Podcasts about chantilly lace

Nick is joined by Lydia Hislop ahead of a superb weekend of global racing. Ahead of the Guineas, they are joined by Ralph Beckett, who sounds suitably excited about his once raced filly Chantilly Lace. Nicky Henderson drops in for a final line about Constitution Hill ahead of his run at Punchestown, while we preview the Kentucky Derby in some depth over a cocktail with NBC's Matt Bernier and TPD's Adam Mills. Jon Knapman is back with all the latest WorldPool details for the opening European fixture of 2025, while Paul Commins from Albany Stud reflects on an excellent result to top the Guineas Breeze Up sale.

Larisa Olson grew up in Chicago, the daughter of an entrepreneur who purchased a failing framing and furniture business and revitalized it. After many crazy adventures, Larisa studied set and costume design in the UCLA master's program. Over the years, she also spent much time immersed in her father's framing showroom as the showroom coordinator (she had to organize a very chaotic business!) Years later, after more adventures, including some time in real estate, her father encouraged her to purchase a business: Chantilly Lace, a tiny rundown lingerie shop in the middle of one percent, white bread America. She has since revamped the business and turned it into one of this country's lingerie powerhouses. Chantilly Lace is estimated to be one of the top five largest lingerie and swim shops in the nation.Here, Larisa tells the amazing story of how she brought Chantilly Lace from its humble beginnings to monumental retail success. She shares how the store evolved over the years, from window displays to major renovations, and how she broke the rules of retail. Larisa also shares her customer service strategies for driving more lingerie and swim sales, how she flipped the script on merchandising, details of her customer newsletter and employee referral program, and more.What's Inside: How Larisa transformed Chantilly Lace and grew a lingerie empireLarisa's unique customer service strategy How Larisa flipped the script on lingerie and swim merchandisingMentioned In This Episode:Chantilly Lace on InstagramChantillyfavorites.com

011 - Chantilly Lace, Have Mercy - More classic Rockabilly from the 1950's originators and the later revivalists to date from both sides of the Atlantic. Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz

When we left off last season FDR's New Deal and the end of WWII meant America was out of the Great Depression. But in 1960 people were waking from dreams of Earth Angels and Chantilly Lace to times that were changing. The Civil Rights movement, The Women's Movement, and Anti-war protests were drawing attention and building momentum.  Longer nightly news broadcasts meant Americans were seeing more and gaining consciousness of what life was like not only overseas, but right in their own backyards.   People were seeing what it meant to be black in America and to be poor in America. Popular culture, especially music, reflected this, in folk music and protest songs like Odetta's Oh Freedom, in Bob Dylan's “Oxford Town” Nina Simone's “Mississippi Goddam,” and in jazz like John Coltrane's “Alabama.” These recordings brought the injustices of American life into the public consciousness in a new way. So on November 22, 1963, when the 35th president of the United States John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson assumed the role of president of the United States and wasted no time getting to work on continuing the legacy of not only Kennedy but of FDR. And creating a series of programs that he hoped would define his legacy as well.  In May of 1964, 6 months before he would be elected president of the US in a landslide victory. President Johnson laid out his vision for The Great Society in a speech at the University of Michigan.  And this was no pie-in-the-sky hyperbole. Johnson was the architect of the continuation of the safety net through the great society and that meant. Passing the civil rights bill was crucial for Johnson, not only because he was continuing Kennedy's legacy, but because it was a foundational piece of his Great Society and the American Safety Net.  But who was LBJ? What motivated his keen focus on domestic policy, poverty, civil rights, healthcare, and education, especially at a time when the Cold War was heating up and the war in Vietnam was on everyone's hearts, minds, and TVs? In this episode we explore Lyndon Baines Johnson the man and the president with Pulitzer Prizing-winning biographer Robert Caro, we hear conversations between LBJ with Martin Luther King Jr. and we get a better understanding of the context and the consequences of this monumental moment in American history. Special thanks to our other guests for this episode H.W. Brands, Julian Zelizer, and Erine Gray, and to The Miller Center at the University of Virginia, The American Presidency Project at The University of California Santa Barbara, and The LBJ Presidential Library and Museum in Austin Texas for their consultation and use of archived materials. Michael Zapruder arranged and composed the music for this show, and played guitar, with Jeff Olsen on drums, Mike St. Clair on bass, and Sam Lipman on keyboards. Executive Producer, Rebecca McInroy.  Advising Editor, Jim Tuttle Intern, Frances Cutter

 | Misty Blue  | Dink's Blues (feat. Gina Coleman)  | Tell Me Who You Are-A Live Tribute To Odetta | Jan James  | Love Is the Answer  | Time Bomb  |   |  | Tyzack & Tortora  | Easy Money  | The Burnham Session  |  | J.J. Cale  | River Runs Deep  | Naturally  |   |   |  | Kyla Brox  | When We're Alone  | Live at Konitz Castle  |   |  | Johnny Maddox  | Memphis Blues  |  Dixieland Blues  |   |  | David Egan  | Blues How They Linger  | David Egan  |   |  | Kenny Wayne Shepherd  | Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting  | Dirt On My Diamonds Vol 1  |  | Charles -Cow Cow- Davenport  | Hobson City Stomp  | Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2  (1929-1945) | Mike Stevens  | Ida Red  | Breathe in the World Breathe Out Music | Two Gospel Keys  | I Want My Crown  | Country Gospel 1946-1953  | Document Records  |  | Jerry Lee Lewis  | Chantilly Lace  | A Whole Lotta... Jerry Lee Lewis (CD3) | Elias T Hoth  | Long Live Rock'N Roll  | O Rhesus Negative  |   |  | Johnny Winter  | Long Tall Sally (With Leslie West)  | Step Back  |   |   | 

Hey Folks, we are back with episode 50! In classic BFCU fashion Mark and Joe catch up, talk Chantilly Lace, Zach Bryan and get into some deeper more personal topics. We appreciate each and everyone one of your listeners. Share this with your friends or on instagram! Welcome back! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-friends-catching-up/message

Director Linda Yellen discusses her new film, Chantilly Bridge, with fellow director Mary Harron in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, Yellen discusses her use of improvisation in both Chantilly Lace and Chantilly Bridge, and utilizing footage from the original film to craft a memory piece and meditation on aging. Set 25 years after her groundbreaking Sundance hit, Chantilly Lace, the film follows a group of lifelong, steadfast friends who reunite and discuss important issues that impact all women. Yellen brings back the same actresses for a story that traverses old and new films alike as old friends deal with the trials and tribulations in their lives. Please note: spoilers are included. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://dga.org/Events/2023/May2023/ChantillyBridge_QnA_0423.aspx

Imagine being a college student, entering your first film in a contest, and coming in third place behind George Lucas and Martin Scorsese! That actually happened to Linda Yellen, and it was an auspicious beginning of a career in Hollywood moviemaking, working with stars like Dennis Hopper, Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Alexander and Jacqueline Bisset.  From her groundbreaking film "CHANTILLY LACE" to "THE LAST FILM FESTIVAL" and the controversial "PLAYING FOR TIME," Yellen walks us through her brilliant career, as Director, Writer and Producer. Adventures in filmmaking from a master.

Imagine being a college student, entering your first film in a contest, and coming in third place behind George Lucas and Martin Scorsese! That actually happened to Linda Yellen, and it was an auspicious beginning of a career in Hollywood moviemaking, working with stars like Dennis Hopper, Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Alexander and Jacqueline Bisset.  From her groundbreaking film "CHANTILLY LACE" to "THE LAST FILM FESTIVAL" and the controversial "PLAYING FOR TIME," Yellen walks us through her brilliant career, as Director, Writer and Producer. Adventures in filmmaking from a master.

The Brian D. O'Leary Show February 3, 2023   Today's show brought to you by O'Leary Beef and Southside Market & Barbecue. Set up your “Big Game” party with pit-roasted meats from Texas delivered to your front door.   Fountain.FM Listen and support us at the same time over at Fountain.FM   A tragic day, but “the Music” continued The legendary rock ‘n' roller Buddy Holly headlined a package show in early 1959, known as the Winter Dance Party. The itinerary was bananas. It covered twenty-four Midwestern cities in twenty-four days—there were no off days. The tour schedule crisscrossed the upper Midwest with no apparent logic. Overnight jaunts of several hundred miles—all in sub-freezing temperatures—were commonplace. Holly historian Bill Griggs had this to say about General Artists Corporation (GAC)—the operation which booked the tour: "They didn't care. It was like they threw darts at a map… The tour from hell—that's what they named it—and it's not a bad name." On February 2nd, the show in Clear Lake, Iowa ended, and the tour headed about 400 miles northwest from Clear Lake to Morehead, Minnesota. Holly famously chartered a plane for his band prior to the show. Buddy was concerned with getting some rest and making a head start to take care of some much-needed laundry for him and his tour mates. Ultimately, only the headliners of the show took the charter. Waylon Jennings, then playing bass guitar in Holly's band, said he felt more comfortable riding on the tour bus and voluntarily gave up his seat to J.P. Richardson, the Beaumont, Texas disc jockey and tour co-headliner, known as The Big Bopper. Richardson felt ill and needed rest. The Winter Dance Party consisted of several contemporary and would-be stars. Yet the party ended on February 3, 1959, for the 22-year-old Holly and 28-year-old Big Bopper when the plane went down in a blizzard shortly after takeoff, five miles northwest of Mason City, Iowa. Also perishing in the infamous crash was 17-year-old Ritchie Valens of “La Bamba” fame. Yet the tour played on. Sadly, in retrospect. Future chart-topper Bobby Vee, then but 15-years-old, had Buddy Holly's material down cold. So, the Minnesota child filled in—in place of Holly—on February 3 in Morehead. Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian ultimately finished the tour in the place of the deceased stars. Waylon couldn't get to Holly's funeral. GAC wouldn't let him leave the tour. To add insult to injury, venue managers regularly threatened non-payment for shows because the original headliners didn't appear. It didn't matter that they had perished in a tragedy. After the crash, Jennings continued for two more weeks on the tour with doo-wop stars Dion and the Belmonts amongst others. Lead singer Dion DiMucci is the last original headliner still alive today and is in his early 80s. Jennings returned to Lubbock, Texas after the tour ended. Holly's father looked after young Waylon. In Waylon: An Autobiography, Jennings wrote: “Mr. Holley wanted to promote me, because he said Buddy believed in me, but I had enough sense to know that wouldn't be right. He bought me clothes and things like Buddy would.” Waylon returned to the job that got him noticed by Buddy Holly in the first place, as a radio disc jockey. He bounced around west Texas and Arizona as a DJ for the better part of a decade before he reappeared in the public consciousness as a musician once again in the late 1960s. So, contrary to the schmaltz unleashed by Don McLean in 1971, “music" did not die that day. It is more than unsettling that American Pie, McLean's terrible—and entirely too long of a—song, is what the hacky news sites reference on a day like this, the anniversary of the plane crash. But never fear, it happens every February 3rd. Diving into the McLean biography is more than a little unsettling as well. To wit: after his second divorce (from his wife of nearly 30 years) with accusations of abuse hanging over him, the now 77-year-old McLean took up with a “model and reality star” 48 years his junior. McLean still lives off the reputation of that crappy half-century-plus old song. Unfortunately, in my early twenties, I purchased some McLean music, but it was because it was a double-album of McLean's and Jim Croce's music. Croce was good, if not great. He also died in a tragic airplane crash. We wrote about Croce a while ago. https://briandoleary.substack.com/p/if-i-could-save-time-in-a-bottle Anyway, this is all a long way of saying, rock out to some Buddy Holly today, or sing along with “La Bamba,” or get a little “Chantilly Lace” pumping through the airwaves. Perhaps go with a doo-wop session of Dion and the Belmonts. “The Wanderer” by Dion when he went solo is also a great tune. There is never a bad day to play Waylon Jennings music or play it loud. I already listened to the horrible American Pie today. I can confirm that it is as bad as I remember and I feel like less of a man for not trusting my memory.   Links: Winter Dance Party Tour Schedule, 1959 Buddy Holly The Big Bopper Ritchie Valens Waylon Jennings Dion DiMucci Don McLean, 76, steps out with his model girlfriend Paris Dylan, 28, ahead of his performance at Manchester Bridgewater Hall Why the Beatles owe their success to the Comanche Indians   For your premium meats: O'Leary Beef   For all the rest of it, go to BrianDOLeary.com for more information.

How do you tag a catalog that has a full page of color swatches? Chad and Dax tackle this and several other burning questions. We review our amazing time at Creative Pro Week and Knowbility AccessU. Dax reveals a 'seemingly obvious' tip to change focus from the tags or bookmark bar to the main content using keyboard only in NVDA. Be sure to stick around to hear how Chad blew Dax's mind while on-stage at Creative Pro Week.

Pat Taylor Allanson wanted nothing more than to be Scarlett O'Hara - to live in Tara with her own Rhett Butler. She spent her whole life trying to convince everyone she was a perfect southern belle. But the truth is Pat was far from a fragile, well-mannered lady. She was a serial killer who enjoyed torturing her victims, killing them slowly and painfully, manipulating them at every step along the way. This is the story of Pat Taylor Allanson, a woman who would stop at nothing to fulfill her lifelong dream.Hosted and produced by Erica KelleyWritten by Erica KelleyResearched by Haley Gray & Anna LuriaOriginal Graphic Art by Coley HornerOriginal Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma RadioEdited & Mixed by Next Day Podcast & Erica KelleySources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/pat-taylor-allansonSponsors: SimpliSafe.com/southernfried Best Fiends, that's friends without the “R” BetterHelp.com/southern

The best sitcom mom of all time is on the show. We are joined by actor and Emmy-nominee Patricia Richardson. You Might Know Her From Home Improvement, The West Wing, Strong Medicine, Ulee's Gold, Cubby, and The Parent Trap 3. Patricia Richardson understudied the role of Louise “Gypsy Rose” Lee in the 1974 Broadway revival of Gypsy opposite Angela Lansbury and we will never be the same. We talk about her auditioning for book writer Arthur Laurents, rehearsing with fellow understudy Mary Louise Wilson, and bemoaning Robert Tucker's pissy attitude (I mean, Zan, Nan, Ian). Patricia also revealed to us how network executives lied to her in order for her to sign on for Home Improvement, hosting the Emmys with Ellen DeGeneres (“the worst day of her life”), and whether or not she turned down a role on The West Wing (C.J.? Abbey?) before recurring as Sheila Brooks. The juice is good in this one, hunnies. Follow us on social media @damianbellino || @rodemanne Discussed this week:  Anne loves Straight Talk with Dolly Parton Radio shows; WKRP, Frasier (Peri Gilpin and Jane Leeves) Famous Sally Bowles: Jane Leeves, Molly Ringwald Pam Anderson is going to be Roxie in Chicago on Broadway!  Pam was NOT into the recent miniseries based on her life with Tommy Lee  We were excited to see Ariana DeBose and Jane Krakowski in Chicago Fall 2021 but it never happened The Weisslers are stunt casters Roxie Hart SUPERCUT Aurora Spiderwoman has the best YouTube account on the internet  Melanie Griffith was an excellent Roxie Hart (apparently, says Ben Brantley) Kim Cattrall saying “MARIO” and “with a standup bass” Patricia Richardson's hair is an exquisite white Was a Hollywood Blonde and Lousie understudy for 1978 Gypsy revival with Angela Lansbury, directed by Arthur Laurents “Little Lamb” is a tough song to sing  “Honey Bun” from South Pacific ** Angela Lansbury b roll footage of Gypsy ** Patti's “Roses Turn” Bernadette's “Rose's Turn” Tyne Daly's “Rose's Turn” Graduated from SMU with a BFA Spent 8 seasons as Jill Taylor on Home Improvement Tim Allen's Showtime special Brought in Gayle Maffeo Hosted the 1994 Emmys with Ellen DeGeneneres Decider piece on Patricia being best sitcom mom of all time Son is Joe Castle Baker Starred in gay indie comedy Cubby directed by Mark Blane Played Alan Alda's campaign manager on The 5 & 6 seasons of The West Wing Was Patricia the OG CJ Cregg Costarring in upcoming Chantilly Bridge the sequel to Chantilly Lace (1993, for: Linda Yellen) Was in Parent Trap III with her ex husband Ray Baker, the Creel triplets, and of course Hayley Mills Robert Tucker (choreographer from Gypsy) had 3 kids: Zan, Nan(a) Visitor, and Ian Nana Visitor was on Star Trek and was Roxie on Broadway  Betty Buckley's “Rose's Turn” We love Sandy Bullock: Demolition Man, Speed, Love Potion # 9 Ellen has dishware; she flips 45 houses a year; Ellen apparently no longer a vegan!

