Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died?

On CNN, singer-songwriter Don MacLean tells the story of "American Pie."

I've always loved Buddy Holly. He exuded a sort of cool geekiness. One of my favorite quotes of Eddie Van Halen concerned himself. He called himself a "geek." In Rock 'n' Roll, geeks such as Eddie Van Halen could transcend their lowly local social status and achieve star status. The first god of this geeky art was Buddy Holly of Lubbock, Texas.

Holly was a lyricist, a composer, a guitarist, a singer. The coming landslide of Rock 'n' Roll that followed him came about through John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan who saw in Buddy Holly an inspirational figure who wrote and performed his own songs. The Beatles recognized Holly in their name, which was a nod to Holly's band, The Crickets.

Many know the story of Holly's death. How he booked a plane to fly ahead to the next tour stop. How his band members, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup, gave up their seats on the plane to the Big Bopper and Richie Valens. How Holly's young, pregnant bride, Maria Elena Holly, miscarried their child. We might have heard the story of Tommy Allsup flipping a coin with Richie Valens so Valens got the seat. We might know the story of Buddy Holly teasing Waylon Jennings, saying, "Well, I hope your old bus freezes up." And, Jennings reportedly responding, "Well, I hope your plane crashes."

In our geeky thing of Rock 'n' Roll, new gods appear to replace those of the past. Yet, it seems that when it comes to the greats who make it out alive, there will always be a Buddy Holly, a Richie Valens, a Jimi Hendrix, a Janis Joplin, a Jim Morrison or a Kurt Cobain who seem to die too young.

I remember sitting on Harvey Gerst's porch a few years ago around sunset on hot summer's day in Sanger, Texas. He told me of the friends he'd lost when younger, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. He told me about the night that Janis Joplin died. She'd been working on an album and asked Harvey to come hear it in the studio. The producer and Joplin did not know whether they had a finished album and wanted the opinion of their friend. He said that the night before he was to go listen at the studio that Joplin came into a bar where Harvey was drinking. She came in the door and yelled, "Have no fear, Janis is here."

Joplin came over and talked to Harvey and got his promise that he was going to be at the studio the next day to listen to the recording. The next morning Harvey got a phone call from the producer.

The producer said, "Harvey, don't come to the studio."

Harvey said, "What do you mean? I just talked to Janis..."

The producer said, "She's gone, Harvey."

Harvey replied, "Where'd she go?"

The producer repeated, "Harvey, she's gone."

Harvey stated that he just saw her the night before. Then, after a few minutes, somewhere in their argument, he realized that his friend, Janis Joplins, had not left town but had left the planet. She was gone forever. The sudden loss sort of made it all unbelievable to Harvey. I listened to Harvey tell his story and realized that he still mourned for his friend these many years later.

While "American Pie" is an incredible song, there are many days when music died. While not as personal as my friend's story regarding Janis Joplin, my day the music died was December 8, 1980, when John Lennon was murdered. I was a junior in high school. My mother woke me the following morning with news that John Lennon was dead. And, like my friend, I took a long time to realize that Lennon was indeed gone and never coming back.

I think since youth culture became a real thing in the 1950s that part of that experience is a personal day where music died. For everyone, an "American Pie" experience is a rite of passage where we learn that it seems that the things of childhood whether it be innocence, youth or idealism all meet their end. And, if you did not experience such a day, then it's such part of the American experience to borrow one from your elders, which is one of the reasons that Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison seem greater than most all of their contemporaries who lived.