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Les Paul info collection thread


Peter Doubt

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Hey guys,

I've been trying to point you to a treasure trove of Les Paul interviews for a long time.

 

I'll try one more time:

 

http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/stevejohnnie/wgnam-steve-johnnie-remembering-les-paul,0,6975991.story

 

Click on the left for the interviews. They are great! I was so happy to be in Chi-Town and be able to here these live coming home from gigs.

 

This is history. I know some are long, but that's what makes them great.

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As they say, a cold shot, to hear of LP's passing.

 

There's not much I can say about LP as a musician, record producer or inventor that others haven't but there is one thing that I said here:

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/2105311/gonew/1/RIP_Les_Paul#UNREAD

that I'll repeat...

 

I would like to mention a way he, or his life, directly affected me & undoubtedly others...but in a way you might not expect.

 

As a child, in the mid-1950s, I broke my left arm smack through the elbow, totally mangling the joint. My father, fairly well-off & with connections to some of the best doctors in Detroit, had them set & reset the fracture several times.

 

Finally they determined it would have to be left "frozen" in position.

 

My father, however, knew of work done by some doctors in Chicago following the accident that LP had suffered years earlier & had them flown to Detroit to work on my arm, which was successfully set to allow full mobility (though it still has an alarming angle when held "straight").

 

Later, as my musical aspirations developed, that made it possible for me to become a guitarist.

 

Sometimes our lives affect others in ways we never know.

 

With full & complete respect,

Darryl Weaver

 

 

 

Below I'm collecting some of the surprisingly large amount of material available online about Les Paul.

Please fell free to add something.

 

online obits

also (& frankly, more human)

 

from the film "Chasing Sound"

http://lespaulfilm.com/

 

the absolutely stunning Paulverizer device in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foXSXOAfB...&playnext=1

 

& 13 segments of the film available as a block on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAbH1b5HE...KfpCky8cphbcN-s

 

the Booger Brothers radio station (get a glimpse of LP's sense of humor)

http://lespaulfilm.com/clips.html

 

beer commercial, interesting mainly as indicative of his name recognition w/the general public

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8O5wZAd2z4

 

documentary "The Wizard of Waukesha" parts 1~5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vomuse9tok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff1dmh1XA2w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXLUUJA0Rs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOFjfK4juRE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdAP7Bs6UZ0

 

Les Paul interviews on NPRadio

 

from 1992, rebroadcast on 8-14-09

This is a very interesting recording as LP mentions @ the 18 minute mark), casually & without elaboration, 2 devices that he created that I've found no info on, yet. One for the piano & the other, some sort of blood pressure device !!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111888401

 

on Mary McPartland's Piano Jazz Show 1999

includes performances

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111865107

 

birthday profile 2005

includes performances

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4697875

 

 

 

 

from 1950s TV

LP explains his recordings (watch out for the humour!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YA_RINQySU

Various Les & Mary clips

 

more recently w/Chet Atkins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByGsHTlKmWk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfjD680wQJI

the Les & Chet Humor Show

 

The Guitar Show

LP tells about his beginnings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUEJjyf8a-Y

talks with Jimmy Page

live w/Jeff Beck

(check LP unplug JB's guitar!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrC_oqWq2pU

 

career overview including close ups of LP playing in his later days

notice the hand problems

Also catch the overhand lick in the 1950s clip !

 

& where he is now, Sitting On Top of The World

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Have posted this in the electric guitar forum, but it's really about recording.


****


Hope this is forgivably of enough interest to y'all for me to post it here:


http://thequietus.com/articles/02524-les-paul-obituary-a-sonic-pioneer-beyond-the-guitar



Feel free to tell me how many things I've got completely wrong
:)

 

Great article. Veddy interesting. Thanks for shareing this. Did you write it john? if so then kudos to you and thanks for shareing.

TD

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Halfnote! What you're saying about your elbow is analagous to my Les Paul influence, other than having a '58 P.A.F. style humbucker as my main lead pickup. It was thinking about his digging an echo chamber out of solid rock behind his house that helped give me the confidence to further my own guitar invention.

Peter Doubt! So you think the length of Les Paul's interviews and writings are what makes them great? You should see the insulting posts that also complain about my fontage here in DIY. When you have a lot to say, what else can you say?

as always, John Watt

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  • 11 months later...
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i recently met a local studio owner that had a very close relationship with les

about a year or so before he passed away Les gave my friend the schematic for a preamp that Les designed that has never been built

 

this guy is going to build it but only for use in his studio -it will not be commercially available

a cool lil tidbit of knowledge

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  • 3 months later...
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About ten years ago, I spent four hours with Les and Rusty in a NYC hotel room from 1AM to 5AM playing guitars, but mostly talking with Les about his life story. I had a DAT machine running the entire time. Someday I'm going to transfer that conversation to MP3 and put it on line.

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  • 5 months later...
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Halfnote! What you're saying about your elbow is analagous to my Les Paul influence...

 

 

Er, well , what I was referring to wasn't influence]/i] but the way we can be affected by others in ways unpredictable.

LP was an influence on me but more regarding the craft of music & recording than his playing itself, great as he was in that area.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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A friend of mine, Ernie Boch is a local legend because of his car dealership empire. I've known Ernie since he was a kid. We went to Berklee together. Anyway, he called me one day and asked if I wanted to fly to NYC to see Les Paul at Iridium. This photo is (L to R) Ernie, Barry Goudreau (from the band Boston), Johnny A., and me.

jet1.jpg

 

When we arrived, Johnny had met Les previously and arranged for us all to met Les that afternoon. During that conversation, Les invited me up to jam.

 

This photo was taken that night:

lesjon2.jpg

 

Les passed away a month later.

 

An unforgettable night in my life.

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If you have an interest, the fellow in my picture above is Billy Mure. Billy is 95 years old and still plays every Sunday evening at Squidlips restaurant in Sebastian, Fl. He's played there for seven years so far. Billy knew Les for MANY years and they were good buddies when they both played as studio guitar guys in NYC. Billy played on a total of 12 number one songs that I have found so far in the '50's and '60's. Here's a video that I shot of Billy's 93rd birthday:[video=youtube;eAZTdjfa0Tw]

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I had the great pleasure of seeing Les play and meeting him after the gig in NYC at the Iridium. He was kind enough to sign my pickguard and I was lucky enough to grab a short video of his act. This was among the greatest nights of my life. Enjoy the vid...

 

th_beda9c00.jpg

 

nycaug170.jpg

 

nycaug162.jpg

 

nycaug157.jpg

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  • 8 months later...
  • 8 months later...
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I don't know if anyone is interested, but I was in this place this past week having a stereo amp fixed and found they had a few pieces from Les Paul's studio for sale. They had some old Macintosh tube amps as well as two Altec speakers that are similar to the old Voice of the Theaters but are triangularly shaped (to fit in a corner). I think the guy said there is the Altec horn and two 15" drivers in each cabinet. I think each cabinet is also on wheels.

 

I used to own four Voice of the Theater's back in the 70's so I know they sound good so I'm sure these probably sound very good. But if you're interested do have some deep pockets as they're not giving the stuff away. I'd love to have the Macintosh's but can't afford it at the moment.

 

http://www.soundsclassic.com/

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