Heading Into the New Year

We have nothing special to say at the moment. However, we will share this musical gem from Otis Redding and Carla Thomas.

More later.

Jam For Cans

Earlier this month, we were proud to host Raven's 9th Annual Jam For Cans, which unites 30 or so of the best and most generous rhythm & blues musicians of the Pacific Northwest to play together for six or seven hours while raising money and food for Northwest Harvest, the region's largest food bank. In a tough economy, people's ability to give is only rivaled by the greater need. While we are displeased to understand that in 2009, food banks everywhere are experiencing a higher demand as homelessness and hunger continue to increase, we are pleased to know that this year's Jam For Cans raised more than $3,000 and 3,000 pounds of food.

Larry Williams gave us a disc of his photos from the event. Here are some of his shots - if you like, he shoots families, weddings, events, etc. Larry can be reached at lwilliams.jr@hotmail.com

The Battle of the Burge

Our friends, regulars, blues enthusiasts, and nifty photographers Tim Burge and Michelle Castro Orebia Burge are the best kind of people. They frequent our club as well as all the other clubs in the area that put rhythm & blues music on their fine stages, truly supporting live music and the folks who play it. Here are some photos they took at the club earlier this year:

Son Jack Jr. & Michael Wilde


John Nemeth


Robin Moxey & Eddie "Devil Boy" Turner


Ed Maloney and Harper, expressing their mutual affection


Handful of Luvin'

Awards

We just won this thing for the second consecutive year. They sent us the html code to post the banner and link above. It's strange, these things that involve voting, contests, declarations of "best" and such. We've enjoyed many decorations of success via awards and nominations, including the highest in our field. Our official response is the same as the one expressed within our walls at staff meetings... something along the line of, "aw, shucks, thanks for noticing!" There are a lot of good joints out there and we are but one of them. We don't compete with other venues, we only compete with ourselves; that is to say, we can only do the best we can, whether it's booking the shows, staffing, menu-planning, execution from the kitchen to the front of the house, marketing, advertising, promotion, branding... all the things any business must address if it wishes to exist next week. Sometimes we lose a good show to another venue and that's okay because other times another venue loses a show to us, and over time it's a wash, we get some good ones, they get some good ones, there's room for all of us, we're all friends and we're all part of the Seattle music community. All we know is, we work hard to provide the best experience for the music fan and the musician alike. We like to think that we do pretty well there, we know the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. While nobody can please all the people all the time, we tend to be proud of what and how we do, while always working to do better. Anyway... when we get noticed in the form of an award for doing well, we're willing to take a moment - just a moment, too much work to do! - to say "aaaah..." and enjoy one of the many tasty fruits of our labor.

We Love Uncle Bobby

We love Bob Dylan. We love his new album, and that he's gone in a decidedly blues-oriented direction during the last 15 years or so. We loved his show at the Moore Theatre last week. When the Seattle Times ran Jonathan Zwickel's concert review, we were pleasantly surprised to see our name in print. Here's the mention:

"Backed by a crack quintet, including Texas-born ace guitarist Charlie Sexton, he spent the next half-hour doling out rote boogie blues jams - tight, sure, but the Highway 99 Blues Club is equally so on any given Tuesday."
Is this a compliment for us and the Tuesday night Scarlet Tree All Stars series? Is it a mild slight toward Dylan? A little bit of both? Who knows. Overall, the review was positive. All we can say is, it's quite an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan. Click here for the full Seattle Times review

Our comments on the show:
We (the Maloney Brothers, Eric and Ed) have been huge Dylan fans all our lives and have seen dozens of his shows. Boston, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Minnesota, Wisonsin, Seattle... We were at the Moore and while the show was at times simply awesome and at times kind of mundane, overall we were happy for its favorable balance of strong points. Rarely played chestnuts like "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking" and "Shooting Star" plus inspired takes on "Ballad of a Thin Man", "Don't Think Twice" and "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" outweighed our opinion that he ignored the true gems of the new album (we wanted to hear "My Wife's Home Town" and "It's All Good").

