BUDDY HOLLY Crash Site & SURF BALLROOM The Day The Music Died

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] well good morning Lionheart that your old pal Jordan the lion and today we are going to do a vlog that is ultra near and dear to my heart this is something that I have wanted to see since I was a kid this is one of those moments where people that were alive everyone remembers where they were when they found out that Buddy Holly Ritchie Valens the Big Bopper had died in a plane crash today we are gonna go see the Surf ballroom we're gonna go see where they flew out of and then we're gonna go see the memorial and hopefully make it out to the actual crash site today's vlog is for mini Robertson this is your patreon sunglass vlog I realize these are not sunglasses but these are the glasses that I got the Buddy Holly Museum in Lubbock Texas so they do have a very strong connection now how I got into this whole story was when I was a kid I was probably in fifth grade sixth grade something like that and Sunday morning I turned on the TV and they were showing the Buddy Holly story now not to say that that is a terribly accurate movie but it was enough to get me into the man and the music and I remember going to the Public Library and renting out a Buddy Holly CD and just becoming obsessed with it I loved every bit of it and about a year later over the summer HBO started showing la Bamba constantly almost every day sometimes more than once a day I got so into that realize that they were tied together that this was you know these two men were on the same plane and went out and bought a guitar the very first song book that I got was Buddy Holly songbook to learn the songs and I've been a fan ever since so now also I'm a huge Waylon Jennings fan and Waylon Jennings is tied into this so let's stop talking let's go out to the Surf ballroom and let's see where the events of that last day transpired let's go pay homage to the great men that helped start rock and roll and they died two young days with Jordan the line begins now as weather conditions quite like today that they were dealing with well my friends it took 38 years but I am finally here at the Surf ballroom and here the music has lived on ever since now what was going on here was the winter dance party this was Criss crossing the Midwest it was basically the last tour of the year and Buddy wanted to get out on the road make a little bit of money and the crickets didn't really want to go so the other band members said buddy were not going to go somebody had to put together a makeshift band including an artist he had started working with him producing Waylon Jennings he told Wayne Linda learn the bass you're going on tour with me you got two weeks Waylon said I'd never played bass before in my life but once I realized it was just guitar - two strings I was in business over here in the corner they have a little memorial for those who passed that day you can see it says Richie Valens Buddy Holly JP Richardson the Big Bopper in memory of rock and roll legends then it says pilot Roger Peterson the above legends played their last concert at the Surf ballroom Clear Lake Iowa in February 2nd 1959 the earthly life tragically ended in a plane crash 5.2 miles northwest of the Mason City Airport On February 3rd 1959 over on this side you can see they have a plaque stating and that it's a National Register of Historic Places site and here those original entry doors the original ticket booth where some 1500 odd fans would have seen them all performed that night Dion Buddy Holly and the crickets JP Richardson the Big Bopper Ritchie Valens and it would have been the last night for three of those men so let's go on in the way a fan would have that night wow I can't believe I'm in the Surf ballroom or as soon as you walk in you have some photos from that night over here on the wall you have a plaque for the Surf ballroom me and Museum it says there are a few buildings in existence today that represent a complete shift in our musical history is the last concert venue for Buddy Holly Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper the surf is the bedrock over the sound and attitude of rock and roll forever changed and here you can see buddy in the crickets and over to the left is Waylon Jennings then here they have a remembrance of the winter dance party and you've got signatures underneath all the photos of those men who passed did see Ritchie Valens right here Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper while I'm thinking about it if you want to see a little bit more on any of these people on my channel I did a vlog on the dedication at the Ritchie Valens Memorial Highway and I got to interview his sister and then I went to the Buddy Holly gravesite and Museum in Lubbock Texas as well and then we also went to the roadside American Museum in Texas where the big boppers casket is on display Wow all right trapped in time there's our coat check and our entryway into the Surf ballroom this entire room is full of historical photos look at that old carpet and that old wallpaper Wow the last show oh my gosh and this is free to come in they let you pretty much roam all over the place so there's the stage now as I understand it they've extended the stage outward so the