Buddy Holly

The next day on my adventure takes up through Northern Iowa - long known as the vacation land of America. Beside miles and miles of corn, it was where Buddy Holly's plane crashed. Buddy Holly was a big deal at the time. He became even bigger after his death. When people die young and/or violently their popularity increases. It shouldn't be like that, but it is. Artists like Linda Ronstadt remade a bunch of his hits and they made a movie about his life. Richie Valens had a big hit with La Bomba and also had a movie about his life. Another not as famous musician was with him. He did have a hit with "Chantilly Lace", though. Waylon Jennings was supposed to be on the flight, too, but cancelled.

I went by the Surf Ballroom. It was where they had a concert that night. Judging from their marquee, it's still a pretty famous concert spot. The crash site can be driven to on dirt roads, although you have to walk the last quarter mile. Giant Buddy Holly-type glasses mark the start of the trail. They crashed in a cornfield. If you've seen Iowa, you know that if your plane is going down, there is almost no chance that you won't land in a cornfield. It's not a big tourist spott, however, when I was there, there was another couple there at the same time.

By the way, the event was the source of the song, "American Pie". I saw Don McClean a few years ago. I never thought of him as a great singer and he's lost a little off of that, but it was still fun. He did the long version - about 10 minutes - of American Pie. And then he encored it for a 5 minute version right after that. Well done, Don.

I heard a survey about the top songs of the rock and roll era. The "experts" picked "I Can't Get No Satisfaction". For my money its actually one of the worst songs ever. Repetitive lyrics, the verses stay on the same note throughout and Mick Jagger can't sing. However, the fans picked "American Pie". Nicely done, fans.