Rock Fans head to Iowa to Recall Day the Music Died.

[elleng]

Source: NYT/AP

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) -- It's been 50 years since a single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field, instantly killing three men whose names would become enshrined in the history of rock 'n' roll.

The passing decades haven't diminished fascination with that night on Feb. 2, 1959, when 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. ''The Big Bopper'' Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens performed in Clear Lake and then boarded the plane for a planned 300-mile flight that lasted only minutes.

''It was really like the first rock 'n' roll landmark; the first death,'' said rock historian Jim Dawson, who has written several books about music of that era. ''They say these things come in threes. Well, all three happened at the same time.''

Starting Wednesday, thousands of people are expected to gather in the small northern Iowa town where the rock pioneers gave their last performance. They'll come to the Surf Ballroom for symposiums with the three musicians' relatives, sold-out concerts and a ceremony as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame designates the building as its ninth national landmark.'



Read more: http://nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/28/arts/AP-Music-Buddy-Holly.html

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMlzfpwJZuc&feature=related

[murielm99]

1. Fifty years. My God.

I remember. I was only in fourth grade, but I do remember. I was well aware of the music that the older kids were listening to, and what a change it was from our parents' music.

Fifty years.

I think the editor of Rolling Stone wrote that the music did not die that day, but its innocence did.

[acmavm]

2. I remember as well. In ny house when I was young we'd come home from

school and my mom would have on American Bandstand, so we were all really into 'rock and roll', Elvis, Bill Haley, etc.

Yep. That was quite a deal. Quite shocking for the time.

[lapfog_1]

3. Bye Bye Miss American Pie... -

The small place that crashed was rumored to have the name "Miss American Pie".

Fifty years ago.


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A long, long time ago…

“American Pie” reached #1 in 1972, shortly after it was released. Buddy Holly, unfortunately, died in 1959 while other aspects of the song hint even further back."

I can still remember how That music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, That I could make those people dance, And maybe they’d be happy for a while.

"Sociologists credit teenagers with the popularity of Rock and Roll, as a part of the Baby boomer generation, they found themselves in a very influential position. Their shear number were the force behind most of our country’s recent major transitions. McLean was a teenager in 1959 and he begins by simply commenting that the music had an appealing quality to him as well as the millions of other teens. McLean also had an intense desire to entertain as a musician. His dream, to play in a band at high school dances, was the dream of many young boys who wanted to make people dance to Rock and Roll."

But February made me shiver,

"Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959, in a plane crash in Iowa during a snowstorm. Its rumored that the name of the plane was: American Pie."

With every paper I’d deliver,

"Don McLean’s only job besides being a full-time singer/song writer was being a paperboy."

http://www.rareexception.com/lyrics/american-pie-the-analysis-and-interpretation-of-don-mcleans-song-lyrics/

[Berry Cool]

4. The plane had no name.

Urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/americanpie.asp