I read the news today, oh boy. A poster for the Buddy Holly concert that never was went up for sale and this week fetched the tidy sum of $447,000. The story of the sale gained wide circulation for a variety of reasons. Foremost is probably the amount of value placed on the poster. That's a lot of clams. Second, because of its rarity. This may be the only one in existence for that specific show, which took place on the very day of the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valenz, J.P. Richardson (the "Big Bopper") and pilot Roger Peterson shortly after midnight. It's a plane crash made legendary by Don McLean in his song "American Pie."
STOP THE PRESSES!
OK, so Artnet News published the figure of $447,000, but the headline on John Lamb's story on the front page of our Duluth News Tribune announced that the said poster sold for a record $477K.
Yahoo News posted a CBS News story that also affirms the $447K auction transaction. That story, by Helen Ray, opens like this:
The rarest and only known Buddy Holly poster from "The Day the Music Died," when an airplane carrying Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper (real name J.P. Richardson) crashed and killed all three, sold at auction for a record-breaking $447,000.
Oops. On further inspection John Lamb got it right. Whoever wrote the headline got it wrong. According to advertising guru David Ogilvy, five times more people read the headline than the ad copy. This undoubtedly applies to news stories, I suspect, and some astute readers may notice the discrepancy.
BACK TO THE STORY
Poster for Buddy Holly's last concert at the Surf Club.
There are many layers to this story, though. Like many teens in the 50s and 60s, Bobby Veline had learned to play the guitar and formed a band with a group of friends, much like Bobby Zimmerman had with his Golden Chords. After the plane crash took the lives of three headliners, the Moorhead show promoters scrambled to find someone who could step into Buddy Holly's big shoes. Bobby Veline and The Shadows earned the opportunity to wear the mantle that night, a major kickstart for Bobby Vee's career.
It's well known that all these events have Dylan connections. On January 31, just days before the fateful crash, Bobby Zimmerman and his friend Louis Kemp worked their way to the front of the stage to watch Buddy Holly perform at the Historic Duluth Armory. The 17-year-old kid with big dreams of his own felt that an uncanny something passed between them that night when Holly looked at him.
Young Dylan's amusing attempt to join Bobby Vee's Shadows has a become another bit of lore.
* * * Though the Winter Dance Party posters were mass produced, they were left blank on top so that times and dates for the various venues could be filled in for each of the shows. How this particular poster came to be auctioned off as such a rarity can be found in the many stories published this past week.
What I think is most interesting is how values get established. When Bill Pagel bought Bob Dylan's birth home here in Duluth a little over 20 year ago it was a steal. He got the whole house and property for less than $100K. I'm curious what the house might have fetched if it had been sold through a higher profile, better-connected auction house. In 2019 Pagel went on to purchase the Zimmerman house in Hibbing as well. That one cost $320,000. In short, he got both houses for less than that singular poster.
Here are couple other mementos from that week long ago, courtesy
Floor board from Duluth Armory signed by Carl Bunch,
drummer for who got frostbite when the bus broke down
between Duluth and Green Bay.
Another Armory floorboard, this one signed by a number of
There's no business like show business, they say. How many children of entertainers have taken up the occupations of their parents? There are plenty of examples in Hollywood. And in the music scene, Jakob Dylan and Julian Lennon immediately come to mind. This weekend here in Duluth we'll warmly welcome Robby Vee, son of Bobby Vee, to kick off the eight-day Duluth Dylan Fest in a concert sponsored by the Armory Arts & Music Center at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum.
The connection? A young Bob Dylan briefly performed with Bobby Vee under the pseudonym Elston Gunnn. You can read Bobby Vee's 1999 account here at Expecting Rain. Now the son of Bobby Vee is preparing to visit the town where Dylan was born and was raised till his family uprooted to the Iron Range.
After his father got into show business he moved to Los Angeles where the action was, but once he had a family the Midwest seemed the preferred world in which to raise his brood. As Robby puts it, "I 'm from Los Angeles originally. I live in Prior Lake, MN. Dad was entertainer. Started family in L.A. but felt the Midwest was a better place to raise a family."
