So, how did the 40th Anniversary CD come about?  One night my phone rang.  “Hello, John? This is Dennis Farland.  What do you think about doing a recreation of the final tour of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper?  It's the 40th anniversary, you know.”  I did know, but never imagined anyone undertaking such a task.  So many things could go wrong.  The weather, for one thing.  Heading deep into northern Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin in late January could definitely he cause for alarm.  It was certainly tough on the original tour.  And five of the eleven shows would occur on weeknights.  Would anybody show up having to work the next morning?

Most of the venues required us to bring in our own sound package.  Who would do this for us?  They'd have to haul a lot of expensive sound equipment all over the frozen countryside, set it up, tear it down, and then drive for 8 to 9 hours and do it all over again.  How were we going to provide transportation for the band and crew?  All these thoughts and more immediately came to mind.  Then came the real kicker, the coup de gras.  Dennis informed me that he had little funding available to make this all happen.  But he had a dream.

Well, to make a long story short, the dream became a reality.  How?  Through everyone's belief in the worthiness of the project and their dedicated hard work and efforts.  People came out of the woodwork to help in any way they could.  It was amazing, a real labor of love, and respect for the music left behind that has never died. 

Fan support was tremendous -- imagine 1,100 people in the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay on a Monday night! -- and was critical to the tour continuing day to day.  Box office receipts had to pay for expenses.  For me, it was truly an honor to perform in some of the exact ballrooms that Buddy, Ritchie, and the Bopper did 40 years ago to the date.  It will remain with me forever.

After it was all over, I found out our sound man, Jeff “Ironman” Priddle, had taped some of our shows on his mini DAT machine.  I decided to give them a listen.  They were “raw” to be sure.  Not all the tracks were "perfect."  But they were live.  All the excitement, energy, and emotion were there.  That was good rock and roll!

It was an historic occasion.  The 40th anniversary of the tour.   I thought that maybe, just maybe, for those who were not around for the original tour, these recordings might serve as an “as if you were there” type of setting. 

I think you'll feel it, and I'm confident that the magic of Buddy, Ritchie, and the Bopper's music will come through. 

It always does.