A Passion For Fallen Idols
By Bob Kostanczuk |Post Tribune | Staff Writer
January 29, 2006

CROWN POINT SINGER TO HONOR BUDDY HOLLY, RITCHIE VALENS

He’s only 27, but Josh Holmes is emotionally tied to the 1950’s.
The Crown Point musician knows all about Feb. 3, 1959.

In his song “American Pie,” Don McLean calls it “the day the music died.”

It’s when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson were killed in a plane crash after performing in Clear Lake, Iowa.

The trio of rockers had just finished playing the Surf Ballroom. Since Holly is a rock –‘n’ – roll legend, the dance hall turned into sort of a shrine.
 

Holmes will perform there Saturday at a show saluting the pioneering Texan, known for “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue.”

But that night of memories in northern Iowa also will include Holmes’ tribute to Valens, a trailblazing Latin artist in the field of pop music.

“I always wanted to play there since I was a kid because Ritchie Valens is my idol,” Holmes said.
Valens, born Richard Valenzuela, shook up the world of American 45s with “La Bamba,” sung entirely in Spanish.

“La Bamba” had just become a national hit when the17-year-old Valens and the 22-year-old Holly stopped at the Surf Ballroom on their “Winter Dance Party” tour.

Although the name sounded festive, the tour was actually a grinding trek by bus through the upper Midwest in the dead of winter.
 

After finishing their Clear Lake date, Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper bypassed land travel by boarding a chartered flight to Fargo, N.D., near the tour’s next stop in Moorhead, Minn.

But after taking off from an airport in Mason City, Iowa, their four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza crashed in bad weather less than 10 miles into the flight.

It was about 1 a.m. on Feb. 3, 1959.

At that point, the Surf Ballroom became forever sacred to those who savor rock history.

Holmes was one of those compelled to make the pilgrimage.

“I was able to just walk on the stage – just check it out,” Holmes recalled. “I just started crying the first time I set foot on it.”

At the time, Holmes wasn’t there as a performer taking part in the annual Buddy Holly bashes that rattle the Surf Ballroom each February.

Known as “50s in February,” the dancing and live music recall the teen world that existed during the era of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

For the past six years or so, Holmes has made the trek to be around the nostalgic atmosphere that evokes the 1950s.

“I drive up there with my dad every year,” the singer-songwriter said.

He’s brought along his guitar and audio equipment in the back seat.

“I played at a couple local bars around town to kind of get my name out,” Holmes said. “I played at a place called Lou’s. I played there during the festival. I walked into the bar and said, ‘Hey, can I set up for free?’”

He was merely happy to have the chance to play there during Holly-fest time.

“I did that, like, for three years in row, for free” said the 1996 graduate of Lake Central High School in St. John.

Holmes’ gigs around the Surf Ballroom got him noticed by its management.

He’ll finally make his debut at the venue’s Buddy Holly salute on Saturday.

The Indiana guy will open for the Crickets, Holly’s old band.

On Feb. 21 in Missouri, Holmes will have another juicy gig as the opening act for the BoDeans, who scored with “Closer to Free,” the television theme from Fox’s “Party of Five.”

The guitarist also has been able to land a solid record-distribution deal for his CD “A Table 4 One.”

Everything he does musically seems to be influenced by the sounds that emanated from the “Winter Dance Party” at the Surf Ballroom 47 years ago.

The seeds of Holmes’ infatuation with Clear Lake were planted when he saw a 1987 movie offering a musical biography of Valens.

“When I was 9 years old, my dad took me to see ‘La Bamba,’” Holmes said. “After I walked out of the movie theater, I told my dad I need guitar lessons. And that’s where my whole music career started – from seeing that movie.

“Ever since then, Ritchie Valens is, like, my No. 1 idol. Then, from Ritchie Valens, I started listening to Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Then I started learning about the plane crash and heard about the Surf Ballroom.

Despite his youth, Holmes’ influences harken back to the Motown sound and old-school rock. There’s also acknowledgment of folk rock.

Taking pride in what he terms “soulful” rockin’, Holmes has played the vaunted Wise Fools Pub in Chicago and the massive Taste of Chicago.

One of his compositions, “Greener on the Other Side,” was featured on “Beautiful People,” a coming-of-age drama from the ABC Family channel.

While other artists his age take their cues from 21st century influences, Holmes is wowed by a decades-old singer named Ritchie Valens.

A lot of that has to do with how “La Bamba” portrayed him.

“In the movie, he’s close with his mom, like I’m close with my mom,” Holmes said. “He had a really close family. He felt, like, a responsibility to make it big one day so he can take care of his family, and I’ve always wanted to do the same thing.”

On Saturday night, Holmes will lead a four-piece band in salute to his hero.

Valens’ “La Bamba,” “Donna,” “Come On, Let’s Go,” “We Belong Together” and “Framed” will be performed by Holmes’.

“I’ll do some Buddy Holly, too,” he noted.

Holly’s “Rave On” and “True Love Ways” will probably be on Holmes’s musical menu inside the Surf Ballroom, which holds 2,100 and boasts a 6,300-square-foot dance floor.

It’s a hardwood haven.

Awash in an oceanfront motif, the Surf Ballroom is the focal point of “50’s in February” – a wintertime flashback.

“It’s a four-day event that basically celebrates the music of that era, and specifically the music of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Big Bopper,” said Laurie Lietz, director of tourism for the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce.

Running Wednesday through Saturday, “50s in February” draws several thousand revelers to out-of-the-way Clear Lake, located about 100 miles north of Des Moines.

“We’ve had people from Australia,” Leitz said. “We’ve had people from Europe. We have a huge following from the British Buddy Holly Society.”

Headlining Friday at the Surf Ballroom are Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, the twin sons of ‘50s teen heartthrob Ricky Nelson.

On Wednesday, the ballroom has live music for a sock hop.

“The White Sidewalls are featured this year,” Leitz said.

Although oozing rock-‘n’-roll lore, the Surf Ballroom is not a stale monument to yesteryear.

It doubles as a contemporary rock club that has welcomed the likes of Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper.
When big names hit the “Surf” for the first time, it’s usually an eye opener for them.

“They are so amazed by everything here,” said Phyllis Hughes, a Surf Ballroom office worker. “Our walls have pictures of pineapples.”

Although the venue’s stage has undergone some changes since 1959, the entertainers who play on it nowadays are still standing on a hallowed piece of Holly history.

“They play on the same stage he was on,” Hughes assured.

Holmes considers Holly one of rock’s Renaissance men.
“He was just a great songwriter,” Holmes said. “He was very gifted. He was not just a songwriter; he was a producer.”

It was nearly two decades ago that Holmes took in the life-changing screening of “La Bamba.”

The chance to play at a tribute show for the rockers portrayed in the film is the ultimate kick for him.

“This is almost like a 20-year dream comin’ true,” the Hoosier said.

Unlike the gigs he played in Clear Lake to introduce himself to the Holly mecca, Saturday’s show will make Holmes some money.

“But I would have done it for free, though,” he conceded. “You know what I mean?”