February 3, 1959, was dubbed The Day The Music Died by the lyric in the Don McLean song American Pie, where he references the deaths of rock ‘n’ roll stars, Ritchie Valens,  J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and Buddy Holly in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. We ask celebrated rock critic and author Gene Sculatti, what did the loss of these stars mean to future of popular music? Mr. Sculatti is adamant that Buddy Holly would have become an even larger figure in history of rock; Ritchie Valens may have continued on where other cross-over artists had gone and The Big Bopper, although entertaining, was probably not destined for a long career as a rock performer. We touch on the heritage of Buddy Holly‘s work with examples of covers by the The Rolling Stones and Florence & The Machine. For the Hit That Never Was, an attentive listener selected another Buddy Holly song, Peggy Sue, reworked and almost deconstructed by the late Lou Reed.

In the second half of the program, we take another look at the controversy and myths surrounding Lewis Carroll with Lindsay Fulcher, the past Secretary and Chairperson of The Lewis Carroll Society (UK). Ms. Fulcher while acknowledging the often-repeated stories of Carroll‘s drug use and penchant for photographing little girls, she prefers to believe much of the controversy was driven by the Freudian theories that became popular in the 50’s.

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