50th anniversary of the Winter Dance Party

50th anniversary of the Winter Dance Party

13-01-2009

The Surf Ballroom and Museum is announcing a series of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, J.P. "the Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens.
Nearly a week's worth of events will begin on Wednesday the 28th of January.

On that date, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will dedicate the Surf as a historic landmark as the place Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens played their final concert.

The days will be filled with concerts, symposiums and tours.
The event will culminate with a 50 Winters Later Landmark Concert on Monday February 2nd. And tt will feature several performers including Graham Nash, Los Lobos and the Crickets.

More Info :::
http://www.50winterslater.com/


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http://www.50winterslater.com/bigmovie.html

Jeff Heinz, Associated Press

J. P. Richardson performs "Chantilly Lace," a hit song for his father, The Big Bopper, during the Winter Dance Party 50 Years Later concert Monday Feb. 2, 2009, in Clear Lake, Iowa. The Big Bopper, Ricthie Valens and Buddy Holly performed their last concert at the Surf Ballroom 50 years ago, before dying in a plane crash. (AP Photo/The Globe Gazette/Jeff Heinz.).


Our critics did their own winter tour to Monday's Buddy Holly tribute show in Clear Lake, with Graham Nash, Los Lobos and lots of hairpieces.

Star Tribune

Last update: February 3, 2009 - 2:16 PM



Los Lobos

Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune

Graham Nash

Steve Pope, Epa - Epa

Tommy Allsup

Steve Pope, Epa - Epa



CLEAR LAKE, IOWA - Rock fans from 32 countries and probably every county in Iowa gathered Monday night at the legendary Surf Ballroom to commemorate the final concert that made Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper rock 'n' roll immortals. We made the trek, too, and had this to say afterward.
JB: It's 50 years later and the Winter Dance Party still had a lot of the same elements. It was colder than an unheated school bus in January. But the dance floor was hopping as the hits kept coming all night long. We heard plenty of Holly favorites rendered by some of our favorites, such as Los Lobos and Joe Ely and a cast of silver-haired names from the past: Peter & Gordon, Wanda Jackson, Bobby Vee, Dave Mason and the Crickets themselves, Buddy's old band.
CR: I thought the Texas contingent -- Ely, Delbert McClinton and Los Lonely Boys -- ruled the show even while braving the elements. JoJo Garza of Los Lonely Boys told me: "It's so damn cold out there. It puts you in their shoes."
JB: How bad is it for us, writing this in a car with a dubious heater at 1-something in the morning, heading home on I-35. I say let's hear it for the Cali contingent, too. Los Lobos were great and gracious as always. Not only did they have the Stones' Bobby Keys for extra horn power but they welcomed a stage full of Ritchie Valens' family for "La Bamba."
CR: David Hidalgo of Los Lobos told me this wasn't their first time at the Surf. A couple tours ago, they pulled off I-35 and got the curator of the Surf Ballroom Museum to give them an impromptu tour. "It's an amazing place," Hidalgo said.

JB: I dug some of the memorabilia. Tom Fontaine, a collector from Indianapolis, had a pair of Buddy Holly glasses and a Valens bow tie, and some prized possessions -- a signed Valens contract and handwritten Holly lyrics for "Monetta." There were lots of classic photos on the Surf walls of everyone who's performed there -- from Duke Ellington and Lawrence Welk to Merle Haggard and Cub Koda. Did you see those rare photos taken that fateful night at the Surf?
CR: The photographer was Mary Gerber. She told me that the venue had only about one-tenth as many people that night. Mainly because of the bad weather.
JB: She got stuck in a ditch on her way home to Walters, Minn. She was 16 and her 18-year-old brother was driving. And they had to walk home the final three miles. She didn't discover the negatives of those photos until two years ago when she was cleaning her mother's house.
CR: I didn't believe all the rumors that some big-name performer had scheduled a private plane into the Mason City airport to make the show. Graham Nash wound up being the biggest name of the night. I thought he made some of the truest comments of the night, such as, "Buddy's music was so simple ... you remembered it for the rest of your life."
JB: And the 1,800 Surf-goers graciously sang "Happy Birthday" to Graham. The emcees, though, were the worst -- Tim Rice, who writes lyrics for Elton John and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and especially Cousin Brucie, an oldtime New York DJ whose hairpiece was older than Los Lonely Boys. Another bad move was to have the Crickets close the otherwise gratifying six-hour show. Yes, the Crickets deserved top billing considering the occasion. But musically they were no match for the acts that preceded them, whether it was Los Lobos or the fabulous house band that accompanied Ely, Mason and others. I bet the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which staged the concert, paid drummer Kenny Aronoff more than Holly, Bopper and Valens made 50 years ago combined.

CR: At $85 a ticket, there should have been plenty of money going around. A lot of the customers probably dropped even more on dry-cleaning their old poodle skirts or buying enough grease for their pompadours. Thank God the Hall of Fame didn't spend any of that money to fly in Gary Busey, although the lineup for the grand finale seemed as oddball as the people Busey went to rehab with on VH1: Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens and Tim Rice singing the "bop, bop" on "Not Fade Away" while Nash, Bobby Vee, Ely and Peter & Gordon sang the leads.
JB: You know what this night said to me? While some people think that was the day that the music died, it was obvious 50 years later at the Surf that Buddy's music will not fade away.
Jon Bream • 612-673-1719
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/38865142.html

Feb 3, 2009 1:20 PM

Memorial Marks 50th Anniversary of the Day the Music Died

by Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City, Iowa With an air temperature of three-below and a wind chill of 27-below, about 20 people gathered last night around a bonfire at the monument that lies in a cornfield north of Clear Lake. They honored the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and pilot Roger Peterson, who died after their plane crashed after takeoff from the Mason City Municipal Airport shortly after 1 o'clock in the morning on February 3rd, 1959. The Surf Ballroom's Jeff Nicholas led the memorial service. Nicholas says, "People from around the world traveled to the Surf Ballroom to pay homage." He says this week's events were exhausting and thrilling. "It's been a celebration. It's been a little bit bitter-sweet," Nicholas says. "It's been very emotional for those of us involved at the Surf but the fans that come from the world over really buoy our spirits and we're hopeful everything we did this week was very respectful and in the spirit of celebration." Nicholas says the concert was a wonderful way to cap off the week. Nicholas says it was a moving moment to see dedicated fans come out 50 years ago to the moment of the plane crash to celebrate the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson. "The people that are out here have got an awful lot of heart and it's just incredible," he said. Claire Richardson traveled from Chino Hills, California, to be at the memorial site early this morning. Richardson says it's not his first time to the Winter Dance Party festival. The group broke out into Don McLean's "American Pie," which laments the deaths of the singers. The trip out to the memorial came after the Surf’s biggest concert ever. Last night's headliners included Graham Nash, Bobby Vee and Los Lobos. Some 1,800 people packed the ballroom, some coming from as far away as England and Switzerland.