Sheryl Davis | MAHP
Music Landmarks Specialist
60 Winters Later: The 1959 Winter Dance Party
On this day 60 years ago, General Artist Corporation's 1959 Winter Dance Party, the ill-fated "tour from hell" kicked off at George Divine's Million Dollar Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The roster boasted a firmament of rock and roll stars in bright ascent, among them Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson ("The Big Bopper") along with Dion & The Belmonts and Frankie Sardo. There were also those lesser known at the time, Holly's new band for the tour that consisted of Waylon Jennings on bass guitar, Tommy Allsup on lead and drummer Carl Bunch.
The 1959 Winter Dance Party presented a grueling schedule of 24 midwestern cities in three weeks during one of the coldest winters on record - and all of it to be accomplished in poorly adapted school buses with broken heating systems. During the first 11 days when Holly, Valens and Richardson were headlining the tour, they zig-zagged the Upper Midwest from Wisconsin to Minnesota to Wisconsin to Minnesota to Iowa to Minnesota to Wisconsin to Iowa to Minnesota and then back to Iowa for what would tragically be their final career performances. The late Buddy Holly historian Bill Griggs estimated that five different buses were used before the tour reached the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, 1959, arriving an hour late, tired, cold and without a drummer for the show as Bunch had been hospitalized with frostbite (both Holly and Valens helped out on drums that night). Only two evenings before, after leaving their Duluth Armory stop that changed life forever for 17-year-old Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan), the bus had broken down, debilitatingly frozen, leaving the musicians stranded roadside for several hours near Hurley, Wisconsin, in temperatures plummeting to 35 below zero. They were eventually discovered in the early morning hours by local passersby and police who'd taken them to a nearby hotel to warm up and rest for a few hours, and in the case of Bunch to the hospital for his frostbitten feet. "They (GAC) didn't care," said Griggs. "It was like they threw darts at a map. . ... The tour from hell -- that's what they named it -- and it's not a bad name." The context gives ample insight as to what likely compelled Holly to charter a plane from Dwyer Flying Services in Mason City, Iowa, when he arrived in Clear Lake.
January 23: George Devine’s Million Dollar Ballroom - Milwaukee, Wisconsin January 24: Eagles Ballroom - Kenosha, Wisconsin January 25: Kato Ballroom - Mankato, Minnesota January 26: Fournier’s Ballroom - Eau Claire, Wisconsin January 27: Fiesta Ballroom - Montevideo, Minnesota January 28: Prom Ballroom - St. Paul, Minnesota January 29: Capitol Theater - Davenport, Iowa January 30: Laramar Ballroom - Fort Dodge, Iowa January 31: National Guard Armory - Duluth, Minnesota February 1: Riverside Ballroom - Green Bay, Wisconsin
February 2: Surf Ballroom - Clear Lake, Iowa
Despite the tragedy of losing "The Three Stars" to the snowy and desolate farm field a few short miles and moments from the Surf Ballroom stage, the tour did go on the very next day and for the remaining two weeks. Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup continued on with Jennings taking Holly's place as lead singer and other artists were added like Frankie Avalon and Bobby Vee.
February 3: The Armory - Moorhead, Minnesota
February 4: Shore Acres Ballroom - Sioux City, Iowa
February 5: Val Air Ballroom - Des Moines, Iowa
February 6: Danceland Ballroom - Cedar Rapids, Iowa
February 7: Les Buzz Ballroom - Spring Valley, Illinois
February 8: Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, Illinois
February 9: Hippodrome Auditorium - Waterloo, Iowa
February 10: Melody Hill - Dubuque, Iowa
February 11: Memorial Auditorium - Louisville, Kentucky
February 12: Memorial Auditorium - Canton, Ohio
February 13: Stanbaugh Auditorium - Youngstown, Ohio
February 14: The Armory - Peoria, Illinois
February 15: Illinois State Armory - Springfield, Illinois
Next week rock and roll fans from across the US and around the world (myself included!) will unite at the historic Surf Ballroom to commemorate the 60th anniversary of The Three Stars' final career performances - a place where the music lives !
In October 2015, while researching for The Surf Speaks: Voices of a Living History project, I discovered the husband and wife team of Kevin and Julie Romig and their project, " Not Fade Away: The Geographic Dimensions of Buddy Holly's Meteoric Career ," in the Journal of Texas Music History. It is a series of maps illustrating Holly's 18-month professional touring career with companion anecdotes - a completely unique form of storytelling and preservation through geography. The opening paragraph introduces a mark of distinction, contending that Holly was ahead of the game not only musically but also with international touring: "Within 18 months of his first hit, 'That'll be the Day,' which charted on the Billboard Top 40 list in 1957, Holly released seven other songs that made the Billboard Top 40. He and his band toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and Great Britain, while many contemporaries, such as Elvis Presley, did not tour much, if at all, outside of the United States."
Kevin and Julie accepted my invitation to display their work at the "Buddy 80" exhibit opening, symposium and concert October 15, 2016, that I organized at the Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Music Association for Buddy Holly's 80th birthday year. Traveling from Missouri, they were kind enough to let me take this photo of them posing with their exhibit in our "Buddy glasses" party favors!
Kevin is an assistant professor of geography at Northwest Missouri State University and Julie is a science teacher at West Nodaway High School in Burlington Junction, Missouri. Both have had a long-term interest in Buddy Holly (one of their first dates was to a Halloween party where Kevin went as Holly and Julie dressed as "Peggy Sue")!
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Winter Dance Party: Ten days before the music died
By Kenosha.com Writer KENOSHA.COM
Content provided by our freelance contributors.
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Singer and Hall of Fame songwriter Don McLean wrote one of the most-recognizable songs of all time with his 1971 hit “American Pie” to reflect on the loss of an early rock and roll generation.
Through his lyrics, the song remembers “The Day the Music Died.”
That day was Feb. 3, 1959 when three of the nation’s biggest rock and roll stars — Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson — died in a plane crash on a cold, snowy night in Clear Lake, Iowa.
The trio had just finished the 11th day of the infamous Winter Dance Party tour, which opened at George Devine’s Ballroom in Milwaukee and delivered an encore performance the following night on Jan. 24, 1959 at the Eagles Ballroom, 302 58th St., in Kenosha.
Kenosha’s Tony Szikil, 86, was the only photographer allowed on stage during the shortened tour.
Szikil documented the historic night in Kenosha with a series of stunning photographs, capturing a sea of star-struck teenagers singing along to hits including Holly’s “Peggy Sue”, Valens’ “La Bamba” and the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace.”
One of the teenagers with over 1,500 in attendance was Szikil’s future wife. Tony and Karen Szikil have been married for 54 years and still live on the south side of Kenosha.
“I was only 17 at the time,” Karen Szikil said. “That was the only thing Kenosha had going on at the time were all these concerts. Back then, that’s what we did.”
Tony Szikil was working a wedding on the first floor of the Eagles Ballroom when the ceiling started shaking from the Winter Dance Party above.
Anxious to photograph the concert, Szikil said the wedding party refused to let him leave. After one final round of pictures with the bride and groom, Tony Szikil bolted upstairs in time to capture Holly’s final song “Peggy Sue.”
His 24 photos taken that night will forever be a part of American musical history.
“We would do 10 weddings a Saturday,” said Tony Szikil, who was a Kenosha wedding photographer for over 50 years. “I did the wedding at the Eagles Ballroom because I knew Buddy, Ritchie and The Bopper were coming. I was a rock and roll guy. I really enjoyed that night.”
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