The Steel Guitar Forum Store 

Post new topic Remembering Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens & JP Richardson
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Reply to topic
Author Topic:  Remembering Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens & JP Richardson
Alan Brookes


From:
Brummy living in Southern California
Post  Posted 3 Feb 2014 11:54 am    
Reply with quote

On this day in 1959 we lost three geat talents. Who knows what they would have gone on to accomplish had they not perished so tragically young?
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Mike Perlowin


From:
Los Angeles CA
Post  Posted 3 Feb 2014 12:50 pm    
Reply with quote

In all probability, none of them would have been able to sustain their careers s rock stars after the Beatles took over, but Richie Valens would have had a thriving career in the Hispanic market, Buddy holly would have become a producer and record company executive, and The Big Bopper would have resumed his career as a disc jockey, and possible have become a TV game show host.

They made movies about Richie Valens and Buddy Holly. They should do one on "Jape" and complete the trilogy.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Alan Brookes


From:
Brummy living in Southern California
Post  Posted 4 Feb 2014 4:57 pm    
Reply with quote

Mike Perlowin wrote:
...They made movies about Richie Valens and Buddy Holly. They should do one on "Jape" and complete the trilogy.

That's what Jape's son was saying recently. Unfortunately all that most people remember him for is Chantilly Lace. Rolling Eyes
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Michael Hartz

 

From:
Decorah, Iowa, USA
Post  Posted 4 Feb 2014 7:32 pm    
Reply with quote

I am often in the Clear Lake area doing service calls and recently went out to the crash site. You get a very somber feeling there realizing four human beings ( three of them famous) lost their lives in an instant on that exact spot. Tragic.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

rpetersen


From:
Iowa
Post  Posted 5 Feb 2014 5:25 am    
Reply with quote

Michael - That had to be a weird feeling - I became a real close friend to one of the original members of Buddy's band - Nick Sullivan - he was with Buddy at the beginning and was on the Ed Sullivan show..etc.- Had some very interesting stories about everything that went on. He is also gone now
Take care...Ron
_________________
Ron Petersen
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

joe long

 

From:
San Antonio, Texas
Post  Posted 5 Feb 2014 1:23 pm    
Reply with quote

We visited the crash site last summern. Visitors bureau in Clear Lake said they average 10 request a day for directions to the crash site.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Mike Perlowin


From:
Los Angeles CA
Post  Posted 5 Feb 2014 3:33 pm    
Reply with quote

rpetersen wrote:
I became a real close friend to one of the original members of Buddy's band - Nick Sullivan


I can't say we were friends, but he was the manager of a store called Wallach's Music city where I worked in 1969. He worked days, and I worked nights, so we rarely saw each other.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 5 Feb 2014 4:23 pm    
Reply with quote

It's interesting to note that the hits had dried up a bit for Holly as early as '59. He'd split with the Crickets and was doing that tour because he was short of money. As we all know it was a pick-up band and the traveling conditions were pretty dire.

His death, of course, sparking renewed interest and sales were high again but I've often wondered how he'd have finished up had he lived.
_________________
Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
----------------------------------
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

rpetersen


From:
Iowa
Post  Posted 5 Feb 2014 5:38 pm    
Reply with quote

One thing is - It wasn't hard to find a musician in Lubbock Texas to go along on tour - there were quite a few!!
_________________
Ron Petersen
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Joachim Kettner


From:
Germany
Post  Posted 6 Feb 2014 4:28 am    
Reply with quote

Roger Rettig wrote:
... butI've often wondered how he'd have finished up had he lived.

Travelling Wilburys?
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Sonny Jenkins


From:
Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
Post  Posted 6 Feb 2014 9:26 am    
Reply with quote

I grew up in Lubbock (the fabulous 50's) with Buddy (Joe B., Niki Sullivan, Don Guess, Mac Davis, etc),,,Buddy was very "driven",,,he would have been at the top of anything he chose.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Alan Brookes


From:
Brummy living in Southern California
Post  Posted 6 Feb 2014 10:08 am    
Reply with quote

My assistant, before we both retired, was brought up in Lubbock and went to school with Buddy. She knew him well and at one time was dating him. She also knew Waylon Jennings and Sonny Curtis. After living in the San Francisco area for some years, on retirement she moved back to Lubbock, where she now lives. I keep promising to fly over and visit with her, and someday I will. Buddy Holly has always been my lifetime mentor. He had so much talent at such an early age, who knows what he would have accomplished. Crying or Very sad
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Sonny Jenkins


From:
Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
Post  Posted 6 Feb 2014 1:40 pm    
Reply with quote

Yes Alan,,,just like any group or click of kids,,if you knew one of the group you pretty well knew all of them,,,,some closer than others. People are not aware of how much talent came out of 50's Lubbock. i.e. when Buddy started it was as a group called Buddy and Bob and the Bluegrass Boys,,,,the "Bob" being Bob Montgomery,,,,very successful N'ville producer, songwriter etc. At the time none of us had any idea what others would go on to become,,,or it never crossed our minds,,,we were just kids having fun.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Alan Brookes


From:
Brummy living in Southern California
Post  Posted 7 Feb 2014 11:31 am    
Reply with quote

...and 50 years on I'm still trying to master some of the instrumental licks that Buddy could play as a teenager. Cool

It's ironic that the largest proportion of his work was released years after his death. Had he lived we would probably never have had the opportunity to hear them, and certainly he would never have taken his home tapes and given them to the Fireballs to add backing to. He would have arranged his own backings and done them again.