As we talked about the show over slices at Belltown Pizza that night, we discussed the idea of "What would be your ideal Dylan show?" Tough question, even when you limit the answer to current realities and avails (he can't reunite with the Hawks, for example). Some nights, Dylan is "on." Other nights, not so much. The set list is always different. You never know what you're gonna get. It's not as simple as an artist favoring the new album - we've seen him play a lot of brand new stuff and then very little brand new stuff, within the same tour. At the Moore, he played two songs from the new album, four from Modern Times (2006), three from Love & Theft (2001), one each from the late 70s gospel period and the 80s, and five from the 60s. Nothing from the albums many argue as his career best, Blood on the Tracks and Blonde On Blonde. The following night, a mile down the road at Wamu Theatre, Dylan's set list comprised not even half of the songs we saw and heard at the Moore. The following night, exactly half the songs had been played at either of the two Seattle shows. The night after that in Eugene, same deal, half the set list had anything in common with the prior two nights. As we watch these set lists from town the town, there's not even a formula, as in, "he always opens with a song from Album X, the first song of the encore is always something from Album Y, there's a 3-song piece in the middle that's always the same" and so on. There is no apparent structure or architecture. Dylan plays a song one night as the opener, he may not play it again for 20 years, or he may play it again a few days later but it's done mid-show, or in the encore; one night, he may favor his newest material; another night, he may favor something from the previous album (as he did at the Moore); yet another night, he may favor any particularly identifying slice of his career, be it a period, an album, a subject matter, a style or genre, or none at all. It could be seemingly random. As Jonathan Zwickel so thoughtfully wrote in his Seattle Times review, It's Dylan being Dylan. You don't get the Dylan you want. You get the Dylan you get.

We decided that we like it the way it is. If Dylan felt compelled to get on the nostalgia circuit and play a bunch of his major hits every night, he may as well take it to the casinos. He stopped having anything to prove a long time ago, yet from his late 50s to late 60s he's been putting out material that stands aside his classic stuff of three and four decades ago. The only artist who comes close to Dylan in terms of issuing artistically and musically endearing stuff in his 60s is Tom Waits. Springsteen just turned 60 and to qualify for the discussion, he'll have to do better than he did in his 40s and his 50s. We love Bruce and his output of the last 20 years, but in terms of rivaling the output of his 20s and 30s in his 60s, all signs point to No. Anyway, that's all we've got for now.

The moral to this story is that we are all very lucky to have Bob Dylan as an active, productive artist who tours as actively as he does. He is not just a great journeyman troubadour. He is the most prolific and profound recording artist we can think of, and he continues to create new music, albums, and plays about a hundred shows a year. Not bad for a 68 year-old guy. His legacy as a recording artist is far greater than any other. If anyone has massive laurels on which to rest, it his Bob Dylan. But while far lesser artists do that, he doesn't. Artistically, the guy has balls of steel and an ambitious output of work to back it up.

Redemption, Sanctification, Gospelization

The other night, we hosted the secular debut of a gospel band called Brothers of the Empty Tomb. What we did know: they're a very good band, a nine-piece whirlwind of rhythm & blues, gospel and soul music complete with horns, backing vocals, a dynamite organist, a hard-driving rhythm section, and what makes them truly dangerous are the soaring lead vocals of James Armstrong and the mind-boggling, filthy, nasty, furious guitar work of Gareth Best. What we didn't know: how many people would show up to see a band which has only played in its church, and on a Thursday night, never mind the matter of how nervous the band might be. The result? Totally sold out, and they blew the roof off the dump. They played traditional hymns re-worked as soul and r&b rave-ups, original gospel tunes, rhythm & blues covers by the likes of Sam & Dave and Freddie King. Here's some video of the song that closed their first set, a souped-up cover of Parliament's "Testify."

Photos by Bill Zude

There are some awfully nice folks who shoot marvelous photos at the club. If you're reading this, chances are you're familiar with the work of people like Jef Jaisun and Tom Hunnewell. Recently, another great shooter named Bill Zude gave us some of his work for display. We've uploaded a more expansive gallery on our website, but here's a sample of some of the stuff Bill so generously graced us with:
Leroy Thomas & the Zydeco Roadrunners, 8/14/09



Alice Stuart & the Formerlys, 8/15/09


Robbie Laws' Bigger Blues Band, 8/1/09




Thanks, Bill!

Harpmaster J

Let's cut to the chase. We love Jason Ricci. Whenever a young artist is knocking it out of the park on a nightly basis and shaking up the world of rhythm & blues in ways that are best described as good, ambitious, challenging, and artistically endearing, the blues community tends to call it "the future."

We can curse here, right? Shit, it's our blog. We own this. And so we say, Fuck That Shit.

