[buddyjh]

34th day of 2010 - 331 remaining

Wednesday, February 3, 2010
THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

February 3, 1959 was a sad day in rock ’n’ roll history: 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens died in an airplane crash near Mason City, Iowa. February 3rd has been remembered as “The Day the Music Died” since Don McLean made the line popular in his 1972 hit, American Pie.

Buddy Holly, born Charles Hardin Holly in Lubbock, Texas, recorded That’ll Be the Day, Peggy Sue, Oh, Boy, Maybe Baby, and others, including It Doesn’t Matter Anymore (recorded just before his death, a smash in the U.K., non top-10 in the U.S.). Buddy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. A convincing portrait of the singer was portrayed by Gary Busey in The Buddy Holly Story, a made for TV movie.

J.P. (Jiles Perry) Richardson was from Sabine Pass, TX. He held the record for longest, continuous broadcasting as a DJ at KTRM Radio in Beaumont, TX in 1956. He was on the air for 122 hours and eight minutes. In addition to his smash hit, Chantilly Lace, Richardson also penned Running Bear (a hit for Johnny Preston) plus White Lightning (a hit for country star, George Jones).

Richard Valenzuela lived in Pacoima, CA (near LA) and had a role in the 1959 film, Go Johnny Go. Ritchie Valens’ two big hits were Donna and La Bamba ... the last, the title of a 1987 film depiction of his life. La Bamba also represented the first fusion of Latin music and American rock.

Of the three young stars who died in that plane crash, the loss of Buddy Holly reverberated the loudest over the years. But, fans of 1950s rock ’n’ roll will agree, all three have been sorely missed.


Events
February 3
1862 - Thomas Edison, always looking for a way to do something new, came up with this idea: He printed the Weekly Herald and distributed it to train passengers traveling between Port Huron and Detroit, MI. Strange thing is ... it was the first time a newspaper had been printed on a train! We suppose the news was ’on track’ -- Extra! Extra!

1869 - Actor Edwin Booth opened his new theatre in New York City. The first production was Romeo and Juliet. Even at that time, tickets didn’t come cheap. Some sold as high as $125 for this presentation.

1930 - U.S. President Herbert Hoover appointed Charles Evans Hughes as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1941 - Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded the classic, Amapola, on Decca Records. Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly joined in a vocal duet on this very famous and popular song of the Big Band era.

1946 - The first issue of Holiday magazine appeared on this day.

1947 - Percival Prattis of Our World in New York City became the first black news correspondent admitted to the House and Senate press gallery in Washington, DC.

1950 - Ed, Gene, Joe and Vic, The Ames Brothers, reached the #1 spot on the pop music charts for the first time, as Rag Mop became the most favorite song in the U.S. The brothers enjoyed many successes with their recording efforts: You You You [1953], The Man with the Banjo and The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane [1954], Tammy and Melody d’Amour [1957]. Ed Ames had been with the Russ Morgan Band and, after the brothers split in the late 1950s, went on to enjoy a lucrative television and recording career. He recorded My Cup Runneth Over and Who Will Answer, both hits in the 1960s. He also played Mingo on the Daniel Boone TV series. Ed is fondly remembered for one of the funniest moments of The Tonight Show on NBC when he competed with host Johnny Carson in a hand axe-tossing contest. Mingo won, with hilarious results that are still shown in every celebration of The Tonight Show.

1951 - **** Button won the U.S. figure skating title for the sixth time. Button went on to become a fixture on figure-skating telecasts on ABC-TV.

1951 - The Tennessee Williams play, The Rose Tattoo, opened on Broadway in New York.

1964 - Coach Adolph Rupp of the University of Kentucky got win #700 as the Wildcats defeated Georgia 108-83.

1964 - The British group, The Beatles, received its first gold record award for the single, I Want To Hold Your Hand. The group also won a gold LP award for Meet The Beatles. The album had been released in the United States only 14 days earlier. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

1971 - Lynn Anderson received a gold record for the single, Rose Garden. The Grand Forks, ND country singer was raised in Sacramento, CA. In addition to being a singer, she was an accomplished equestrian and California Horse Show Queen in 1966.

1972 - The first Winter Olympics in Asia were held at Sapporo, Japan.

1984 - A sellout crowd of 18,210 at Madison Square Garden in New York City saw Carl Lewis best his own world record in the long jump by 9-1/4 inches.

