Keith Matheson and his wife, who met at an Everly Brothers concert at the Kato Ballroom, both were in college when Buddy Holly came to town, and they both attended the concert Jan. 25.

Keith remembers being a bit disappointed that the original Crickets weren’t with Holly that night. There had been a falling out in the band, and Holly had replaced the original Crickets with new musicians.

While teenage fans like the Mathesons were coming to the Winter Dance Party concerts at ballrooms across the Midwest, making those wonderful memories, the musicians on the tour were having a less enjoyable time.

“They toured in a school bus without heat,” Garbedian said.

In fact, the night of the plane crash, the Crickets drummer Carl Bunch was in the hospital with serious frostbite on his feet.

Holly chartered a plane to take himself and the Crickets to Fargo because they wanted to sleep in a hotel rather than on the bus, and they wanted a chance to do laundry. According to reports about the tour, the musicians had performed and traveled in the same clothes for three days.

Ironically, none of the Crickets were on the plane when it took off. Richie Valens had challenged guitar player Tommy Allsup for his seat on the plane with a coin toss. The 17-year-old Valens won the seat on the plane.

Waylon Jennings, Holly’s bass player, ceded his seat on the plane to The Big Bopper, who had the flu. According to Garbedian, when Holly learned Jennings was not going to be on the plane, he chided him by telling him he hoped the bus froze up again.

Garbedian said Jennings retorted, “I hope your plane crashes.” That remark haunted Jennings to his death in 2002, Garbedian said.

These tidbits will be in the documentary, along with previously unseen photos and stories from fans.

Garbedian said the theories surrounding the plane crash also will be included, though not prominently. One theory says Holly accidentally fired a handgun he had with him while horsing around, and the bullet hit the pilot.

While it’s true Holly had a handgun, Garbedian said it was found inside his luggage and had not been fired. Most likely, he said, the pilot was inexperienced, the weather was bad and he may have been excited to be in a plane with his famous passengers.

Holly seemed to have a premonition that his life would be cut short, Garbedian said. He proposed to his wife on their first date, and the two were married two months later. The plane crash killed Holly when he was only 22. Both he and The Big Bopper left behind pregnant wives.

The music made popular by the three at the time of their deaths was music of an innocent era, before the turbulence of the 1960s hit. Holly had hits with “That’ll be the Day,” and “Oh Boy.” The Big Bopper’s hits included “Chantilly Lace,” and Valens had the first Latin Rock hit with “La Bamba.”

Larry Bowers — who has owned the Kato Ballroom (now called the Kato Entertainment Center) for 25 years — said the Winter Dance Party was the largest concert ever held there. About 2,400 people attended.