This is the Present.
We see artists like Jason, Bob Log III, Nathan James, Ben Hernandez, the Black Keys, the Blues Explosion, the sadly gone Sean Costello, Eddie Turner, Reverend Dead Eye's No Man Gospel Band, Gravel Road, and a whole shit ton of others who are taking the traditional form and while keeping it as their musical center of gravity, blowing it to pieces and taking it to new and exciting places.

Jason Ricci, who is playing on our stage at this very moment, is playing rhythm & blues music. He is also playing American roots music, pop music, rock & roll music, he is playing live music. He is not only giving props to his band, he is featuring these musicians frequently throughout the course of the show. He is engaging the audience, through his on-stage actions reminding us that the word "concert" means that the audience is in concert with the band, part of what's going on. Jason's performance style recalls some blend of Howlin' Wolf and a young Bruce Springsteen: it is at once real, viral, organic, personal, combustible, musically impressive, engaging, professional show business.

Let's stop pontificating and start showing. Here's a clip we shot with our garden-variety digital camera from behind the bar earlier tonight - this may take a minute to load, but trust us, it's worth it. Ladies and Gents, we give you our brother in arms, Mr. Jason Ricci:

International Blues Challenge

Each year, the Blues Foundation hosts a battle-of-the-bands type event called the International Blues Challenge. It's a long-weekend-long festival in Memphis at which every state, province, and nation is represented by its rhythm & blues artists of choice, most of the artists having won qualifying competitions by their local and regional blues societies. Yesterday, we hosted the Washington Blues Society finals to determine which artists will travel to Memphis to represent the Great State of Washington to the blues world. We're not into music and the arts as a competitive landscape, but Mother Necessity says there must be a democratic way to determine which one gets the opportunity when far more than one would love it. All the bands were great, the turnout was fantastic, everyone had a blast, and here are some photos courtesy of Ricky Peto:

The Randy Oxford Band will represent Washington in Memphis next February:


Tony making sure everyone knows the dealyo:


Nick Vigarino brings the house down with some back porch blues:


The Mary McPage Band:


Jessica takes a breather from the floor to chat with our fearless doorman Carter:


The Jam Finale:


Jada Amy of the Randy Oxford Band:


People shaking a tail feather on the dance floor:


Chester Dennis Jones Band:


Chester takes his axe for a walk through the audience:


Say hello to Murph. She's a bartender, also a mathematics genius and a softspoken bad-ass. Trust us, you don't wanna mess with her. She's tougher than you, AND smarter than you:


Cee Cee James:


Mia Vermillion and Orville Johnson:

James Luther Dickinson, 1941-2009

Legendary Memphis musician and producer Jim Dickinson passed away yesterday in his sleep, while recovering from a recent heart surgery. During his colorful half-century career, he was a highly-touted session player for Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Ry Cooder, and the Rolling Stones; and as a producer he worked with artists ranging from Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Jason & the Scorchers to such groundbreaking rock acts as the Replacements and Big Star. He was the patriarch of a musical family which includes his two sons, Cody and Luther of the North Mississippi Allstars. He was one of thew few people whose work was followed by blues and indie rock enthusiasts alike, as in, "It's a Jim Dickinson [band/album/project]. Of course I'm gonna check it out." He was prolific as ever during his final years, cranking out a handful of good albums this decade while producing a bunch and he had just started a new rock band in Memphis this year. Just last week, a benefit concert led by John Hiatt was done in Memphis to help defray his medical bills. Jim was 67 and his wife said he went in peace.

We Don't Care

about Michael Vick, American Idol, the Mentalist, the lady with eight babies (well, we do feel bad for her and hope the blues club in her town does a fundraiser for her), we also don't care about Sarah Palin or the new Harry Potter movie (we're not six), nor do we care about how Michael Jackson's estate/debt/etc. gets sliced up. We're just blogging tonight to remind you we're still vertical. Check out these marvelous news items from the last couple days:

BOB DYLAN PROFILED IN NEW JERSEY
from CNN: How does it feel? To be on your own? A complete unknown? Bob Dylan might know.
A police officer questioning Bob Dylan recognized his name but wasn't sure it was him.

The rock legend was stopped in July by police in Long Branch, New Jersey, who were responding to a call about a suspicious person roaming the neighborhood, police said.