1989 - Former first baseman Bill White was the first African American to head a major professional sports league in the United States. He became National League president this day.

1990 - Jockey Willie Shoemaker raced for the 40,352nd and last time. He finished fourth at the Santa Anita Racetrack aboard 7-10 favorite "Patchy Groundfog". Shoemaker won 1100 stakes and 8,833 wins (a world record that stood until Laffit Pincay Jr. topped it in 1999) in 40,350 races. In 42 years, Shoemaker won 11 Triple Crown races, including four Kentucky Derbies, five Belmont Stakes, and three Preakness Stakes; 1,009 stakes races; and 10 national money titles. He earned more than $123 million in purses, about $10 million of which went into his pocket. (Shoemaker’s life took a tragic turn on April 8, 1991, when he was left paralyzed from the neck down after an auto accident.)

2001 - The XFL (Xtreme Football League) debuted. The league was created by Vince McMahon, mastermind behind the WWF (World Wrestling Federation. What was promoted as “Football the Way It Was Meant to Be Played” soon faded into painful memories for TV viewers and fans. The WWF apparently thought that it could pull in millions of wrestling fans to support the league, but was shocked when it discovered that actual football fans were the major supporters of the XFL, and these football fans were turned off by the wrestling-show influence on the games.

2002 - Super Bowl XXXVI (at New Orleans): New England Patriots 20, St. Louis Rams 17. (The Rams had been a two-touchdown favorite and were trying for their second NFL title in three seasons.) Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal as time expired won the game after a 53-yard, nine-play drive was engineered by Patriots QB Tom Brady, who was voted the game’s MVP. “This is the perfect example of what happens when guys believe in each other,” said Brady, leader of the team that had been 5-11 the previous year. “The fans of New England have been waiting 42 years for this day,” owner Robert Kraft said. At the start of the season, the Patriots were 50-1 shots to win what was their first title ever (twice before they had lost Super Bowls -- both in the Louisiana Superdome). Tickets: $400.

Birthdays
February 3
1809 - Felix Mendelssohn (Bartholdy)
composer: Wedding March, Elijah, Fingal’s Cave; died Nov 4, 1847

1811 - Horace Greeley
journalist: founded and edited The New York Tribune: “Go west, young man!”; politician: helped found the Republican Party, ran unsuccessfully for U.S. President [1872]; died Nov 29, 1872

1894 - Norman Rockwell
artist: widely known for his realistic, homespun cover art for The Saturday Evening Post; died Nov 8, 1978

1907 - James A. Michener
novelist: Tales of the South Pacific, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Journey, Hawaii, Iberia, Centennial, Mexico; died Oct 16, 1997

1918 - Joey Bishop (Gottlieb)
comedian, actor: The Joey Bishop Show, Liar’s Club, The Naked and the Dead, Delta Force, Betsy’s Wedding; member of the ‘Rat Pack’ with Frank Sinatra, et al.; died Oct 17, 2007

1920 - Bibi (Margaret) Osterwald
actress: Bridget Loves Bernie, Bank Shot; died Jan 2, 2002

1922 - Russell Arms
singer: Your Hit Parade

1926 - Art Arfons
drag racer: ‘The Green Monster’ clocked at over 600 mph

1926 - Shelley Berman
comedian, actor: The Best Man, Motorama, Rented Lips, Curb Your Enthusiasm

1928 - Frankie Vaughn (Abelson)
singer: Garden of Eden, Tower of Strength; died Sep 17, 1999

1932 - Peggy Ann Garner
actress: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betrayal; died Oct 16, 1984

1938 - Victor Buono
actor: Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Strangler, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, The Man from Atlantis; died Jan 1, 1982

1938 - Emile Griffith
International Boxing Hall of Famer: the third fighter in history to hold both the welterweight and middleweight titles

1938 - Elijah Pitts
football: Green Bay Packers running back: Super Bowl I

1940 - Angelo D’Aleo
singer: group: Dion and The Belmonts: I Wonder Why, A Teenager in Love, Where or When

1940 - Fran Tarkenton
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Minnesota Vikings quarterback: Super Bowl VIII, IX, XI, also NY Giants quarterback: holds individual NFL career records for passing yards gained, completions, attempts and touchdowns thrown

1941 - Carol Mann
golf: U.S. Open Champion [1965]

1943 - Blythe Danner
actress: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Husbands and Wives, The Prince of Tides, Inside the Third Reich, Futureworld, 1776, Tattingers, Adam’s Rib, Meet the Fockers, Huff

