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Posts Tagged ‘iowa’

The Day the Music Died

Monday, February 4th, 2019

February 4, 2019

On Feb. 3, 1959, 60 years ago yesterday, a plane crash in the Midwestern state of Iowa took the lives of young rock and roll music stars Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson (known as the “Big Bopper”), and Ritchie Valens. All three stars had achieved quick success, and their deaths at the early heights of popularity shocked the American public. The lasting impact of the tragedy led singer Don McLean to pen the 1971 hit song “American Pie,” which remembers the rockers’ deaths as “the day the music died.”

Buddy Holly was an American singer, composer, and electric guitarist. He became one of the first major performers of rock music. Credit: © Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Images

Buddy Holly was the most famous of the artists killed in an Iowa plane crash 60 years ago on Feb. 3, 1959. He was 22 years old. Credit: © Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Images

Buddy Holly was born in Texas in 1936. He began playing the piano when he was 11 years old but soon turned to playing the guitar. He performed as a country singer during the early 1950′s. In 1957, he and his his band The Crickets gained fame with the song “That’ll Be the Day.” That same year, Holly recorded his first solo hit, “Peggy Sue.” His other hits with the Crickets included “Oh, Boy!,” “Maybe Baby,” and “Rave On.” As a solo artist, Holly recorded the 1959 hits “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” and “Raining in My Heart.” Holly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. The Crickets were inducted in 2012.

Ritchie Valens. Credit: © Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Rising star Ritchie Valens was just 17 years old when he died in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959. Credit: © Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Ritchie Valens was born Richard Valenzuela in Los Angeles, California, in 1941. He taught himself to play guitar and other instruments as a youth, and was influenced musically by his family’s Latin culture. He recorded his first hit song, “Come On, Let’s Go,” while still in high school. His most famous song, the Spanish-language hit “La Bamba,” was the B-side of the hit ballad “Donna.” Valens’s life was dramatized in the 1987 motion picture La Bamba starring Lou Diamond Phillips. Valens was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Photo of Jiles Perry Richardson Jr., better known as en:The Big Bopper. Richardson, along with Richie Valens, Buddy Holly and their pilot, died in a plane crash in Iowa on February 3, 1959.  Credit: © General Artists Corporation

J. P. Richardson, better known as the Big Bopper, was the oldest of the young artists killed in the 1959 Iowa plane crash: he was 28 years old. Credit: © General Artists Corporation

J. P. Richardson was born in Texas in 1930. Richardson served in the United States Army and worked as a disc jockey at a radio station (where he was known on air as the Big Bopper). He started his music career writing songs for such artists as George Jones and Johnny Preston. In 1958, Richardson recorded the hit song “Chantilly Lace” and became a full-time musician.

In January 1959, Holly, Valens, and Richardson joined the “Winter Dance Party” tour through the northern Midwest. After performing at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, the three boarded an overnight plane bound for their next show in Minnesota. The plane crashed in bad weather, killing the pilot and all three musicians. Notable members of the tour who took the long cold bus ride safely to Minnesota instead of the risky flight included guitarist and future country music star Waylon Jennings (a member of Holly’s band at the time) and the group Dion and the Belmonts.

Tags: 1959, american pie, buddy holly, iowa, j. p. richardson, plane crash, ritchie valens, rock and roll, rock music, the big bopper, the day the music died, waylon jennings
Posted in Arts & Entertainment, History, People | Comments Off

Agriculture Officials Concerned Over Bird Flu Outbreak

Tuesday, May 12th, 2015

May 12, 2015

Agricultural officials in Iowa are worried that a widespread outbreak of avian influenza, also called bird flu, will devastate egg and poultry production in the state. Iowa is the leading producer of eggs in the United States, and the state has been hit hardest of the 13 states where avian influenza has been reported. Million of turkeys and chickens have been destroyed in Iowa in efforts to stem the outbreak. Egg production has dropped by 40 percent, mostly caused by measures taken to counter the virus.

