Mean Green self

Mean Green self, a photo by Enjayfilmz on Flickr.

Continuing education after I finished a studio session, everything was set-up, so it becomes play time for me, taken with a remote and a Canon 70-200mm IS ll. I did some editing in Lr3, OnOne, and CS5. I added a green tint to it accenting the the green shine throughout with the spot grid over my right shoulder, took out the catchlights in the sunglasses, used OnOne's great blur tool to just slightly out of focus everything but the skin showing on the face, real subtle but I like it. Had a beauty dish in front where the attention is being focused,

The Temple

The Temple, a photo by Enjayfilmz on Flickr.

The magnificent temple in SLC, taken on 11-14-2011

The Ghosts of Clear Lake

The mood was excitement as I headed on a motorcycle trip down to Humboldt, Iowa for a wedding.  It was June, the weather was perfect, and down the rode I went.  Leaving with a full tank of fuel, my first stop off the interstate was Clear Lake, Iowa.  This place made me recall something, something very tragic, and then I remembered.  This was where the plane crash that killed entertainers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and JP"The Big Bopper" Richardson.  This would be come to known as The Day the music Died.  I was immediately taken by this, and knew I would be back on my return the next day to attempt to learn more.

This then becomes the focal point, I make my initial return back into town, on a grey and drizzly day.  I fill up with gas and go in and go inside and find some food.  I ask the woman at the counter if she can help direct me to where this accident back in 1959 happened.  She gets a man to give me the better directions, and he explains where to turn and go, sounded fine enough, I figured I could locate it.

So I was sitting down eating, and he came around to me a gave me a map of the whole scene, from the place where they played that night, and where the airplane crash site was.  So this was great, now I would have no problems seeing what I had wanted to and more.  If you ask, you shall receive.  If you acknowledge, it will happen again.

I first went after the Surf Ballroom, right downtown from where I was currently.  An emotional feeling came over me first seeing it, like I was seeing something sacred.  I drove completely around it on the bike.  I was the only person around, being a quiet Sunday.  I parked and slowly began walking around the building, admiring it, as it has a really classic look to the front of the building, very strange for a very modest old farm town to have such a venue, which made it even extra cool.  And the history associated with this building is off the hook, still a popular venue for very big acts.  Here is their actual website, The Surf Ballroom.com, the photograph of the inside ballroom looks magnificent, along with the pay phone where the last calls were made.

As I walked, I went back in time, to the evening of February 2, 1959, when there was such excitement around this building, with the music, the people, the grande time everyone was having.  This was a big deal going on this night, music was changing, rock and roll was coming like a tidal wave through the country.  This was at the beginning of this new era, a few of the performers on the brink of super stardom.  I imagined leather jackets and cigarettes, Levi's and all the cool 50's stuff.  Which doors the performers went through.  Tried to feel the vibe of that night.

Getting back on the bike, very pleased with getting to see this added bonus of seeing the ballroom. I had to ride about 5 miles, with the last being gravel.  I found the gravel road, and the the turn I had to take, and then I saw some glasses, some big glasses marking the entrance to the memorial.  There was no mistaking,  I found it.  Situated the bike on its center stand off the road as well as I could, and I judged everything to be fine, so I stated walking along the field.

It was about a quarter mile walk.  The day was perfect for visiting this spot.  The sky was grey, there was a slight mist and drizzle at times, a gloomy day, the sky was crying.  I was beginning to wonder where it was, and as I came along a slight slope, I saw some reflective, shiny looking objects, things that were a memorial.  My heart quickened, as I walked closer, getting a sense of the area, going back to that night again, it was cold and desolate, they took off from the Mason City airport at 12:55am, February 3.

