Saturday, February 4, 2012


Feb. 3, 2012

On this day in 1959, we lost Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper in a tragic plane crash. If you're old enough, you might remember exactly where you were when you heard the news. I do. I was in fifth grade, and I heard the news at recess. Even then I sensed significance.

Now here's some interesting math (again for you older readers). It was in 1972 that Don Mc Lean recorded his immortal hit "American Pie" which alluded to the tragic plane crash. He referred to it as "The Day the Music Died."

Here's the weird part (to me). The time elapsed between the event and the song was just 13 years. Yet the time elapsed between the song and the present...40 years. Can't be. But it is.

To this day whenever I hear a Buddy Holly song on the radio, I think about what might have happened if he lived. One of the top songs on the record charts at the time Holly died: That'll Be the Day That I Die.



Reminder: 2012 Piano Retreat is now taking enrollments. www.pianofun.com/wordpress