The Winter Dance Party

In January of 1959 Buddy Holly, Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, Frankie Sardo and The Big Bopper set out on a 24-day tour of the Midwest. The appearances were closely booked, temperatures were several degrees below zero and they were traveling in a bus with a broken heating system. By February 1, Carl Bunch, Buddy Holly’s drummer, had left the tour with frost bitten feet.

Fed up with the poor transportation conditions, Buddy decided to lease a plane from Dwyer’s Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa to fly him and his band to their next stop on the tour, Fargo, North Dakota.

However, The Big Bopper (JP Richardson) was tired of being squeezed into the small bus seats and convinced Holly’s bass player, Waylon Jennings, to let him have his seat on the plane. Ritchie Valens asked Tommy Allsup, guitarist for Holly, for his seat, but Allsup wasn’t as agreeable as Jennings, so they decided to flip a coin for it. Unfortunately for Valens, he ‘won’ the toss.

They performed what was to be their final performance on February 2, 1959 at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa and left for the airfield. When they arrived, Jerry Dwyer, owner of Dwyer’s Flying Service, wasn’t there, but a young pilot who worked for Dwyer named Roger Peterson agreed to fly them. Although the weather was bad and flying advisories were out, an instrument trained pilot might have been able to handle the situation. However, not only weren’t the Dwyer planes licensed for instrument flying, Peterson had recently failed his instrument test.

Dwyer arrived at the airfield just in time to see the Beechcraft Bonanza take off. A few minutes later, he got on the radio to see if everything was alright. When there was no answer and Fargo reported that they hadn’t landed there, Dwyer got into another plane to search for them. He found the plane eight miles from Clear Lake, crashed in a cornfield. There were no survivors.

The tragedy shocked the world and snatched away three of rock ‘n roll’s most dynamic talents. February 3, 1959 came to be known as ‘the day the music died’.

Buddy Holly’s brief life – a unique mix of innocence, determination, humor and charm – and his incalculable contributions to the music world have become the stuff of legend.

Cast change
We lost an original cast member, Mike Harrel, late in rehearsals due to illness, and Guy Perticone stepped into the role of Dion DiMucci (of Dion and the Belmonts). We appreciate the talent, skill and hard work of both performers. Thanks to both of you!

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