peoria will go on as scheduled, with replacement performers. HIDE CAPTION On Feb. 4, 1959, the morning edition of the Journal Star carries front-page news of the previous day’s deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. A secondary story announces that the tour’s Feb. 14 stop in Peoria will go on as scheduled, with replacement performers. HIDE CAPTION Buddy Holly is shown here in 1956, at age 22. (AP Photo) HIDE CAPTION American rock and roll singer, songwriter and guitarist Buddy Holly is shown in 1959 at an unknown location. Holly, born Charles Hardin Holley in 1936 in Lubbock, Texas, died in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959. (AP Photo) HIDE CAPTION Dion (center) and the Belmonts were part of The Winter Dance Party, along with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. (Charlton Publications, via Wikimedia Commons) Next By Phil Luciano of the Journal Star Posted Feb 2, 2019 at 4:33 PMUpdated Feb 2, 2019 at 4:35 PM For most rock ‘n’ roll fans, Feb. 3 will forever be known as The Day the Music Died — though it actually stayed alive and stopped in Peoria. Sixty years ago Sunday, during what was billed as The Winter Dance Party, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a plane wreck in Clear Lake, Iowa, along with their pilot. But as news of the tragedy filled newspapers nationwide, so did announcements that the tour would go on, including two shows on Valentine’s Day in Peoria — redubbed The Shower of Stars — before ending the next night in Springfield. “Many do not know of the connection that Peoria has to this very famous tour,” says Sevan Garabedian, who has made documentaries about the fateful day. “Many people don’t know that the tour carried on.” It not only carried on, but didn’t miss a date — not so much a testament to the musicians’ dedication but the promoters’ insistence, Garabedian says. Indeed, even before Feb. 3, the tour had suffered transportation problems, mostly for a lack of planning. Shows were scheduled by availability of venues, with no regard to distance. Thus, performers — the three headliners, plus Dion and the Belmonts, along with opener Frankie Sardoand multiple side musicians — were stuffed into one bus, which was under-heated and overworked, breaking down repeatedly as they’d slog hundreds of miles overnight between shows. The tour started on Jan. 23 in Milwaukee, slated to hopscotch across the Midwest for 24 shows in 24 days. On Feb. 2, the bus arrived late at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, just two hours before the show. Afterward, as famously chronicled in books and film, an exhausted and frustrated Holly chartered a plane to get to the next stop (Moorhead, Minn.) far ahead of the bus, to allow some rest. The plane had two other seats; different legends attest to how they were filled. At the time of the tour, Holly had broken away from his band, The Crickets. Backing him up were a pair of session players: bassist Waylon Jennings and guitarist Tommy Allsup. Upon hearing news about the chartered plane, Jennings wanted to fly with his pal Holly but gave up his seat to Richardson, who had the flu. Joshing, Holly told Jennings, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up.” Jennings retorted, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes” — a comment that later would haunt the future country-music icon. Two tales surround the second seat. One version has Allsup flipping a coin with Valens, who won. But Dion later said he was the one who flipped a coin with Valens and won the seat; however, the price of the ticket — $36, the cost of a month’s rent for his parents in New York — prompted him to give up the seat to Valens. Regardless, at 1 a.m. the next morning, the plane took off from Mason City Airport and into a snowstorm. Six miles away, the craft crashed, killing Holly, Valens, Richardson and the pilot. “3 Rock ‘n’ Roll Idols And Charter Pilot Die in Plane Crash,” blared a front-page headline in the Journal Star’s evening edition the date of the wreck. A secondary story announced — not even a day after the tragedy — that the tour would go on, including two Feb. 14 shows in Peoria: “A spokesman for WIRL (the radio station promoting the Peoria stop) said the show(s) will be present as scheduled, with other performers taking the place of the three victims.” Meanwhile, the tour did not miss a stop, not even Feb. 3. That night, Bobby Vee — then just age 15 — and a band of fellow schoolboys joined the remaining musicians for the stop in Minnesota. Vee did just one performance. The tour then brought aboard Fabian, Jimmy Clanton and Frankie Avalon, though the latter did not appear in Peoria. The surviving musicians were not thrilled about the tour’s perseverance, says documentarian Garabedian. Especially aggrieved was Jennings, who wanted to attend Holly’s funeral in Lubbock, Texas, on Feb. 7. Instead, Jennings was pressured to stay