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Rating: 
Summary: A Detailed Story of the Winter Dance Party
Review: Author Larry Lehmer has provided readers with a very detailed story of the events that led up to the deaths of early rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J. P. Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson. Individual chapters are provided on each individual and a thorough description of the various cities the rock stars visited during the Winter Dance Party in the Upper Midwest beginning in January of 1959. Due to inadequate bus transportation with little or no heat, the three singers decided to charter an airplane from Clear Lake, Iowa, to Fargo, North Dakota, for their next performance in Moorhead, Minnesota, to arrive early and get some needed rest. The crash of the airplane was due to poor flying conditions and the inadequate skills of the pilot in flying by instruments. The author explores other theories such as a fight on the plane or, incredibly, Buddy Holly shooting the pilot. Author Lehmer also provides a great deal of information on the airplane that was used and what has become of the arenas the singers used for their performances in each of the visited cities. Numerous photos of the singers during this Winter Dance Tour and of the crash site are also provided. Some readers may feel they are being told more than they want to know about this subject, but the author has done an incredible job in covering this story of this incident and what rock and roll was like during the late 1950's.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I've seen on the subject
Review: Lehmer's book is downright exhaustive in the coverage of the fateful Feb. 3 1959 plane crash that killed Holly, Valens, and Richardson.I appreciated the detail and content of this book a lot. Being from Iowa, I have been interested in the Winter Dance party, and accounts of the crash for a very long time. (In fact, I just visited the Surf Ballroom and Mason City Airport while returning from a recent weekend vacation.) Lehmer's book is very well-balanced, with chapters devoted to each of the three headliners. And it also has detailed plane crash info as well as analysis of the official CAB report. In my opinion, easily the best book on "The Day The Music Died".
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Summary: Superb - get one before they're gone, again
Review: The initial first run of this great book was not around very long and people have been begging since for a reprint and here it is! This one is hard to put down, it is intriguing, informative and FACTUAL, which most Buddy book are not (avoid the Amburn book at all costs). What is particularily nice is that it features a great deal of updated info about the last tour & crash, info about Roger Peterson, and a good deal about Ritchie & The Bopper that usually doesn't get included. Lehmer talks to people that were at the shows, helped with the Tour, etc. No wild theories here, just the facts. Top notch in every regard. You see any bad reviews here? 'Nuff said!
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