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You get to save ONE person

Freddy Mercury


I'd say Emma Watson, but I'm already getting too old. I would rather not keep her on ice for an ancient Spartan.
 
Freddy Mercury


I'd say Emma Watson, but I'm already getting too old. I would rather not keep her on ice for an ancient Spartan.

Interesting brain teaser I mused on the way to the urologist's office this morning...

If you could save one person from the Clear Lake plane crash, would it be Buddy Holly or Ritchie Valens? J.P. Richardson was a fine DJ and all, but "Chantilly Lace" was a one-hit wonder. Although he penned "White Lightning" and "Running Bear," two mashive country smashes.
 
Interesting brain teaser I mused on the way to the urologist's office this morning...

If you could save one person from the Clear Lake plane crash, would it be Buddy Holly or Ritchie Valens? J.P. Richardson was a fine DJ and all, but "Chantilly Lace" was a one-hit wonder.

The rock and roll fan says Buddy Holly. The grandson of a Mexican immigrant says Ritchie. But saving Valens means we probably still get American Pie just not the "I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride." Hits you in the feels.
 
Richardson's son contracted Body Farm founding archaeologist William Bash to do forensic research on the crash.
https://news.utk.edu/2007/01/19/48-...ll-bash-hired-to-examine-big-boppers-remains/

Yeah, while the Bopper's body was in extremely good condition based on the amount of time he had been buried, they found multiple fractures consistent with him being killed instantly after being hurled from the aircraft.

Sadly, Jay Richardson died in 2013.

https://northiowatoday.com/2013/08/22/jay-richardson-son-of-the-big-bopper-has-pashed-away/

I walked out to the crash site in about two feet of snow when covering a feature for NASCAR.com that took me to Cresco, Iowa to interview the people that made the Featherlite car haulers. I didn't think I'd ever get any closer to Clear Lake, so made the detour. Didn't get inside the ballroom but drove around it.
 
I don't know if Holly or Valens would have had careers in the '60s. Valens would still pop up on those "oldies" tours in the '70s and '80s play three or four songs then make way for The Coasters, The Drifters or Dion. I think Holly may have moved on to producing/writing - become what Phil Spector was.
 

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