Food Feature: Buddy has his day

For a small child, the importance of growing up near a living legend doesn’t always sink in. I was only 3 years old when Buddy Holly appeared with Elvis Presley at a concert in Lubbock, only 120 miles from my hometown in Midland, Texas. Holly died in 1958, at the age of 22, too young to be part of my teenage music phase. Instead, I was caught up, like everyone else, in the Beatles. It wasn’t until years later that I realized how Holly influenced a lot of the music I liked, including the mythical Beatles. When I was home for a wedding this summer, I headed for the new Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock. In a documentary film there, I saw Paul McCartney talk about how his group learned some chord changes from watching Buddy perform.

That was just one of my discoveries in the shrine dedicated to the young pop star. Built in an old railway depot at the corner of 19th Street and Avenue G, the center houses a permanent Buddy Holly exhibition, a fine arts gallery and revolving displays about Texas music in the Texas Musicians Hall of Fame.

Glass-fronted cases hold intimate fragments of Holly’s life: His report cards, crayons, pencils, drawings and marbles. His Cub Scout uniform and an end table he made. Portraits of Holly from ages 1 to 22 years. Holly’s personal collection of 45s, his signature thick black-rimmed glasses, his wife Maria Elena’s wedding hat and his first contract from Decca Records. Other displays include Holly’s last Stratocaster, fan letters and the stage jacket he wore on the album cover of That’ll Be the Day.

A wall-mounted timeline of his life that starts with Holly’s birth on Sept. 7, 1936, notes the day his group, the Crickets, opened for Elvis at Fair Park coliseum in Lubbock. He made his first live radio appearance in 1954. In 1957, “That’ll Be the Day” passed 1 million in sales. Holly made 25 hit records before his tragic death in a small plane crash two years later.

Holly’s style embraced country, blues, Latin, gospel and classical music. The center honors his innovative stretch of sounds by staging frequent music performances in the courtyard, formerly the old depot beer garden. A printed guide steers aficionados to other sanctified Holly spots in town — his grave at the City of Lubbock cemetery, his elementary school, the empty lot where his house once stood and the country music radio station where he performed for live broadcasts.

Throughout September, Lubbock celebrates Holly’s birthday and the center’s first anniversary with a week of events, including Mid-Century Reliquary, an exhibition featuring West Texas artists working in the ’40s and ’50s, special tours with Holly expert Bill Griggs and lectures by music historians. Opening night highlights will be a blues and rock performance by the Ingrid Kaiter Band (Kaiter is Holly’s niece) and a set by the Groobees. It looks like his hometown has no intention of ever ending the Buddy Holly story.

The Buddy Holly Center is located at 1801 Avenue G, Lubbock, Texas. Open Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-16 p.m. Admission $3. 806-767-2686. www.buddyhollycenter.org