Patrice is the man. I need to listen to me some Black Philip.

[tyler sonnichsen]

I don't know what brought him back into my mind, but I can't get over how great Buddy Holly was. Actually, I do know what it was. I had to place a bunch of calls to the vicinity of Lubbock, Texas at work this week, and the man was born, grew up, and is eulogized there with his now-famous gravestone at the east end cemetary. From what I understand, Lubbock's a genuinely crappy place, and I think it's a testament to how great Holl(e)y was that I want to stop there on a cross-country roadtrip to pay homage.

Holly, to me, is unquestionably an all-time great, if not THE greatest from when and where he existed. A lot of the greatest artists of the past 40 years are great because they have challenged the norm, the archetype and shattered it wide open and expanded the horizons (Little Richard, Can, Bad Brains, etc.) For Buddy Holly in 1957, there WAS no archetype or established norm to challenge. He had to construct an entire horizon through six strings, a great knack for songwriting, and can't-fuck-wit image. Brace yourself for 0:45 in this performance of "Oh Boy"...



It's bizarre how he was only about 21 here, and he performed like a man well beyond his years. And possessed. If I were a parent in the 50's, I would have been scared shitless of this guy. Little Richard and Elvis were from another planet. Holly was an average poindexter turned up to 11, and he was coming to get your daughter.

When he died in that plane crash that Don MacLean wrote about, he was only twenty-two and a half. He had pretty much changed the world. Every guitar-bass band since can thank him for that standardized band setup, too. No, I am not going to deny you all "Peggy Sue,"...



There are two reasons this video rules. Not only does he have a row of women lined up behind him who are all paying no attention whatsoever to their boyfriends, but the drummer has got a protodevilock. Badass.

I'll release some details over the next couple of days on a bunch of random filming we've been doing! Now, enjoy your memorial day and stay tuned for a ton of updates to this site over the next couple of days!