THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

February 3 . . .

A sad landmark in rock history. If you listened to a pop, rock or oldies radio station today, you know this is the 51st anniversary of the day a plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper went down near Clear Lake, Iowa.

Buddy Holly was the pioneer, everyman rocker who proved you could look like a geek and still rock and get the girl. Richie Valens may have gone on to become one of the first rock ‘n roll cultural crossover artists, combing Hispanic musical traditions with AM radio acceptance. The Big Bopper was . . well, a radio DJ who got lucky on the charts and unlucky in air travel.

Biopics are a notoriously unreliable reflection of an artist’s life, and ‘The Buddy Holly Story’ is no exception. It misses some of the particulars - there were 3 Crickets, not 2 - but these are quibbles; overall, the movie gets the spirit right. Gary Busey had the role of his career as Holly, though he stood a good foot above the real Buddy. Don Stroud and Charles Martin Smith (‘The Untouchables’, ‘Never Cry Wolf’, ‘American Graffiti’) play The Crickets, and one of the great perks of the flick is the fact that they really are playing live in the concert sequences, not lip-synching. Dramatically, ‘The Buddy Holly Story’ is pretty standard, Hollywood white-wash stuff – but its musical sequences have a visceral energy that prove to be the movie’s saving grace.

Make it a double bill with ‘La Bamba’, director Luis Valdez’s take on the story of Richie Valens, the young Mexican-American rocker who shared that final fatal flight with Holly. Lou Diamond Phillips became a star thanks to his portrayal of the ill-fated rocker, but soul of the movie lies in Esai Morales’ moody portrait of Richie’s older brother.

Here's a clip from 'The Buddy Holly Story' where Buddy and the boys find themselves the unlikely headliners at The Apollo Theater in NY, appearing in front of a crowd of locals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOsxzZMqYx0