Before the Music Died

A right here, then another right, then a left, Wait! Honk at the Blue House, turn the corner, yield as you merge, pass the Surf Ballroom, turn left on Buddy Holly Rd., go back to the house and pick up the next group.

That’s what I did for about an hour.

An hour that followed an 8 hour drive.

An hour that followed not eating all day to try to make this deadline.

I was grumpy and I knew it.

But I was at work and I had  to hold it together through all of the questions and the rides—until it came:

Dinner!

The family I had driven around Clear Lake, Iowa invited us to stay for dinner. And as any mobile marketer would do, I stayed. And after a hot dog, some awesome Midwestern pea salad and homemade ice cream LB was back to being LB.

The family we drove around their neighborhood were long time employees of the same company I work for so it was really nice to hear the stories they had and get to know everyone. Especially over some amazing food—which they later packed and sent with us on our way!

As we were talking I was asked if I knew anything about the Surf Ballroom that I had passed (over and over) earlier that day.

Nope. Not. A. Thing.

Did I know who Buddy Holly was?

Geeeeez...LB what’s up with your lack of pop culture knowledge?! Honestly,  knew what his face looked like and I knew that, that ‘drove my chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry song’ was about him…still,  I know! , I know!, I’m embarrassed for myself too!

After admitting I know absolutely nothing…about music, apparently!…I was able to learn a little about this town in the middle-of-nowhere Iowa.

The Surf Ballroom on Clear Lake was just a stop on Buddy Holly’s Winter Dance Party Tour in February of 1959, as he road the wave to rock and roll stardom. At this particular venue he performed his final set, made his last phone call, and made the quick decision to fly to his next stop.

You see he had been traveling by bus. A bus that continuously been breaking down and leaving them heat less which in result gave Holly’s drummer frostbite. Apparently Holly was fed up. So he booked a charter plane to North Dakota.

With a  flip of a coin, off the stage in the Surf Ballroom,  Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper took a flight that in a matter of minutes crashed and brought them all to their death.

Tommy Allsup, who had “lost” the coin flip with Valens owes his life to that flip. And apparently another band member from Holly’s band was supposed to fly with the Holly but traded his seat with The Big Bopper, as The Big Bopper had the flu and wanted to get the next location as fast a possible.

So there I was in Clear Lake, Iowa they place the Music died.

And I had no idea.

And there I was in the living room of the man that has preserved the Surf Ballroom to this very day. A man who had the key to the very building Buddy Holly gave his last performance.

5 minutes later I was standing where Buddy Holly performed, reading autographs from Three Dog Night, The Temptations and The Beach Boys on the dressing room’s wall backstage. I got to see a ballroom that been restored to exactly how it looked the day Buddy Holly died, complete with the fake palm trees Buddy Holly might have brushed with his jacket sleeves.

To this day Buddy Holly’s life is celebrated every February 2nd, the anniversary of his death, at the Surf Ballroom with a huge Winter Dance Party that has brought many artists who wish to perform on the stage and pay respects to Holly, Valens and The Big Bopper.

The place tingled with history. The pineapple wallpaper. The tropical murals lining the walls behind the wrap around bars. The wooden booths. The elevated black stage. I was in awe. I had never seen any place like it. A place that looked to have been straight from 1959, like I had literally gone back in time.

I had goosebumps. And I had no real reason to feel this way.

Until I arrived at our next hotel, 2 hours away, and downloaded every Buddy Holly song I could. I surprisingly knew a lot of them- when I had first heard them I must have been too young to care who sang them.

A lot of these songs reminded me of Sunny and our car rides to Pennsylvania. Really great memories.

The next morning I threw on my Surf Ballroom t-shirt (a gift from the family!) put my earbuds in, pushed play on my IPOD and ran throughout the small town of Manchester while listening to “That’ll Be The Day” by Buddy Holly.

I’ll never forget the Surf Ballroom.

Once again this job has taught me that I have a lot to learn.

And a lot more to appreciate.

Just when you think you are absolutely nowhere—look around, you are actually in some place really special.