Clear Lake, Iowa. In 1959 a small plane carrying rock music idols Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Blopper crashed in a cornfield after take-off near Clear Lake, Iowa. Don Maclean later called it The Day The Music Died. Pop historians see the crash as oen of a half a dozen waypoints on the road to American cynicism and the end of cultural innocence. Way points like the lot in Hartford, CT where in 1944 Ringling burned to the ground killing scores of spectators; like the narrow road below King City, CA where James Dean crashed his Porche. Like the grassy knoll in Dallas. Like Memphis. Like the Twin Towers. Like New Orleans after Katrina.. Some say that circus flourishes in times of innocence, languishing in societies with a hard edge. Other would argue that even a perfectly cynical circus in cynical times by its very nature creates innocence at least for a couple of hours. This is a debate beyond the scope of a single paragraph. And this has never been a cynical circus.
The weather is warm and overcast. The jump was only 45 miles. Nobody can be pessimistic about that.
The weather is warm and overcast. The jump was only 45 miles. Nobody can be pessimistic about that.
