There's cold, and then there's Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Minus-9 degrees, and I'm currently suffering from insomnia.

February in Iowa ... I was reminded of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper as my Delta Connection flight hovered over Eastern Iowa, 48 years almost to the day after The Day the Music Died. Buddy Holly would only be 71 if he were still here, 10 years younger than Chuck Berry. ... five years ago, in February, Waylon Jennings died. It was Waylon, then an obscure bass player from the Texas Panhandle, who was bumped from the plane because J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson had the flu and didn't want to ride the bus. "I hope your old bus freezes up," Holly teased Jennings. "I hope your plane crashes," Jennings said to Holly. Those who knew Jennings say he never recovered from having said those five words, even at the height of his future stardom.

For my money, Buddy Holly was the king of rock 'n' roll. The skinny kid from Lubbock lit the fuse for the British Invasion. Listening to Holly and The Crickets, you hear the pre-Beatles, the pre-Rolling Stones, the framework for music as we know it today. Not fade away, indeed.

Meanwhile, it's 2:19 here, 3:19 in my time zone. I need to fade away.