Wednesday, October 18, 2000:

Note: This story is from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal archives. The story is a complete reprint from the original news feature. This web posting ©2001-2002, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. For more information about copyrights, view our web site.

From Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, June 27, 1997

Griggs puts together Holly facts

By WILLIAM KERNS
A-J Entertainment Editor

I stand corrected. In my review of the concert by The Moody Blues with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, I noted that bass player John Lodge was wearing a Buddy Holly T-shirt. Ralph DeWitt, seated much closer to the stage, told me last week, ''Justin Hayward also was wearing a Buddy T-shirt.

''It was just a bit more subtle than the one John had on, harder to make out.''

The fact remains that The Moody Blues were ecstatic - and trust me, the band was not faking it - about performing in Buddy Holly's hometown for the first time in The Moodies' 30-year career. Their smiles were genuine.

Looking ahead, we haven't made it through 4th on Broadway yet and already contracts are being tendered for an even larger Buddy Holly Music Festival during the first week in September in the Depot District. The proposed concert lineup, which cannot be revealed until names are signed on dotted lines, may catch many off guard.

Lubbock has recognized the importance of Holly with more than a statue and Depot District street signs, at long last. For that matter, consider how often Maria Elena Holly, the late rocker's widow, now makes appearances in town. She's obviously doing her part to make sure the world notices a link between Lubbock and Holly, too.

Holly reference book published

And that brings me to the first of five Buddy Holly reference books published by Holly historian Bill Griggs. If there is indeed someone who knows more about Buddy Holly, I've never met that person. Griggs is a walking encyclopedia of Holly facts and trivia. Postal officials make sure that mail sent by Holly fans to Bill Griggs, Lubbock, Texas - with no address listed - arrives at his home.

Former Mayor David Langston stated, ''Lubbock is fortunate to have Bill Griggs, a Buddy Holly and rock and roll historian as a member of our community. Since moving to Lubbock, Griggs has worked tirelessly to promote public interest in the rock and roll music of the 1950s and, in particular, the life and music of Buddy Holly.''

Griggs' ''Buddy Holly: Day-By-Day, Book One (Jan. 1936 to Dec. 1956)'' is a reference book. It doesn't pretend to be a biography. But Griggs is a stickler for detail, and even those of us who consider ourselves staunch Holly fans are guaranteed to learn a thing or two.

Griggs tells us how Holly came to be named Charles Hardin, who cut his hair in Lubbock, why he was not drafted and the serial number of the dollar bill found in the wallet he lost while water skiing at Buffalo Springs Lake in 1958.

Even the grades, teachers and absences on Holly's report cards are cited in this reference book.

By the way, Waylon Jennings owns Holly's 1958 Ariel motorcycle.

Why call band The Crickets?

Of course, we all know the story about a cricket being in the echo chamber when Holly and his band recorded ''I'm Gonna Love You Too'' in 1957. But Griggs reports that the musicians all liked a group called The Spiders and, when researching insects for a possible band name, it was Jerry Allison who skipped over the beetlet and saw that the cricket made its own music by rubbing its hind legs together.

That's how The Crickets were born.

Griggs was given permission by The Avalanche-Journal to reprint Holly references. The most humorous might be his birth announcement. On Sept. 8, 1936, The Lubbock Evening Journal included the following: ''A daughter weighing 8« pounds was born at 6:10 o'clock Monday afternoon at Clark-Key Clinic to Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence O. Holleycq of 1913 Sixth Street.''

Oops.

Buddy was a son born at his home and not at a clinic, and the address of the home was 1911 Sixth St.

When did Holly first see Elvis Presley perform at the Fair Park Coliseum? It's listed in the book, as well.

And though most know that the song title ''That'll Be the Day'' was inspired by John Wayne's words in ''The Searchers,'' Griggs let us know exactly when Holly and drummer Jerry Allison saw the movie, the name and address of the Lubbock theater showing it, and how much they shelled out for tickets.

Griggs' book is a cornucopia of little-known facts, a treasure for Holly fans. (William Kerns is entertainment editor of The Avalanche-Journal.)