"Mom was a show business mother, Robby says. "She met my father when he was 15. Watched him carve out a career in the entertainment business. She tried to deter me (from Show Biz) because it's such a hard business." But the young Vee had opportunities to perform at a young age and took to it. 'My father put me in front of an audience," he explined, and he liked it.
Robby has been playing with his current band for ten years, calling them the Rock N Roll Caravan. "They're truly some of the greatest rockabilly players out there." Vee acknowledged that one of the advantages of having the same team is that you can draw on some of the same music you've worked out over the years and know where you're all going with it.
Vee has produced six albums now. I asked which is his favorite.
"Good question. They're really different. My rock-a-billy albums got me to the Hall of Fame, but the more recent are Americana," he said. His most recent album, Blue Blue Blue, was produced in part for the purpose of raising awareness for Alzheimers, which overtook his father beginning in 2011.
Robby, raised on Eddie Cocker and the rock 'n roll of the late 50s and early 60s, enjoys the light-hearted fun of early rock, yet he also appreciates where rock evolved to post-1965 and beyond. "Rock became more intellectual," he said, citing artists like Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot and Cat Stevens (EdNote: All favorites of mine as well.) "I really appreciate both sides of the fence," he said. "I don't have to be one or the other."
"Here's one you might like."
I also learned that like Dylan Robby Vee is a painter. It began with this statement. "Records to me are like paintings. You should be allowed to push the envelope with experimentation." He then added that, "painting is what I do when I am home." I asked if he had a website so we could see his work, and he said he didn't, but that sometimes he puts them on Facebook. "Painting is an outlet to get away from music."
Robby's website includes praise from a number of legendary names. "Your Caravan show is getting kudos from Dion, Sir Paul and Robert Plant," I said. "What is it that makes your show so special?"
"Dion liked our first couple records, live and from the hip. Not too heavy, recorded live, raw energy.
Paul McCartney invited us over (to England) to play Buddy Holly music... He loves the same kind of music I love. Paul said, 'You guys could play on any stage.'"
Carl Perkins' quote, happened like this. "When I did a show with him once he sat on a chair next to the amp and afterward gave me a pick." That was an honor.
They played together when they were young.
"What kind of relationship did you have with your dad?" I asked.
"We had a good relationship. We were both painters, guitar players, singers and writers. At a pretty young age he encouraged me to do my own thing and not be like him. My career has been separate and different from him. I took off and didn't look back much. When he got sick I was the one who was with him almost daily and taking care of him with my sister." Vee has a younger sister and two older brothers. All of them do art of some kind, graphic design and production work.
Does Robby Vee have any favorite Dylan albums or songs? Of course.
"I would say there's a handful... The Man in Me, a song my father I played together. And Forever Young. We used to have mass at our house on the lake. We played Forever Young at every mass it seemed like."
When Dylan performed in St. Paul in 2013 Robby took his father to see him. It was his birthday but distracted by other things he forgot to get tickets. He called Dylan's office and they were able to get special treatment. "We watched the entire show from the monitor board. After the show Dylan visited with my dad and it was really great." Here's Dylan giving the nod to the Bobby Vee, singing one of Vee's signature songs, Susie Baby.
In 2012 I interviewed a attorney who has been representing musicians to help them get better contracts. As it turns out Robby gives a nod to the friend of a friend on his website, Brian "kool-hand" Lukasavitz. Small world, eh?
For what it's worth, Saturday's concert should be killer. Special thanks to St. Luke's for making available several of their parking lots for those who wish to attend.
For more information about this coming week's Duluth Dylan Fest events, see today's News Tribune.
To book Robbie Vee, or follow him in the future, visit and bookmark RobbyVee.net. For what it's worth, you know who else likes rock-a-billy? Bob Dylan does. His 1998 concert at the DECC here in Duluth opened with a zinging rock-a-billy set by David Allen and the Guilty Men.
Meantime, I'm in the mood. How about you? Let's have some fun!