Chickens and turkeys are being destroyed by the millions in poultry-producing states facing an outbreak of avian flu. © David R. Frazier

Avian influenza is caused by the type A influenza virus. Waterfowl, including wild ducks, sea birds, and shore birds, naturally carry this virus but generally do not develop the disease. But infected domestic birds, such as chickens, turkeys, and ducks, are likely to develop a rapidly fatal form of the illness. The virus spreads through waste matter from infected birds and through contaminated water, feed, and such equipment as cages and the trucks used to transport birds. Once avian influenza is introduced into a flock, it can spread quickly. There is no treatment for the disease  and infected flocks are usually killed to prevent its spread.

The economic effects of the avian influenza outbreak will extend beyond higher prices for poultry and eggs. Agricultural officials point out that as farmers’ flocks are destroyed, there is less demand for feed grain and less work for meat- and egg-processing plants. In addition, countries that import eggs and poultry from the United States may impose trade restrictions to prevent the disease from spreading. Local, state, and federal government agencies are working to end the outbreak. Although the economic damage is substantial, once the outbreak is controlled, Iowa farmers expect to replenish their flocks in short order, as the birds reproduce and grow quickly.

Avian influenza is occasionally transmitted to humans, usually among those who work closely with infected animals. However, the type of avian influenza behind the current outbreak does not infect people.

Other World Book articles:

  • Agriculture
  • Virus

Tags: avian flu, chicken, iowa, turkey
Posted in Animals, Current Events, Medicine | Comments Off

Plains States Bombarded by Tornadoes

Monday, April 16th, 2012

April 16, 2012

A series of powerful thunderstorms spawned more than 120 tornadoes across the Plains states during a 24-hour period on April 14 and 15. The tornadoes were part of a weather system that crossed parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. The National Weather Service confirmed that Kansas alone had 99 tornadoes on the night of April 14. In Oklahoma, at least 6 people were killed and 28 others injured in Woodward, a town 140 miles (224 kilometers) northwest of Oklahoma City. A tornado caused widespread damage in Wichita, Kansas, including the loss of electric power in parts of the city. Between 75 to 90 percent of the homes in Thurman, Iowa, were leveled, but miraculously, there were no major injuries. Outside the town, five tractor-trailers traveling on Interstate 29 were overturned by the high winds.  A tornado took the roof off the regional hospital in Creston, Iowa, a town of 7,800 people about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Des Moines.

Although the tornado season has just started in the United States, meteorologists point out that there have already been dozens of destructive twisters from Illinois to Texas. Tornadoes have killed at least 40 people in the United States so far in 2012.

 

A tornado's winds can swirl at speeds of hundreds of miles or kilometers per hour, hurling debris in all directions. Copyright Gene & Karen Rhoden, Peter Arnold Images/photolibrary

Additional World Book articles:

  • Safety (During a tornado)
  • Storm
  • Fire From the Sky (a special report)
  • The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)

 

Tags: iowa, oklahoma, thunderstorm, tornado
Posted in Current Events, Natural Disasters | Comments Off

Romney Wins Iowa Caucuses by Eight Votes

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Jan. 4, 2012

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won yesterday’s Iowa Republican presidential caucuses by a hair. Taking 24.6 percent of the poll, he beat former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum by only eight votes. The outcome gives Santorum, a favorite among evangelical Christian voters, a chance to emerge as the alternative to Romney in the New Hampshire and South Carolina presidential primary elections later this month. Representative Ron Paul of Texas came in a close third with 21.4 percent of the vote; former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich received 13.3 percent; Governor Rick Perry of Texas took 10.3 percent; and Representative Michele Bachman of Minnesota, a favorite of the Tea Party movement, came in sixth with 5 percent.

Mitt Romney wins the Iowa caucuses. Abby Brack, Romney for President, Inc.

Saying that the people of Iowa “spoke with a very clear voice,” Michele Bachmann announced today that she was pulling out of the race. Late on January 3, Governor Perry announced  that he planned to return to Texas to “assess” his candidacy.

President Barack Obama ran unopposed in Iowa’s Democratic presidential caucus.

 

Additional World Book articles

  • Congress of the United States
  • President of the United States

 

Tags: iowa, mitt romney, newt gingrich, presidential election, rick santorum, ron paul, u.s. election
Posted in Current Events, Government & Politics | Comments Off

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