According to Long Branch Police Department Sgt. Michael Ahart, Dylan had been peering into a window of a house that was for sale, which prompted a neighbor to call the police on July 23.

One of two responding officers, Officer Kristie Buble, 24, approached Dylan and asked him for his name.

"She recognized the name, she just really didn't believe it was Bob Dylan," Ahart told CNN. "He was soaking wet because it was raining and he was wearing a hood."

So Buble asked the musician for identification, but he had none.

Buble and her partner, Officer Derrick Meyers, 24, then asked Dylan, 68, to accompany them to where his tour buses were parked. Once they arrived, Dylan showed them identification.

"Dylan was really cool about the whole incident," Ahart said. He said he asked the singer why he had been walking in the rain and was told, "I just felt like going for a walk."

Dylan, who is on a national tour with musicians Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp, was in Long Branch on the Jersey shore prior to his performance at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood.

JOAN BAEZ DIFFUSES PROTESTERS OUTSIDE HER CONCERT... BY GOING OUTSIDE AND TALKING TO THEM
This is an awesome story, best told by the link below which is the account of someone who was there. Click Here For The Story

We like Dylan and we like Joan. Dylan, by the way, has released what so far sounds like the Album Of The Year. It's a delightfully dirty, slow-groove, blues masterpiece.

That's all for now. We'll be barkin' atcha again soon.

Koko Taylor, 1928-2009

"QUEEN OF THE BLUES" KOKO TAYLOR
1928 - 2009
From kokotaylor.com

Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known worldwide as the "Queen of the Blues," won her 29th Blues Music Award (for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more Blues Music Awards than any other artist. In 2004 she received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award, which is among the highest honors given to an American artist. Her most recent CD, 2007's Old School, was nominated for a Grammy (eight of her nine Alligator albums were Grammy-nominated). She won a Grammy in 1984 for her guest appearance on the compilation album Blues Explosion on Atlantic.

Born Cora Walton on a sharecropper's farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28, 1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters, accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments. In 1952, Taylor and her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert "Pops" Taylor, traveled to Chicago with nothing but, in Koko's words, "thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz Crackers."

In Chicago, "Pops" worked for a packing company, and Koko cleaned houses. Together they frequented the city's blues clubs nightly. Encouraged by her husband, Koko began to sit in with the city's top blues bands, and soon she was in demand as a guest artist. One evening in 1962 Koko was approached by arranger/composer Willie Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko's performance, Dixon landed Koko a Chess Records recording contract, where he produced her several singles, two albums and penned her million-selling 1965 hit "Wang Dang Doodle," which would become Taylor's signature song.

After Chess Records was sold, Taylor found a home with the Chicago's Alligator Records in 1975 and released the Grammy-nominated I Got What It Takes. She recorded eight more albums for Alligator between 1978 and 2007, received seven more Grammy nominations and made numerous guest appearances on various albums and tribute recordings. Koko appeared in the films Wild At Heart, Mercury Rising and Blues Brothers 2000. She performed on Late Night With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, CBS-TV's This Morning, National Public Radio's All Things Considered, CBS-TV's Early Edition, and numerous regional television programs.

Over the course of her 40-plus-year career, Taylor received every award the blues world has to offer. On March 3, 1993, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a "Legend Of The Year" Award and declared "Koko Taylor Day" throughout Chicago. In 1997, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame. A year later, Chicago Magazine named her "Chicagoan Of The Year" and, in 1999, Taylor received the Blues Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009 Taylor performed in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center Honors honoring Morgan Freeman.

Koko Taylor was one of very few women who found success in the male-dominated blues world. She took her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago's South Side to concert halls and major festivals all over the world. She shared stages with every major blues star, including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy as well as rock icons Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
Taylor's final performance was on May 7, 2009 in Memphis at the Blues Music Awards, where she sang "Wang Dang Doodle" after receiving her award for Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year.

Survivors include Taylor's husband Hays Harris, daughter Joyce Threatt, son-in-law Lee Threatt, grandchildren Lee, Jr. and Wendy, and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements will be announced.