#55-51Intro/Outro: Poison Ivy by The Coasters55. Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley54. School Days (Ring Ring Goes the Bell) by Chuck Berry53. I've Got You Under My Skin by Frank Sinatra52. Chantilly Lace by The Big Bopper51. Rockin' Robin by Bobby DayVote on your favorite song from today's episodeVote on your favorite song from Week 1Year update:1950 - 01951 - 21952 - 21953 - 21954 - 41955 - 31956 - 71957 - 131958 - 111959 - 6

It's Season 2, Episode 7 of the Friday Night Karaoke Podcast, and the theme was Be My Karaoke Valentine!You knew it was coming, and with Valentine's Day just around the corner, this week was all about songs for that special someone in your life (or that future special someone who just hasn't had the pleasure of meeting you yet). Your Song will Take My Breath Away, like a Kiss From a Rose Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher to Such Great Heights, and There Ain't No Mountain High Enough to keep me away from My Girl. The First Time I Saw Your Face I wondered How Deep is Your Love - just know that Time After Time, I'll Stand By You along with the rest of FNK while you sing your Unchained Melody for #FNKValentine. The Power of Love is real, and Truly Madly Deeply you should know that Nothing Compares 2 U.Featured in this episode alongside hosts Mike Wiston and Joe Rubin:- Rockale Levone with Don't Know Why by Norah Jones- Aaron Adams with Chantilly Lace by The Big Bopper- Felicia Saylor Ennis with Halo by Beyonce- Barbara Lentz with I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston- KC Connor with Your Man by Josh Turner- Isabel Aguilar with Chapel of love by The Dixie Cups- Patti Usselman with If I Sing You a Love Song by Bonnie Tyler- Sebastien Turmel with Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely by Backstreet Boys- Karen Kolar with At Last by Etta James- Vince Williams & Toni Kane with Love Boat (theme song) from The Love BoatLove what you hear? Join the official Friday Night Karaoke FB group, a completely negativity free karaoke destination, and be part of the action! www.facebook.com/groups/fridaynightkaraoke. Hope to see you there!

Get your notebooks out for this one. Major Decodes, this info is foundational for what we will be bringing forward soon. God is the creator and Redeemer. Jesus Blood, there is nothing more powerful. My Liberty Stand – Taking back our country visit mylibertystand.com Support Right on Radio https://patron.podbean.com/RightonRadio Jessie's Patreon: https://t.co/6QbQiO7VyD?amp=1 ​  Subscribe Here; Right on Radio | a podcast by Right on Radio (podbean.com) Subscribe Back up Video Channel on Odysee https://lbry.tv/@RightonRadio:9 Download the mobile app LBRY for best Odysee experience. Get Swag www.rightonmerch.com   SOS Army sign up http://eepurl.com/htHoWX  Receive FREE book download. Baron Trumps's Marvellous Underground Adventure Right on U Link: https://rightonU.com -Dominion and Authority, save $20 Use Coupon WAR expires Jan 31st -Unleash the Supernatural, use code SUPERNATURAL" save 50% ends soon. -Creating Wealth  SAVE $300 USE Coupon Code MULTIPLY expires Jan 31st -STAR Achievement System Purchase for $17 use coupon "STAR" Digital Soldiers: Welcome to the SoS Army [Shepherds of Sheeple Army] Web Site https://sosarmy.mailchimpsites.com/  Subscribe:https://rightonradio.podbean.com/​ Follow: https://gab.com/  Right on Radio​ Telegram: https://t.me/right_on_radio [Main Channel] Digs https://t.me/RightonRadioDIGS Chat https://t.me/RightonRadioCHAT Prayer https://t.me/SOSPrayer Live Right in the Real World! We talk God and Politics, Faith Based Broadcast Top level Intel by hosts Jeff and Jessie News, views, Opinions and Attitudes We are Your News Now. Keep the Faith

Our guest today is Southern California-based interior designer Naomi Coe. Naomi's award-winning firm, Little Crown Interiors, specializes in designing nurseries and children's rooms. Her book, Your Perfect Nursery, is a step-by-step approach to creating your dream nursery from both a practical and aesthetical approach. Naomi has been featured on Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight, as well as in publications like People, The Wallstreet Journal, and countless more. Naomi talks about the importance of walking into a nursery and feeling good, practical placements, safety tips, modern trends, and more! What You'll Hear on This Episode: Trials & Triumphs on windows & doors, making decisions, furnace maintenance, making room for the Christmas Tree, AirBnB odors, shower curtains, tubs, and more! How did Naomi get started in nursery and kids' room design? Naomi's book, Your Perfect Nursery, was born from a challenge to find one resource. How does Naomi recommend starting the nursery design process? Naomi gives us her top tips for crib, window treatment, and earthquake safety. How to choose the right crib. Naomi's tips on choosing the right glider or rocker. What should go on or in reach of the changing table? Tips and tricks for arranging and storing kids' clothing. How to design a room that grows with a child. Why Naomi's book is the perfect baby shower gift or resource for any new parent. Decorating Dilemma  Hi (again) Jamie, First of all, I would say paint the actual walls with the paint samples. It'll look very different on the wall than it would on a board; especially white paint. I'm personally a big fan of Chantilly Lace, but it's going to look different in every room and every home. I very much love the painted trim look right now; white walls with slightly darker doors and trim. I think Seapearl or Putty color could be pretty. Good luck with the new build! You're already ahead of Taryn in the process! Mentioned in This Episode: Little Crown Interiors Little Crown Interiors on Instagram Your Perfect Nursery The Schwartz House

Seventy-eight dollars was a pretty good haul today. The promotion from busboy to a server is what I needed. Now I'm making more in one night than I did in a weekend of cleaning tables at the Catfish House. Luckily Mrs. Ellis gave me a shot because I always thought I was too clumsy to carry all of those dishes up my arm. Some of the regulars who request me when they stop by are pretty cool and good tippers. It's not a bad job, but I don't see myself here much longer. "The floor needs to dry a little more, Chris," Mrs. Ellis tells me as I attempt to wrap up prematurely. At least the little dining room is finished. We knocked that out about an hour before we closed. Mr. Ellis always lets us get a head start on a few things because I don't think he likes to hang out very long either. For the longest time, I didn't feel like he enjoyed having me around. I overheard him telling Dicky a story when I first got the job. I've always been a little hard of hearing, and when Mr. Ellis doesn't have his teeth in, he can be challenging to follow. Typically when I can't understand someone, I instinctively giggle, and it usually works out in the end, and everyone is happy; not this time. The story wrapped up, and my southern belly chortle kicked into high gear; then Mr. Ellis looked at Dicky and said, "I don't think that was funny, do you?" Dicky's eyes widened, and he said, "No sir, I do not," as our chief walked away and disappeared into the kitchen. It turns out Mr. Ellis was telling the tale of when some thief stole his class ring at school. Thankfully he forgave me, and we grew pretty close after the misunderstanding. "Momma, this floor's dry," Mr. Ellis belts out across the empty dining room to his wife. Mrs. Ellis smiles at me and says, "go ahead and finish up, sweetie." She continued closing out the register. My friends are starting to accumulate outside. As soon as these chairs are down, I'm out the door. Luckily a couple of guys stuck around to help, so it'll go fast. My buddies and I will cruise Riverside for a couple of hours before we end up at someone's house. That's what we do most nights. There isn't much else going on in Clarksville by the time I get off work. The evening always begins with high aspirations that we'll meet a few girls, but despair sets in when things wind down, then we give up. It's a weekly cycle. After changing my shirt and grabbing my coat, I head out to the parking lot to meet yet another Chris we'll call Chris G; then there's Kevin, Don, and Matt. I'm attempting to catch as many moments as possible with this group of guys because I know these adventures won't last forever. Sooner or later, we'll all drive around together for the last time, and none of us will even realize it's over. All Chris G and Kev talk about is moving to Alaska so they can get rich. They're planning on leaving as early as next year. Matt's obligations on the farm are his number one priority, so he'll be taking on more responsibility soon. Don's future is up in the air right now, but my best guess is that he'll follow in his parents' footsteps and join the military. For now, we're all together, and the night is young. About the time my pals pile in the Cutlass, George Michael blasts through my speakers, encouraging us with his song Faith. Everyone sings along, and we make up our own words if we don't know the lyrics. Once the song cools down, the conversation fires up. "Man, we need girls," Matt says from the backseat as we see a carload drive past. "We wouldn't know what to do with them if we did meet any," Kevin announces. "Don should clearly talk to them first," was my recommendation. Chris G concurred, "Yeah, they'll love Don's eyes; they always do." Matt perked up, "The problem with that is when they see Don, the bar is too high, and the rest of us are out of luck." I suggested, "We should just stop bringing Don along then. It'll improve our chances." "You guys really suck," was Don's comeback. Every group has that one guy who is ridiculously good-looking. Don is that guy in our circle. The rest of us can pull every trick in the book to meet a girl, but Don doesn't even have to try. He flashes his ice-blue eyes, and it's game over for everybody else. Kevin is always too hard on himself; Chris G is currently heartbroken; Matt and I would appreciate a tiny bit of excitement, so hope lives within us two. We're an odd group, but we are the best of friends. High school has its share of clicks, but none of us ever quite fit into any of them. It's probably why we all get along. The cruise route starts by turning in by Funland arcade, and then we drive past the movie theater and back onto Riverside Drive. We follow the Cumberland River to the last light and use Burger Kings' parking lot to redirect and repeat. Cars are bumper to bumper at least until around one in the morning. I'm good to go all night because my job doesn't start until three tomorrow afternoon. Some of the guys have to get up early, but most of us get to sleep in on Saturday. Horns honk, and the sound of blaring music blends with squealing tires and powerful engines. The crisp air forces us to keep the windows up during the ride. Each red light gives us a chance to roll them down and hopefully make eye contact with a beautiful girl. Some magic moments materialize before being snuffed out by an annoyed look from an overbearing boyfriend in the driver's seat. Laughter takes over as we prepare for the next stop. "That hot girl next to us just smiled at me; catch up to her," Matt sounded out. "Pretty sure she was looking at Don," uttered Kevin. Chris G chimed in, "Now she's rolling her eyes and speeding up." "Guessing she's not into a car full of desperate boys," I proclaimed. "It's a sausage party every night," Don added. We smiled and decided to check out Buffalo Brady's and maybe play a game of pool. None of us are professionals, but again, it's more about meeting the opposite sex and less about showing off any game-related skills. We filed in, past the cigarette machine in the foyer, and took a table. Guns N' Roses filled the dining room with one of my favorite tunes, Paradise City. Matt and Don headed to the billiards while the rest of us ordered a couple of sodas. I told Kevin that I thought that brunette we passed on the way in might be into me. Chris G told me I should forget about it because she's already talking to Don. We changed the conversation and moved on because she was a lost cause at that point. We slid into deep dialogue mode in no time because that's what happens around midnight. The crowd began to thin out as our two buddies returned to join in the discussion. We sat around that table, looking at each other wrapped in the innocence of youthful bliss. The late hours made no difference because none of us thought too far past the moment. One of us would take the floor to speak while the rest would intently listen until it was our turn. Chuckling until we couldn't breathe or crying until our tear ducts were empty wasn't uncommon at all. We'd become friends long ago, but it was times like this that cemented our friendship for a lifetime. On the way back to the Catfish House, the guys made me sing Chantilly Lace because I could make myself sound just like The Big Bopper. They'd all cackle out loud while I did my best to keep from cracking up. Everyone complained about how we were a bunch of failures every time we went out. Of course, that won't keep us from trying the next day all over again. Tomorrows are abundant for now, so our group of lovable losers will make the most of them.

pony tail hangin down

On this week's Talking Dirty Podcast, Alan Gray (East Ruston Old Vicarage) and Thordis enjoy a long-overdue return from the fabulous Rosy and Rob Hardy of Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants. Always great at choosing plants which are perfect for a situation, they turn up some stunners for the Autumn garden - from Chrysanthemums to Strobilanthes. PLANT LIST Thalictrum 'Chantilly Lace' Glandularia 'Margaret's Memory' Zizia aurea Veronica gentianoides 'Tissington White' Cercis canadensis 'Eternal Flame' x Semponium 'Sienna' Chrysanthemum 'Dixter Orange' Helianthus orgyalis Vernonia arkansana Leucanthemella Helianthus 'Miss Mellish' Helianthus giganteus 'Sheilas Sunshine' Lespedeza thunbergii Strobilanthes rankanensis Strobilanthes attenuata (atropurpurea) Strobilanthes nutans Strobilanthes attenuata 'Blue and White' Saxifraga 'Shiranami' Chrysanthemum 'Esther' Rhodochiton atrosanguineus Thunbergia alata 'African Sunset' Eccremocarpus scaber Cercis siliquastrum Anemone 'Frilly Knickers'

Você acredita em vida após a morte?Nesse drops, você vai ouvir a história de um cara que já morreu e ressuscitou algumas vezes.Já sabe de quem estamos falando?Confira!Se você gostou do Clube da Música Autoral, seja um sócio. Acesse: https://clubedamusicaautoral.com.br/assine e confira as vantagens que você recebe em troca do seu apoio.Se você quiser, também pode nos ajudar fazendo um PIX. Utilize nosso email como chave:clubedamusicaautoral@gmail.comQualquer valor é bem-vindo.

Brenda Lee - Takin' What I Can Get (1976) Carla Bley - Rawalpindi Blues (1971) From the great artist herself. The first piece we wanted to record was RAWALPINDI BLUES, which featured Jack Bruce and trumpet player Don Cherry, but it seemed impossible to get them both in New York at the same time. By the time Jack could get away (he was working almost every night in London with Tony Williams' band) Don had to leave for commitments in Europe. So we split the music into two parts and recorded Don's parts first. This actually enhanced the piece since it was intended to be a dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures. The first session, featuring Don Cherry and the “eastern band”, took place on Nov. 30th, 1970...The band's improvised sections were of the highest quality, rare and effortless. Don left the country the next day and on Dec. 7th Jack arrived and went right into the studio and recorded for 2 days and nights almost straight through. Luckily John McLaughlin was also in town so we were able to use him on electric guitar. With Jack on bass guitar, Paul Motian on drums and myself on organ, we had the “western band”  Again, I was amazed at how great the playing was. We finished up RAWALPINDI BLUES and also recorded BUSINESSMEN, DETECTIVE WRITER DAUGHTER, parts of … AND IT'S AGAIN, and a few other bits and pieces. Jack and John went back to London and I settled down to putting RAWALPINDI BLUES together. After listening to the material we had so far I decided to bring in another singer to do parts of RAWALPINDI BLUES that hadn't been suitable for Jack or Don. I needed someone who could slide his voice around. Steve Ferguson, formerly of NRBQ, was a country singer from Kentucky, but I heard a connection between the way Steve moved his voice and the way it's done in Eastern music. He came in on Dec. 18th and it worked out well.  Using the best of the things we had so far, we put a tape together. RAWALPINDI BLUES was really difficult to mix. We had indiscriminately filled up all 16 tracks right at the beginning and then crammed in other elements wherever there was the slightest space. So when we finally got down to mixing it, it was all hands on the board and took two full days. One of the most un-nerving and time-consuming parts was a process I used a few times called cross-fading, which involved mixing two 16-track tapes down to a 2-track tape all at once. They used to flinch at RCA when we called in and told them how many machines we would need that day. From then on we tried to keep things simpler. We didn't want Ray Hall to grow old before his time. We ended up calling it (the album) a chronotransduction, which was a word coined by Sherry Speeth, a scientist friend of Paul's (Paul Haines, the lyricist), although we still call it opera for short. I find this whole album amazing, frustrating, thrilling, devastating. I LOVE Jack Bruce on this. Linda Ronstadt sings on this album as well. I highly recommend it. "Hotel Overture" might be the most amazing horn-playing (French horn player Bob Carlisle) I've heard on record.  Chuck Berry - Little Marie (1964) Sort a sequel to "Memphis". No, it's a sequel to "Memphis".  Dave Clark and Friends - I'm Sorry Baby (1972) Davey Johnstone & China - One Way Ticket (1977) Ass-kicking music from Elton John's band. I love it. Released on his label.  Frank Sinatra - Everybody's Twistin' (1962) Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner - Mendy Never Sleeps (1970) Even before my time, Dolly Parton was a young talent brought into the fold of Nashville society by Porter Wagoner, more or less, by starting out as a singer on his TV show. She was too talented, too gifted a songwriter and singer, too unconventionally beautiful, and too ambitious to stay there for long, even though she stayed two years past her initial agreement. Dutifully, she stayed longer than she should have, and in fact, the hit "I Will Always Love You" was written for him.  Petula Clark - L'Agent Secret (1969) Bill Haley and the Comets - A Little Piece At A Time (1971) Billy Thorpe - Drive My Car (1975) His next album would be his breakthrough and zenith in the US, "Children of the Sun".  Kevin Coughlin - I Gotta Be Me (1969) Soupy Sales - Muck-Arty Park (1969) From the album, "A Bag of Soup". Soupy Sales was a television comedian whose antics delighted children and enraged adults. He flirted with mainstream success with comic pop songs on television and radio, but in the end remained a cult personality, albeit one who pushed the envelope of what was possible in TV comedy. He played a big role in the growth of "pie-in-the-face" comedy.  The Residents - Elvis and His Boss (1978) Tom Jones - Never Had a Lady (1979) Me singing over an instrumental song I programmed.  Noel Harrison - A Young Girl (1969) Coca-Cola - Keep Things Jumping (?) Burgess Meredith - The Capture (1966) Played The Penguin in the TV series with Adam West. There was a whole series of Batman records released to promote the 1966 TV series where they got the actors from the show to do these "in character" songs.  The Cowsills - The Milk Song (1969) This is the band that served as the prototype for The Partridge Family. But the mother was not seen as attractive enough. So Shirley Jones would have to be the one to sing "Whale Song" and make me feel funny. Down there. I didn't understand these feelings.  Datsun - All You Really Need (1972?) The Dave Pell Singers - Oh, Calcutta (1972) Oh, Calcutta was an off-Broadway musical that got pretty bad reviews but thrived in the era of flower-power as a corporate weapon. Loosen up, brother!! Anyhow, it enjoyed a long run, eventually reaching Broadway, with revivals running for years and years. One skit's first draft was written by John Lennon of The Beatles.  Stereo Speaker Test (?) Dick Clark - The Wasting of Wesley Joe Grimm (1969) John & Ernest - Super Fly Meets Shaft (1973) Produced by Dickie Goodman, the then-king of the cut-in record.  The Garden Club - Little Girl Lost and Found (1967) One member was Tom Shipley, later of Brewer and Shipley, who had a Top 10 hit with "One Toke Over The Line". Which Lawrence Welk covered on his TV show.  The Gentle Touch - Among The First To Know (1967) Hank Levine - Let Us Begin Beguine (1964) George Burns - The Sun Shines On My Street (1969) ANOTHER take-off/tribute based on The Beatles' Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band cover. There were many. Who was George Burns?  POACA might recall that before television was the king of everything, radio was the thing. And no one was bigger in that medium than the plain-spoken, often exasperated but always kind and honest George Burns. He and his wife/comic foil Gracie Allen reigned supreme for decades. It would not be exaggerating to say that she was the most famous radio star for years. Gracie Allen ((in real life, an amazing intellectual who held her own on the very difficult quiz show "Information, Please" (which you should research but you will not because no one reads this)) had a singular ability to make audiences love her. From the '30s to the '50s, Burns and Allen were one of the most beloved shows in all of America. And George Burns won an Academy Award in 1974 for his appearance in The Sunshine Boys (when he replaced another giant of radio, Jack Benny, who died before the movie was made.) He also appeared in the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with Peter Frampton. No one won an Oscar for that. He also reached the Top 20 in the country chart with "I Wish I Was Eighteen Again".  Jayne Mansfield - That Makes It (1966) Basically, The Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" from a woman's point of view. Jayne Mansfield was an attractive, versatile Marilyn Monroe-esque It-Girl who gave birth to Mariska Hargitay of "Law and Order SVU".  Julie London - Marlboro Song (1963) The Lettermen - Touch Me (1970) Mike Curb and Bob Summers - Teenage Rebellion (1969) Orson Welles - I Know What It Is To Be Young (But You Don't Know What It Is To Be Old) (1984) Ah, the French.  The Partridge Family - Summer Days (1971)

“Chantilly Lace” by The Big Bopper plays as Toad tries to steal back the car and John rescues him from a fight. Jim O'Kane of The Rocketeer Minute Podcast rejoins Rachel to talk about Tarzan's son, Milner at his most Han Solo, the importance of protecting Charles Martin Smith at all costs, what music might have been if the plane hadn't crashed, and how to hotwire an Impala. Come hang out at Mel's Listeners' Drive In on Facebook and @vcrprivileges on Twitter and InstagramArtwork by Alex RobinsonMusic by Chris Frain

Mod Marty shares his birthday with On Target! In this milestone episode On Target turns 7 as Marty turns..... more than that ;). Join us for an hour of the sound that makes Mods tick and fuels On Target every week. ALL LINKS: linktr.ee/mod.marty ----------------------------------------------- The Playlist Is: "Chantilly Lace" Shorty Long - Soul "Got My Mojo Working" Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks - Hawk "Darlin' I Love You So" The Wallace Brothers - Sims "Mr. Pitiful" Otis Redding - Atlantic "You're Doing With Her - When It Should Be Me" Rhetta Hughes - Tetragrammaton "Uhh" Dyke & The Blazers - Original Sound "Get Out My Life Woman" Five D - Sir John A. "Outta Sight" Them - Them Again (LP only) "All Night Long" The Dave Clark Five - Columbia "Number One Guy" The Ferris Wheel (featuring Linda Lewis) - Philips "You're Doing Something Awfully Good" Jackye Owens - Groovy "Am I Falling In Love" Maxine Brown - ABC - Paramount "Helpless" Kim Weston - Gordy "I Feel An Urge Coming On" Jo Armstead - Giant "Talkin' 'Bout You Baby" The Mighty Marvellows - ABC "Try Too Hard" The Dave Clark Five - Columbia "Booga Dee" Mike Felix - Pye "Stand By Me" Gregory Carroll - Epic "Moon Hop" Derrick Morgan - Crab "Little Did You Know" The Techniques - Treasure Isle "Cotton Tree" Tommy McCook & the Skatalites - Ska Beat

Lista de emisión de Fabuloseando!! n.º 15 (06/02/2005). La semana pasada se rompió el programa, y estos días intenté recomponerlo, al final conseguí reducir los añicos a dos mitades, que si bien encajan a la perfección, no se mantienen totalmente unidas. En la primera parte de hoy recordamos a Richie Valens, Big Bopper y Buddy Holly que fallecieron el 3 de febrero de 1959 en un accidente de avión, lo que se conoció como "el día que la música murió". 01. Don McLean. American Pie. 02. Richie Valens. La Bamba. 03. Richie Valens. Oh, Donna. 04. Richie Valens. Come on Let's go 05. Big Bopper. Chantilly Lace. 06. Big Bopper. Little Red Riding Hood. 07. Big Bopper. Purple People Eater. 08. Buddy Holly. Purple People Eater 09. Buddy Holly. That'll Be the Day 10. Buddy Holly. Oh, Boy 11. Weezer. Buddy Holly. A mi no me gusta mucho hacer promesas porque soy inconstante, y mi, antes prodigiosa memoria, ya no es lo que era. La memoria es muy importante para cumplirlas, es necesario no olvidar que las hemos hecho. 12. Los Piratas. Promesas que no valen nada. 13. P.J. Harvey. This is Love. 14. Marvin Gaye. Me and Mrs. Jones. 15. Charly García. Promesas sobre el bidet. 16. Los Tigres del Norte. My Promise/Mi Promesa. 17. UB 40. Promises And Lies. 18. Carlinhos Brown. Yaba.

On this episode, the boys take a call from the '50s rocker The Big Bopper as they talk about Chantilly Lace. After that, they discuss in detail the #1 ranked film on IMDB (and in our hearts) The Shawshank Redemption. Be sure to follow us on all social media channels IG and Twitter @thestonerspov as well as check out our Spotify playlist for all past and future songs: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2AX0skKdcb2pyiv2oOOxo8

Story: chantilly lace Author: wtfmulder Rating: Explicit Site link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12394653 Read by: AnnieXFlowers Summary: Scully is a vision in chantilly lace. Used by the author's permission. The characters in these works are not the property of the Audio Fanfic Podcast or the author and are not being posted for profit.

Brandy. Mandy. Roxanne. Rosalita. Chantilly Lace. Eleanor Rigby. Yes, there have been so many songs with women’s names as the title. So, Jon and Kurt decided to dig in and share the backstories, the motivations, the urban legends behind them. Oh, and they also take a side on the whole sweet vs. savory crepe debate.

Welcome to Pledge Week! I’m doing a week of posting some of the Patreon bonuses I’ve done, to encourage those who can to sign up to my Patreon. Every day of Pledge Week will start with the same section, which I’ll transcribe once, below, before the cut. Pledge Week Intro This is not a proper episode of the podcast. Rather, this is something else. I’ve decided to hold a pledge week, to try to get a few more subscribers to my Patreon. So every day this week I’ll be putting one of the backer-only episodes I’ve done over the past year up on the main podcast feed, so people can hear what it is you get if you sign up for the Patreon, with this little introductory piece before them. If you’re already a backer, you will already have this episode, so you can skip this and everything else labelled “pledge week”. I do one of these every week for my backers, and backers even at the lowest levels get them — if you sign up for a dollar a month you get each new one as it comes out, and access to all the old ones. There are fifty-nine of them up so far, as well as a few other things like the monthly Q&As I’ve been doing for backers. I’m only making seven of these available on the public feed, so there’s a lot still there for you to listen to. If this works well, I might do another one next year, when there’ll be another fifty-odd episodes to choose from. None of this is meant to put any pressure on anyone who can’t afford it to back the podcast — the podcast will always remain free to listen to, and I hope it will remain ad-free as well. I know times are especially tough right now, and many of you literally can’t afford the money you’re already spending, let alone paying any more out. I only want backers who can spare the money. But if you can afford it, and you like these bonus episodes enough, then go to patreon.com slash andrewhickey, that’s spelled h-i-c-k-e-y, or follow the link in the shownotes, and sign up, and you’ll get one of these the same day as every new episode. If you can’t, well… enjoy this extra free bonus, and don’t worry about it. Transcript behind cut (more…)

Welcome to Pledge Week! I’m doing a week of posting some of the Patreon bonuses I’ve done, to encourage those who can to sign up to my Patreon. Every day of Pledge Week will start with the same section, which I’ll transcribe once, below, before the cut. Pledge Week Intro This is not a proper episode of the podcast. Rather, this is something else. I’ve decided to hold a pledge week, to try to get a few more subscribers to my Patreon. So every day this week I’ll be putting one of the backer-only episodes I’ve done over the past year up on the main podcast feed, so people can hear what it is you get if you sign up for the Patreon, with this little introductory piece before them. If you’re already a backer, you will already have this episode, so you can skip this and everything else labelled “pledge week”. I do one of these every week for my backers, and backers even at the lowest levels get them — if you sign up for a dollar a month you get each new one as it comes out, and access to all the old ones. There are fifty-nine of them up so far, as well as a few other things like the monthly Q&As I’ve been doing for backers. I’m only making seven of these available on the public feed, so there’s a lot still there for you to listen to. If this works well, I might do another one next year, when there’ll be another fifty-odd episodes to choose from. None of this is meant to put any pressure on anyone who can’t afford it to back the podcast — the podcast will always remain free to listen to, and I hope it will remain ad-free as well. I know times are especially tough right now, and many of you literally can’t afford the money you’re already spending, let alone paying any more out. I only want backers who can spare the money. But if you can afford it, and you like these bonus episodes enough, then go to patreon.com slash andrewhickey, that’s spelled h-i-c-k-e-y, or follow the link in the shownotes, and sign up, and you’ll get one of these the same day as every new episode. If you can’t, well… enjoy this extra free bonus, and don’t worry about it. Transcript behind cut —-more—- Since we looked at Ritchie Valens in the main podcast last week, and this week we’re looking at Buddy Holly, it’s probably worth devoting this week’s bonus podcast to the third person who died in that terrible plane crash. The Big Bopper is known as a one-hit wonder who had a novelty hit, and these days when he’s remembered at all by rock and roll fans it’s simply because he died in the same crash as Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. And certainly his one big hit, “Chantilly Lace”, doesn’t suggest he would have been one of the greats of music. But J.P. Richardson actually had rather more of a career than that might suggest, much of it posthumous: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, “Chantilly Lace”] Jiles Perry Richardson always liked to be known as “Jape”, after his initials, but he developed a public persona from working as a DJ on KTRM radio, when he switched from his original show, “the Dishwashers’ Serenade”, to a new one called “the Bop”. While on KTRM he took part in all sorts of publicity stunts, such as breaking the world record for longest uninterrupted broadcast by staying on the air for five days, two hours, and eight minutes straight, after which he apparently slept for twenty hours. At KTRM he got to know his fellow DJ George Jones, and he also got to know Pappy Daily, who was the promotion manager for Mercury Starday records (If you listen to the great country music podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones, the episode on Shelby Singleton talks quite a bit about Daily). Mercury Starday had been having some success with records by Jones, who had hit the country top ten a few times, and Jape had written a few country songs, so he started recording for the label. His first effort was a pure country ballad, released under the name Jape Richardson and the Japettes: [Excerpt: Jape Richardson and the Japettes, “Beggar to a King”] That did absolutely nothing sales-wise, so Richardson changed to a rockabilly style. His next single, “Monkey Song”, didn’t do much better: [Excerpt: Jape Richardson, “Monkey Song”] But the next song was much more successful. “Chantilly Lace” is the song that made the Big Bopper’s name. If you don’t mind the objectification in the lyrics, there’s a lot of charm to the song, and at the time it became a massive hit, and it’s one that’s still remembered to this day: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, “Chantilly Lace”] The fact that it was intended as a novelty cash-in can be seen by its B-side – which was originally its A-side – “The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor”, a team-up song inspired by the two novelty hits we talked about a few weeks ago: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, “The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor”] The single made the top ten, and it was followed up by “The Big Bopper’s Wedding”, which was less successful, but followed the same formula: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, “The Big Bopper’s Wedding”] But then, of course, came the fateful tour we look at in this week’s main podcast, and the Big Bopper’s death in a plane crash, with two much more prominent musicians. That should, by all rights, have been the end of his career. But as it turned out, his two most important contributions to music hadn’t yet been released. Shortly before he died, Richardson had written a song called “Running Bear”, and he’d given it to a young friend of his, Johnny Preston. It was a teen tragedy song of the type that was a rather successful subgenre of the time, this one with the novelty element that the characters were native Americans (or an “Indian brave” and “Indian maid” as the song puts it) who lived on opposite banks of a river and ended up drowning in the middle when they tried to be together. Richardson and George Jones had sung backing vocals on it, doing Hollywood-Indian chanting and generally playing up to every stereotype of the Western-film Indian, but it hadn’t been released at the time of Richardson’s death. When it was released a few months later, it went to number one and became one of the biggest hits of all time: [Excerpt: Johnny Preston, “Running Bear”] But that wasn’t Richardson’s only posthumous contribution to music. Richardson had already co-written a country top ten hit for George Jones, “Treasure of Love”: [Excerpt: George Jones, “Treasure of Love”] But less than a week after Richardson’s death, Jones went back into the studio again, to record another song that Richardson had written for him. Jones was still shaken by his friend’s death, and turned up to the session drunk — the first time he would do so in a long career of drunkenness. They had to do so many takes that the bass player, Buddy Killen, got blisters on his fingers and threatened to physically attack Jones. Jones never got the song right, and eventually they stuck with either the first or third take — accounts vary — where he’d only messed up one word — singing “s-slug” rather than “slug”, which honestly sounds fine to me: [Excerpt: George Jones, “White Lightning”] That became Jones’ first country number one, and one of only three singles he ever released to also make the pop top one hundred — it reached number seventy-three, the highest he would ever reach in the pop charts. While Jones had had country top ten hits before, “White Lightning” is generally regarded as the breakout hit that made his career — a career that would last more than fifty more years, during which time he would have over a hundred and fifty records make the country charts, thirteen of them going to number one. That’s more chart hits than any other act in history, and that career was owed at least in part to Jape Richardson, the one-hit wonder who died with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

Welcome to Pledge Week! I'm doing a week of posting some of the Patreon bonuses I've done, to encourage those who can to sign up to my Patreon. Every day of Pledge Week will start with the same section, which I'll transcribe once, below, before the cut. Pledge Week Intro This is not a proper episode of the podcast. Rather, this is something else. I've decided to hold a pledge week, to try to get a few more subscribers to my Patreon. So every day this week I'll be putting one of the backer-only episodes I've done over the past year up on the main podcast feed, so people can hear what it is you get if you sign up for the Patreon, with this little introductory piece before them. If you're already a backer, you will already have this episode, so you can skip this and everything else labelled "pledge week". I do one of these every week for my backers, and backers even at the lowest levels get them -- if you sign up for a dollar a month you get each new one as it comes out, and access to all the old ones. There are fifty-nine of them up so far, as well as a few other things like the monthly Q&As I've been doing for backers. I'm only making seven of these available on the public feed, so there's a lot still there for you to listen to. If this works well, I might do another one next year, when there'll be another fifty-odd episodes to choose from. None of this is meant to put any pressure on anyone who can't afford it to back the podcast -- the podcast will always remain free to listen to, and I hope it will remain ad-free as well. I know times are especially tough right now, and many of you literally can't afford the money you're already spending, let alone paying any more out. I only want backers who can spare the money. But if you can afford it, and you like these bonus episodes enough, then go to patreon.com slash andrewhickey, that's spelled h-i-c-k-e-y, or follow the link in the shownotes, and sign up, and you'll get one of these the same day as every new episode. If you can't, well... enjoy this extra free bonus, and don't worry about it. Transcript behind cut ----more---- Since we looked at Ritchie Valens in the main podcast last week, and this week we're looking at Buddy Holly, it's probably worth devoting this week's bonus podcast to the third person who died in that terrible plane crash. The Big Bopper is known as a one-hit wonder who had a novelty hit, and these days when he's remembered at all by rock and roll fans it's simply because he died in the same crash as Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. And certainly his one big hit, "Chantilly Lace", doesn't suggest he would have been one of the greats of music. But J.P. Richardson actually had rather more of a career than that might suggest, much of it posthumous: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, "Chantilly Lace"] Jiles Perry Richardson always liked to be known as "Jape", after his initials, but he developed a public persona from working as a DJ on KTRM radio, when he switched from his original show, "the Dishwashers' Serenade", to a new one called "the Bop". While on KTRM he took part in all sorts of publicity stunts, such as breaking the world record for longest uninterrupted broadcast by staying on the air for five days, two hours, and eight minutes straight, after which he apparently slept for twenty hours. At KTRM he got to know his fellow DJ George Jones, and he also got to know Pappy Daily, who was the promotion manager for Mercury Starday records (If you listen to the great country music podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones, the episode on Shelby Singleton talks quite a bit about Daily). Mercury Starday had been having some success with records by Jones, who had hit the country top ten a few times, and Jape had written a few country songs, so he started recording for the label. His first effort was a pure country ballad, released under the name Jape Richardson and the Japettes: [Excerpt: Jape Richardson and the Japettes, "Beggar to a King"] That did absolutely nothing sales-wise, so Richardson changed to a rockabilly style. His next single, "Monkey Song", didn't do much better: [Excerpt: Jape Richardson, "Monkey Song"] But the next song was much more successful. "Chantilly Lace" is the song that made the Big Bopper's name. If you don't mind the objectification in the lyrics, there's a lot of charm to the song, and at the time it became a massive hit, and it's one that's still remembered to this day: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, "Chantilly Lace"] The fact that it was intended as a novelty cash-in can be seen by its B-side – which was originally its A-side – "The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor", a team-up song inspired by the two novelty hits we talked about a few weeks ago: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor"] The single made the top ten, and it was followed up by "The Big Bopper's Wedding", which was less successful, but followed the same formula: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, "The Big Bopper's Wedding"] But then, of course, came the fateful tour we look at in this week's main podcast, and the Big Bopper's death in a plane crash, with two much more prominent musicians. That should, by all rights, have been the end of his career. But as it turned out, his two most important contributions to music hadn't yet been released. Shortly before he died, Richardson had written a song called "Running Bear", and he'd given it to a young friend of his, Johnny Preston. It was a teen tragedy song of the type that was a rather successful subgenre of the time, this one with the novelty element that the characters were native Americans (or an "Indian brave" and "Indian maid" as the song puts it) who lived on opposite banks of a river and ended up drowning in the middle when they tried to be together. Richardson and George Jones had sung backing vocals on it, doing Hollywood-Indian chanting and generally playing up to every stereotype of the Western-film Indian, but it hadn't been released at the time of Richardson's death. When it was released a few months later, it went to number one and became one of the biggest hits of all time: [Excerpt: Johnny Preston, "Running Bear"] But that wasn't Richardson's only posthumous contribution to music. Richardson had already co-written a country top ten hit for George Jones, "Treasure of Love": [Excerpt: George Jones, "Treasure of Love"] But less than a week after Richardson's death, Jones went back into the studio again, to record another song that Richardson had written for him. Jones was still shaken by his friend's death, and turned up to the session drunk -- the first time he would do so in a long career of drunkenness. They had to do so many takes that the bass player, Buddy Killen, got blisters on his fingers and threatened to physically attack Jones. Jones never got the song right, and eventually they stuck with either the first or third take -- accounts vary -- where he'd only messed up one word -- singing "s-slug" rather than "slug", which honestly sounds fine to me: [Excerpt: George Jones, "White Lightning"] That became Jones' first country number one, and one of only three singles he ever released to also make the pop top one hundred -- it reached number seventy-three, the highest he would ever reach in the pop charts. While Jones had had country top ten hits before, "White Lightning" is generally regarded as the breakout hit that made his career -- a career that would last more than fifty more years, during which time he would have over a hundred and fifty records make the country charts, thirteen of them going to number one. That's more chart hits than any other act in history, and that career was owed at least in part to Jape Richardson, the one-hit wonder who died with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

