The Belmonts the Belmonts were part of the historic and tragic Winter Dance Party tour that lost three performers in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa--Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. DiMucci was offered a seat on the plane by Holly, but thought the fee of $36 was too much for such a short plane ride and declined. Photographs taken at the concert the night before the accident show Holly filling in on drums for The Belmonts, whose drummer had frostbite. Being a skilled drummer already, Carlo Mastrangelo filled in on drums for several of the other
The Buddy Holly Story the ill-fated "Three-Sided Coin", in which he played Crickets drummer Jerry Allison. The film was cancelled by 20th Century Fox due to pressure from Fred Bauer and his company, who had made deals with the Holly estate. The screenplay of "Three-Sided Coin" (by Allison and Tom Drake) revealed many personal details about Holly, and Busey picked up more during off-set conversations with Allison. While the story follows Buddy Holly from age 19 to 22 (1956 to February 1959), Busey was 33 when he played the role. Charles Martin Smith auditioned for the role of Buddy, but since Busey already had