actual part that buddy and all those performers would have performed on is behind that curtain so we'll go behind there and this is the view that they would have had performing that night now as we go towards the back if you look above they've put pictures of all three men with their hit song on there as well so Richie says La Bamba buddy says oh boy and the Big Bopper says hello babe look at these original booths the original background and I believe they still have concerts here I think I saw outside they're gonna have the Beach Boys here not too long Wow just think of the music reverberating off these walls and off the ceiling and off these hardwood floors at night Wow now let's go get on the stage and look around I tell you some stories very cool set up that room over there we're gonna go into that's the famous room and that's the famous actually this is the doorway this is the coin-flip doorway right here as you may know Buddy Holly had decided to charter a flight that night and he wanted to fly his band members so he was gonna fly Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings and the bus that they were taking for this tour was an old converted school bus the seats were pretty small and the heater barely ever worked so a lot of people on the bus were like starting fires in the aisle ways just to keep warm and the Big Bopper was fighting off a flu and so was Richie Valens so Richie Valens was in really bad shape and asked Tommy if he could have his seat on the plane so they decided to flip a coin right here in this doorway and landed on heads Ritchie won and he got the seat on the plane and so that night the Big Bopper was feeling sick and asked Waylon Jennings if he could have his seat on the plane and Waylon said well I don't mind if buddy doesn't mind and then actually reminds me before we go on the stage and go backstage there's something I want to show you closer to where we walked it this is the famous pay phone booth you're wondering why is it famous it's because long before they were ever cell phones there were payphones and as you can see there's a note above here that says this pay phone was used by Buddy Holly to call his wife Maria Elena in New York and by ritchie valens to call his manager Bob keen in Los Angeles the evening of February 2nd 1959 yeah so Richie had called Bob and was telling him how miserable the bus was and how sick he was and Bob was saying well if it's that bad just leave the tour we'll just we'll just cancel you know we'll just take off and Richie didn't want to cancel and when buddy called he didn't tell Marie and Elena that he had turned a plane C she had apparently had dreams or I guess you could say nightmares of something bad happening to Buddy and he didn't want a worrier so you can imagine how shocked she was when she got the call finding out that bunny had passed an airplane she had no idea he was even flying look at that their phone all right back into the ballroom let's go up on stage so even though the stage is extended here this is what their if you would have been looking out at all those people now let's go behind the curtain and this is the actual stage where a buddy and Richie and Big Bopper would have all performed and you can even see they have the winter dance party they do an annual one so they still have that up look at that that's the stage now you know a lot of people say what would life have been like what would music have been like without this happening how many people were inspired by this of course Don McLean did American Pie based off of this but they also say what happens you know what would it have been like had those men survived what kind of music would they have made but you also have to ask yourself if they wouldn't have had the coin toss if the Big Bopper wouldn't have Waylon Jennings wouldn't have been here and a whole genre of country music the entire outlaw movement would have never happened kind of weird to think about how history plays out sometimes now Waylon Jennings said that this is the only night of the entire tour that he remembers is playing this ballroom and he said that he never looked at the crash site photos for 15 years and then he was in his home one day looking through a book and accidentally stumbled upon it but he said that his vivid memories of that night were coming through this doorway he said I remember the stairwell going up to the stage and I was down here with buddy and he said buddy had his chair leaned up right beside that stairwell and I remember him telling me to go get us some hot dogs so I went up the stairs and went and got us some hot dogs and when I came back down he had found out that I had told JP that he could have my seat on the plane and he was leaning up against here joking with me saying oh you too afraid to ride on the plane with me Ari and he said well I hope your old bus freezes up on you Whalen and Whalen said well buddy I hope your old plane crashes and they laughed and they went on to perform their night and unfortunately you know what happened Waylon Jennings said he lived with that every day never stopped thinking about thinking that maybe in some way him saying that caused that to happen he said he thought about that every day for probably 10 years and then said for the rest of his