So since today is not only the new start of a month, but also the new start of a week I have decided it's the perfect time to have an oldies week! I have so many awesome songs saved up that I have listened to since childhood so it's time to showcase them. We're starting with a super fun one to get us groovin. Ritchie Valens is known as a rock and roll pioneer, and is most remembered for this song. It was a Mexican folk song that he made into a rock song which blew the world away and kick-started a movement to Spanish music. He died in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly, JP Richardsen and the pilot Roger Peterson. The day of the plane crash (February 3, 1959) became known as The Day The Music Died, referenced by the song American Pie that I've shared previously. Ritchie wasn't actually supposed to be on the plane, but he won the seat in a coin toss with Tommy Allsup, a member of Buddy Holly's new band. Ritchie was only seventeen when he died, and the youngest member in the crash. Since his death, he has been inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame which happened in 2001. His nephew has also toured the world playing Ritchie's hits including revamping a new version of the tour he was doing at the time of his death. The revamped Winter Dance Party tour has been done with Ernie Valens and John Mueller (Buddy Holly impersonator) taking place in some of the same venues as the original tour had. There was even a nod to the untimely death in the novelization of Grease where the T-birds were discussing the plane crash in the first few chapters. A stainless steel monument to the legends now sits at the site of the plane crash on private farmland near Clear Lake, Iowa. So there's your little slice of history for today, and I hope you enjoy the sounds of a movement that changed history.
Peace.
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