Three of “The Chicago Guys” make their way to the snowy crash site early Sunday. | JON SALL~SUN-TIMES
Fans prepare to visit the plane crash site in Clear Lake, Iowa, on Feb. 3, 2013. Standing, from left: Corrina Bunch, Taryn Serwatowski, James McCool, Dan Ferone, photographer Jon Sall, reporter Dave Hoekstra and Jack Dreznes. Kneeling: Sevan Garabedian and Scott "Wailin' Waylon" Neumann. | COURTESY JACK DREZNES
The last known photo of Buddy Holly, taken during his Surf Ballroom concert on February 2, 1959, just a few hours before Buddy Holly boarded the ill-fated plane. | Photo by Mary Gerber. Courtesy of James McCool and Sevan Garabedian
Taryn Serwatowski’s Buddy Holly tattoo. | SUN-TIMES
Heavily bundled Scott Neumann (front, in red scarf), Jack Dreznes (left) and Dan Ferone pose at the Clear Lake memorial. | PROVIDED PHOTO
Since 1979, a group has made an annual February trek to Clear Lake, Iowa, on the weekend of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.
Plaques and wind socks mark the crash site in Clear Lake, Iowa. | SUN-TIMES
Gary Busey performs Saturday at the Surf Ballroom in Iowa. | JON SALL~SUN-TIMES
A poster advertised the Feb. 7th, 1959, concert at the Les Buzz Ballroom in Spring Valley, IL. Most of the headliners died in a plane crash on Feb. 3.
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa. — Rock ’n’ roll lives on a road of myths. The first mythical event in rock history was the Feb. 3, 1959, plane crash outside Clear Lake, Iowa, that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and pilot Roger …
