Buddy Holly's birthday (7 September) fell on Labor Day in 1959, so Artie would have had the day off from school anyway.
Artie Moress is the young president of the Buddy Holly fan club. He supposedly began the Buddy Holly fan club after hearing that Buddy Holly died in a plane crash. However, the movie depicts the life of Alan Freed, which ends with the infamous Rock n' Roll riot that took place in Boston in 1958. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper didn't die in their plane crash until February 3, 1959.
The riot at the live Rock n' Roll show in 1958, which ultimately led to Freed being fired from WINS Radio in New York, and forced into bankruptcy. Actually, the riot that Freed was accused of starting, but was later cleared of all charges, took place at the Boston Arena, and not the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, like the movie depicts.
Artie is seen with copies of the albums "The Chirping Crickets" and "Buddy Holly and the Crickets", the latter being a reissue of the former, and not released until 1962.
Television newscasts were not regularly televised in color in 1959.
About seven minutes into the movie when the song "La Bamba" is playing, Artie Moress' parents are watching television in the living room, you can see the studio lighting fixtures overhead.