Episode seventy-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” by Buddy Holly, and at the reasons he ended up on the plane that killed him. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Chantilly Lace” by the Big Bopper. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt’s irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com (more…)

Episode seventy-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” by Buddy Holly, and at the reasons he ended up on the plane that killed him. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Chantilly Lace” by the Big Bopper.  Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt’s irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/—-more—- Before I get to the resources and transcript, a quick apology. This one is up more than a day late. I’ve not been coping very well with all the news about coronavirus outbreak (I’m one of those who’s been advised by the government to sel-isolate for three months) and things are taking longer than normal. Next week’s should be up at the normal time. Also, no Mixcloud this week — I get a server error when uploading the file to Mixcloud’s site. Erratum I mention that Bob Dylan saw the first show on the Winter Dance Party tour with no drummer. He actually saw the last one with the drummer, who was hospitalised that night after the show, not before the show as I had thought.  Resources   I’ve used two biographies for the bulk of the information here — Buddy Holly: Learning the Game, by Spencer Leigh, and Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly by Philip Norman. I also used  Beverly Mendheim’s book on Ritchie Valens. There are many collections of Buddy Holly’s work available, but many of them are very shoddy, with instrumental overdubs recorded over demos after his death. The best compilation I am aware of is The Memorial Collection, which contains almost everything he issued in his life, as he issued it (for some reason two cover versions are missing) along with the undubbed acoustic recordings that were messed with and released after his death. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript   Before I begin, this episode will deal with both accidental bereavement and miscarriage, so if you think those subjects might be traumatising, you may want to skip this one. Today, we’re going to look at a record that holds a sad place in rock and roll’s history, because it’s the record that is often credited as “the first posthumous rock and roll hit”. Now, that’s not strictly true — as we’ve talked about before in this podcast, there is rarely, if ever, a “first” anything at all, and indeed we’ve already looked at an earlier posthumous hit when we talked about “Pledging My Love” by Johnny Ace. But it is a very sad fact that “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” by Buddy Holly ended up becoming the first of several posthumous hit records that Holly had, and that there would be many more posthumous hit records by other performers after him than there had been before him. Buddy Holly’s death is something that hangs over every attempt to tell his story. More than any other musician of his generation, his death has entered rock and roll mythology. Even if you don’t know Holly’s music, you probably know two things about him — that he wore glasses, and that he died in a plane crash. You’re likely also to know that Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in the same crash, even if you don’t know any of the songs that either of those two artists recorded. Normally, when you’re telling a story, you’d leave that to the end, but in the case of Holly it overshadows his life so much that there’s absolutely no point trying to build up any suspense — not to mention that there’s something distasteful about turning a real person’s tragic death into entertainment. I hope I’ve not done so in episodes where other people have died, but it’s even more important not to do so here. Because while the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper is always portrayed as an accident, the cause of their death has its roots in exploitation of young, vulnerable, people, and a pressure to work no matter what. So today, we’re going to look at how “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” became Buddy Holly’s last single: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “It Doesn’t Matter Any More”] People often talk about how Buddy Holly’s career was short, but what they don’t mention is that his chart career was even shorter. Holly’s first chart single, “That’ll Be the Day”, was released in May 1957. His last top thirty single during his lifetime, “Think it Over”, was released in May 1958. By the time he went on the Winter Dance Party, the tour that led to his death, in January 1959, he had gone many months without a hit, and his most recent record, “Heartbeat”, had only reached number eighty-two. He’d lost every important professional relationship in his life, and had split from the group that had made him famous. To see how this happened, we need to pick up where we left off with him last time. You’ll remember that when we left the Crickets, they’d released “That’ll Be the Day”, and it hadn’t yet become a hit, and they’d also released “Words of Love” as a Buddy Holly solo single. While there were different names on them, the same people would make the records, whether it was a solo or group record — Buddy Holly on vocals and lead guitar, Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar, Jerry Allison on drums, Joe Mauldin on bass, and producer Norman Petty and his wife sometimes adding keyboards. They didn’t distinguish between “Buddy Holly” and “Crickets” material when recording — rather they separated it out later. The more straight-ahead rock and roll records would have backing vocals overdubbed on them, usually by a vocal group called the Picks, and would be released as Crickets records, while the more experimental ones would be left with only Holly’s vocal on, and would be released as solo records. (There were no records released as by “Buddy Holly and the Crickets” at the time, because the whole idea of the split was that DJs would play two records instead of one if they appeared to be by different artists). And they were recording *a lot*. Two days after “That’ll be the Day” was released, on the twenty-seventh of May 1957, they recorded “Everyday” and “Not Fade Away”. Between then and the first of July they recorded “Tell Me How”, “Oh Boy”, “Listen to Me”, “I’m Going to Love You Too”, and cover versions of Fats Domino’s “Valley of Tears” and Little Richard’s “Ready Teddy”. Remember, this was all before they’d had a single hit — “That’ll Be the Day” and “Words of Love” still hadn’t charted. This is quite an astonishing outpouring of songs, but the big leap forward came on the second of July, when they made a second attempt at a song they’d attempted to record back in late 1956, and had been playing in their stage show since then. The song had originally been titled “Cindy Lou”, after Buddy’s niece, but Jerry Allison had recently started dating a girl named Peggy Sue Gerrison, and they decided to change the lyrics to be about her. The song had also originally been played as a Latin-flavoured number, but when they were warming up, Allison started playing a fast paradiddle on his snare drum. Holly decided that they were going to change the tempo of the song and have Allison play that part all the way through, though this meant that Allison had to go out and play in the hallway rather than in the main studio, because the noise from his drums was too loud in the studio itself. The final touch came when Petty decided, on the song’s intro, to put the drums through the echo chamber and keep flicking the switch on the echo from “on” to “off”, so it sounded like there were two drummers playing: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Peggy Sue”] Someone else was flicking a switch, too — Niki Sullivan was already starting to regret joining the Crickets, because there really wasn’t room for his rhythm guitar on most of the songs they were playing. And on “Peggy Sue” he ended up not playing at all. On that song, Buddy had to switch between two pickups — one for when he was singing, and another to give his guitar a different tone during the solo. But he was playing so fast that he couldn’t move his hand to the switch, and in those days there were no foot pedals one could use for the same sort of effect. So Niki Sullivan became Holly’s foot pedal. He knelt beside Holly and waited for the point when the solo was about to start, and flicked the switch on his guitar. When the solo came to an end again, Sullivan flicked the switch again and it went back to the original sound. [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Peggy Sue”] It’s a really strange sounding record, if you start to pay attention to it. Other than during the solo, Holly’s guitar is so quiet that you can hear the plectrum as loudly as you can hear the notes. He just keeps up a ram-a-ram-a quaver downstrum throughout the whole song, which sounds simple until you try to play it, at which point you realise that you start feeling like your arm’s going to fall off about a quarter of the way through. And there’s just that, those drums (playing a part which must be similarly physically demanding) with their weird echo, and Holly’s voice. In theory, Joe Mauldin’s bass is also in there, but it’s there at almost homeopathic levels. It’s a record that is entirely carried by the voice, the drums, and the guitar solo. Of course, Niki Sullivan wasn’t happy about being relegated to guitar-switch-flicker, and there were other tensions within the group as well. Holly was having an affair with a married woman at the time — and Jerry Allison, who was Holly’s best friend as well as his bandmate, was also in love with her, though not in a relationship with her, and so Holly had to keep his affair hidden from his best friend. And not only that, but Allison and Sullivan were starting to have problems with each other, too. To help defuse the situation, Holly’s brother Larry took him on holiday, to go fishing in Colorado. But even there, the stress of the current situation was showing — Buddy spent much of the trip worried about the lack of success of “That’ll Be the Day”, and obsessing over a new record by a new singer, Paul Anka, that had gone to number one: [Excerpt: Paul Anka, “Diana”] Holly was insistent that he could do better than that, and that his records were at least as good. But so far they were doing nothing at all on the charts. But then a strange thing happened. “That’ll Be the Day” started getting picked up by black radio stations. It turned out that there had been another group called the Crickets — a black doo-wop group from about five years earlier, led by a singer called Dean Barlow, who had specialised in smooth Ink Spots-style ballads: [Excerpt The Crickets featuring Dean Barlow, “Be Faithful”] People at black radio stations had assumed that this new group called the Crickets was the same one, and had then discovered that “That’ll Be the Day” was really rather good. The group even got booked on an otherwise all-black tour headlined by Clyde McPhatter and Otis Rush, booked by people who hadn’t realised they were white. Before going on the tour, they formally arranged to have Norman Petty be their manager as well as their producer. They were a success on the tour, though when it reached the Harlem Apollo, which had notoriously hostile audiences, the group had to reconfigure their sets, as the audiences didn’t like any of Holly’s original material except “That’ll Be the Day”, but did like the group’s cover versions of R&B records like “Bo Diddley”: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Bo Diddley (Undubbed Version)”] Some have said that the Crickets were the first white act to play the Apollo. That’s not the case — Bobby Darin had played there before them, and I think so had the jazz drummer Buddy Rich, and maybe one or two others. But it was still a rarity, and the Crickets had to work hard to win the audience around. After they finished that tour, they moved on to a residency at the Brooklyn Paramount, on an Alan Freed show that also featured Little Richard and Larry Williams — who the Crickets met for the first time when they walked into the dressing room to find Richard and Williams engaged in a threesome with Richard’s girlfriend. During that engagement at the Paramount, the tensions within the group reached boiling point. Niki Sullivan, who was in an awful mood because he was trying to quit smoking, revealed the truth about Holly’s affair to Allison, and the group got in a fist-fight. According to Sullivan — who seems not to have always been the most reliable of interviewees — Sullivan gave Jerry Allison a black eye, and then straight away they had to go to the rooftop to take the photo for the group’s first album, The “Chirping” Crickets. Sullivan says that while the photo was retouched to hide the black eye, it’s still visible, though I can’t see it myself. After this, they went into a three-month tour on a giant package of stars featuring Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Paul Anka, the Everly Brothers, the Bobbettes, the Drifters, LaVern Baker, and many more. By this point, both “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue” had risen up the charts — “That’ll Be the Day” eventually went to number one, while “Peggy Sue” hit number three — and the next Crickets single, “Oh Boy!” was also charting. “Oh Boy!” had originally been written by an acquaintance of the band, Sonny West, who had recorded his own version as “All My Love” a short while earlier: [Excerpt: Sonny West, “All My Love”] Glen Hardin, the piano player on that track, would later join a lineup of the Crickets in the sixties (and later still would be Elvis’ piano player and arranger in the seventies). Holly would later also cover another of West’s songs, “Rave On”. The Crickets’ version of “Oh Boy!” was recorded at a faster tempo, and became another major hit, their last top ten: [Excerpt: The Crickets, “Oh Boy!”] Around the time that came out, Eddie Cochran joined the tour, and like the Everly Brothers he became fast friends with the group. The group also made an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, with Holly, Mauldin, and Allison enthusiastically performing “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue”, and Sullivan enthusiastically miming and playing an unplugged guitar. Sullivan was becoming more and more sidelined in the group, and when they returned to Lubbock at the end of the tour — during which he’d ended up breaking down and crying — he decided he was going to quit the group. Sullivan tried to have a solo career, releasing “It’s All Over” on Dot Records: [Excerpt: Niki Sullivan, “It’s All Over”] But he had no success, and ended up working in electronics, and in later years also making money from the Buddy Holly nostalgia industry. He’d only toured as a member of the group for a total of ninety days, though he’d been playing with them in the studio for a few months before that, and he’d played on a total of twenty-seven of the thirty-two songs that Holly or the Crickets would release in Holly’s lifetime. While he’d been promised an equal share of the group’s income — and Petty had also promised Sullivan, like all the other Crickets, that he would pay 10% of his income to his church — Sullivan got into endless battles with Petty over seeing the group’s accounts, which Petty wouldn’t show him, and eventually settled for getting just $1000, ten percent of the recording royalties just for the single “That’ll Be the Day”, and co-writing royalties on one song, “I’m Going to Love You Too”. His church didn’t get a cent. Meanwhile, Petty was busy trying to widen the rifts in the group. He decided that while the records would still be released as either “Buddy Holly” or “the Crickets”, as a live act they would from now on be billed as “Buddy Holly and the Crickets”, a singer and his backing group, and that while Mauldin and Allison would continue to get twenty-five percent of the money each, Holly would be on fifty percent. This was an easy decision, since Petty was handling all the money and only giving the group pocket money rather than giving them