Big Bopper's casket to go on eBay; Vinyl LPs rebound; Heavy question, 150 answers
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"On Feb. 3, 1959, (J.P. "The Big Bopper") Richardson died at age 28 in the crash of a small plane in a field near Clear Lake, Iowa, that also killed 1950s rock stars Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens." Ron Franscell of The Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise -- the Big Bopper's hometown -- breaks this news (Big Bopper's casket a macabre marketable on e-bay): Rock 'n' roll's most macabre historical artifact will go on the block when the family of the late 1950s pop star J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson auctions his casket on eBay sometime in the next few weeks - almost 50 years after "the day the music died."
The first time (Jay Richardson, 49) ever laid eyes on his famous father came when Forest Lawn's Rodney Landry lifted the casket's lid, revealing what appeared to be a well-preserved corpse dressed in a black suit and a blue-and-gray striped tie. He wore socks, but no shoes. Most remarkably, his thick brown hair was still perfectly coiffed in his familiar, 1950s flat-top. Jay, who apparently inherited his father's famously droll wit, even remarked that the Big Bopper would never have chosen to be buried in such a tie. The Bopper's remains then were moved to a garage at the mortuary where the portable X-ray equipment could be operated. Bass' opinion that the Bopper had suffered no foul play definitely rules out stories that he might have survived the wreck and died while going for help. And it proves that if gunplay were involved in the crash - as some conspiracy theorists surmise - the Bopper wasn't shot. Lots of background in both stories. The Bopper was the least known of the three stars who died that night -- Ritchie Valens' Donna was a huge hit, and it was Buddy Holly's Winter Dance Party tour. Waylon Jennings was the bassist, originally scheduled to fly to the next gig, but gave up his place to the larger Richardson, who was uncomfortable in a bus seat.
Commenters point out that vinyl is also DRM-free -- high-quality sound you can share. Besides, how many fragile CDs have you accidentally turned into coasters? Deep thought (For Silas): The Edge Annual Question -- 2009:
150 contributors extrude mostly erudite essays; they're indexed at that link, or you can read them 10 to a page. 5 CommentsLeave a comment |
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I have a wild surmise that LPs subtly
_record_ the ambient noises as they're
playing, including low frequency brain
noises that carry emotion-tone, so our
personal favorite LPs gradually build
up an echo of our feelings as we listen.
(This could also work for tapes, but
not CDs or mp3s.)
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The Big Bopper story reminds me of having once seen the autopsy report on Buddy Holly online. Just checked and it's still there.
Nothing on Richie Valens, but we can imagine. Plane crashes are always "blunt force trauma" or worse.
I gotta wonder about the Bopper's son, doing what he did. I guess solving a mystery is quite the motivation. But there are limits to even the most morbid of fascinations. I got over my standard male teenage ones when I visited the Army Pathology Museum in D.C. back in the '60s, when it was still essentially part of the Smithsonian. It had some positive effects, such as making me a far more careful driver. But I can never erase some of those images from my brain. Pictures aren't just worth a thousand words. They're another breed of memory.
Anyway, keep up the great work.
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Doc, I did find an Interview with Big Bopper Jr. that Ear Candy did in 2003. It's so old I didn't post it, but since you bring up the son, here are some clues.
He's probably whipping up interest in the fiftieth anniversary of the crash.
I agree about the gore. The Beaumont story about the autopsy details the injuries, but I chose not to quote the litany of broken bones.
Jorn, I've long been fascinated by forces for which we have no measuring devices -- emotions, moods, vibes -- so I'm with you on l-f brain noise, if that's one of the measurables. Art as a trigger is full of elusive elements. It's not surprising that digital representations would just ignore them.
Kudos for trying to pin down what most refer to as "warm tones."
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One for Silas! Thank you! It's an interesting question and people will find, I expect, that being a science fiction writer isn't as easy as it looks. WWJVD: What Would Jules Verne Do?
The question of CD vs LP has all kinds of technical and subjective ramifications and they can be argued endlessly but one thing CD definitely did was to open the indie music industry. There's no possible way you can press your own LP whereas anyone with a band and a dream can get a stack of 100 CDs duplicated for about $200 all from masters that were recorded/generated on home computers.
Off to read what the fortune tellers see for the next couple of generations. I'm guessing lots of medical stuff as that's been arbitrarily constrained for some while now so it's fairly likely that there will be some headlines in the relatively near future on that.
How about this one: study of dark matter will result in a new source of energy that's safe, reliable, and cheap. As we recall from Sociology 101, every fundamental change in society was preceded by a change in the ability to produce energy. So what would it be like if suddenly oil, gas, and wind turbines don't mean anything anymore.
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Cut to the chase on the medical stuff, Silas: This one (MASTERING DEATH) talks about engineering a sort of reincarnation process:
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