R.I.P Les Paul

RodC · Post by **RodC** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:19 am

Just heard the sad news.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... AD9A23LL00

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:24 am

This makes me so sad and also happy that I got to see him live.
What a guy. the word genius doesn't do him justice.

Rabbit · Post by **Rabbit** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:32 am

Sad news indeed. Rest in peace Les....

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:34 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iGXP_UBog4

@?,*???&? · Post by **@?,*???&?** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:00 am

Would we ever have achieved Digital multi-track recording without the contributions of both he and Tom Dowd?

There are ought to a be multi-track recording museum established somewhere with Les Paul's tomb as a cornerstone!

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:05 am

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090813/ap_ ... t_les_paul

We have lost a truly great man today. Without him and his unique and maybe crazy mind none of us would be doing what we are doing with music.

Thank you Les, for EVERYTHING!

@?,*???&? · Post by **@?,*???&?** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:09 am

Here's the one to get:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... fyxqegldse

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:09 am

Just heard. I remember the crappy Christmas evening I spent in the Newark airport just after his 90th B-Day. As I looked up at the TV showing CNN, I saw film clips of Les and I thought, "Oh man, he just made it past 90," assuming it was a story about his passing. I'm glad I was wrong and they were just doing a story on him turning 90.

I'm happy to have been part of the crowd that sang "Happy Birthday" to him over the phone at the TapeOp Conference in Tucson, thanks to the wit and smarts of Mark Rubel. I know Mark lost a dear friend and the world has lost an immense set of talents, but the world is a better place because of Les Paul for so many reasons.

RIP, Les and thanks!

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:46 am

cgarges wrote:
I'm happy to have been part of the crowd that sang "Happy Birthday" to him over the phone at the TapeOp Conference in Tucson, thanks to the wit and smarts of Mark Rubel. I know Mark lost a dear friend and the world has lost an immense set of talents, but the world is a better place because of Les Paul for so many reasons.

RIP, Les and thanks!

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I was there also that year and it was one of the first things I thought of today.

Click here and think of flying

for you youngsters nobody had been to the moon yet at this time:)

RIP Les Paul
Click on my blog below for further ramblings on the subject of Mr Les Paul

getreel · Post by **getreel** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:44 pm

My thoughts exactly. This forum might not even exist if it weren't for Les Paul. We all owe him so much, I can't even think of how to describe it.

wren · Post by **wren** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:03 pm

Oh, man. That's a big one. RIP, Les.

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:28 pm

I had the honor of seeing his 90th B'day concert at Carnegie Hall in June of 2005. I was working at Music123 at the time and was in real good with Gibson, so the rep called me up and gave me two tickets. Wonderful night. We probably could've gone backstage but decided against it. Didn't want to push it. Les Paul's set was great. He had an amazing sense of humor, great band, incredible ability to get an awesome tone and hit the notes with only two fingers (arthritis was beyond setting in). He was tuning while the President of Gibson was presenting him with a custom built Les Paul that the Custom Shop made for the event. Les let him stew after the speech, busy tuning his LP up, and then simple said "I knew I should've gone with Fender." Amazing.

I attended the 123rd AES Convention in NYC the following October thanks to IK Multimedia (again, was friends with their East Coast rep). Walked around with some industry friends, had lunch and talked about Les Paul, and was coming down from the cafe' on the escalator when one of the reps that I was with said "Hey, speak of the devil, there's Les!". I got the courage to walk up to the man and say hello. I mean, what do say to someone like Les Paul? "Umm... thanks for inventing everything that I am passionate about?"

Anyway, his son noticed that I was patiently standing there to say hello, and mentioned it to him. Les came up to me, shook my hand and said hello. I thanked him for his contributions to life the universe and everything, and then told him that I saw him at Carnegie in June... dumbfounded that I was actually talking to a 90 year-old Les Paul. He put his arm around me and said, "Hey, you look like a young and intelligent guy... how do you back up your sessions? What are you using? I'm trying to figure out how to archive all of my stuff." Holy crap! I actually gave Les Paul the Joel Hamilton "Back everything up to three drives and keep one in a different location" advice, as well as telling him that I use DVDs as well, sometimes backing larger sessions up to multiple DVDs in an organized fashion, and again, multiple copies in multiple places. WTF! I gave Les Paul some common sense advice, not even knowing if the guy owned a hard drive or if he was strictly talking tape. He thanked me and told me that it was nice meeting me. He then said that he had to go to the Tascam booth because they had something there that he was interested in. You could tell that he was a kid in a candy store. I never even asked him for a photo, because I didn't want to cheapen the experience. What an amazing 10 minute conversation.

I urge everyone on this board to rent/buy Tom Dowd and the Language of Music. It is an amazing film about Tom Down, the history of 20th century recording, etc. And Les Paul is interviewed at home. In the extra scenes he walks the director and crew through the Log and the Octopus. Really entertaining.

Always waned to see him in NYC (aside from Carnegie) but never got around to it.

Another living legend who gave us so much that we simply take for granted, Les Paul will hopefully always be remembered for the genius he was, instead of that Gibson guitar.

Jeff

Electro-Voice 664 · Post by **Electro-Voice 664** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:36 pm

ipressrecord wrote: I mean, what do say to someone like Les Paul? "Umm... thanks for inventing everything that I am passionate about?"

I was listening to 'How High the Moon' the other day, what great stuff.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:54 pm

How about "Hold That Tiger?" That's some shit right there.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 4:51 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foXSXOAfB4U

Before live looping was even invented. Not sure if this thing was real or not, but just check him playing. Amazing.

Les Paul was the Leonardo De Vinci of electric music.

Jeff

Message Board

R.I.P Les Paul

R.I.P Les Paul

Les Paul RIP

Who is online