their actual shares of the money they’d earned. The group spent all of 1958 touring, visiting Hawaii, Australia, the UK, and all over the US, including the famous last ever Alan Freed tour that we looked at recently in episodes on Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. They got in another guitarist, Tommy Allsup, who took over the lead role while Buddy played rhythm, and who joined them on tour, though he wasn’t an official member of the group. The first recording Allsup played on was “It’s So Easy”: [Excerpt: The Crickets, “It’s So Easy”] But the group’s records were selling less and less well. Holly was getting worried, and there was another factor that came into play. On a visit to New York, stopping in to visit their publisher in the Brill Building, all three of the Crickets became attracted to the receptionist, a Puerto Rican woman named Maria Elena Santiago who was a few years older than them. They all started to joke about which of them would ask her out, and Holly eventually did so. It turned out that while Maria Elena was twenty-five, she’d never yet been on a date, and she had to ask the permission of her aunt, who she lived with, and who was also the head of the Latin-American division of the publishing company. The aunt rang round every business contact she had, satisfied herself that Buddy was a nice boy, and gave her blessing for the date. The next day, she was giving her blessing for the two to marry — Buddy proposed on the very first date. They eventually went on a joint honeymoon with Jerry Allison and Peggy Sue. But Maria Elena was someone who worked in the music industry, and was a little bit older, and she started saying things to Buddy like “You need to get a proper accounting of the money that’s owed you”, and “You should be getting paid”. This strained his relationship with Petty, who didn’t want any woman of colour butting her nose in and getting involved in his business. Buddy moved to a flat in Greenwich Village with Maria Elena, but for the moment he was still working with Petty, even after Petty used some extremely misogynistic slurs I’m not going to repeat here against his new wife. But he was worried about his lack of hits, and they tried a few different variations on the formula. The Crickets recorded one song, a cover version of a song they’d learned on the Australian tour, with Jerry Allison singing lead. It was released under the name “Ivan” — Allison’s middle name — and became a minor hit: [Excerpt: Ivan, “Real Wild Child”] They tried more and more different things, like getting King Curtis in to play saxophone on “Reminiscing”, and on one occasion dispensing with the Crickets entirely and having Buddy cut a Bobby Darin song, “Early in the Morning”, with other musicians. They were stockpiling recordings much faster than they could release them, but the releases weren’t doing well at all. “It’s So Easy” didn’t even reach the top one hundred. Holly was also working with other artists. In September, he produced a session for his friend Waylon Jennings, who would later become a huge country star. It was Jennings’ first ever session, and they turned out an interesting version of the old Cajun song “Jole Blon”, which had earlier been a hit for Moon Mullican. This version had Holly on guitar and King Curtis on saxophone, and is a really interesting attempt at blending Cajun music with R&B: [Excerpt: Waylon Jennings, “Jole Blon”] But Holly’s biggest hope was placed in a session that was really breaking new ground. No rock and roll singer had ever recorded with a full string section before — at least as far as he was aware, and bearing in mind that, as we’ve seen many times, there’s never truly a first anything. In October 1958, Holly went into the studio with the Dick Jacobs Orchestra, with the intention of recording three songs — his own “True Love Ways”, a song called “Moondreams” written by Petty, and one called “Raining in My Heart” written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who’d written many hits for his friends the Everly Brothers. At the last minute, though, he decided to record a fourth song, which had been written for him by Paul Anka, the same kid whose “Diana” had been so irritating to him the year before. He played through the song on his guitar for Dick Jacobs, who only had a short while to write the arrangement, and so stuck to the simplest thing he could think of, basing it around pizzicato violins: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “It Doesn’t Matter Any More”] At that point, everything still seemed like it could work out OK. Norman Petty and the other Crickets were all there at the recording session, cheering Buddy on. That night the Crickets appeared on American Bandstand, miming to “It’s So Easy”. That would be the last time they ever performed together, and soon there would be an irreparable split that would lead directly to Holly’s death — and to his posthumous fame. Holly was getting sick of Norman Petty’s continual withholding of royalties, and he’d come up with a plan. The Crickets would, as a group, confront Petty, get him to give them the money he owed them, and then all move to New York together to start up their own record label and publishing company. They’d stop touring, and focus on making records, and this would allow them the time to get things right and try new things out, which would lead to them having hits again, and they could also produce records for their friends like Waylon Jennings and Sonny Curtis. It was a good plan, and it might have worked, but it relied on them getting that money off Norman Petty. When the other two got back to Texas, Petty started manipulating them. He told them they were small-town Texas boys who would never be able to live in the big city. He told them that they didn’t need Buddy Holly, and that they could carry on making Crickets records without him. He told them that Maria Elena was manipulating Buddy, and that if they went off to New York with him it would be her who was in charge of the group from that point on. And he also pointed out that he was currently the only signatory on the group’s bank account, and it would be a real shame if something happened to all that money. By the time Buddy got back to Texas, the other two Crickets had agreed that they were going to stick with Norman Petty. Petty said it was fine if Buddy wanted to fire him, but he wasn’t getting any money until a full audit had been done of the organisation’s money. Buddy was no longer even going to get the per diem pocket money or expenses he’d been getting. Holly went back to New York, and started writing many, many, more songs, recording dozens of acoustic demos for when he could start his plan up: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Crying, Waiting, Hoping”] It was a massive creative explosion for the young man. He was not only writing songs himself, but he was busily planning to make an album of Latin music, and he was making preparations for two more projects he’d like to do — an album of duets on gospel songs with Mahalia Jackson, and an album of soul duets with Ray Charles. He was going to jazz clubs, and he had ambitions of following Elvis into films, but doing it properly — he enrolled in courses with Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio, to learn Method Acting. Greenwich Village in 1958 was the perfect place for a young man with a huge amount of natural talent and appetite for learning, but little experience of the wider world and culture. But the young couple were living off Maria Elena’s aunt’s generosity, and had no income at all of their own. And then Maria Elena revealed that she was pregnant. And Norman Petty revealed something he’d kept hidden before — by the terms of Buddy’s contract, he hadn’t really been recording for Brunswick or Coral, so they didn’t owe him a penny. He’d been recording for Petty’s company, who then sold the masters on to the other labels, and would get all the royalties. The Crickets bank account into which the royalties had supposedly been being paid, and which Petty had refused to let the band members see, was essentially empty. There was only one thing for it. He had to do another tour. And the only one he could get on was a miserable-seeming affair called the Winter Dance Party. While most of the rock and roll package tours of the time had more than a dozen acts on, this one had only five. There was an opening act called Frankie Sardo, and then Dion and the Belmonts, who had had a few minor hits, and had just recorded, but not yet released, their breakthrough record “Teenager in Love”: [Excerpt: Dion and the Belmonts, “Teenager in Love”] Then there was the Big Bopper, who was actually a fairly accomplished songwriter but was touring on the basis of his one hit, a novelty song called “Chantilly Lace”: [Excerpt: the Big Bopper, “Chantilly Lace”] And Ritchie Valens, whose hit “Donna” was rising up the charts in a way that “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” was notably failing to do: [Excerpt: Ritchie Valens, “Donna”] Buddy put together a new touring band consisting of Tommy Allsup on guitar, Waylon Jennings on bass — who had never played bass before starting the tour — and a drummer called Carl Bunch. For a while it looked like Buddy’s friend Eddie Cochran was going to go on tour with them as well, but shortly before the tour started Cochran got an offer to do the Ed Sullivan Show, which would have clashed with the tour dates, and so he didn’t make it. Maria Elena was very insistent that she didn’t want Buddy to go, but he felt that he had no choice if he was going to support his new child. The Winter Dance Party toured Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, through the end of January and the beginning of February 1959, and the conditions were miserable for everyone concerned. The tour had been put together with no thought of logistics, and it zig-zagged wildly across those three states, with gigs often four hundred miles away from each other. The musicians had to sleep on the tour bus — or buses. The tour was being run on a shoe-string, and they’d gone with the cheapest vehicle-hire company possible. They went through, according to one biography I’ve read, eight different buses in eleven days, as none of the buses were able to cope with the Midwestern winter, and their engines kept failing and the heating on several of the buses broke down. I don’t know if you’ve spent any time in that part of America in the winter, but I go there for Christmas every year (my wife has family in Minnesota) and it’s unimaginably cold in a way you can’t understand unless you’ve experienced it. It’s not unusual for temperatures to drop to as low as minus forty degrees, and to have three feet or more of snow. Travelling in a bus, with no heating, in that weather, all packed together, was hell for everyone. The Big Bopper and Valens were both fat, and couldn’t fit in the small seats easily. Several people on the tour, including Bopper and Valens, got the flu. And then finally Carl Bunch got hospitalised with frostbite. Buddy’s band, which was backing everyone on stage, now had no drummer, and so for the next three days of the tour Holly, Dion, and Valens would all take it in turns playing the drums, as all of them were adequate drummers. The shows were still good, at least according to a young man named Robert Zimmerman, who saw the first drummerless show, in Duluth Minnesota, and who would move to Greenwich Village himself not that long afterwards. After a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy had had enough. He decided to charter a plane to take him to Fargo, North Dakota, which was just near Moorhead, Minnesota, where they were planning on playing their next show. He’d take everyone’s laundry — everyone stank and had been wearing the same clothes for days — and get it washed, and get some sleep in a real bed. The original plan was to have Allsup and Jennings travel with him, but eventually they gave up their seats to the two other people who were suffering the most — the Big Bopper and Valens. There are different stories about how that happened, most involving a coin-toss, but they all agree that when Buddy found out that Waylon Jennings was giving up his seat, he jokingly said to Jennings “I hope your old bus freezes”, and Jennings replied, “Yeah, well I hope your ol’ plane crashes”. The three of them got on the plane in the middle of the night, on a foggy winter’s night, which would require flying by instruments. Unfortunately, while the pilot on the plane was rated as being a good pilot during the day, he kept almost failing his certification for being bad at flying by instrument. And the plane in question had an unusual type of altitude meter. Where most altitude meters would go up when the plane was going up and down when it was going down, that particular model’s meter went down when the plane was going up, and up when it was going down. The plane took off, and less than five minutes after takeoff, it plummeted straight down, nose first, into the ground at top speed, killing everyone on board instantly. As soon as the news got out, Holly’s last single finally started rising up the charts. It ended up going to number thirteen on the US charts, and number one in many other countries. The aftermath shows how much contempt the music industry — and society itself — had for those musicians at that time. Maria Elena found out about Buddy’s death not from the police, but from the TV — this later prompted changes in how news of celebrity deaths was to be revealed. She was so upset that she miscarried two days later. She was too distraught to attend the funeral, and to this day has still never been able to bring herself to visit her husband’s grave. The grief was just too much. The rest of the people on the tour were forced to continue the remaining thirteen days of the tour without the three acts anyone wanted to go and see, but were also not paid their full wages, because the bill wasn’t as advertised. A new young singer was picked up to round out the bill on the next gig, a young Minnesotan Holly soundalike called Bobby Vee, whose first single, “Suzy Baby”, was just about to come out: [Excerpt: Bobby Vee, “Suzy Baby”] When Vee went on tour on his own, later, he hired that Zimmerman kid we mentioned earlier as his piano player. Zimmerman worked under the stage name Elston Gunn, but would later choose a better one. After that date Holly, Valens, and the Bopper were replaced by Fabian, Frankie Avalon, and Jimmy Clanton, and the tour continued. Meanwhile, the remaining Crickets picked themselves up and carried on. They got Buddy’s old friend Sonny Curtis on guitar, and a succession of Holly-soundalike singers, and continued playing together until Joe Mauldin died in 2015. Most of their records without Buddy weren’t particularly memorable, but they did record one song written by Curtis which would later become a hit for several other people, “I Fought the Law”: [Excerpt: The Crickets, “I Fought the Law”] But the person who ended up benefiting most from Holly’s death was Norman Petty. Suddenly his stockpile of unreleased Buddy Holly recordings was a goldmine — and not only that, he ended up coming to an agreement with Holly’s estate that he could take all those demos Holly had recorded and overdub new backing tracks on them, turning them into full-blown rock and roll songs. Between overdubbed versions of the demos, and stockpiled full-band recordings, Buddy Holly kept having hit singles in the rest of the world until 1965, though none charted in the US, and he made both Petty and his estate very rich. Norman Petty died in 1984. His last project was a still-unreleased “updating” of Buddy’s biggest hits with synthesisers. These days, Buddy Holly is once again on tour, or at least something purporting to be him is. You can now go and see a “hologram tour”, in which an image of a look-not-very-alike actor miming to Holly’s old recordings is projected on glass, using the old Victorian stage trick Pepper’s Ghost, while a live band plays along to the records. Just because you’ve worked someone to death aged twenty-two, doesn’t mean that they can’t still keep earning money for you when they’re eighty-three. And a hologram will never complain about how cold the tour bus is, or want to wash his laundry.

