Something Touched Me Deep Inside (Part 3)

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Hi, gang. Instant update time. I spent the night in Mason City, so this morning I went back to the Surf Ballroom. It was open for a self-guided tour. I simply cannot explain the feeling when I walked in. And, as I said, I wasn’t even born in February 1959. I told my brother it was “goosebumps on my goosebumps,” but it was way more overwhelming than that. People were setting up in the ballroom for an event, seemingly oblivious to the history that was screaming to me from every crevice. The greeting in the lobby comes from Duke Ellington, who signed the club’s baby grand piano and turned it into a museum piece. While this history of the club is detailed (it welcomed the big bands in the 30s and 40s, was destroyed by fire in the 40s, and welcomed the updated sounds as music tastes changed), the overwhelming presences in the venue belong to the three singers whose images are painted on a support beam, facing the stage. Most significant amid the displays are the pay phone in the phone booth that both Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens used that night, and a coin. The coin, framed by the entrance to the green room, is the 1955 half dollar that Tommy Allsup flipped with Ritchie Valens for the last seat on the plane. Valens called “heads.” Heads it was. I cannot begin to articulate what the morning in the Surf Ballroom was like. Since we’re all individuals, you may be oblivious to the feelings if you visit it. Then again, you may get goosebumps on your goosebumps, too.