* * * * Bonus Track: Here's a cartoon about Elston Gunnn's brief stint with the young man who filled in for Buddy Holly way back in time. (Click to enlarge)
The Armory Arts and Music Center has announced the headliner for this year's annual benefit concert to get things in motion for this year's Duluth Dylan Fest, and it sounds exciting. Here's the news I read today: Join us for an evening of electricity and music hosted by Second Generation Rocker & Rockabilly Hall of Famer Robby Vee and His Rock-N-Roll Caravan featuring Vee Sings Vee - classic rock-n-roll!
Robby Vee "The Prince Of Twang” was born Robert Velline named after his father Bobby Vee. He is recognized by both the American and Canadian Rockabilly Hall of Fames and has been performing his unique style of Rock-n- Roll music for years on stages across the globe. Having been on tour with the legends and architects of rock-n-roll, Robby has learned from, and shared credits and stages with the best, from James Burton to Carl Perkins, Albert Lee, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, Sir Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Dion, The Righteous Brothers, Buddy Holly’s Crickets, Dick Clark and his ‘Caravan of Stars Rock ‘N’ Roll Show’, his father, 60’s pop rocker Bobby Vee and many more. Robby is known for combining elements of his vast repertoire telling stories that bridge the generation gap from “the roots of Rock n Roll to the new sounds of Americana music of today”. As an Entertainer with many studio records to his name, countless guest artist credits, and a history of extensive touring, Vee has captured the attention of audiences and respected industry professionals both Nationally and Internationally. Robby's dad Bobby Vee got his start in music at the age of 15 with his group The Shadows when they filled in for Buddy Holly in Moorhead, MN in February 1959, the day after the fateful plane crash. Later that year Bobby would hire a young Robert Zimmerman - then going by the name Elston Gunnn - to play piano for a few shows. The rest is history for both of these fine artists. They stayed in close touch over the years. Bobby Vee went on to perform at the Historic Duluth Armory many times over the years. We are thrilled to have his son Robby grace the stage on behalf of our efforts to restore the magnificent Historic Duluth Armory.
Visit Robby Vee's website for more details about the man and his Rock 'N Roll Caravan.
When Dylan performed at the DECC here in Duluth, 1998, the opening act was David Allen and the Guilty Men who performed with such a palpable rock-a-billy energy that a portion of the crowd no doubt temporarily forgot why they had come. They rocked.
Note the connection. Dylan, Vee, rock-a-billy, Duluth Dylan Fest.
The Elston Gunn connection between a very young not-yet-named Bob Dylan and Bobby Vee is a most amusing story of the kid's gumption, a.k.a. chutzpah. And Dylan never forgot that brief moment in time when he got a chance to perform with a big name band that was the real deal. After performing in Duluth's Bayfront Park in 2013, his tour bus made its next stop in St. Paul. Guess who was in the audience that night? Bobby Vee, and the now legendary Dylan paid a tribute to the guy who gave him a chance once.
It's pretty remarkable how things come full circle. The day Buddy Holly's plane crashed in that Iowa cornfield had such finality, it never enters one's mind what happened next. That is, did the tour bus continue on its way? There were people who'd bought tickets for the next show. That Bobby Vee would step in and give that the Moorhead crowd their moneysworth is just another detail that might be worth extra points in a trivia contest some day.
SPECIAL NOTE: The Robby Vee show will held at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, located in the former Christian Science church building across the street from St. Luke's Hospital at 902 East 1st Street. In other words, do not show up at Sacred Heart and wonder where everyone is.
This is the kickoff event for Duluth Dylan Fest 2017. There's a great lineup of events taking place as we firm up our traditions. Coming in from out of town? We're only nine weeks away now. Book your flights and your rooms. New faces from out of the way places are always welcome.
A year ago Bob turned 75 and the DDF team pulled out all the stops to make it a stellar week. Even the weather was cooperative. In the backs of our minds many of us, however, thought 76 would be a but of a letdown after that. 75 s a big one. What we didn't know was that Nobel Prize Committee would soon lend a hand to make this year's celebration special yet again. Join us.