Episode seventy-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "It Doesn't Matter Any More" by Buddy Holly, and at the reasons he ended up on the plane that killed him. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Chantilly Lace" by the Big Bopper.  Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/----more---- Before I get to the resources and transcript, a quick apology. This one is up more than a day late. I've not been coping very well with all the news about coronavirus outbreak (I'm one of those who's been advised by the government to sel-isolate for three months) and things are taking longer than normal. Next week's should be up at the normal time. Also, no Mixcloud this week -- I get a server error when uploading the file to Mixcloud's site. Erratum I mention that Bob Dylan saw the first show on the Winter Dance Party tour with no drummer. He actually saw the last one with the drummer, who was hospitalised that night after the show, not before the show as I had thought.  Resources   I've used two biographies for the bulk of the information here -- Buddy Holly: Learning the Game, by Spencer Leigh, and Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly by Philip Norman. I also used  Beverly Mendheim's book on Ritchie Valens. There are many collections of Buddy Holly's work available, but many of them are very shoddy, with instrumental overdubs recorded over demos after his death. The best compilation I am aware of is The Memorial Collection, which contains almost everything he issued in his life, as he issued it (for some reason two cover versions are missing) along with the undubbed acoustic recordings that were messed with and released after his death. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript   Before I begin, this episode will deal with both accidental bereavement and miscarriage, so if you think those subjects might be traumatising, you may want to skip this one. Today, we're going to look at a record that holds a sad place in rock and roll's history, because it's the record that is often credited as "the first posthumous rock and roll hit". Now, that's not strictly true -- as we've talked about before in this podcast, there is rarely, if ever, a "first" anything at all, and indeed we've already looked at an earlier posthumous hit when we talked about "Pledging My Love" by Johnny Ace. But it is a very sad fact that "It Doesn't Matter Any More" by Buddy Holly ended up becoming the first of several posthumous hit records that Holly had, and that there would be many more posthumous hit records by other performers after him than there had been before him. Buddy Holly's death is something that hangs over every attempt to tell his story. More than any other musician of his generation, his death has entered rock and roll mythology. Even if you don't know Holly's music, you probably know two things about him -- that he wore glasses, and that he died in a plane crash. You're likely also to know that Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in the same crash, even if you don't know any of the songs that either of those two artists recorded. Normally, when you're telling a story, you'd leave that to the end, but in the case of Holly it overshadows his life so much that there's absolutely no point trying to build up any suspense -- not to mention that there's something distasteful about turning a real person's tragic death into entertainment. I hope I've not done so in episodes where other people have died, but it's even more important not to do so here. Because while the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper is always portrayed as an accident, the cause of their death has its roots in exploitation of young, vulnerable, people, and a pressure to work no matter what. So today, we're going to look at how "It Doesn't Matter Any More" became Buddy Holly's last single: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, "It Doesn't Matter Any More"] People often talk about how Buddy Holly's career was short, but what they don't mention is that his chart career was even shorter. Holly's first chart single, "That'll Be the Day", was released in May 1957. His last top thirty single during his lifetime, "Think it Over", was released in May 1958. By the time he went on the Winter Dance Party, the tour that led to his death, in January 1959, he had gone many months without a hit, and his most recent record, "Heartbeat", had only reached number eighty-two. He'd lost every important professional relationship in his life, and had split from the group that had made him famous. To see how this happened, we need to pick up where we left off with him last time. You'll remember that when we left the Crickets, they'd released "That'll Be the Day", and it hadn't yet become a hit, and they'd also released "Words of Love" as a Buddy Holly solo single. While there were different names on them, the same people would make the records, whether it was a solo or group record -- Buddy Holly on vocals and lead guitar, Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar, Jerry Allison on drums, Joe Mauldin on bass, and producer Norman Petty and his wife sometimes adding keyboards. They didn't distinguish between "Buddy Holly" and "Crickets" material when recording -- rather they separated it out later. The more straight-ahead rock and roll records would have backing vocals overdubbed on them, usually by a vocal group called the Picks, and would be released as Crickets records, while the more experimental ones would be left with only Holly's vocal on, and would be released as solo records. (There were no records released as by "Buddy Holly and the Crickets" at the time, because the whole idea of the split was that DJs would play two records instead of one if they appeared to be by different artists). And they were recording *a lot*. Two days after “That'll be the Day” was released, on the twenty-seventh of May 1957, they recorded "Everyday" and "Not Fade Away". Between then and the first of July they recorded "Tell Me How", "Oh Boy", "Listen to Me", "I'm Going to Love You Too", and cover versions of Fats Domino's "Valley of Tears" and Little Richard's "Ready Teddy". Remember, this was all before they'd had a single hit -- "That'll Be the Day" and "Words of Love" still hadn't charted. This is quite an astonishing outpouring of songs, but the big leap forward came on the second of July, when they made a second attempt at a song they'd attempted to record back in late 1956, and had been playing in their stage show since then. The song had originally been titled "Cindy Lou", after Buddy's niece, but Jerry Allison had recently started dating a girl named Peggy Sue Gerrison, and they decided to change the lyrics to be about her. The song had also originally been played as a Latin-flavoured number, but when they were warming up, Allison started playing a fast paradiddle on his snare drum. Holly decided that they were going to change the tempo of the song and have Allison play that part all the way through, though this meant that Allison had to go out and play in the hallway rather than in the main studio, because the noise from his drums was too loud in the studio itself. The final touch came when Petty decided, on the song's intro, to put the drums through the echo chamber and keep flicking the switch on the echo from "on" to "off", so it sounded like there were two drummers playing: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, "Peggy Sue"] Someone else was flicking a switch, too -- Niki Sullivan was already starting to regret joining the Crickets, because there really wasn't room for his rhythm guitar on most of the songs they were playing. And on "Peggy Sue" he ended up not playing at all. On that song, Buddy had to switch between two pickups -- one for when he was singing, and another to give his guitar a different tone during the solo. But he was playing so fast that he couldn't move his hand to the switch, and in those days there were no foot pedals one could use for the same sort of effect. So Niki Sullivan became Holly's foot pedal. He knelt beside Holly and waited for the point when the solo was about to start, and flicked the switch on his guitar. When the solo came to an end again, Sullivan flicked the switch again and it went back to the original sound. [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, "Peggy Sue"] It's a really strange sounding record, if you start to pay attention to it. Other than during the solo, Holly's guitar is so quiet that you can hear the plectrum as loudly as you can hear the notes. He just keeps up a ram-a-ram-a quaver downstrum throughout the whole song, which sounds simple until you try to play it, at which point you realise that you start feeling like your arm's going to fall off about a quarter of the way through. And there's just that, those drums (playing a part which must be similarly physically demanding) with their weird echo, and Holly's voice. In theory, Joe Mauldin's bass is also in there, but it's there at almost homeopathic levels. It's a record that is entirely carried by the voice, the drums, and the guitar solo. Of course, Niki Sullivan wasn't happy about being relegated to guitar-switch-flicker, and there were other tensions within the group as well. Holly was having an affair with a married woman at the time -- and Jerry Allison, who was Holly's best friend as well as his bandmate, was also in love with her, though not in a relationship with her, and so Holly had to keep his affair hidden from his best friend. And not only that, but Allison and Sullivan were starting to have problems with each other, too. To help defuse the situation, Holly's brother Larry took him on holiday, to go fishing in Colorado. But even there, the stress of the current situation was showing -- Buddy spent much of the trip worried about the lack of success of "That'll Be the Day", and obsessing over a new record by a new singer, Paul Anka, that had gone to number one: [Excerpt: Paul Anka, "Diana"] Holly was insistent that he could do better than that, and that his records were at least as good. But so far they were doing nothing at all on the charts. But then a strange thing happened. "That'll Be the Day" started getting picked up by black radio stations. It turned out that there had been another group called the Crickets -- a black doo-wop group from about five years earlier, led by a singer called Dean Barlow, who had specialised in smooth Ink Spots-style ballads: [Excerpt The Crickets featuring Dean Barlow, "Be Faithful"] People at black radio stations had assumed that this new group called the Crickets was the same one, and had then discovered that "That'll Be the Day" was really rather good. The group even got booked on an otherwise all-black tour headlined by Clyde McPhatter and Otis Rush, booked by people who hadn't realised they were white. Before going on the tour, they formally arranged to have Norman Petty be their manager as well as their producer. They were a success on the tour, though when it reached the Harlem Apollo, which had notoriously hostile audiences, the group had to reconfigure their sets, as the audiences didn't like any of Holly's original material except "That'll Be the Day", but did like the group's cover versions of R&B records like "Bo Diddley": [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, "Bo Diddley (Undubbed Version)"] Some have said that the Crickets were the first white act to play the Apollo. That's not the case -- Bobby Darin had played there before them, and I think so had the jazz drummer Buddy Rich, and maybe one or two others. But it was still a rarity, and the Crickets had to work hard to win the audience around. After they finished that tour, they moved on to a residency at the Brooklyn Paramount, on an Alan Freed show that also featured Little Richard and Larry Williams -- who the Crickets met for the first time when they walked into the dressing room to find Richard and Williams engaged in a threesome with Richard's girlfriend. During that engagement at the Paramount, the tensions within the group reached boiling point. Niki Sullivan, who was in an awful mood because he was trying to quit smoking, revealed the truth about Holly's affair to Allison, and the group got in a fist-fight. According to Sullivan -- who seems not to have always been the most reliable of interviewees -- Sullivan gave Jerry Allison a black eye, and then straight away they had to go to the rooftop to take the photo for the group's first album, The "Chirping" Crickets. Sullivan says that while the photo was retouched to hide the black eye, it's still visible, though I can't see it myself. After this, they went into a three-month tour on a giant package of stars featuring Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Paul Anka, the Everly Brothers, the Bobbettes, the Drifters, LaVern Baker, and many more. By this point, both "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue" had risen up the charts -- "That'll Be the Day" eventually went to number one, while "Peggy Sue" hit number three -- and the next Crickets single, "Oh Boy!" was also charting. "Oh Boy!" had originally been written by an acquaintance of the band, Sonny West, who had recorded his own version as "All My Love" a short while earlier: [Excerpt: Sonny West, "All My Love"] Glen Hardin, the piano player on that track, would later join a lineup of the Crickets in the sixties (and later still would be Elvis' piano player and arranger in the seventies). Holly would later also cover another of West's songs, "Rave On". The Crickets' version of “Oh Boy!” was recorded at a faster tempo, and became another major hit, their last top ten: [Excerpt: The Crickets, "Oh Boy!"] Around the time that came out, Eddie Cochran joined the tour, and like the Everly Brothers he became fast friends with the group. The group also made an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, with Holly, Mauldin, and Allison enthusiastically performing "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue", and Sullivan enthusiastically miming and playing an unplugged guitar. Sullivan was becoming more and more sidelined in the group, and when they returned to Lubbock at the end of the tour -- during which he'd ended up breaking down and crying -- he decided he was going to quit the group. Sullivan tried to have a solo career, releasing "It's All Over" on Dot Records: [Excerpt: Niki Sullivan, "It's All Over"] But he had no success, and ended up working in electronics, and in later years also making money from the Buddy Holly nostalgia industry. He'd only toured as a member of the group for a total of ninety days, though he'd been playing with them in the studio for a few months before that, and he'd played on a total of twenty-seven of the thirty-two songs that Holly or the Crickets would release in Holly's lifetime. While he'd been promised an equal share of the group's income -- and Petty had also promised Sullivan, like all the other Crickets, that he would pay 10% of his income to his church -- Sullivan got into endless battles with Petty over seeing the group's accounts, which Petty wouldn't show him, and eventually settled for getting just $1000, ten percent of the recording royalties just for the single "That'll Be the Day", and co-writing royalties on one song, "I'm Going to Love You Too". His church didn't get a cent. Meanwhile, Petty was busy trying to widen the rifts in the group. He decided that while the records would still be released as either "Buddy Holly" or "the Crickets", as a live act they would from now on be billed as "Buddy Holly and the Crickets", a singer and his backing group, and that while Mauldin and Allison would continue to get twenty-five percent of the money each, Holly would be on fifty percent. This was an easy decision, since Petty was handling all the money and only giving the group pocket money rather than giving them their actual shares of the money they'd earned. The group spent all of 1958 touring, visiting Hawaii, Australia, the UK, and all over the US, including the famous last ever Alan Freed tour that we looked at recently in episodes on Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. They got in another guitarist, Tommy Allsup, who took over the lead role while Buddy played rhythm, and who joined them on tour, though he wasn't an official member of the group. The first recording Allsup played on was "It's So Easy": [Excerpt: The Crickets, "It's So Easy"] But the group's records were selling less and less well. Holly was getting worried, and there was another factor that came into play. On a visit to New York, stopping in to visit their publisher in the Brill Building, all three of the Crickets became attracted to the receptionist, a Puerto Rican woman named Maria Elena Santiago who was a few years older than them. They all started to joke about which of them would ask her out, and Holly eventually did so. It turned out that while Maria Elena was twenty-five, she'd never yet been on a date, and she had to ask the permission of her aunt, who she lived with, and who was also the head of the Latin-American division of the publishing company. The aunt rang round every business contact she had, satisfied herself that Buddy was a nice boy, and gave her blessing for the date. The next day, she was giving her blessing for the two to marry -- Buddy proposed on the very first date. They eventually went on a joint honeymoon with Jerry Allison and Peggy Sue. But Maria Elena was someone who worked in the music industry, and was a little bit older, and she started saying things to Buddy like "You need to get a proper accounting of the money that's owed you", and "You should be getting paid". This strained his relationship with Petty, who didn't want any woman of colour butting her nose in and getting involved in his business. Buddy moved to a flat in Greenwich Village with Maria Elena, but for the moment he was still working with Petty, even after Petty used some extremely misogynistic slurs I'm not going to repeat here against his new wife. But he was worried about his lack of hits, and they tried a few different variations on the formula. The Crickets recorded one song, a cover version of a song they'd learned on the Australian tour, with Jerry Allison singing lead. It was released under the name "Ivan" -- Allison's middle name -- and became a minor hit: [Excerpt: Ivan, "Real Wild Child"] They tried more and more different things, like getting King Curtis in to play saxophone on "Reminiscing", and on one occasion dispensing with the Crickets entirely and having Buddy cut a Bobby Darin song, "Early in the Morning", with other musicians. They were stockpiling recordings much faster than they could release them, but the releases weren't doing well at all. "It's So Easy" didn't even reach the top one hundred. Holly was also working with other artists. In September, he produced a session for his friend Waylon Jennings, who would later become a huge country star. It was Jennings' first ever session, and they turned out an interesting version of the old Cajun song "Jole Blon", which had earlier been a hit for Moon Mullican. This version had Holly on guitar and King Curtis on saxophone, and is a really interesting attempt at blending Cajun music with R&B: [Excerpt: Waylon Jennings, "Jole Blon"] But Holly's biggest hope was placed in a session that was really breaking new ground. No rock and roll singer had ever recorded with a full string section before -- at least as far as he was aware, and bearing in mind that, as we've seen many times, there's never truly a first anything. In October 1958, Holly went into the studio with the Dick Jacobs Orchestra, with the intention of recording three songs -- his own "True Love Ways", a song called "Moondreams" written by Petty, and one called "Raining in My Heart" written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who'd written many hits for his friends the Everly Brothers. At the last minute, though, he decided to record a fourth song, which had been written for him by Paul Anka, the same kid whose "Diana" had been so irritating to him the year before. He played through the song on his guitar for Dick Jacobs, who only had a short while to write the arrangement, and so stuck to the simplest thing he could think of, basing it around pizzicato violins: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, "It Doesn't Matter Any More"] At that point, everything still seemed like it could work out OK. Norman Petty and the other Crickets were all there at the recording session, cheering Buddy on. That night the Crickets appeared on American Bandstand, miming to "It's So Easy". That would be the last time they ever performed together, and soon there would be an irreparable split that would lead directly to Holly's death -- and to his posthumous fame. Holly was getting sick of Norman Petty's continual withholding of royalties, and he'd come up with a plan. The Crickets would, as a group, confront Petty, get him to give them the money he owed them, and then all move to New York together to start up their own record label and publishing company. They'd stop touring, and focus on making records, and this would allow them the time to get things right and try new things out, which would lead to them having hits again, and they could also produce records for their friends like Waylon Jennings and Sonny Curtis. It was a good plan, and it might have worked, but it relied on them getting that money off Norman Petty. When the other two got back to Texas, Petty started manipulating them. He told them they were small-town Texas boys who would never be able to live in the big city. He told them that they didn't need Buddy Holly, and that they could carry on making Crickets records without him. He told them that Maria Elena was manipulating Buddy, and that if they went off to New York with him it would be her who was in charge of the group from that point on. And he also pointed out that he was currently the only signatory on the group's bank account, and it would be a real shame if something happened to all that money. By the time Buddy got back to Texas, the other two Crickets had agreed that they were going to stick with Norman Petty. Petty said it was fine if Buddy wanted to fire him, but he wasn't getting any money until a full audit had been done of the organisation's money. Buddy was no longer even going to get the per diem pocket money or expenses he'd been getting. Holly went back to New York, and started writing many, many, more songs, recording dozens of acoustic demos for when he could start his plan up: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, "Crying, Waiting, Hoping"] It was a massive creative explosion for the young man. He was not only writing songs himself, but he was busily planning to make an album of Latin music, and he was making preparations for two more projects he'd like to do -- an album of duets on gospel songs with Mahalia Jackson, and an album of soul duets with Ray Charles. He was going to jazz clubs, and he had ambitions of following Elvis into films, but doing it properly -- he enrolled in courses with Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio, to learn Method Acting. Greenwich Village in 1958 was the perfect place for a young man with a huge amount of natural talent and appetite for learning, but little experience of the wider world and culture. But the young couple were living off Maria Elena's aunt's generosity, and had no income at all of their own. And then Maria Elena revealed that she was pregnant. And Norman Petty revealed something he'd kept hidden before -- by the terms of Buddy's contract, he hadn't really been recording for Brunswick or Coral, so they didn't owe him a penny. He'd been recording for Petty's company, who then sold the masters on to the other labels, and would get all the royalties. The Crickets bank account into which the royalties had supposedly been being paid, and which Petty had refused to let the band members see, was essentially empty. There was only one thing for it. He had to do another tour. And the only one he could get on was a miserable-seeming affair called the Winter Dance Party. While most of the rock and roll package tours of the time had more than a dozen acts on, this one had only five. There was an opening act called Frankie Sardo, and then Dion and the Belmonts, who had had a few minor hits, and had just recorded, but not yet released, their breakthrough record "Teenager in Love": [Excerpt: Dion and the Belmonts, "Teenager in Love"] Then there was the Big Bopper, who was actually a fairly accomplished songwriter but was touring on the basis of his one hit, a novelty song called "Chantilly Lace": [Excerpt: the Big Bopper, "Chantilly Lace"] And Ritchie Valens, whose hit "Donna" was rising up the charts in a way that "It Doesn't Matter Any More" was notably failing to do: [Excerpt: Ritchie Valens, "Donna"] Buddy put together a new touring band consisting of Tommy Allsup on guitar, Waylon Jennings on bass -- who had never played bass before starting the tour -- and a drummer called Carl Bunch. For a while it looked like Buddy's friend Eddie Cochran was going to go on tour with them as well, but shortly before the tour started Cochran got an offer to do the Ed Sullivan Show, which would have clashed with the tour dates, and so he didn't make it. Maria Elena was very insistent that she didn't want Buddy to go, but he felt that he had no choice if he was going to support his new child. The Winter Dance Party toured Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, through the end of January and the beginning of February 1959, and the conditions were miserable for everyone concerned. The tour had been put together with no thought of logistics, and it zig-zagged wildly across those three states, with gigs often four hundred miles away from each other. The musicians had to sleep on the tour bus -- or buses. The tour was being run on a shoe-string, and they'd gone with the cheapest vehicle-hire company possible. They went through, according to one biography I've read, eight different buses in eleven days, as none of the buses were able to cope with the Midwestern winter, and their engines kept failing and the heating on several of the buses broke down. I don't know if you've spent any time in that part of America in the winter, but I go there for Christmas every year (my wife has family in Minnesota) and it's unimaginably cold in a way you can't understand unless you've experienced it. It's not unusual for temperatures to drop to as low as minus forty degrees, and to have three feet or more of snow. Travelling in a bus, with no heating, in that weather, all packed together, was hell for everyone. The Big Bopper and Valens were both fat, and couldn't fit in the small seats easily. Several people on the tour, including Bopper and Valens, got the flu. And then finally Carl Bunch got hospitalised with frostbite. Buddy's band, which was backing everyone on stage, now had no drummer, and so for the next three days of the tour Holly, Dion, and Valens would all take it in turns playing the drums, as all of them were adequate drummers. The shows were still good, at least according to a young man named Robert Zimmerman, who saw the first drummerless show, in Duluth Minnesota, and who would move to Greenwich Village himself not that long afterwards. After a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy had had enough. He decided to charter a plane to take him to Fargo, North Dakota, which was just near Moorhead, Minnesota, where they were planning on playing their next show. He'd take everyone's laundry -- everyone stank and had been wearing the same clothes for days -- and get it washed, and get some sleep in a real bed. The original plan was to have Allsup and Jennings travel with him, but eventually they gave up their seats to the two other people who were suffering the most -- the Big Bopper and Valens. There are different stories about how that happened, most involving a coin-toss, but they all agree that when Buddy found out that Waylon Jennings was giving up his seat, he jokingly said to Jennings "I hope your old bus freezes", and Jennings replied, "Yeah, well I hope your ol' plane crashes". The three of them got on the plane in the middle of the night, on a foggy winter's night, which would require flying by instruments. Unfortunately, while the pilot on the plane was rated as being a good pilot during the day, he kept almost failing his certification for being bad at flying by instrument. And the plane in question had an unusual type of altitude meter. Where most altitude meters would go up when the plane was going up and down when it was going down, that particular model's meter went down when the plane was going up, and up when it was going down. The plane took off, and less than five minutes after takeoff, it plummeted straight down, nose first, into the ground at top speed, killing everyone on board instantly. As soon as the news got out, Holly's last single finally started rising up the charts. It ended up going to number thirteen on the US charts, and number one in many other countries. The aftermath shows how much contempt the music industry -- and society itself -- had for those musicians at that time. Maria Elena found out about Buddy's death not from the police, but from the TV -- this later prompted changes in how news of celebrity deaths was to be revealed. She was so upset that she miscarried two days later. She was too distraught to attend the funeral, and to this day has still never been able to bring herself to visit her husband's grave. The grief was just too much. The rest of the people on the tour were forced to continue the remaining thirteen days of the tour without the three acts anyone wanted to go and see, but were also not paid their full wages, because the bill wasn't as advertised. A new young singer was picked up to round out the bill on the next gig, a young Minnesotan Holly soundalike called Bobby Vee, whose first single, "Suzy Baby", was just about to come out: [Excerpt: Bobby Vee, "Suzy Baby"] When Vee went on tour on his own, later, he hired that Zimmerman kid we mentioned earlier as his piano player. Zimmerman worked under the stage name Elston Gunn, but would later choose a better one. After that date Holly, Valens, and the Bopper were replaced by Fabian, Frankie Avalon, and Jimmy Clanton, and the tour continued. Meanwhile, the remaining Crickets picked themselves up and carried on. They got Buddy's old friend Sonny Curtis on guitar, and a succession of Holly-soundalike singers, and continued playing together until Joe Mauldin died in 2015. Most of their records without Buddy weren't particularly memorable, but they did record one song written by Curtis which would later become a hit for several other people, "I Fought the Law": [Excerpt: The Crickets, "I Fought the Law"] But the person who ended up benefiting most from Holly's death was Norman Petty. Suddenly his stockpile of unreleased Buddy Holly recordings was a goldmine -- and not only that, he ended up coming to an agreement with Holly's estate that he could take all those demos Holly had recorded and overdub new backing tracks on them, turning them into full-blown rock and roll songs. Between overdubbed versions of the demos, and stockpiled full-band recordings, Buddy Holly kept having hit singles in the rest of the world until 1965, though none charted in the US, and he made both Petty and his estate very rich. Norman Petty died in 1984. His last project was a still-unreleased "updating" of Buddy's biggest hits with synthesisers. These days, Buddy Holly is once again on tour, or at least something purporting to be him is. You can now go and see a "hologram tour", in which an image of a look-not-very-alike actor miming to Holly's old recordings is projected on glass, using the old Victorian stage trick Pepper's Ghost, while a live band plays along to the records. Just because you've worked someone to death aged twenty-two, doesn't mean that they can't still keep earning money for you when they're eighty-three. And a hologram will never complain about how cold the tour bus is, or want to wash his laundry.

