CLEAR LAKE – Just in time for the Winter Dance Party weekend, one of the event’s original and frequent performers is releasing a book about his musical history.
Guitarist Tommy Allsup was one of the first musicians that Buddy Holly contacted when he agreed to do the 1959 Winter Dance Party tour.
He and Holly were among a group of traveling performers who stopped at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake on February 2, 1959.
Allsup was also the fortunate loser of a coin flip with Ritchie Valens for the final seat on a small airplane leaving for Fargo, North Dakota shortly after the show.
Valens, Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and pilot Roger Peterson were killed when their Beech Bonanza crashed shortly after takeoff north of Clear Lake.
“Flip of the Coin” took nearly a decade for Allsup and his co-author to finish. “The guy writes very slowly,” joked Allsup on Wednesday.
Allsup answers several lingering questions about the coin flip itself and other things that happened on the tour.
“You’re going to find out what Buddy told me the day we stopped and The Big Bopper bought his sleeping bag, when he got back on the bus and found out he didn’t have any money in the bank in Clovis. That’s in the book, I’ve never told that story before,” said Allsup.
Among the other revelations, “Probably number 2 would be my opinion about Maria Elena (Holly’s wife) being pregnant, what was my opinion on that,” said Allsup.
His guitar work can be heard on several Holly recordings including “It’s So Easy” and “Love’s Made A Fool of You.
Allsup will be signing copies of his book in Clear Lake on Thursday. He is also scheduled to perform with fellow guitarist Sonny West during The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party on Friday February 4 at the Surf.