I try and think what it was like in the airplane, the performers all loaded up and gassed from the show, glad to be saving time on this 380 mile trip they would otherwise be taking in a bus with a broken heater, and excited for the tour they were embarking upon, the music was alive.  Holly's band The Crickets, had recently folded, his new bride was pregnant, and Holly put together this grueling 3 week Winter Dance Party, that covered 24 Midwestern cities to make some bread. The pilot likely quite excited to be flying these entertainers and I am sure he was very proud to have the job, unfortunately the 21 year old pilot did not have the experience needed for this night flight, and word of impending weather had not yet reached the small airport.  Why this inexperienced pilot was used is difficult to understand.  It was cold and dark, and noisy in the plane, time for them to relax some, and make up some time getting to the next stop of Fargo, ND for their next show in Moorhead, MN.

Things went wrong just minutes from takeoff, the plane felt off somehow, and instantly it felt wrong.  It hit the ground banking and headed downward at about 170mph, the explosion of metal hitting the frozen ground, sliding another 570', now only complete, unrecognizable carnage.   Everything was destroyed, all lives aboard were taken, performances had ended, in an instant. The music had died.  The 3 performers were thrown clear of the wreckage, only the pilot remained inside the cockpit.  So many people who had just shared an intimate night at the Surf Ballroom, an event that had been booked last minute, and filled.  There was just prior to acquiring the plane,  this is some of what happened, taken from Wikipedia, and I quote;

"Richardson had developed a case of flu during the tour and asked Waylon Jennings for his seat on the plane. When Holly learned that Jennings wasn't going to fly, he said in jest, "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up" and Jennings responded, also in jest, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes". This exchange of words would haunt Jennings for the rest of his life.

Ritchie Valens had never flown in a small plane before, and, in spite of his own fear of flying, asked Tommy Allsup for his seat on the plane. Tommy said "I'll flip ya for the remaining seat". Contrary to what is seen in LaBamba the coin toss did not happen at the airport shortly before takeoff, nor did Buddy Holly toss it. Bob Hale, a DJ with KRIB-AM, was working the concert that night and flipped the coin in the ballroom's sidestage room shortly before the musicians departed for the airport. Valens won the coin toss, and with it a seat on the flight.

Dion had been approached to join the flight, although it is unclear exactly when he was asked. Dion decided that, since the $36 cost of the flight was the same as the monthly rent his parents paid for his childhood apartment, he couldn't justify the indulgence^{. " end of quote}

So many coincidences, so many what ifs come to mind, how things were so orchestrated, so close to being different.  In 2007, Big Bopper was exhumed after on going questions about him being forty some feet from the wreckage, he may have been alive and tried to crawl for help, as well as a .22 caliber gun owned by Holly being found in the field weeks after the accident and conspiracy theories arose.  After the investigation it was determined that his death was that common of a plane crash, and he would have been killed instantly.  His hair was still fashioned in a marvelous 50's style crew cut, over 50 years later.  Here is an interesting link, click here ----> Exhumation of JP and what they found once the casket was opened again.  

This is an eerie looking photo I found of Richardson's son looking at the dad he never saw alive, looking at his body in 2007.

   

How one instant you can have the world, things are looking so terrific, and in the next moment, you are taken out indiscriminately, and nothing matters here anymore.  I had to ask why were these bright ones taken, they had such a short, but exciting life.  Richardson being the eldest at 28yrs, Holly at 22 yrs, Valens being the youngest at 17 yrs.

This is a fascinating list of the curses and premonitions that went along with this tragic event, very interesting.   Click on this link--->The Curse of Buddy Holly.  It is very supernatural and wildly interesting

This place held what felt like energy, it is a very mecca like place for music lovers to visit, for remembering the 3 men who had very different styles in music, but surely headed for a long and successful future.  Knowing what I know now, I understand there is a strange power that went along with this whole event.

This  plane crash has been called the first and greatest tragedy rock and roll has ever suffered.  So many young people lost musical idols, a loss of innocence for a generation, survivors remorse for many, crushed dreams for others, loss of fresh artists who were making a difference in the entertainment world.  The music lives on, and fans of music don't forget the difference they made in our culture in such a short time, but often lives become even more interesting once they stop living among us, we must respect.