life there wasn't a week that went by that he didn't think about each one of those men and that amazing look at all that all of the remembrances people have left says the crickets here's somebody did a painting of ritchie valens that's wonderful than a drawing of Buddy and the Rolling Stones yeah they used to play not fade away constantly as well as the Grateful Dead used to always and sometimes still closes their shows would not fade away there's the door we already looked at for that famous coin flip but what I didn't notice was that there's a caricature here of ZZ Top and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys you see that and then that is signed by Brian Wilson now I also have to show you this Don McLean himself the man who wrote American Pie has been here and wrote the lyrics to American Pie right here it says a long long time ago I can still remember how the music used to make me smile cuz I knew if I had my chance that I could make those people dance February made me shiver every paper I deliver bad news on the doorstep and there he signed it now Waylon Jennings said that as long as he lived he never learned more from anyone about the music business than he did from Buddy Holly he said buddy taught him early on and on this tour how important it was to stick to your guns not let someone else tamper with your music and not to let them screw with your vision because he somebody told him don't let some producer think it's his song it's your song and like Waylon said buddy got a dose of Nashville early where they didn't want to let you make it your way they wanted to have a country or bluegrass band behind you and the same thing happened to Waylon so he said that's why he stuck to his guns so strongly and eventually that's what led to his greatest success so they asked fans not to sign this wall this is just for the bands and people that have performed here and you notice that the very Papa said The Temptations Three Dog Night and then if you notice along with his painting it says come on let's go thanks to Bruce and Sue for keeping the memory alive the ritchie valens family so one of the guys working in here i said he's been here for quite a while and he said back in 1996 we had a guy come through didn't even sell out the show but sometimes you never know whether they'll end up and he pointed out this signature over here showing me that it was Kenny Chesney it was also telling me the reason they kept the sinks in here was because that was Buddy Holly's laundry mat that night said he was washing his clothes here in the sink and then hanging them up there on those pegs then right here on the doors Tommy Allsup [Music] and then I just noticed this section right here you can see there's Willie Nelson there's Waylon Jennings in red and then there's Shooter Jennings and then here we have a picture of Waylon Jennings signing that wall right there now according to Deon who was also on the tour he claims that it was his seat that he gave up to ritchie valens and that he was the one that did the coin toss however when I was in Clovis New Mexico at the Norman petty Museum I met a man named David Bigham who was Buddy Holly's backup singer and David said that he knew Tommy Allsup and he said Tommy told him that he would fight beyond anytime anywhere and that that was his story that Deon was trying to insert himself into and many people including Waylon Jennings confirmed that it was Tommy Allsup as well men right here outside the door they have a little certification signed by Tommy Allsup with pictures of him performing at that show and it's him talking about giving up his flight seat to Richie Valens for the coin flip and they even have a coin in there see there's Tommy buddy and Waylon and apparently from what I understand Richie and Buddy had to play drums for each other that night because they were sharing a drummer and their drummer had gotten frostbite while you're telling me that someone got stranded here back in what year 1959 so 1953 well I was here that night I was seven years old my poles came down from Washington Minnesota and they had had me a boost 110 back there Duke Ellington huh now here's the snack shack area and one of the original water fountains over here by this mirror that has the pineapples that we saw in the wallpaper and they've turned this all into a memorial for all the people that have performed here there's a BB King Lucille autographed guitar there's just so much stuff in here surfboard up there signed by the Beach Boys this is a letter written by Dion to Waylon telling Waylon that someone had written him this picture from the winter dance party [Music] and as you can see that is a headset from the airplane crash and then each one of those cases has a display dedicated to one of the artists that passed that night in this case there's a photo of ritchie valens and that bowtie is the same bowtie he's wearing in that photo and it says that Ritchie's family donated many of the items on display here including the handwritten lyrics here for la Bamba that says that as the big boppers necktie and clothing in this briefcase was JP Richardson the big boppers as well as his composition books with lyrics he was working on four songs in here and then this display and a photo is if buddy singing