The day the music went on and on

CLEAR LAKE, IOWA - Rock fans from 32 countries and probably every county in Iowa gathered Monday night at the legendary Surf Ballroom to commemorate the final concert that made Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper rock 'n' roll immortals. We made the trek, too, and had this to say afterward.

JB: It's 50 years later and the Winter Dance Party still had a lot of the same elements. It was colder than an unheated school bus in January. But the dance floor was hopping as the hits kept coming all night long. We heard plenty of Holly favorites rendered by some of our favorites, such as Los Lobos and Joe Ely and a cast of silver-haired names from the past: Peter & Gordon, Wanda Jackson, Bobby Vee, Dave Mason and the Crickets themselves, Buddy's old band.

CR: I thought the Texas contingent -- Ely, Delbert McClinton and Los Lonely Boys -- ruled the show even while braving the elements. JoJo Garza of Los Lonely Boys told me: "It's so damn cold out there. It puts you in their shoes."

JB: How bad is it for us, writing this in a car with a dubious heater at 1-something in the morning, heading home on I-35. I say let's hear it for the Cali contingent, too. Los Lobos were great and gracious as always. Not only did they have the Stones' Bobby Keys for extra horn power but they welcomed a stage full of Ritchie Valens' family for "La Bamba."

CR: David Hidalgo of Los Lobos told me this wasn't their first time at the Surf. A couple tours ago, they pulled off I-35 and got the curator of the Surf Ballroom Museum to give them an impromptu tour. "It's an amazing place," Hidalgo said.

JB: I dug some of the memorabilia. Tom Fontaine, a collector from Indianapolis, had a pair of Buddy Holly glasses and a Valens bow tie, and some prized possessions -- a signed Valens contract and handwritten Holly lyrics for "Monetta." There were lots of classic photos on the Surf walls of everyone who's performed there -- from Duke Ellington and Lawrence Welk to Merle Haggard and Cub Koda. Did you see those rare photos taken that fateful night at the Surf?

CR: The photographer was Mary Gerber. She told me that the venue had only about one-tenth as many people that night. Mainly because of the bad weather.

JB: She got stuck in a ditch on her way home to Walters, Minn. She was 16 and her 18-year-old brother was driving. And they had to walk home the final three miles. She didn't discover the negatives of those photos until two years ago when she was cleaning her mother's house.

CR: I didn't believe all the rumors that some big-name performer had scheduled a private plane into the Mason City airport to make the show. Graham Nash wound up being the biggest name of the night. I thought he made some of the truest comments of the night, such as, "Buddy's music was so simple ... you remembered it for the rest of your life."

JB: And the 1,800 Surf-goers graciously sang "Happy Birthday" to Graham. The emcees, though, were the worst -- Tim Rice, who writes lyrics for Elton John and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and especially Cousin Brucie, an oldtime New York DJ whose hairpiece was older than Los Lonely Boys. Another bad move was to have the Crickets close the otherwise gratifying six-hour show. Yes, the Crickets deserved top billing considering the occasion. But musically they were no match for the acts that preceded them, whether it was Los Lobos or the fabulous house band that accompanied Ely, Mason and others. I bet the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which staged the concert, paid drummer Kenny Aronoff more than Holly, Bopper and Valens made 50 years ago combined.

CR: At $85 a ticket, there should have been plenty of money going around. A lot of the customers probably dropped even more on dry-cleaning their old poodle skirts or buying enough grease for their pompadours. Thank God the Hall of Fame didn't spend any of that money to fly in Gary Busey, although the lineup for the grand finale seemed as oddball as the people Busey went to rehab with on VH1: Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens and Tim Rice singing the "bop, bop" on "Not Fade Away" while Nash, Bobby Vee, Ely and Peter & Gordon sang the leads.

JB: You know what this night said to me? While some people think that was the day that the music died, it was obvious 50 years later at the Surf that Buddy's music will not fade away.

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658