Note from Highway 99:
Koko was 80, her death was not tragic but it's sad. We saw her many times in Chicago. Super nice lady who deserved all her success and then some. Unlike too many artists and musicians, she really appreciated her audience and always made time to talk with fans, laid many hugs and kisses on many of those who approached her to sign a record or CD. She was also an active philanthropist. We met her a few times, in non-public situations where if she wasn't the person fans knew from the clubs and festivals, her true personality would bleed through. Her true personality was just slightly less energetic but at least as warm and engaging. If the world was full of people like Koko, many of the world's problems would not exist. RIP, good woman.
- Eric and Ed Maloney, Highway 99 Blues Club, Seattle

Moreland & Arbuckle, Gravel Road

Staying on our ongoing theme of 21st Century Blues... on Friday night, we had a fine bill of entertainment that warmed our hearts. Moreland & Arbuckle, the tirelessly touring trio from Kansas, brought their tasteful, vintage sound. To open the show, the Seattle-based Gravel Road made their Highway 99 debut and delivered a compelling brand of dark blues, a style which delightfully marries the traditional sounds of the Mississippi low country with a minimalist rock sensibility. As we've said, Blues, like any genre, can be a lot of things. Like fans of any art form, we long for the old masters, the pioneers who made it possible for all who followed. But we also embrace the present and enjoy those who are doing it now, honoring the forefathers (and foremothers) while bringing their own contemporary elements to the party. And that's what Friday was all about. As we think of comparisons to other genres, we love rock & roll originators like Ike Turner and Jerry Lee Lewis, and we also love modern artists on the charts today like Green Day and Kings of Leon. Speaking of good music, we've got to wrap this entry up because the Crossroads Band's I-5 Harmonica Houseparty is blowing the roof off the joint at the moment. Do you know any roof guys who work Saturday nights? (pictured above, Moreland & Arbuckle; video below, Gravel Road closes their set by paying tribute to R.L. Burnside)

21st Century Blues

You could poll 100 people on the matter of "what is the Blues?" and you'd probably get 100 different answers. Most of them would probably be right in various ways. To some, if it ain't acoustic and recorded south of the Mason-Dixon Line, it might be bluesy but it ain't the Blues. Some prefer the post-WWII electric stuff (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley) and regard the earlier stuff as anything from "early country" to "folk blues." Some prefer the Blues of the Classic Rock Era, Mike Bloomfield, the Paul Butterfield Band, the J. Geils Band, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin... Then there are those who only know the stuff which made commercial radio in the 80s: George Thorogood & the Destroyers, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, and a Pacific Northwest treasure named Robert Cray. There are many destination points in between those, but you know what we mean. It's all a matter of taste and it's all Blues.

On the old stuff, few will argue the value and enjoyability of everyone from Robert Johnson to Son House, Magic Sam to Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie to Big Bill Broonzy... we could yammer on for weeks about the things we love about the Blues of the 20th Century. Hell, we've got a club based on it. In this blog entry, we offer up a couple artists and labels who are, in our opinion, carrying the torch and evolving the genre into the post-2K era. And to avoid being accused of self-promotion, we'll make a point to not include artists who've played our club. So here goes:

ARTISTS:
The Black Keys - guitar-intensive blues-rock. If you dig Zeppelin and the Black Crowes, we guarantee you'll love this band. Minimal 2-4 piece arrangements, they don't try to get cute, not even when their last album was produced by Gnarls Barkley member Danger Mouse.
Rocco DeLuca & the Burden - imagine Jeff Buckley as a Blues artist. Heartfelt vocals and personal songwriting make this guy's albums a staple in your car, your mp3 player, wherever you listen to music. He's been flying below the radar but that's about to change.
Gravelroad - now we're part guilty, because this Seattle-based band is playing here w/ Moreland & Arbuckle on May 8. Gravelroad represents a new guard of Blues, fused with heavier, punk rock sensibilities. In '09, they've partnered with the legendary T-Model Ford for a road-intensive national tour.

ALBUMS:
Not the Same Old Blues Crap - the first in a series of compilations by the great Fat Possum label. They specialize in marrying traditional/older and contemporary/younger artists in ways that are awesome and more importantly, relevant. Far from gratuitous the standard "old meets new" schlock we see in other genres, this stuff is compelling and, if you fancy yourself a blues fan, necessary.

