TWO QUESTIONS: (1) THESE GUYS MISSED THE LAST 50 YEARS! ...ISN'T THAT SAD? ...(2) ARE PEOPLE IN "BISMARK" REALLY THIS DUMB?

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From KFYR--TV New Stories
The News Leader Bismarck, ND
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The Day the Music Died

Chris Gallegos
2/3/2009




On this date in 1959, three young rock stars died in an Iowa plane crash.

Rockers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, along with the pilot, died in the crash.

Fifty years later, fans still remember the day the music died.

He`s a familiar voice in South Central North Dakota, waking people up and getting them started for the day.

"Coming up on 49 years on Valentine`s Day that I`ve been working full-time in this business," says Bob Beck, a DJ at Cool 98.7.

Beck has seen it all, and has met his fair share of big-name stars throughout the years, including the Beetles.

"I was fortunate enough to be in Kansas City when they came through on their first American tour," Beck says. "We had a press conference and I got to meet each one individually."

But there are a few stars Beck never had the chance to see.

Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper were performing one cold, snowy night at the famed Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.

"We got down to the end of the road and you couldn`t see the front of the car," Beck says. "So we decided to turn around."

That ended up being their last performance.

After the show, the three boarded their plane for a stop in Fargo.

Minutes later, all three, including the pilot, were dead.

"You have to wonder what would have been different had they not died," says Beck.

Beck says all three of them made major in-roads for rock and roll.

The Beetles, for example, named themselves after Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

"These guys were so early in their careers and people have always wondered had they lived longer, what would the outcome have been," he says.

And even though their careers were cut short, their impact still lives on today.

Holly is considered one of the founding fathers of rock and roll.

The tragedy is immortalized in Don McLean`s song "American Pie" as "the day the music died."


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