ATTENDING A WINTER DANCE PARTY @ THE SURF!

       It was back in the 1980's, I was in my 40's and at the time it sounded like a good idea to attend the the big "Winter Dance Party at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Of course it was to celebrate the terrible plane crash and deaths of R & R legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper.

       My ex-wife, May, and I went with Rose and Dick Babcock. Rose was a close friend who was a fellow realtor and her husband owned a local gas station and a limo rental service. The afternoon of the event we all laoded up in one of the limo's and headed from West Des Moines to Clear Lake.

        On the way up we watched an Iowa Hawkeye basketball game and a DVD we snagged from another friend which included performances of all three on old Ed Sullivan shows.  All was going great until we arrived at the Surf and went in. 

        It was great to be back in this icon ballroom and I still had fond memories of going there once or twice when I was younger. But, something wasn't right. First, all the guys there were much older than I had remembered from years ago with receding hair lines or worse just plain bald.  Most were fat or over weight. The women were somewhat better but no long skirts or pony tails for the most part. Most all were walking around with plastic cups filled with beer and alot of these cups were just laying around on the floor. 

      The atmosphere was not what I had expected. Somehow the magic of days gone by was missing. Maybe you can't go back sometimes. All I wanted to do was leave. At least, later,  we found a really good restaurant and enjoyed the rest of the evening!