Dion DiMucci Gives His Version of Fateful Feb 1959 Coin Toss (day the music died)

From Dion Dimucci's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Sheart?ref=ts#!/pages/Dion-Dimucci/34360494934

What do you guys think? Dion was the 4th headliner, after all. There have been so many different stories about the coin toss and who was supposed to have been on the flight but this one makes a lot of sense.

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One common story is that Buddy hired the plane for himself and two members of his backup band, Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings.
-Tommy Allsup was supposed to have lost a coin toss to Ritchie Valens, and he even started a club named "Tommy's Heads Up Saloon", after the alleged coin toss!
-Waylon Jennings was said to have given up his seat to The Big Bopper, who didn't want to be on the cold bus for the long drive as he was sick with the flu.

 

Through a Google search I see that Dion gave his side of the story last year at some point:

http://www.buddyhollyonline.com/WDPphotos/cointoss.html

 

Dion tells the $36-dollars-was-my-parents-rent story in this NPR interview from 2000. No mention of coin flip.

Very good interview:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5132750

 

Dion would be just another dude on that 747, because there is absolutely no reason to doubt Waylon and Tommy Allsup's (correct) version of what happened that night.

 

I'm inclined to believe him

 

The problem with his story, in my eyes, is that Buddy knew Tommy and Waylon well. Waylon was his protege` and Tommy had toured and recorded with him before. Why would he choose the other headliners over his friends? From what I know of Buddy's personality, doing so would be rather uncharacteristic of him.

I understand what Dion is saying about the financial side of things, but we have no idea how much the sidemen were making on that tour. Perhaps Buddy's band members were making more than the other musicians, seeing as he was the true headliner of the tour...

 

It doesn't seem too far fetched that Dion and the other headliners would be making more money than The Crickets.

 

I find the "three seats for four headliners" theory more plausible than the other stories. Dion never had any reason to lie about this. He was already on his way to becoming a star at the time of the crash. Jennings and Allsup were nobodys who gained some serious rock n roll credentials through their coin toss stories, and I never believed Jennings' claim that the last thing he said to Holly was "I hope your ol plane crashes!" Just a little too far fetched for me. I think Occam's Razor might be in order here, that Buddy would put the headliners ahead of his friends, and the proof is in who was on board the plane. In the movie "La Bamba", Buddy says to Ritchie "The sky belongs to the stars" just before they take off. Although the words are scripted, that probably was his plan.

 

I believe Dion

 

Dion writes some great stuff on facebook. Among all the other air head garbage.

 

So do I, without hesitation.

 

Buddy was very close to Waylon, he would of wanted him on the plane.

 

Dion's story is not credible at all. First of all, it contradicts the testimony of both Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings (whose accounts support each other). When contradictory stories of an event emerge, greatest credence should be given to the account supported by the majority of people. For Dion's account to be true, both Jennings and Allsup would have to be either lying or misremembering. That seems unlikely. I also think it is telling that Dion waited until both Jennings and Allsup were dead before he decided to tell the "real" story.

Secondly, by all accounts Holly was not an egotistical star who would have taken an "Me and the headliners will fly, the band can drive" attitude. He was an all-for-one, one-for-all guy who was fiercely loyal. The story that he chartered the plane for his band to fly with him is much more consistent with his personality as we know it. Especially since (as noted above) Waylon was a close friend of his, not just a hired hand.

How much the band made is irrelevant, since it was Holly who paid for the plane. The band were his employees and he didn't expect them to kick in.

Dion claims he told everybody on the tour bus his version of the story right after the crash. Has anyone from the bus come forward to support his story?

Dion's comment about there being "so many stories" of people claiming to have flipped a coin to get on the flight makes no sense. I've never heard of anyone except Allsup saying he flipped a coin. Dion makes it sound like there have been dozens of people making this claim, which is not true.

 

In the 2000 NPR interview linked above, Dion said Buddy was "recruiting" people to fly with him to spread the cost around.

 

Just found out I was mistaken about Tommy Allsup being deceased... he's still with us.

 

I don't think Waylon Jennings really needed any help in gaining rock 'n' roll credentials.

For anyone who knows what Waylon was like as a person, the chances of him having lied about anything that night are unbelievably slim. I do wish Dion had said this when Waylon was still alive, however, as Ol' Waylon became more and more brutally honest with his opinions of people as he got older...

 

Exactly.

I get the impression that Buddy Holly wasn't the type of guy who'd leave his band -- friends of his -- freezing on a bus that may or may not make it to the next town while he and the other headliners have flown to said next town and are warm and rested in a hotel.

 

Been reading through some old issues of Goldmine lately.
An issue from February 10, 1989 had an article titled
"An Interrupted Bus Trip"

Although the plane was for Holly and his remaining two sidemen, both Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup were talked out of their seats by the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens respectively.

Darryl

 

I didn't catch it before, but (as Mike P noted above) Dion has apparently been telling this story (or a variation thereof) since 2000. Don't know if Waylon ever heard it or commented on it publicly. I haven't been able to find anything through google.

 

Come on! Waylon was a tough guy.. you think he couldn't handle a bus ride? You make it sound like its a terrible thing...these guys travelled everywhere by bus those days.. they'd have been used to it

 

Buddy looked out for his friends.

That includes paying for the flight.

Darryl

 

Dion's version isn't credible because it contradicts Jennings and Allsup's version?
Because those two were dead (well, Waylon, anyway) before Dion told his side?
Dion's credibility has nothing to do with any statements by Jennings or Allsup. And since Allsup's still around, your claim is without merit.

I don't see why Holly would be considered egotistical for giving priority to the headliners. It would just be good business sense to get the stars to the show on time.

Buddy chartered the plane, but I doubt that he planned to pay for the whole thing. The fact that the stars, except Dion, were on the plane is enough to dismiss the notion that Buddy intended his band to fly with him. If that's what Holly had wanted, that's probably the way it would've been.

I don't know. Has anyone come forward to deny it?

I've read other accounts of the coin flip. I don't think that "so many" = dozens, necessarily, nor does a bit of exaggeration invalidate Dion's comments.
You'll believe what you want to believe, but your criticism of Dion's statements is unfounded.

 

Are you familiar with the conditions on that tour? It's not like they were taking a bus to the local supermarket on a lovely summer's day...

 

We have three reports from people involved of what supposedly happened that night. One report directly contradicts the other two. To me, that makes it less credible. It stands to reason that it is more likely one person would be lying or misremembering than two people. It also stands to reason that a story told 40 years after the fact (as Dion's was) would be more likely to be misremembered than ones told within five years after (as Jennings' and Allsup's were).

The purpose of the charter plane was not to get to the next stop on time. It was to avoid the discomfort of a long cold ride on a bus with a malfunctioning heater. Given the type of person he was, I do not think Holly would have chosen to ride in comfort without giving his friends/band the opportunity to go with him. Or that he would have given priority to other stars over his friends.

That's the equivalent of saying that the fact that Dion was not on the plane is enough to dismiss the notion that he was ever considered as a possible passenger. Neither conclusion follows logically.

As casemeister noted, Waylon Jennings was a close friend of Holly's, and was deeply shattered by his death. It seems very unlikely to me that he would fabricate a story about that last night. And Jennings as well as Allsup would have to be lying for Dion's story to be true.

 

Tommy Allsup tells of the coin flip with Ritchie Valens

Darryl