in the studio and the letter written to his mom and dad from him there's that original Mason City Gazette article we're gonna go to that crash site very hard to see but that guitar up there in that frame was signed that night by the Big Bopper Ritchie Valens of Buddy Holly signatures are kind of faded but they're on there there's Buddy Holly big bobber and Reggie I keep thinking I'm gonna leave and I keep seeing more stuff to show you then there's the original ticket box so after the show the three artists piled into a station wagon were driven to the Mason City Airport at about 12:30 a.m. on February 3rd so said over there this was truly an amazing moment for me today just my luck we're getting some snow so in the middle of a snowstorm that no one should have been flying in a pilot named Roger Peterson was the scheduled pilot to take these men to their next destination now some say that Roger didn't have enough experience his boss said I would have never put him up there if he didn't he had plenty of experience even for his age he had the hours that were required and he thinks that possibly just the weather and well no one will ever really know what went wrong but the owner of the airplane said he knew something was wrong when there was no call saying that the plane had arrived so he went up in his plane started looking around and he saw the crash site down below right up here's where they would have been dropped off actually since we're out here I figured we should look at the runway and everything can it makes it feel more real just to think when they took off into those skies wouldn't be but a few minutes later they would come crashing down about five miles from here if you can imagine while we're out here driving this they would have been flying over our head for just that brief five mile flight and because of Lebon but every time I think about this crash I always think of the Santo & Johnny's song sleepwalk only my favorite song of all time Waylon Jennings said that he found out that the guys had crashed and died when he got to the hotel he went to check in he didn't have his ID because he realized that buddy had his ID and when he said can you call up Buddy Holly's room they said Oh didn't you hear those boys crashed and died we are extremely close now memorial out here of buddies glasses well we have definitely found it about a half-mile beyond those glasses is where the actual site crash was now I believe the house over here is the jewel farm and I believe LC jewel was the one that said that she heard the plane flying overhead thought it sounded a little lone was getting worried that it was going to crash into her house but it actually ended up crashing a little beyond out there so clearly the weather conditions are not ideal for hiking a half mile out into this cornfield but we're gonna do it anyway because that's what we do so let's go and my assumption is that since there's an actual memorial out here that people can visit that the farmer that owns this land is pretty cool about people coming out here so weird to see that fence line for me I've seen that photo so many freaking times people often ask me what my favorite vlog is that I've ever done I don't know that I have one in particular but this is amongst the top five another odd piece of trivia is that was until quite a while after the crash and everything that the farmer that owned this land was out farming and found buddy's glasses out here from the crash those are now at the Buddy Holly Museum in Lubbock Texas alright I see it right over here those lights are a giveaway we may have to dig some of this memorial out it's buried in snow that's all right I don't mind yeah let's go ahead and dig this thing out now I don't know how much stuff's out here but this is what I dug out very nice memorial by the landowner you can see down here it says Buddy Holly Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper February 3rd 1959 then some of their records and then right over here as a memorial to the pilot not to be forgotten Roger Peterson Mindy I put your glasses here for a moment so right there's where the plane crashed and Buddy Holly and Richie Valens buddy was right around here Richie was over here and then on the other side of the fence was where they found the Big Bopper the day the music died all right my friends we're going to call it a day Thank You Ann Regina for becoming my newest patreon Mandy Robertson I hope you enjoyed your patreon Sunglass vlog and rest in peace Buddy Holly Ritchie Valens the Big Bopper and Roger Peterson thank you all for watching good [Music]

Channel: Daze with Jordan the Lion

Views: 219,238

Rating: 4.9272857 out of 5

Keywords: travel vlogger, urbex, hollywood, travel advice, history, tourism, cinema, filming locations, adventures, forgotten, travel, my trip, jacob the carpetbagger, daze with jordan the lion, jordan the lion, travel guide, vlog, vlogger, vlogging, lifestyle, scandals, film, los angeles, wolters world, anthony bourdain, tourist, adam the woo, The day the music died, Buddy holly, Surf ballroom, Crash site, Ritchie valens, The big bopper, Clear lake, Iowa, American pie, Rock & roll, Waylon jennings

Id: 89YuU5nINaU

Length: 27min 33sec (1653 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 14 2020