Please Tell Me It Hasn't Been Fifty Years

The Old Man has spent today hearing some songs in my head. 1959 was one of my very favorite years. I was 17, a Junior in High School, had a rock band and a steady girl friend. (For the sake of clarity, Miss Martha had not yet entered my life so I get a free pass on this one.) I could tool around Bedford in the most totally "uncool" car possible.....the family 1953 Dodge.
It was Happy Days personified. We didn't have Arnold's Drive-In, but we did have the Auto-Dine. The "Dine" was unique. It had posts like the drive-in movie with speakers and a menu. You pulled into a space and placed your order. A car-hop in a neat white jacket would bring your order out to the car. I guess you could figure the "Dine" was the Sonic of its day.

We were there.....every day, rain, shine, snow or exams. No date was complete without a trip to the "Dine". My mom said she never had to worry about where to find me; she said she would just call the Auto-Dine and if I wasn't there, I soon would be.

OK....so what's the 50 year deal? Fifty years ago today, in a frozen field in Iowa, we "children of the '50s" lost three of our idols. After a grueling tour, traveling in a school bus and nearly freezing, Buddy Holly had chartered a Beechcraft Bonanza for a trip to the next town. With Buddy were J. P. Richardson ( The Big Bopper), and Richie Valens. The Auto-Dine's jukebox played their hits repeatedly. Richie Valens sang of his lost love "Donna". Buddy Holly raved about "Peggy Sue", and The Big Bopper commiserated about "Chantilly Lace"....Oh baby you knowwww what I like"

When we heard about the crash, we met the news with stunned disbelief. There must be some mistake. Was this the "day the music died" as memorialized by Don McLean's "American Pie"? Not really. Some of the best of the early rock & roll was to follow. And that leads to an interesting connection.

One of the performers on that tour who was scheduled initially to take that plane ride was Dion Demucci. His early hits came when he recorded as Dion and the Belmonts, Bronx based guys who recorded such hits as, "I Wonder Why", "A Teenager In Love", and "Where or When". Dion decided he couldn't afford the $36.00 cost of the flight. Good call. Dion has had a long career and suffered many highs and lows, but he's still performing.
Here's my connection. In the early '60s I had the pleasure of meeting Dion when he was part of a traveling Dick Clark Caravan of Stars show that I was fortunate enough to serve (with others) as emcee. I remember him as being a gracious and humble fellow without any sign of pretension. Sadly, that's lacking in so many "stars". I continue to wish him well.

Another of the performers on that tour was the late country singer, Waylon Jennings. Waylon too, had been originally scheduled for one of the seats on the flight, but gave his seat up to either J.P Richardson or Richie Valens because they had a terrible cold. The connection? One of the members of my little band played for a bit with Waylon Jennings during the '70s.

Far from dying, the music played on. We had Roy Orbison, Elvis, Chuck Berry, and the genius of MoTown and Phil Spector's "wall of sound" with the Righteous Brothers, the Ronettes, and others. But every February 3rd, some songs play in my head and I feel a little chill.