Stax Volt

Admittedly, we are not good bloggers. At least, we don't blog as often as folks who accept the term "blogger" tend to do. We're trying to get better at this, while also running a club in a rhythm-n-blues-challenged market and keeping up with all the internets (myspace, facebook, and now twitter, not to mention our own website). In this brief post, we'd just like to extol the virtues of Stax Records. We're currently digging the hell out of their nine-disc collection, The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968. It's got all kinds of stuff you won't even find on the Best-Of compilations from the artists. If you threw a party - dinner, BBQ, nighttime, or otherwise - and only loaded this set into your jukebox of choice, you'd be a star among your friends for having such great taste in music that's sadly not been heard enough in the 21st century. Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, Booker T & the MGs, Eddie Floyd, Albert King, the Mar-Keys... If you're not feeling saucy enough to buy a nine-disc set in a retail environment, we understand. We bought it used, too. The used bins at local stores like Sonic Boom and Easy Street are the sources of many great finds. Online, we really love half.com, an ebay subsidiary where people sell used records, books, videos and such. That's all for today.


Here's a good source of

February 3, 1959

50 years ago today, "the day the music died."

So long Buddy, so long Richie, so long J.P. "Big Bopper."

And yes, the story of how Waylon Jennings gave up his seat on the plane.

Hard to believe Buddy put out all that music in such a short time. He was 22. Richie Valens was only 17. The Big Bopper was 28. Holly was living in Greenwich Village and getting involved in the burgeoning folk scene at the end of his life. This is a few years before Dylan got there. Who knows what he would have done. Rave On, sir.



From thisdayinmusic.com:

A young Bob Dylan attended the Duluth National Guard Armory show on 31st January 1959, two nights before Holly's death.

The family name was "Holley". When Buddy received his first recording contract from Decca Records in 1956, they inadvertently spelled his last name as "Holly". He kept it that way for the rest of his career.

Buddy failed his draft physical because of his poor eyesight.

Many groups from the era named themselves after insects, they did the same and choose "Crickets" as it was the only insect, which made its own "music", by chirping. (They almost named themselves the Beetles!).

Buddy had watched the John Wayne movie The Searchers. Each time that Wayne became disgruntled with something someone said, he'd mutter "That'll be the day". That catch phrase became the title of the first hit record by Buddy.

"Peggy Sue" was an actual person. Peggy Sue Gerron attended Lubbock High School and was the girlfriend and eventual wife of Jerry Allison, Buddy Holly's drummer.

Buddy Holly and the Crickets were the first all-white group to perform at New York's famed Apollo Theatre.

He was one of the first rock 'n' rollers to use overdubbing when one-track recording was the rule, and one of the first to use strings on a rock 'n' roll record.

Their tour busses kept breaking down and when they arrived in Clear Lake, Iowa to perform at the Surf Ballroom the evening of February 2, 1959, Buddy decided to charter a small plane to their next stop.

The Beechcraft Bonanza, named "Miss American Pie," took off from Mason City, at around 1:50 AM on February 3, 1959. The weather was cold and snowy. The plane crashed just after taking off. The pilot, Valens, Richardson and Holly were all killed.

Don McLean's 1971 "American Pie" is inspired by the day of the plane crash.

Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Holly No.13 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Paul McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's song catalogue.

The 1992 Nirvana video for "In Bloom" is filmed in Black and white using 1950s era television cameras and shows the band appearing in 1950s attire, (including Kurt Cobain wearing Buddy Holly style glasses) in an apparent tribute.

Weezer's self-titled debut album features the single "Buddy Holly."

On Feb 29th 1980, the glasses that Buddy Holly had been wearing when he died were discovered in a police file in Mason, Iowa after being there for over 21 years.

Tommy Is Our Homeboy

Tom Hunnewell just gave us a disc with some of his photos from 2008. Enjoy!

Guitar Julie. She's photogenic. Whatdyagonnado?


Charles White & Guitar Julie.


Duke Robillard with Eric "Two Scoops" Moore


David Vest


Harper: everything from a didgeridoo to a damned if I don't


Harper and Big Mo


Polly O'Keary & the Rhythm Method


Mark DuFresne


Son Jack Jr. at Jam For Cans


Chris Leighton, Duffy Bishop, Rob Moitoza, & Raven at Jam For Cans


Ed Maloney asks not what his blues club can do for him, but what he can do for his blues club.


Magic Dick, tellin' tales, singin' the blues, his harmonica wails and he takes us to school.


Sean Costello


Studebaker John


Lloyd Jones Struggle


Kevin Selfe. The matter of "did he steal that axe from Judas Priest?" the authorities have said some things are best left unresolved.


The Tony Coleman Band


Peter Damann


Dennis Ellis


Alice Stuart: acoustic, electric, red hot, en fuego!