Souvenir Chronicles: TEXAS, LUBBOCK: TEXAS A&M, LUNCH, AND THE BUDDY HOLLY CENTER

March 21, 2021

After our beautiful sunrise drive through Palo Duro Canyon National Park, we got on the road and headed due south to Lubbock, a drive of about 110 miles.

Lubbock has a population of about a quarter-million and was named after Thomas Saltus Lubbock, former Texas Ranger and Civil War Confederate Colonel. He was also the brother of Francis Lubbock, governor of Texas during the Civil War.

Our first stop was to look around Texas Tech University, founded in Lubbock in 1923 and currently home to about 40,000 students. We enjoy visiting universities and always try to at least drive by or through the better-known ones on our trips. Bob especially likes to take a look at the football stadiums. Texas Tech has a big one ("Everything's big in Texas"), the Jones AT&T Stadium. It holds 60,862 fans.

West side facade and entrance

Not far from the stadium is a small herd of Texas longhorn cattle.

Unlike the ones we had seen earlier grazing in the fields, it is safe to cuddle up to these fellers.

There are also two fun cowboy statues nearby. On the left is Touching the Clouds (2002) by T.D. Kelsey, and on the right is Between Broncs: In memory of Bill Price, Cowboy, WWII Veteran, and Businessman (1992) by Garland Weeks. I was sad to learn after getting home that we missed the most famous statue on campus: Will Rogers and his horse Soapsuds. It is located in the center of campus and we didn't get that far. Darn.

My favorite sculpture, however, was Run (2017) by Simon Donovan and Ben Olmstead. It is located appropriately next to the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center.

I didn't get a shot from the side, but there is visible space between each of the 240 steel plates that comprise the figures, giving the figures the appearance of motion as you walk by.

We also went to church in the Texas Tech parking lot. Yeah, so it was Zoom church, but it was still church! It was one of the few times I was grateful for remote church.

Well, it was lunch time. We hadn't had much of a breakfast, and Bob had scouted out a Mexican restaurant named Abuelo's with a lot of good vegetarian options.

My lunch was fantastic: two chile rellenos, one stuffed with grilled veggies and one stuffed with cheese.

Bob had veggie fajitas, also good.

Right after lunch we headed over to the Buddy Holly Center. Buddy Holly, born in Lubbock during the Great Depression, is perhaps the city's greatest claim to fame.

Buddy Holly's biggest hit was "That'll be the Day."

The Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza is a nice park across the street from the Buddy Holly Center. It was dedicated in 2011 and includes three important things.

1. The McCartney Oak, a tree planted to commemorate a Paul McCartney concert in Lubbock, Texas, on October 2, 2014. McCartney is a big Buddy Holly fan, and the Center across the street includes some memorabilia signed by McCartney

The Paul McCartney Project website has this to say about the Beatles' debt to Buddy Holly: "Teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney saw Holly for the first time when he appeared on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. The two had recently met and begun their musical association. The studied Holly's records, learned his performance style and lyricism, and based their act around his persona. Inspired by Holly's insect-themed Crickets [the name of Holly's band], they chose to name their band "The Beatles." Lennon and McCartney later cited Holly as one of their main influences.

2. The Buddy Holly Statue, which stands 8.5 feet tall.

Buddy, who died in a plane crash in 1959 at age 22, was a larger-than-life musician. It seems fitting that his statue is so big. How can you not be a fan of this guy?

3. The Walk of Fame, which curves behind Holly's statue, showcases the many popular musicians that have come from Texas.

Names I recognized included Waylon Jennings, Mac Davis, Jimmy Dean, Roy Orbison, and The Gatlin Brothers.

When we finished up at the Plaza, we moved across the street to the Center. It's hard to miss because of the ginormous to-scale reproduction of Buddy Holly's iconic spectacles.

Yeah, they really are that big.

The center is located in what used to be a train depot that was built in 1928.

Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside the majority of the museum. I don't understand that. It seems that if people share what is inside on their social media accounts, others might want to visit. Suffice it to say that the Center has a lot of Buddy Holly and The Crickets memorabilia, including Buddy's actual horn-rimmed spectacles that are so nicely enlarged outside.

There is also a separate room that includes tributes to Holly (and where we were allowed to take pictures). This guitar is signed by Paul McCartney and includes the words "That'll be the day, 2014."

I was unaware of the important role Buddy Holly played in the evolution of pop music. Visiting the museum made me want to learn more about him, so we just watched the 1978 movie The Buddy Holly Story, starring Gary Busey as Buddy. It is available to rent on Amazon Prime for $3.99. The movie does a great job of depicting how quirky Buddy was, from his weird facial expressions to his dance moves. It also leaves no question that the guy was a gifted musician.

Back to the Buddy Holly Center. In addition to Buddy Holly memorabilia, it also houses a small art gallery. We were allowed to take photos in there. It had a special exhibit of works by the single-named artist Ebova.