Friday, February 03, 2006

BUDDY HOLLY

We're far too young to remember Buddy Holly or the Big Bopper. When we hear the name "Ritchie Valens" we think Lou Diamond Phillips. Don McLean's "American Pie" is just a long but catchy tune.

But on Feb. 3, 1959, a Beechcraft Bonanza went down en route to Fargo, N.D., killing all aboard. The passengers were Buddy Holly, 22; J.P. Richardson, a 28-year-old DJ known as the Big Bopper; and Ritchie Valens, 17.

The day the music died? Apparently not. But a helluva story. Click here and you'll find a great page of photos from Feb. 1, 1959, when the doomed men played Wisconsin. The color slides are crisp and give you a solid feel for the primitive, innocent world of popular music, 1959.

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