Episode seventy-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” by Buddy Holly, and at the reasons he ended up on the plane that killed him. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Chantilly Lace” by the Big Bopper.  Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt’s irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/—-more—- Before I get to the resources and transcript, a quick apology. This one is up more than a day late. I’ve not been coping very well with all the news about coronavirus outbreak (I’m one of those who’s been advised by the government to sel-isolate for three months) and things are taking longer than normal. Next week’s should be up at the normal time. Also, no Mixcloud this week — I get a server error when uploading the file to Mixcloud’s site. Erratum I mention that Bob Dylan saw the first show on the Winter Dance Party tour with no drummer. He actually saw the last one with the drummer, who was hospitalised that night after the show, not before the show as I had thought.  Resources   I’ve used two biographies for the bulk of the information here — Buddy Holly: Learning the Game, by Spencer Leigh, and Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly by Philip Norman. I also used  Beverly Mendheim’s book on Ritchie Valens. There are many collections of Buddy Holly’s work available, but many of them are very shoddy, with instrumental overdubs recorded over demos after his death. The best compilation I am aware of is The Memorial Collection, which contains almost everything he issued in his life, as he issued it (for some reason two cover versions are missing) along with the undubbed acoustic recordings that were messed with and released after his death. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript   Before I begin, this episode will deal with both accidental bereavement and miscarriage, so if you think those subjects might be traumatising, you may want to skip this one. Today, we’re going to look at a record that holds a sad place in rock and roll’s history, because it’s the record that is often credited as “the first posthumous rock and roll hit”. Now, that’s not strictly true — as we’ve talked about before in this podcast, there is rarely, if ever, a “first” anything at all, and indeed we’ve already looked at an earlier posthumous hit when we talked about “Pledging My Love” by Johnny Ace. But it is a very sad fact that “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” by Buddy Holly ended up becoming the first of several posthumous hit records that Holly had, and that there would be many more posthumous hit records by other performers after him than there had been before him. Buddy Holly’s death is something that hangs over every attempt to tell his story. More than any other musician of his generation, his death has entered rock and roll mythology. Even if you don’t know Holly’s music, you probably know two things about him — that he wore glasses, and that he died in a plane crash. You’re likely also to know that Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in the same crash, even if you don’t know any of the songs that either of those two artists recorded. Normally, when you’re telling a story, you’d leave that to the end, but in the case of Holly it overshadows his life so much that there’s absolutely no point trying to build up any suspense — not to mention that there’s something distasteful about turning a real person’s tragic death into entertainment. I hope I’ve not done so in episodes where other people have died, but it’s even more important not to do so here. Because while the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper is always portrayed as an accident, the cause of their death has its roots in exploitation of young, vulnerable, people, and a pressure to work no matter what. So today, we’re going to look at how “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” became Buddy Holly’s last single: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “It Doesn’t Matter Any More”] People often talk about how Buddy Holly’s career was short, but what they don’t mention is that his chart career was even shorter. Holly’s first chart single, “That’ll Be the Day”, was released in May 1957. His last top thirty single during his lifetime, “Think it Over”, was released in May 1958. By the time he went on the Winter Dance Party, the tour that led to his death, in January 1959, he had gone many months without a hit, and his most recent record, “Heartbeat”, had only reached number eighty-two. He’d lost every important professional relationship in his life, and had split from the group that had made him famous. To see how this happened, we need to pick up where we left off with him last time. You’ll remember that when we left the Crickets, they’d released “That’ll Be the Day”, and it hadn’t yet become a hit, and they’d also released “Words of Love” as a Buddy Holly solo single. While there were different names on them, the same people would make the records, whether it was a solo or group record — Buddy Holly on vocals and lead guitar, Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar, Jerry Allison on drums, Joe Mauldin on bass, and producer Norman Petty and his wife sometimes adding keyboards. They didn’t distinguish between “Buddy Holly” and “Crickets” material when recording — rather they separated it out later. The more straight-ahead rock and roll records would have backing vocals overdubbed on them, usually by a vocal group called the Picks, and would be released as Crickets records, while the more experimental ones would be left with only Holly’s vocal on, and would be released as solo records. (There were no records released as by “Buddy Holly and the Crickets” at the time, because the whole idea of the split was that DJs would play two records instead of one if they appeared to be by different artists). And they were recording *a lot*. Two days after “That’ll be the Day” was released, on the twenty-seventh of May 1957, they recorded “Everyday” and “Not Fade Away”. Between then and the first of July they recorded “Tell Me How”, “Oh Boy”, “Listen to Me”, “I’m Going to Love You Too”, and cover versions of Fats Domino’s “Valley of Tears” and Little Richard’s “Ready Teddy”. Remember, this was all before they’d had a single hit — “That’ll Be the Day” and “Words of Love” still hadn’t charted. This is quite an astonishing outpouring of songs, but the big leap forward came on the second of July, when they made a second attempt at a song they’d attempted to record back in late 1956, and had been playing in their stage show since then. The song had originally been titled “Cindy Lou”, after Buddy’s niece, but Jerry Allison had recently started dating a girl named Peggy Sue Gerrison, and they decided to change the lyrics to be about her. The song had also originally been played as a Latin-flavoured number, but when they were warming up, Allison started playing a fast paradiddle on his snare drum. Holly decided that they were going to change the tempo of the song and have Allison play that part all the way through, though this meant that Allison had to go out and play in the hallway rather than in the main studio, because the noise from his drums was too loud in the studio itself. The final touch came when Petty decided, on the song’s intro, to put the drums through the echo chamber and keep flicking the switch on the echo from “on” to “off”, so it sounded like there were two drummers playing: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Peggy Sue”] Someone else was flicking a switch, too — Niki Sullivan was already starting to regret joining the Crickets, because there really wasn’t room for his rhythm guitar on most of the songs they were playing. And on “Peggy Sue” he ended up not playing at all. On that song, Buddy had to switch between two pickups — one for when he was singing, and another to give his guitar a different tone during the solo. But he was playing so fast that he couldn’t move his hand to the switch, and in those days there were no foot pedals one could use for the same sort of effect. So Niki Sullivan became Holly’s foot pedal. He knelt beside Holly and waited for the point when the solo was about to start, and flicked the switch on his guitar. When the solo came to an end again, Sullivan flicked the switch again and it went back to the original sound. [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Peggy Sue”] It’s a really strange sounding record, if you start to pay attention to it. Other than during the solo, Holly’s guitar is so quiet that you can hear the plectrum as loudly as you can hear the notes. He just keeps up a ram-a-ram-a quaver downstrum throughout the whole song, which sounds simple until you try to play it, at which point you realise that you start feeling like your arm’s going to fall off about a quarter of the way through. And there’s just that, those drums (playing a part which must be similarly physically demanding) with their weird echo, and Holly’s voice. In theory, Joe Mauldin’s bass is also in there, but it’s there at almost homeopathic levels. It’s a record that is entirely carried by the voice, the drums, and the guitar solo. Of course, Niki Sullivan wasn’t happy about being relegated to guitar-switch-flicker, and there were other tensions within the group as well. Holly was having an affair with a married woman at the time — and Jerry Allison, who was Holly’s best friend as well as his bandmate, was also in love with her, though not in a relationship with her, and so Holly had to keep his affair hidden from his best friend. And not only that, but Allison and Sullivan were starting to have problems with each other, too. To help defuse the situation, Holly’s brother Larry took him on holiday, to go fishing in Colorado. But even there, the stress of the current situation was showing — Buddy spent much of the trip worried about the lack of success of “That’ll Be the Day”, and obsessing over a new record by a new singer, Paul Anka, that had gone to number one: [Excerpt: Paul Anka, “Diana”] Holly was insistent that he could do better than that, and that his records were at least as good. But so far they were doing nothing at all on the charts. But then a strange thing happened. “That’ll Be the Day” started getting picked up by black radio stations. It turned out that there had been another group called the Crickets — a black doo-wop group from about five years earlier, led by a singer called Dean Barlow, who had specialised in smooth Ink Spots-style ballads: [Excerpt The Crickets featuring Dean Barlow, “Be Faithful”] People at black radio stations had assumed that this new group called the Crickets was the same one, and had then discovered that “That’ll Be the Day” was really rather good. The group even got booked on an otherwise all-black tour headlined by Clyde McPhatter and Otis Rush, booked by people who hadn’t realised they were white. Before going on the tour, they formally arranged to have Norman Petty be their manager as well as their producer. They were a success on the tour, though when it reached the Harlem Apollo, which had notoriously hostile audiences, the group had to reconfigure their sets, as the audiences didn’t like any of Holly’s original material except “That’ll Be the Day”, but did like the group’s cover versions of R&B records like “Bo Diddley”: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Bo Diddley (Undubbed Version)”] Some have said that the Crickets were the first white act to play the Apollo. That’s not the case — Bobby Darin had played there before them, and I think so had the jazz drummer Buddy Rich, and maybe one or two others. But it was still a rarity, and the Crickets had to work hard to win the audience around. After they finished that tour, they moved on to a residency at the Brooklyn Paramount, on an Alan Freed show that also featured Little Richard and Larry Williams — who the Crickets met for the first time when they walked into the dressing room to find Richard and Williams engaged in a threesome with Richard’s girlfriend. During that engagement at the Paramount, the tensions within the group reached boiling point. Niki Sullivan, who was in an awful mood because he was trying to quit smoking, revealed the truth about Holly’s affair to Allison, and the group got in a fist-fight. According to Sullivan — who seems not to have always been the most reliable of interviewees — Sullivan gave Jerry Allison a black eye, and then straight away they had to go to the rooftop to take the photo for the group’s first album, The “Chirping” Crickets. Sullivan says that while the photo was retouched to hide the black eye, it’s still visible, though I can’t see it myself. After this, they went into a three-month tour on a giant package of stars featuring Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Paul Anka, the Everly Brothers, the Bobbettes, the Drifters, LaVern Baker, and many more. By this point, both “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue” had risen up the charts — “That’ll Be the Day” eventually went to number one, while “Peggy Sue” hit number three — and the next Crickets single, “Oh Boy!” was also charting. “Oh Boy!” had originally been written by an acquaintance of the band, Sonny West, who had recorded his own version as “All My Love” a short while earlier: [Excerpt: Sonny West, “All My Love”] Glen Hardin, the piano player on that track, would later join a lineup of the Crickets in the sixties (and later still would be Elvis’ piano player and arranger in the seventies). Holly would later also cover another of West’s songs, “Rave On”. The Crickets’ version of “Oh Boy!” was recorded at a faster tempo, and became another major hit, their last top ten: [Excerpt: The Crickets, “Oh Boy!”] Around the time that came out, Eddie Cochran joined the tour, and like the Everly Brothers he became fast friends with the group. The group also made an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, with Holly, Mauldin, and Allison enthusiastically performing “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue”, and Sullivan enthusiastically miming and playing an unplugged guitar. Sullivan was becoming more and more sidelined in the group, and when they returned to Lubbock at the end of the tour — during which he’d ended up breaking down and crying — he decided he was going to quit the group. Sullivan tried to have a solo career, releasing “It’s All Over” on Dot Records: [Excerpt: Niki Sullivan, “It’s All Over”] But he had no success, and ended up working in electronics, and in later years also making money from the Buddy Holly nostalgia industry. He’d only toured as a member of the group for a total of ninety days, though he’d been playing with them in the studio for a few months before that, and he’d played on a total of twenty-seven of the thirty-two songs that Holly or the Crickets would release in Holly’s lifetime. While he’d been promised an equal share of the group’s income — and Petty had also promised Sullivan, like all the other Crickets, that he would pay 10% of his income to his church — Sullivan got into endless battles with Petty over seeing the group’s accounts, which Petty wouldn’t show him, and eventually settled for getting just $1000, ten percent of the recording royalties just for the single “That’ll Be the Day”, and co-writing royalties on one song, “I’m Going to Love You Too”. His church didn’t get a cent. Meanwhile, Petty was busy trying to widen the rifts in the group. He decided that while the records would still be released as either “Buddy Holly” or “the Crickets”, as a live act they would from now on be billed as “Buddy Holly and the Crickets”, a singer and his backing group, and that while Mauldin and Allison would continue to get twenty-five percent of the money each, Holly would be on fifty percent. This was an easy decision, since Petty was handling all the money and only giving the group pocket money rather than giving them their actual shares of the money they’d earned. The group spent all of 1958 touring, visiting Hawaii, Australia, the UK, and all over the US, including the famous last ever Alan Freed tour that we looked at recently in episodes on Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. They got in another guitarist, Tommy Allsup, who took over the lead role while Buddy played rhythm, and who joined them on tour, though he wasn’t an official member of the group. The first recording Allsup played on was “It’s So Easy”: [Excerpt: The Crickets, “It’s So Easy”] But the group’s records were selling less and less well. Holly was getting worried, and there was another factor that came into play. On a visit to New York, stopping in to visit their publisher in the Brill Building, all three of the Crickets became attracted to the receptionist, a Puerto Rican woman named Maria Elena Santiago who was a few years older than them. They all started to joke about which of them would ask her out, and Holly eventually did so. It turned out that while Maria Elena was twenty-five, she’d never yet been on a date, and she had to ask the permission of her aunt, who she lived with, and who was also the head of the Latin-American division of the publishing company. The aunt rang round every business contact she had, satisfied herself that Buddy was a nice boy, and gave her blessing for the date. The next day, she was giving her blessing for the two to marry — Buddy proposed on the very first date. They eventually went on a joint honeymoon with Jerry Allison and Peggy Sue. But Maria Elena was someone who worked in the music industry, and was a little bit older, and she started saying things to Buddy like “You need to get a proper accounting of the money that’s owed you”, and “You should be getting paid”. This strained his relationship with Petty, who didn’t want any woman of colour butting her nose in and getting involved in his business. Buddy moved to a flat in Greenwich Village with Maria Elena, but for the moment he was still working with Petty, even after Petty used some extremely misogynistic slurs I’m not going to repeat here against his new wife. But he was worried about his lack of hits, and they tried a few different variations on the formula. The Crickets recorded one song, a cover version of a song they’d learned on the Australian tour, with Jerry Allison singing lead. It was released under the name “Ivan” — Allison’s middle name — and became a minor hit: [Excerpt: Ivan, “Real Wild Child”] They tried more and more different things, like getting King Curtis in to play saxophone on “Reminiscing”, and on one occasion dispensing with the Crickets entirely and having Buddy cut a Bobby Darin song, “Early in the Morning”, with other musicians. They were stockpiling recordings much faster than they could release them, but the releases weren’t doing well at all. “It’s So Easy” didn’t even reach the top one hundred. Holly was also working with other artists. In September, he produced a session for his friend Waylon Jennings, who would later become a huge country star. It was Jennings’ first ever session, and they turned out an interesting version of the old Cajun song “Jole Blon”, which had earlier been a hit for Moon Mullican. This version had Holly on guitar and King Curtis on saxophone, and is a really interesting attempt at blending Cajun music with R&B: [Excerpt: Waylon Jennings, “Jole Blon”] But Holly’s biggest hope was placed in a session that was really breaking new ground. No rock and roll singer had ever recorded with a full string section before — at least as far as he was aware, and bearing in mind that, as we’ve seen many times, there’s never truly a first anything. In October 1958, Holly went into the studio with the Dick Jacobs Orchestra, with the intention of recording three songs — his own “True Love Ways”, a song called “Moondreams” written by Petty, and one called “Raining in My Heart” written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who’d written many hits for his friends the Everly Brothers. At the last minute, though, he decided to record a fourth song, which had been written for him by Paul Anka, the same kid whose “Diana” had been so irritating to him the year before. He played through the song on his guitar for Dick Jacobs, who only had a short while to write the arrangement, and so stuck to the simplest thing he could think of, basing it around pizzicato violins: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “It Doesn’t Matter Any More”] At that point, everything still seemed like it could work out OK. Norman Petty and the other Crickets were all there at the recording session, cheering Buddy on. That night the Crickets appeared on American Bandstand, miming to “It’s So Easy”. That would be the last time they ever performed together, and soon there would be an irreparable split that would lead directly to Holly’s death — and to his posthumous fame. Holly was getting sick of Norman Petty’s continual withholding of royalties, and he’d come up with a plan. The Crickets would, as a group, confront Petty, get him to give them the money he owed them, and then all move to New York together to start up their own record label and publishing company. They’d stop touring, and focus on making records, and this would allow them the time to get things right and try new things out, which would lead to them having hits again, and they could also produce records for their friends like Waylon Jennings and Sonny Curtis. It was a good plan, and it might have worked, but it relied on them getting that money off Norman Petty. When the other two got back to Texas, Petty started manipulating them. He told them they were small-town Texas boys who would never be able to live in the big city. He told them that they didn’t need Buddy Holly, and that they could carry on making Crickets records without him. He told them that Maria Elena was manipulating Buddy, and that if they went off to New York with him it would be her who was in charge of the group from that point on. And he also pointed out that he was currently the only signatory on the group’s bank account, and it would be a real shame if something happened to all that money. By the time Buddy got back to Texas, the other two Crickets had agreed that they were going to stick with Norman Petty. Petty said it was fine if Buddy wanted to fire him, but he wasn’t getting any money until a full audit had been done of the organisation’s money. Buddy was no longer even going to get the per diem pocket money or expenses he’d been getting. Holly went back to New York, and started writing many, many, more songs, recording dozens of acoustic demos for when he could start his plan up: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Crying, Waiting, Hoping”] It was a massive creative explosion for the young man. He was not only writing songs himself, but he was busily planning to make an album of Latin music, and he was making preparations for two more projects he’d like to do — an album of duets on gospel songs with Mahalia Jackson, and an album of soul duets with Ray Charles. He was going to jazz clubs, and he had ambitions of following Elvis into films, but doing it properly — he enrolled in courses with Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio, to learn Method Acting. Greenwich Village in 1958 was the perfect place for a young man with a huge amount of natural talent and appetite for learning, but little experience of the wider world and culture. But the young couple were living off Maria Elena’s aunt’s generosity, and had no income at all of their own. And then Maria Elena revealed that she was pregnant. And Norman Petty revealed something he’d kept hidden before — by the terms of Buddy’s contract, he hadn’t really been recording for Brunswick or Coral, so they didn’t owe him a penny. He’d been recording for Petty’s company, who then sold the masters on to the other labels, and would get all the royalties. The Crickets bank account into which the royalties had supposedly been being paid, and which Petty had refused to let the band members see, was essentially empty. There was only one thing for it. He had to do another tour. And the only one he could get on was a miserable-seeming affair called the Winter Dance Party. While most of the rock and roll package tours of the time had more than a dozen acts on, this one had only five. There was an opening act called Frankie Sardo, and then Dion and the Belmonts, who had had a few minor hits, and had just recorded, but not yet released, their breakthrough record “Teenager in Love”: [Excerpt: Dion and the Belmonts, “Teenager in Love”] Then there was the Big Bopper, who was actually a fairly accomplished songwriter but was touring on the basis of his one hit, a novelty song called “Chantilly Lace”: [Excerpt: the Big Bopper, “Chantilly Lace”] And Ritchie Valens, whose hit “Donna” was rising up the charts in a way that “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” was notably failing to do: [Excerpt: Ritchie Valens, “Donna”] Buddy put together a new touring band consisting of Tommy Allsup on guitar, Waylon Jennings on bass — who had never played bass before starting the tour — and a drummer called Carl Bunch. For a while it looked like Buddy’s friend Eddie Cochran was going to go on tour with them as well, but shortly before the tour started Cochran got an offer to do the Ed Sullivan Show, which would have clashed with the tour dates, and so he didn’t make it. Maria Elena was very insistent that she didn’t want Buddy to go, but he felt that he had no choice if he was going to support his new child. The Winter Dance Party toured Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, through the end of January and the beginning of February 1959, and the conditions were miserable for everyone concerned. The tour had been put together with no thought of logistics, and it zig-zagged wildly across those three states, with gigs often four hundred miles away from each other. The musicians had to sleep on the tour bus — or buses. The tour was being run on a shoe-string, and they’d gone with the cheapest vehicle-hire company possible. They went through, according to one biography I’ve read, eight different buses in eleven days, as none of the buses were able to cope with the Midwestern winter, and their engines kept failing and the heating on several of the buses broke down. I don’t know if you’ve spent any time in that part of America in the winter, but I go there for Christmas every year (my wife has family in Minnesota) and it’s unimaginably cold in a way you can’t understand unless you’ve experienced it. It’s not unusual for temperatures to drop to as low as minus forty degrees, and to have three feet or more of snow. Travelling in a bus, with no heating, in that weather, all packed together, was hell for everyone. The Big Bopper and Valens were both fat, and couldn’t fit in the small seats easily. Several people on the tour, including Bopper and Valens, got the flu. And then finally Carl Bunch got hospitalised with frostbite. Buddy’s band, which was backing everyone on stage, now had no drummer, and so for the next three days of the tour Holly, Dion, and Valens would all take it in turns playing the drums, as all of them were adequate drummers. The shows were still good, at least according to a young man named Robert Zimmerman, who saw the first drummerless show, in Duluth Minnesota, and who would move to Greenwich Village himself not that long afterwards. After a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy had had enough. He decided to charter a plane to take him to Fargo, North Dakota, which was just near Moorhead, Minnesota, where they were planning on playing their next show. He’d take everyone’s laundry — everyone stank and had been wearing the same clothes for days — and get it washed, and get some sleep in a real bed. The original plan was to have Allsup and Jennings travel with him, but eventually they gave up their seats to the two other people who were suffering the most — the Big Bopper and Valens. There are different stories about how that happened, most involving a coin-toss, but they all agree that when Buddy found out that Waylon Jennings was giving up his seat, he jokingly said to Jennings “I hope your old bus freezes”, and Jennings replied, “Yeah, well I hope your ol’ plane crashes”. The three of them got on the plane in the middle of the night, on a foggy winter’s night, which would require flying by instruments. Unfortunately, while the pilot on the plane was rated as being a good pilot during the day, he kept almost failing his certification for being bad at flying by instrument. And the plane in question had an unusual type of altitude meter. Where most altitude meters would go up when the plane was going up and down when it was going down, that particular model’s meter went down when the plane was going up, and up when it was going down. The plane took off, and less than five minutes after takeoff, it plummeted straight down, nose first, into the ground at top speed, killing everyone on board instantly. As soon as the news got out, Holly’s last single finally started rising up the charts. It ended up going to number thirteen on the US charts, and number one in many other countries. The aftermath shows how much contempt the music industry — and society itself — had for those musicians at that time. Maria Elena found out about Buddy’s death not from the police, but from the TV — this later prompted changes in how news of celebrity deaths was to be revealed. She was so upset that she miscarried two days later. She was too distraught to attend the funeral, and to this day has still never been able to bring herself to visit her husband’s grave. The grief was just too much. The rest of the people on the tour were forced to continue the remaining thirteen days of the tour without the three acts anyone wanted to go and see, but were also not paid their full wages, because the bill wasn’t as advertised. A new young singer was picked up to round out the bill on the next gig, a young Minnesotan Holly soundalike called Bobby Vee, whose first single, “Suzy Baby”, was just about to come out: [Excerpt: Bobby Vee, “Suzy Baby”] When Vee went on tour on his own, later, he hired that Zimmerman kid we mentioned earlier as his piano player. Zimmerman worked under the stage name Elston Gunn, but would later choose a better one. After that date Holly, Valens, and the Bopper were replaced by Fabian, Frankie Avalon, and Jimmy Clanton, and the tour continued. Meanwhile, the remaining Crickets picked themselves up and carried on. They got Buddy’s old friend Sonny Curtis on guitar, and a succession of Holly-soundalike singers, and continued playing together until Joe Mauldin died in 2015. Most of their records without Buddy weren’t particularly memorable, but they did record one song written by Curtis which would later become a hit for several other people, “I Fought the Law”: [Excerpt: The Crickets, “I Fought the Law”] But the person who ended up benefiting most from Holly’s death was Norman Petty. Suddenly his stockpile of unreleased Buddy Holly recordings was a goldmine — and not only that, he ended up coming to an agreement with Holly’s estate that he could take all those demos Holly had recorded and overdub new backing tracks on them, turning them into full-blown rock and roll songs. Between overdubbed versions of the demos, and stockpiled full-band recordings, Buddy Holly kept having hit singles in the rest of the world until 1965, though none charted in the US, and he made both Petty and his estate very rich. Norman Petty died in 1984. His last project was a still-unreleased “updating” of Buddy’s biggest hits with synthesisers. These days, Buddy Holly is once again on tour, or at least something purporting to be him is. You can now go and see a “hologram tour”, in which an image of a look-not-very-alike actor miming to Holly’s old recordings is projected on glass, using the old Victorian stage trick Pepper’s Ghost, while a live band plays along to the records. Just because you’ve worked someone to death aged twenty-two, doesn’t mean that they can’t still keep earning money for you when they’re eighty-three. And a hologram will never complain about how cold the tour bus is, or want to wash his laundry.

