We've always held the notion that the day the music died actually occurred when Tamyra Gray was voted off American Idol before Nikki McKibbin, but in his classic “American Pie,” folk-rock singer Don McLean famously placed the date at Feb. 3, 1959, when the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper went down over Iowa. “American Pie” was McLean's biggest hit and skyrocketed him to national fame. Though never quite able to match the success of that song, McLean has performed consistently since the early '70s. This Fourth of July, he performs with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Think he might play the hit?
Fri., July 4, 8 p.m., 2008