with the tour, which on the night of Holly’s service played the Les-Buzz Ballroom in Spring Valley, about 50 miles northeast of Peoria. “Jennings was a good friend of Buddy’s,” Garabedian says. “He wanted to be at the funeral. It left a really bad taste in his mouth.” By Valentine’s Day, the tour rolled into Peoria. Later to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Dion saidhe and other surviving musicians could not shake the lost of Holly, Valens and Richardson. “They were like brothers to me,” Dion said. “We went on with the tour. But it was not the same.” Some fans in central Illinois — including Larry Wilson, then 15 — felt conflicted about the Peoria stop.Next “There were a lot of mixed emotions with the show,” says Wilson, 75 of East Peoria. “It was exciting to see the stars that were there. But in the back of your mind you knew that they were there because of someone dying.” Many ticket-buyers — such as Sheila Joiner, then 11 — were still in grade school. For them, death was a foreign experience. “At age 11, there’s a low impact regarding all those lives that were lost,” says Joiner, 71, of Pekin. “I think it’s different when you’re an adult.” Echoing that notion was Susie Maxwell, then 10. “The sadness of the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper seemed to all fade away at the excitement of being there,” says Maxwell, 70, of Morton. Indeed, Peoria was agog with the newness and excitement of rock ‘n’ roll, which until then had not made a concert impact here. For the city’s first notable rock show, promoters chose the Peoria State Armory, the venue used for big events such as basketball games by Bradley University, the Caterpillar Diesels and local high schools, along with circuses and Golden Gloves boxing. One next-day headline in the Journal Star proclaimed, “Rock N Roll Hits Peoria.” Further, a story raved, “Nothing short of a full-blown tornado will ever come as close to ripping the roof off the Peoria State Armory as did the wild antics of more than 6,000 screaming, stomping teenagers Saturday. It was the magical, musical madness of Rock-n-Roll that precipitated the kids’ vocal and physical carryings-on and gave the city the most amazing show it has ever had.” For the afternoon show, some of the 2,300 ticket-buyers began arriving at 7:45 a.m., nearly eight hours ahead of time. The night crowd was even bigger: 3,800. Though a few curious adults attended, most of the fans were youths. The Journal Star took note of the unprecedented public enthusiasm: “Great bursts of shrieking and clapping accompanied the presentations of each of the young entertainers on the stage. ... As each one sang, gestured, danced and snapped his fingers, his fans out front did the best they could to simulate the familiar Rock-n-Roll maneuvers from their chairs.” The attendance figures did not include 20 Marines brought in to keep the peace, along with an unspecified number of police officers, firefighters, National Guardsmen and Civil Defense personnel. They were especially visible when Fabian prepared to close each show. “Fabian was my heartthrob,” concert-goer Joiner recalls. “A lot of the girls went nuts for him.” Admirers thronged him as soon as he’d leave the dressing room to head to the stage, prompting a Marine-led security detail to escort his every move — “lest his young worshipers rip his clothes to shreds for souvenirs,” as the paper recounted. Concert-goer Wilson remembers, “When he came on stage, the girl I was with started screaming and dug her nails into my arm so hard that I had marks for several days.” Why the excitement? His looks, says Mark McLinden, who was 16 when he attended one of the shows. “Fabian was enormously popular at that time and was an excellent choice as a replacement,” says McLinden, 76, now of Ocala, Fla. “Fabian was a dreadful singer but fortunately could barely be heard over the piercing screams of the thousands of teenage girls. The noise level was unbelievable, far exceeding any number of Caterpillar or Bradley games at the Field House.” The tour ended the next night in Springfield. And a select number of fans — especially those fortunate to witness rock ‘n’ roll’s premiere splash in Peoria — carry a different perspective on the 60th anniversary of The Day the Music Died. As McLinden says, “I guess the music never did really die, even after all these years.” (Some information for this story came from ultimateclassicrock.com, rollingstone.com and wikipedia.com.) Documentarians Sevan Garabedian and Jim McCool are seeking memories and photos from the tour’s Peoria shows. They can be reached at sevan1@sympatico.ca and (514) 931-6959. They are willing to pay for photos of the shows. PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, facebook.com/philluciano and (309) 686-3155. Follow him on Twitter.com/LucianoPhil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSUDad Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 