Remembering Buddy

The “thoroughly fun . . . [and] crazy good” memoir about one man’s life and how it was changed by the legacy of a rockabilly legend (Chicago Sun-Times). Buddy Holly, icon: black horn-rimmed glasses, blue jeans, a white T-shirt, white socks, loafers, and “Peggy Sue.” Not so much to Gary W. Moore. Admitting he “grew up in a Rock & Roll vacuum,” Gary favored jazz. He couldn’t name a single Buddy Holly song. Buddy Rich? Yes. But that changed in a single evening when Gary was dragged along to a Winter Dance Party in Cedar Falls, Iowa—a tribute to Buddy’s final, tragic 1959 tour. It was headlined by musician extraordinaire John Mueller, whose uncanny recreation of the legend was hailed by Buddy’s own brother Travis as “the best I’ve ever seen.” It took just one song to seize Gary’s heart and soul. From then on, for Gary, it was everything Buddy. In this inspiring “rock-and-rollercoaster of a read”, Moore shares his personal journey to learn more about Buddy’s life, music, his influence, his impact, and the times in which he lived (Bill Guertin, author of Reality Sells). He’d meet Buddy’s friends and family, celebrities, Buddy Holly fans, and make a new friend himself in John Mueller. The result is “as American as apple pie and as compelling as Don McLean’s legendary hit about The Day the Music Died” (James Riordan, New York Times–bestselling author).

Drawing on interviews with almost everyone who ever associated with Buddy Holly, including his widow, this biography creates a vivid picture of a young man who took the American music scene by storm and then died suddenly in a tragic plane crash. Philip Norman is a journalist and a novelist who in 1968 was assigned to cover the Beatles’ own business utopia, Apple Corps, from the inside. He is the author of Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly and many other books.

The definitive biography on Buddy Holly. Ellis Amburn presents the most comprehensive biography ever written about the legendary figure Buddy Holly, a young man who transformed the course of American music with his shocking blend of country, western, and rhythm 'n' blues. Having devoted the last five years of his life to this work—crisscrossing the rural paths of the United States from Texas to Iowa to Minnesota—Amburn portrays Holly as a mythic antihero, whose rebellious, dramatic life was a reaction against the constricting values of America in the 1950s, when his music was regarded as the work of the devil. From his wild days as a juvenile delinquent, to his first romances, to his early associations with then virtually unknown singers like Elvis Presley and Waylon Jennings, Holly emerges as a deeply tortured, driven individual and a brilliantly talented young man in a hurry to make it as a star. And like many stars, Buddy Holly’s would ultimately be tragic and bittersweet.

This book is a memoir, the description of my parents’ lives based on my remembrances, conversations with relatives, reviews of family photographs, as well as examining remaining personal documents of our family. This memoir started as a brief description, and was something I had planned for a long time. Initially, I thought it would be perhaps a few dozen pages. Instead, it grew organically and became a much more detailed recollection of my mother and father’s lives, their marriage, their approaches to life, how they raised my sister and me, and their continuing influence upon me. They came to America as immigrant children; they developed here within their cultural boundaries as Italian Americans; they struggled, thrived and pursued their personal goals. They are still with me today. It has been simultaneously an exhilarating and exhausting process as the writing expanded. This is far beyond any sort of genealogical charting or the identification of distant relatives. Rather, it provides perceptions about my feelings and beliefs regarding my parents, their positive qualities and flaws, as well as how I perceive them now that I am an older adult. This process is one that I urge other children to engage in, writing about their parents so that there will be descriptions of the roles they played. I call such writing a critical component of the collective humanity, tracing the historical journeys that would then be available to the remaining family members and their ancestors. Conceivably, such continued writings could become an endless documentation of family behaviors and interactions. It might even provide a greater clarity and understanding of one’s parents through a long-range lens.

Known as the "King of the Flyer," Buddy Esquire was the premier show flyer artist in the Bronx during the earliest days of hip hop. Combining influences ranging from Bronx Art Deco architecture to superhero comics and Japanese anime, and teaching himself the fundamentals of lettering and graphic design, Esquire created a new artistic style, which has been often borrowed but rarely credited today. "I would take the letters and I would cut them out", he told an interviewer, "and I would take a ruler and measure them and I would then glue them on the piece of paper where I would want them. Once everything was glued down on the paper I would then draw the background around the letters." Esquire's flyers advertised the earliest performances of legends like Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, the Cold Crush Brothers, Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three. Edited by Johan Kugelberg, Buddy Esquire: King of the Hip Hop Flyer reveals one of the key sources for hip hop's visual language, presenting a catalogue raisonné of Esquire's flyers, visual art and hand-painted clothing. Also featured are never-before-seen photographs of Esquire, his crew and the street art and hip hop culture of the late 1970s and early 80s.

A reminiscence of a Christmas shared by a seven-year-old boy and a sixtyish childlike woman, with enormous love and friendship between them.

I want to thank my Mother and Father for engraining in me the values I have always tried to live by. Honesty, Truth, and to help others when they need help. My brothers and sister for all of the memories I have of growing up in what I think were the best of times. The many friends I had at that time and the adventure we embarked on each day. The teachers who instilled in me the virtues I lived by later in life. The soldiers who fought and died to insure that this country remain strong for generations to come. I also want to thank God for the many blessings I receive each day. I feel I am the luckiest man in the world to have grown up in the time period that I did. With that I will leave you and pray that all of you have enjoyed life as much as I have. A coal miners son.