Posted: December 10, 2012 -- 10:55 p.m.
Musician Otis Redding was just 26 years old when his plane crashed into Madison's Lake Monona back on December 10, 1967. Six other people were also killed in the crash and on Monday one Madison man remembered being in line for his concert on that tragic night.
Gary Knowles says he and a friend had bought their tickets for just $3. They were standing in the cold outside The Factory Bar on Gorham Street waiting to get in when an employee came out with the news.
"Someone said Otis' plane hadn't come in and the concert would not be held that evening and they would tell us about a refund later," Knowles said.
Knowles didn't hear what really happened until later that night.
"To have anybody go down in Lake Monona was pretty shocking but to have a famous person go down here was really tragic," Knowles said.
Another interesting note, Knowles says the band opening for Redding on that night 45 years ago was the Grim Reapers, a group that would go on to form the famous Rockford band Cheap Trick.
 |
 |
 |