#PeterBoykin #PeterBoykinSings #Karaokehttps://facebook.com/PeterBoykinSings/Support at https://Patreon.com/PeterBoykinFollow https://T.Me/RealPeterBoykinContact peter.boykin@themaganetwork.com

#PeterBoykin #PeterBoykinSings #Karaokehttps://facebook.com/PeterBoykinSings/Support at https://Patreon.com/PeterBoykinFollow https://T.Me/RealPeterBoykinContact peter.boykin@themaganetwork.com

Go Fact Yourself is coming to Chicago! Join us on August 9 & 10 at Sleeping Village. Visit gofactyourpod.com for tickets and details. Our patented mind-control techniques compel you to hear this episode of Go Fact Yourself! Jamie Kennedy is a comedian and actor. He’s spent most of his life working in film and television with some big names like Frank Oz and David O. Russell. But how did he decide that he wanted to spend his life in Hollywood? It all goes back to his minor background role in a classic Robin Williams film. Jamie Kennedy can be seen in the upcoming film Ad Astra. Jamie will face off against a frequent collaborator of his: comedian Melissa McQueen. These days, she’s known for wearing sequins and sparkly outfits while performing on comedy stages across the country. But she’ll tell us about how she used to work to help other people perform on stage… as a karaoke KJ. The guests will chat about government secrets, child-actors and the value of passing on deceased relatives' clothing. What’s the Difference: Impostors What’s the difference between "duplicate" and "replicate?" What’s the difference between a robot and an android? Areas of Expertise Jamie Kennedy: The MK Ultra conspiracy, pacemakers and lyrics to the Big Bopper song "Chantilly Lace." Melissa McQueen: Lyrics from the Hall & Oates album Rock & Soul Part 1, the film The Royal Tenenbaums and The Pizzagate Conspiracy. Appearing in this episode: J. Keith van Straaten Helen Hong Jamie Kennedy Melissa McQueen With guest experts: Brian Dunning, science writer and host of the award-winning "Skeptoid Podcast". Grant Rosenmeyer, producer and actor who’s appeared on Broadway, film and television. Go Fact Yourself was devised by Jim Newman and J. Keith van Straaten, and produced in collaboration with Maximum Fun. The show was recorded at The Angel City Brewery in Los Angeles. Theme Song by Jonathan Green. Maximum Fun's Senior Producer is Laura Swisher. The show is edited by Julian Burrell.

Leigh Lincoln & Aly Morford from Pure Salt Interiors join Aaron & Tracy this week to give us their top interior design tips! We discuss how best to approach a space, which colors provide a timeless palette, and how to effectively combine style, simplicity and function for a beautiful home.   LET’S CHAT! You can always call and leave your questions and comments on our voicemail! 978-709-1040   LEIGH AND ALY’S TIPS: - White is a great neutral canvas, but avoid a sterile space by incorporating texture! - Marry design + function. - You’re not limited in color with kids if you find the right materials. - Be patient and trust the design process. - Dream up a cohesive vision for your home. - There ARE designers out there for every budget- don’t be intimidated to reach out to designers in your area. - Prioritize what you invest in. - Check out flea markets for affordable pieces. The ladies are also fans of Target and Etsy.   TIPS FOR CREATING A TIMELESS SPACE: - Pick a timeless/neutral palette. - For flooring Aly suggests a nice medium wood, like a white oak. “A wood that looks like it’s been there for all time”. - Cabinetry is all about function! - Countertops are about functionality as well- choose a material that works for your family. Organic color and texture. - Purity, simplicity and organization is so crucial.   The 7:55 mark: Leigh mentioned SketchUp and Aaron fell in love. White paints: the ladies like (but they didn’t REALLY want to narrow it down) - Simply White and Chantilly Lace   THE LADIES MENTIONED: Warren Christopher- http://wchristopher.com Rejuvenation- www.rejuvenation.com Circa- ww.circalighting.com Schoolhouse Electric- www.schoolhouse.com   PHONE CALLS: Q: Mixing Metals? Yay or Nay? A: It’s ok, but be very thoughtful about your metal choices. Leigh tries to stick to 2 metals.   Q: Thoughts on a different color island? A: It’s a great way to give your space a pop, but be mindful of choosing a timeless finish.   SALT PLEASE: Website | puresaltinteriors.com Pure Salt Shoppe | shoppe.puresaltinteriors.com The Gram/Twitter | @puresaltinteriors   FOLLOW US on social media: Website | https://howtohome.com/ Instagram | http://bit.ly/2WqVfSp Twitter | http://bit.ly/2RRyYij Facebook | http://bit.ly/2MC3Hdc Youtube | http://bit.ly/2SifqTH   SUBSCRIBE to the How to Home Podcast: Itunes | https://apple.co/2DL0lSp Android | http://bit.ly/2B9k7Fm Stitcher | http://bit.ly/2DM0W6c Spotify | https://spoti.fi/2GcRCKo   THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSOR FILTERBUY.COM  

Show 45, “Answer Songs,” pairs nine original songs with “answer songs” that address the original lyrics. Songs include “Mr. Lee,” “God Bless America,” “Chantilly Lace,” and “Get a Job.” Performers include Debbie Dean, Kitty Wells,... Read More The post Episode 45 “Answer Songs” appeared first on Sam Waldron.

The Big Bopper might not have been as well known as Buddy Holly or Ritchie Valens when the three of them died in that fateful plane crash in 1959, but he was a true pioneer in "songs about the phone." So today we're celebrating his legacy... and also dumping on it a bit. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

There’s a lot to take in this week as Matt reports on the life and death of rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Buddy Holly. Innes starts the episode as he means to go on by saying “Sneezelize on air”. There’s a nice rendition of a Buddy Holly song and we debate the decision making of the young singer in proposing five hours into a first date. There’s also talk of some dreadful bus journeys and Innes gets angry at Matt for his tendency to report on topics filled with death! We all come to the unfortunate realisation that we have faces for podcasting. Check on Twitter for a link to the Big Bopper’s song Chantilly Lace. Also Innes basically shouts down the microphone to promote the twitter and email so cover your ears! Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy    @InnesJackson

Linda Gail Lewis joins us for part 1 of our 4 part interview series as we discuss early years, Sun Records and her brother.  We also get #20-16 in our "Killer Countdown" sponsored by Lanark Records as we count down the top 20 Jerry Lee Lewis tracks voted on by the listeners to celebrate the Killer's 80th birthday!  Plus, we hear a new track from Veloninos, rockers from Roy Orbison, Faron Young, Elvis Presley, Jai Malano and more! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey   Jake Calypso- "Downtown Memphis" Norman Fox & The Rob-Roys- "Tell Me Why"   Linda Gail Lewis interview Linda Gail Lewis- "Rock & Roll Soul" Segment 1 Linda Gail Lewis- "Ubangi Stomp" Segment 2 Linda Gail Lewis- "From Sweden To Memphis" Segment 3 Jerry Lee Lewis & Linda Gail Lewis- "Roll Over Beethoven" Segment 4 Linda Gail Lewis- "This Train" (from Hard Rockin' Woman)   Killer Countdown (sponsored by Lanark Records) *Top 20 listener-voted Jerry Lee Lewis songs  to celebrate his 80th birthday! 15.  "Lewis Boogie" *Alton Lott (of Alton & Jimmy/ Sun Records) birthday greeting 14.  "It'll Be Me" 13.  "I'm On Fire" *WS Holland (drummer- Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash) birthday greeting 12.  "Chantilly Lace" 11.  "Another Place Another Time"   Wanda Jackson- "Let's Have A Party" Sleepy LaBeef- "Boogie Woogie Country Man" Bobby Hendricks- "Itchy Twitchy Feeling" Marc & The Wild Ones- "Can't Stop Loving You"         http://lanarkrecords.net/ https://twitter.com/Lanarkrecords https://www.facebook.com/lanarkrecords

In Hailey and Jillian's debut show, listen to them wrestle with audio equipment and talk about how excited they are to be on the radio, and of course, the Day the Music Died. (The first twenty minutes are missing due to the pressing of wrong buttons on Jillian's part.) Playlist Opening Song: "Monday"/Wilco Set 1: "Car Radio"/Spoon "Radio Song"/R.E.M. feat. KRS-One "I Don't Like Mondays"/Boomtown Rats "Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal"/They Might Be Giants Set 2: "Radio Nowhere"/Bruce Springsteen "Radio"/Sixpence None the Richer "Rainy Days and Mondays"/The Carpenters "That'll Be the Day"/Buddy Holly Set 3: "Oh, Donna"/Ritchie Valens "Buddy Holly"/Weezer "200 Motels Radio Spot 3"/Frank Zappa "Introduction"/Joni Mitchell "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care"/Elvis Presley "Monday Morning"/Fleetwood Mac "Radio Head"/Talking Heads "Intro"/Backstreet Boys "Something's Wrong With My Radio"/Stray Cats Set 4: "This is Radio Clash"/The Clash "Rave On"/Over the Rhine "Chantilly Lace"/The Big Bopper "Mexican Radio"/Wall of Voodoo "Words of Love"/Patti Smith "Intro"/Camera Obscura "People Who Died"/Jim Carroll Band Set 5: "Maybe Monday"/'Til Tuesday "Radio, Radio"/Elvis Costello & the Attractions "Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio?"/The Ramones "Introduction to Solution"/The Kinks "Radio Ga-Ga"/Queen "St. Monday"/Billy Bragg Closing Song: "Turn On Tune In Drop Out With Me"/Cracker

The death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in an Iowa cornfield became known as "The Day the Music Died" after the 1971 Don McLean song.

Hey ATA Listeners, it's the Big Bopper speaking doing just what I like, podcast reviews on a great week of television, which started off Andy and I reviewing a Once upon a Time episode where Snow White in (everybody sing...)  Chantilly Lace had evil on her face and Go On's cast was placing bets down  As Big Bang's Cinderella had a giggle and a yell that made the world go round There ain't nothing in Psych's world Like Shawn giving Lassie a whirl to make things funny and Community's spoof on Shawshank not worth the money Set a Person of Interest killer loose who tried to play us like a goose Because yeah oh baby that's what we TV watchers like! However, that's not all there is to like about ATA Episode 115 as we've also got a News with Nico section featuring a big rumor about the future for the DC  Comics Cinematic Universe if Man of Steel is a success this summer and another addition of the Airwaves Rundown Section containing our thoughts on The Simpsons, The Walking Dead, History Channel's new hit show Vikings, The Following with Andy, Bones, Justified, the season finale of White Collar, The Americans, Glee, and the long awaited return of Grimm. All in all this is another great episode so join us for some television reviewing fun!