1943 - Eric Haydock
musician: bass: group: The Hollies: Searchin’, Just One Look, Here I Go Again, I’m Alive, Bus Stop

1944 - Gale Gillingham
football: Green Bay Packers guard: Super Bowl I, II

1945 - Bob Griese
football: Miami Dolphins quarterback: Super Bowl VI, VII, VIII

1947 - Melanie (Safka)
singer: Brand New Key, Lay Down, Peace Will Come

1947 - Joe (Joseph Howard) Coleman
baseball: pitcher: Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers [all-star: 1972], Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Pittsburgh Pirates, SF Giants

1947 - Dave Davies
singer, musician: guitar: group: The Kinks: You Really Got Me, All Day and All of the Night, Tired of Waiting, A Well Respected Man, Sunny Afternoon; solo: Death of a Clown, Susannah’s Still Alive

1950 - Morgan Fairchild (Patsy McClenny)
actress: Dallas, Flamingo Road, North and South, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Writer’s Block

1952 - Fred (Fredric Michael) Lynn
baseball: Boston Red Sox: [Rookie of the Year: 1975/World Series: 1975/AL Baseball Writers’ Award: 1975/all-star: 1975-1980], California Angels [all-star: 1981-1983], Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, SD Padres

1952 - Benny Malone
football: RB: Arizona State Univ. [college all-star: 1974], Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins

1959 - Thomas Calabro
actor: Melrose Place, Dream Street

1959 - Lol (Laurence) Tolhurst
musician: drums, keyboard: group: The Cure: A Forest, Charlotte Sometimes, Let’s Go to Bed, Love Cats, The Caterpillar, In-Between Days

1965 - Maura Tierney
actress: NewsRadio, Liar Liar, Primary Colors, Forces of Nature, Oxygen, ER, The Andy **** Show

1970 - Warwick Davis
actor: Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Willow, Leprechaun series, Gulliver’s Travels, Prince Valiant, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Chart Toppers
February 3
1946Symphony - The Freddy Martin Orchestra (vocal: Clyde Rogers)
I Can’t Begin to Tell You - Bing Crosby with the Carmen Cavallaro
Orchestra
Let It Snow - Vaughn Monroe
Guitar Polka - Al Dexter

1954Oh! My Pa-Pa - Eddie Fisher
Secret Love - Doris Day
Make Love to Me - Jo Stafford
Bimbo - Jim Reeves

1962Peppermint Twist - Joey Dee & The Starliters
Can’t Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley
Norman - Sue Thompson
Walk on By - Leroy Van Dyke

1970I Want You Back - The Jackson 5
Venus - The Shocking Blue
Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
A Week in a Country Jail - Tom T. Hall

1978Baby Come Back - Player
Short People - Randy Newman
Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees
Out of My Head and Back in My Bed - Loretta Lynn

1986That’s What Friends are For - Dionne & Friends
Burning Heart - Survivor
I’m Your Man - Wham!
Just in Case - The Forester Sisters

February 3rd, 1959...The Day The Music Died ...Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper), Richie Valens...R.I.P. Guys

[peggy13]

Thanks for the great thread Buddy! We all enjoy it everyday!

I just heard someone say that Richie Valens' brother was still playing in a band in the bay area.

The days are beginning to FLY!! Have a great Wednesday!

[Victor Hugo]

Thanks Buddy, Excellent Job.

[tiger-55]

thanks buddy, have a nice day.

[dt8350]

R.I.P. Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson, and Ritchie Valens!
Great Post Buddy!

[marty napier]

thank you buddy enjoy your day!

[Crystal Dragon]

YAY!!! 3 songs today!!!

Yes, the world suffered a huge loss when that plane went down

Thanks for the great post Buddy!!!

[yipitsme]

Was a very bad day for sure, But as ole' Waylon said in a song about that day and buddy Holly " We miss you ole' Buddy, But You Ain't Missed A Thing " Talking about how the music industry had changed.


Thanks Buddy. Have a great day.
Yip.

[just4ufolks]

MY
FRIEND

for all you do and for your untiring
effort
to bring this thread on daily basis
keep going

UR
appreciated & admired

Thx again

[unclepaul]

Thank you buddy have a good one


GO COLTS GO

[lilherc]

Thanx, buddy. Gr8 reading. We appreciate your effort everyday.