daddy of reverb

I wouldn’t have been the inventor of anything except that, well, it’s not there. And if it’s not in the store then you just have to make it.

Les Paul in a documentary that Gibson Guitar put together to celebrate his 90th birthday.

By now you've heard that the musician and inventor Les Paul passed away yesterday at 94.

When Paul wasn't cobbling together a musical revolution on a broomstick and pitching it to Gibson Guitars, he was inventing reverb and multi-track recording.

His imagination changed our aural landscape; the music that he made possible changed our world.

Found this rough home video of Les Paul playing at the Iridium in 1997 -- that would make him somewhere in his 80s at the time. If you don’t want to hear him opine on hearing aids skip ahead to the 1.21 minute mark where he opens up and wails.

Video: Les Paul plays.

Thank you, sir, for a magnificent run. Because of you, somewhere there's music.

well mannered men

Page from The Wall of Fame: New York City's Legendary Manny's Music by Henry and Holly Goldrich

The Beatles, really, made the music business. They took it from where it was, a small family business, and made it gigantic. The first time they came in, it was George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and they wandered in during the busiest time of the day. They were quite noticeable; they were wearing multicolored, beautiful clothing. I wanted to help them myself, but the store was jammed, but we pride ourselves on our musician customers.

I told them I had nobody to take care of them right away, but to feel free to try out whatever they wanted. They were great, they hung around for an hour or so, signed autographs, and purchased several thousand dollars worth of accessories. They got most of their instruments for promotion, but they wanted to try effects and they sure did buy a lot of stuff.

(...)

After that, the Beatles came in quite frequently, and when they did, all of them were perfect gentlemen, never asking to be served first. They would sit down quietly, they signed autographs. They were completely marvelous people. I loved the Beatles. They had tons of class.

Excerpted from The Wall of Fame: New York City's Legendary Manny's Music by Henry and Holly Goldrich -- and I'm going to guess that's Henry Goldrich at the mic.

Manny's Music was bought out by Sam Ash some ten years ago, which meant Sam Ash merchandising within the old Manny's innards. The New York Times ran a piece this morning about Manny's pending makeover: the old Manny's with its wall of fame will be mothballed and a Sam Ash interior will go up in its place.

I found the Goldrich book via The Virtual Wall of Fame, a site with the pure purpose of retaining some of the old Manny's vibe, albeit through a questionable information architecture.



Also from the book:

Les [Paul] is a genius. He did things with a guitar that no one else could do. He made effects that no one else could, and whatever he did he had a touch of gold; he was really good.

Strange, but good.

p.s. Like I said: Ironic »