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From Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Sunday, January 31, 1999

This is an undated file photo of Buddy Holly who died in 1959. For thousands of '50s rock 'n' roll fans who travel each year to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, the music lives on and remains reason for an annual celebration to honor Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper'' Richardson who died Feb. 3, 1959, just after performing at the Surf. AP Photo

'The Day the Music Died'
40 years after fateful crash, music fans still flock to annual Buddy Holly tribute

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) — It has become known as ''the day the music died.'' But for thousands of rock 'n' roll fans, the music lives and is drawing them to a northern Iowa dance hall for the 40th anniversary of the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. ''The Big Bopper'' Richardson.

''We're not celebrating that they crashed,'' said Scott Anderson, who owns the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. ''We're celebrating their music. Their music lives on, and I think that's what people come back for.''

The three rising stars were killed Feb. 3, 1959, just after performing at the Surf. They took off from the nearby Mason City airport in the middle of a snowstorm, bound for another concert in Moorhead, Minn. Their four-seater plane crashed in a cornfield about five miles north of Clear Lake, killing them and their pilot.

The Surf, as it has for the past two decades, will mark that fateful night with a concert Saturday featuring Bobby Vee, Holly's band the Crickets, and other famous names from the time. As usual, the ''Winter Dance Party'' is a sellout, with fans from around the world snatching up all 2,200 tickets.

Paul King of Northamptonshire, England, is making it his sixth consecutive Holly tribute.

''We do tend to revolve around Buddy Holly, it's true,'' said King, 53, who runs a construction business. ''But we get to know the local people and the families and the artists. It's a pilgrimage, really. We're overawed by the whole thing.''

Holly, a rockabilly singer from Lubbock, whose real name was Charles Hardin Holley, was just 22 when he died. But he had recorded dozens of songs, including the hits ''That'll Be the Day,'' ''Peggy Sue,'' and ''Rave On.''

Artists from Bob Dylan to Paul McCartney have said their music was influenced by Holly's style. In the 1972 hit ''American Pie,'' Don McLean described Holly's death as ''the day the music died.''

There are still Buddy Holly fan clubs, magazines and books, Web sites full of Holly trivia, and movies and musicals based on his life. A statue of him stands in Lubbock, where he is buried under a guitar-shaped marker, and the city is building a permanent exhibit.

Many of the real details of the story bear an ''urban-myth'' quality, seemingly too fantastic to be true:

A young bass guitarist who performed with Holly in Clear Lake gave up his seat on the plane to Richardson, who had the flu, so the ''Bopper'' wouldn't have to ride in the band's old bus all the way to the next concert. Wracked by guilt over joking with Holly about the plane crashing, the bass player avoided the Surf for decades before finally returning for a concert in 1995. ''I lost some great friends that night,'' Waylon Jennings told the crowd at his Surf performance.

A legendary crooner might not have gotten his start without that tragic night. At just 15, Bobby Vee filled in at the Moorhead concert after the plane crash. It was his first public performance, and a record agent in the crowd liked the band's sound. Vee has since produced more than 25 albums, with hits including ''Take Good Care of My Baby.''

The restored Surf Ballroom remains true to its early roots, with '50s-style pineapple wallpaper and bright, feather-patterned carpet in the entryway.

Karen Lien of Mason City was 18 when she went to the Surf for Holly's concert. The next morning, she heard on the news that the singers had been killed.

''I think my mouth just dropped open,'' she said. ''We couldn't believe it.''

Lien is now a 58-year-old grandmother, and her boyfriend from the concert is her husband. She avidly collects Buddy Holly memorabilia and wishes she had saved her ticket stub from that night.

Two memorials to Holly and the other musicians have been placed in the Clear Lake area. One, a large, gray stone, is at the Surf. The other, a guitar and three records fashioned out of stainless steel, stands at the crash site.

And this year, for the 40th anniversary, a group that includes a nephew of Valens and Niki Sullivan of the Crickets is replicating that final tour. The group wraps up with a concert Tuesday at the Surf.

Even after 50 years, people still recognize Holly's contributions to music, Vee said. ''We heard rock 'n' roll evolve through Buddy Holly,'' he said.