The Day The Music Died : Visiting The Crash Site & Final Moments

welcome everyone Adam the whoo here coming to you from Clear Lake Iowa in early February 1959 a tragic event that changed history took place in this small community the day the music died Ritchie Valens Buddy Holly and JP Richardson known as the Big Bopper perished in a plane crash just on the outskirts of town after playing a show about a third of the way through their scheduled tour I want to retrace the steps of that fateful day join me shall you a February 2nd the entertainers would have made their way through downtown about to arrive at the eleventh night of the tour's venue right here at the Surf ballroom which all these years later still holds it's very vintage esque look and they have erected the structure a memorial to those that passed not only the performers that took the stage inside but also the pilot who also passed away on that small airplane their earthly life tragically ended 5.2 miles northwest of the Mason City Airport the music however lives on seeing all this snow definitely gives an interesting ambiance of what it would have been like the same moment they were loading their equipment and about to go inside the venue through that door front entrance still looks the same and the ticket booth still remains you would have purchased a ticket major way inside these doors to see the show few buildings in existence today represent a complete shift in our musical history the surf is the bedrock of where the sound and attitude of rock and roll change forever each of their signature is located below their photos and a frame right here as you first walk in very distinct looking carpet and pineapples lined the hallway as you make your way into the actual ballroom this is it there's the stage it's like I'm stepping back in time almost as if it's been perfectly preserved as it was in the late 50s tucked away in the corner of course is the dressing room which current day has been signed the walls and the roof by other performers who have come here not only to share the stage but also leave their thoughts condolences and this is it oh my gosh this is that I'm standing on the stage there was only enough room for three passengers on the ill-fated flight and the coin cost to decide on if ritchie valens would have the ability to share a seat also happened in this room pretty crazy to think about someone has drawn mr. Buddy Holly right there and above it written a night to remember they say the view from the stage was a packed one a full house even many decades later this coat check area is still operational whenever they have concerts but I have to think back to that evening on how cold it was how many people stood right here at this counter paid a small fee to have their coats held to the end of the evening the phone booth also still remains aware Buddy Holly called his wife and Ritchie Valens called his manager they would have both sat right there and used that exact phone the last two phone calls they ever made not a lot of photographs in existence from the performance but this is one hanging in the lobby and to the far left playing base that's Waylon Jennings right there country star Waylon Jennings Dion the Belmonts also performed and because of the poor conditions of the tour and the accommodations their drummer got sick and Buddy Holly jumped on the drum kit to play dramas for their set that evening on that sheet of paper are the hands scribbled lyrics to La Bamba and there's Richie's bowtie and the wallet he had on that chore after he passed away his mom carried that wallet for 10 years on her in mourning big boppers necktie and clothing lapel if you look closely it spells his name out and here's his briefcase a little notepad that he wrote lyrics and poems on the set of cufflinks owned and worn by Buddy Holly right there in that case a few other artifacts on display including this guitar that was signed by all the performers that evening the signatures have faded that they have placed the actual guitar in a glass case on the top of the wall this helps signify how sporadic their tour was it just went all over the place it was a very disorganized as far as the route went they went from Duluth to Green Bay down to Clear Lake when really it was just like a whole conglomerate like nothing was organized could they did a lot of backtracking here's the flyer Monday February 2nd dancing 8 p.m. to midnight and the coat-check wasn't a dollar back then it was only it was only ten cents of course who could have guessed later that evening tragedy was about to strike for a sure while this venue was in danger of being demolished thankfully in 2011 it was placed on the National Registry of historical places so it will be here til the end of time preserving history because of the very cold weather the blizzard-like conditions the tour was plagued from the beginning the tour bus kept breaking down Peter kept going out causing a lot of the band members to become ill get sick get the flu and even get frostbite and their feet they decided that if with charter a plane and fly out of this Airport the pilot his name was Roger Peter said of course only four people total to board the plane which means some had to go and take the surface streets drive hundreds of miles in that freezing icy cold big story about Waylon Jennings who gave his seat up to the ill flu ridden Big Bopper and a kindness he let him have the seat on the plane not knowing what would happened and when Buddy Holly realized that his bandmate Waylon had given away his seat but he jested had a friendship - Waylon Jennings I hope that tour box breaks down on you and Waylon turned to Buddy and said I hope your plane crashes something that he meant as a joke is something he's had to live with all his life they only made it about five or so miles past the runway after takeoff weather conditions were so bad snow was so thick caused the plane to crash out here in this field one gets the sense of what it might have been like that next morning when visibility was granted due to sunlight it is serene a lot of solitude out here off the beaten path to say the least and they have placed the iconic glasses right there on those two posts and memory of that event not a hundred percent certain but I believe farther down the fence line way down there is the exact precise spot I have to walk I have to walk through the snow to get there the change of plans it's just way whoa it's just way too deep look how far down I don't feel I could walk it on foot this is is this a pretty can't even see my foot down there wedged in the snow next best thing [Music] looking back on it probably a good thing I did not walk out there seems the precise memorials people have left have been covered in the snowdrift right along that fence line is where the plane laid down the day the music died that's gonna do it for today from Iowa a very snowy Iowa rock and roll history I appreciate you guys watching I will see you in the next video this is I gotta get out of this vlog

Channel: TheDailyWoo

Views: 576,476

Keywords: day the music died, buddy holly, richie valens, big bopper, crash, site, plane, surf ballroom, clear lake, iowa, cornfield, field, location, don mclean, stage, green room, airport, adamthewoo, adam the woo, adam, the, woo, thedailywoo, daily, snow, glasses, memorial, vlog, travel, road trip, american pie, rock n roll, waylon jennings, story, coin toss

Id: 09QnKCc9TXM

Length: 10min 12sec (612 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 21 2018