Les Paul passed away!

Just heard the news from Deed Eddy (Duane's wife) over at the GDP that Les Paul died last night!

R.I.P


A great musician and a great person left us

http://gretschpages.com/forum/duane-eddy/our-beloved-les-paul-has-passed-away/23987/page1/

Oh no,

a great man is gone

RIP

It's a sad day in the music world... too often the word "genius" gets tossed around too freely, but this man sure earned that title.

Budgie,

You are spot on with that. His importance in modern music really can't be overstated. His career in pop music in the 1940s and early 50s was notable enough. But imagine what music would be like without...the electric guitar? Overdubbing? Impossible to imagine.

Hey, by the way, did the Wizard of Waukesha ask you just what in the h-e-double-hockey-sticks you were doing with a miniature Evel Knievel in your pocket?

Biggest loss in music since Elvis. I am truly saddened.

I thought that Budgie would post this one . . .

dammit Budge... what is it that you "do" do for a living..you are everywhere man.. EVERYwhere!

Man I don't believe what I hear!
RIP Mr. Les Paul!
Thanx for all you've done for the guitar and music!

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

dammit Budge... what is it that you "do" do for a living..you are everywhere man.. EVERYwhere!

I'm an every-where man...

Gonna watch my "Les Paul: The Man Changed the Music" VCR tape tonight...

This is soooo sad.
R.I.P.

Another sad news! I hate this summer....
RIP Les Paul

FC

Thanks a lot Budgie, your words are so right...
Sad news, really.
RIP Les Paul.

I don't post here very often.....but....it was the one place I could think of to *go* where people would be sharing my sorrow that Les is gone. I was blessed to hear him play once.

There's a saying, "less is more". We can re-write it: "*Les* is more".

Thank you, Les. You were a rare and beautiful being.

~jan

My wife blessed me with a trip five years ago (I believe Paul was a month or two away from 90) to NYC purposely to fulfill my dream of catching Les Paul live at the Iridium jazz club and staying over night in the Chelsea Hotel. Although the club was a total rip; once a person paid $45 per ticket via the net they weren't informed each person had to also make a $15 purchase from the menu to enter the club. They packed us in like cattle nevertheless the evening was to die for. Witnessing Paul live or even be in the very same room with the same living legend who created the electric guitar, the 4-track recorder, the delay/reverb pedal among other countless inventions was a surreal moment! I never had the honor to see Chet live but I have seen Doc Watson, Chuck Berry, Brian Setzer, and Les Paul.

He was even working on a "new" hearing aid!!! Pure genius.

It is sad to say I seriously doubt the evening news will report much, if anything on this tragic loss since they are still trying to dig up M. Jackson.

R.I.P. Mr. Guitar

The world truly lost a legend in Les Paul. He was such an unparalleled and signature musician and guitar player, but also such a legendary inventor and inoovator. Without him there is no electric guitar as we know it today, no sound-on-sound recording, no Gibson Les Paul guitars, and countless other inventions and techniques that shaped music as we know it.

By the way, I rememeber seeing that special a year or two back as well. Pehaps I'll go down into the hold and see if I can dig up my old copy and give it another look. It was a really great show. I think the title was under the PBS American Masters series, if I remember correctly.

He will be missed.

Capt. Jones

When I was in college, my room mate had a run in with Les when he was back home for Christmas break. I asked him to re tell me the story 25 years later, and he emailed it to me yesterday. Thought those who appreciated Les would enjoy:

"I was home from college after having become a big fan of his guitar playing, and went to the local public library. I looked him up in the "Who's Who in America" reference. Surprisingly, his address was in there. That night I went to see some live jazz (John Pizzarelli) at a little restaurant/bar. During his break, I spoke with him for a while. When he was a kid, his father used to have musician friends (all monsters of jazz) come over to their house to play. Pizzarelli told me that his family was good friends with Les Paul and his family. He advised me to bring him some popcorn - Les Paul loved popcorn. The next day, I went to the supermarket and bought a big jar of Orville Redenbacker's popcorn and that night drove to the address listed in the book in the library. It was a beautiful 1950's modern home in the woods of Mahwah, New Jersey. I felt really nervous as I got out of the car, like the police were going to arrive and haul me off - but fortunately, this was before the days of stalkers! I went up to his front door (which was hard to find) and rang the doorbell. After a minute, a grumpy old gray-haired lady answered the door, "Who are you? What do you want"? I told her that I was a big fan of Mr. Paul's and had brought him some popcorn. She told me to wait and slammed the door in my face. A moment later, I heard the same cackle from inside the house that I had heard on the Chester and Lester album and felt my heart race. He came to the door, shaking my hand with his left hand (his right arm had been crushed in a car accident and permanently set in one position). He invited me into his entrance where we talked for a little while. His house was cluttered with electronics - wires and stuff everywhere! He told me he was working on putting together a compilation of Les Paul Mary Ford shows and didn't have too much time. He wrote his telephone number and name (like I'd forget who wrote the number) on a small scrap of paper and told me to call him that night. I did, and got to speak with him for about an hour! What a kind, gentle man he was - and funny, too. At the time, I was surprised he would give so much of his time to me, but in retrospect, that's how any decent person should act. He was certainly decent to me!"

100% true story. That kid had some stones in the day

Late as usual. RIP Les, you are truly a pioneer!!!!!

Vic, that was a wonderful story....thanks for sharing it!

LA Weekly had a very nice tribute to Les today:

http://www.laweekly.com/2009-08-20/music/les-paul-1915-8211-2009/2

~jan