It's not widely known that the Crickets didn't do the vocals on most of his recordings. Those were done by the Pickering Brothers, and some of the recordings without vocal backing were rushed out in a hurry, but the vocal backings had already been worked out. About ten years ago the Picks, as they were known, went back to the original recordings and added the backing vocals that had been worked out many years before.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 7 Feb 2014 11:37 am    
Reply with quote

...and it's not widely known that it wasn't always Buddy playing the best solos. Sonny Curtis and Tommy Allsup did a lot of the good stuff.
_________________
Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
----------------------------------
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Dan Carr


From:
Bucyrus, Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 17 Feb 2014 2:42 pm    
Reply with quote

Sonny Curtis is still alive and kickin', lives and does the steel guitar shows in Columbus, Oh. They have a show this weekend at the Lighthouse Ministries, 2295 South High Street. Time is 12-6pm.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 17 Feb 2014 2:50 pm    
Reply with quote

Not sure if you're referring to the same Sonny Curtis, Dan - I'm talking about the ex-Cricket and songwriter who is from Lubbock (and grew up with Weldon Myrick) and who I'm almost certain doesn't play steel guitar at all.
_________________
Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
----------------------------------
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 17 Feb 2014 2:57 pm    
Reply with quote

Me and Sonny Curtis - composer of 'Walk Right Back', 'I Fought The Law', 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show Theme', 'The Straighgt Life' and many, many more. He's also a wonderful guitar-player.

_________________
Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
----------------------------------
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Dan Carr


From:
Bucyrus, Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 18 Feb 2014 7:34 am    
Reply with quote

Oops! The Sonny Curtis I know is a steel player who was with George Jones back in the day...
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 18 Feb 2014 11:06 am    
Reply with quote

I thought so - easy mistake.
_________________
Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
----------------------------------
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Joachim Kettner


From:
Germany
Post  Posted 20 Feb 2014 12:25 pm    
Reply with quote

"Love Has Made A Fool Of You"... A nice version by Carla Olson an James Intfeld:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZBe4r5JpGE
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Casey Lowmiller

 

From:
Kansas
Post  Posted 20 Feb 2014 5:32 pm    
Reply with quote

I was fortunate enough to attend the 50th Anniversary festivities there in Clear Lake...it was an amazing experience!!!

It was also bitterly cold, with the weather being very close to what it was like 50 years earlier. It made for an interesting experience going out to the crash site in the same weather conditions...very eerie & gave just about everyone there chills!!! As a news photographer, it made me appreciate and be thankful of the dedicated newsmen that braved the elements that day to perform their jobs & capture what ended up being a significant historical event.

As Roger pointed out, he was in need of cash & had recently split with The Crickets & signed up for the tour to make a quick buck. When I went to the Surf Ballroom, I realized just how tragic and cheap his death was. By that, I mean that I always imagined the Surf Ballroom as being this amazing & majestic place...perhaps some place magical Very Happy Instead, it is a neat old ballroom (tons of cities used to have something similar) in a small town in the middle of a frozen tundra!!! Had it not been for this tragic event, how many people would know of Clear Lake and would the Surf still be around/open???

Don't get me wrong, it was a cool place and I took a lot of pics of it. However, after visiting the town, seeing the ballroom, the crash site and the airport, I realized the tragedy of it all. An amazingly talented musician/songwriter (Buddy), a father (JP), a son (Valens) and a newlywed (Peterson) lost their lives...Buddy trying to make a buck, JP who was surely trying to milk his 15 minutes of fame for all it was worth, Valens was striking while the iron was hot & enjoying the ride and Peterson was a 21 year old kid that surely was excited to be flying some Rock stars around.

I love all of these artists music...my comments weren't meant to bring any of them down/trivialize their place in history as performers. It was certainly a tragic event & I've always wondered what Rock would've been like had they all kept living Wink

Casey
_________________
Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 20 Feb 2014 5:52 pm    
Reply with quote

Good post, Casey!

Yes, that was a cheap and tawdry package tour undertaken in appalling conditions and a sure sign that the artists involved had fallen on hard times.

It was a terrible accident, of course, and but for a series of occurrences all three might have lived full lives. How productive they'd have been and how important can never be evaluated now - that date has put them into the history books for ever.

So sad....
_________________
Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
----------------------------------
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Alan Brookes


From:
Brummy living in Southern California
Post  Posted 21 Feb 2014 10:05 am    
Reply with quote

As cheap and tawdry as the venue was, several of today's well-known stars were sitting in the audience waiting for them to appear, including Bobby Vee and Bob Dylan.

Did you know that Phil Everly was one of the pallbearers at Buddy Holly's funeral?
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 21 Feb 2014 10:19 am    
Reply with quote

I didn't single out the venue when I used that description. It was the tour itself on which corners were cut on transportation with the performers' comfort and well-being seeming to have been of little consequence. In that sense Holly would have felt that he'd already come down in the world after just two short years at the top.

It has to have been depressing.

The Everlys and Holly as well as the Crickets were all very close friends.
_________________
Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
----------------------------------
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website


All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Jump to:  

Our Online Catalog
Strings, CDs, instruction,
steel guitars & accessories

www.SteelGuitarShopper.com

Please review our Forum Rules and Policies

Steel Guitar Forum LLC
PO Box 237
Mount Horeb, WI 53572 USA


Click Here to Send a Donation

Email admin@steelguitarforum.com for technical support.


BIAB Styles
Ray Price Shuffles for
Band-in-a-Box

by Jim Baron
HTTP