The Day The Music Died On 3rd Feb 1959, 22-year-old Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, aged 17, died in a plane crash shortly after takeoff from Clear Lake, Iowa. The pilot of the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza was also killed. Holly hired the plane after heating problems developed on his tour bus. All three were traveling to Fargo, North Dakota, for the next show on their Winter Dance Party Tour which Holly had planned to make money after the break-up of his band, The Crickets, in the previous year. The Winter Dance Party Tour was planned to cover 24 cities in just three weeks and Holly would be the biggest headliner. Waylon Jennings, a friend from Lubbock, Texas, and Tommy Allsup joined the tour as backup musicians. Ritchie Valens, probably the hottest of the artists at the time, The Big Bopper, and Dion and the Belmonts made up the list of other performers. The grueling tour schedule had taken the acts to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa the previous night. Due to mechanical difficulty with their chartered bus, the group arrived at Surf Ballroom less than two hours before the performance. The ballroom was packed with over 1500 fans, many of whom had driven hundreds of miles on snow-covered roads to see the stars perform. Buddy was fed up with the chartered bus with its faulty heater, so before the performance he asked the Surf manager Carroll Anderson about renting a chartered plane to fly him to his next destination in Moorhead, Minnesota. Anderson knew the owner of Dwyer Flying Service in nearby Mason City whom he contacted to arrange the flight. Anderson was not able to get hold of the owner so he called one of the pilots, Roger Peterson, who agreed to take Buddy plus two others to Moorhead. After the performance, the group got ready to travel to their next show on the tour bus. Holly boarded the 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft to Fargo, North Dakota, the nearest airport to Moorhead. Two other members of the group had the option to fly with him at $36 per person. Dion didn’t want to pay, but Waylon Jennings was keen to fly with Buddy, but exchanged his seat with J.P. Richardson because he had a cold. Tommy Allsup was included in the group, but Ritchie Valens offered to flip him for the seat since he was ill. The local host of the Winter Dance Party, Bob Hale, flipped the coin. Ritchie called heads and won the toss. Years later, Tommy Alsup would open a dance club named the Heads Up Saloon to commemorate this life-saving coin toss. In his 1996 autobiography, Waylon Jennings stated that he was disappointed that he had to ride in the freezing bus, so his parting remark to Buddy was, "I hope your damn plane crashes!" Jennings said this remark has haunted him ever since then. The plane took off around 1:00 AM from Mason City Airport into a blinding snowstorm and crashed only minutes later in a cornfield, killing all three musicians and the pilot. Because the plane didn't catch fire when it crashed, no one noticed the wreckage until the next day, about a quarter mile from the nearest country road. Early reports from the scene suggest the aircraft spun out of control during a light snowstorm. Only the pilot's body was found inside the wreckage as the performers were thrown clear on impact. The Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that the primary cause of the crash was pilot error due to the 21-year-old Peterson's inability to accurately interpret the newly installed Sperry F3 attitude indicator, which he was forced to rely upon in the poor weather conditions. The theory was that Peterson may have read the gyroscope backwards as a result of vertigo and thought that the plane was gaining altitude when it was actually descending. Buddy Holly’s body was buried a few days later on 7 February. Services were held in Lubbock, Texas, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church where over a thousand mourners attended the service. In 1988, Buddy fan Ken Paquette built a monument to the singers, from stainless steel, and placed it at the crash site where the current owners of the land also planted four trees in memory of the victims. Holly is often described as the most influential of the early rock and roll musicians, and has been cited as such by John Lennon and Paul McCartney (McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's catalog of songs). The death of Holly is now commonly referred to as "the day the music died" after Don McLean immortalised the tragedy with his 1972 hit “American Pie.” McLean has stated that he first learned about Buddy Holly's death while delivering newspapers on the morning of February 3, 1959, and in his song uses the line, "February made me shiver/with every paper I'd deliver." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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