Each year the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s American Music Masters series celebrates an artist whose career has had a significant influence on the birth and ongoing evolution of rock and roll. The artists selected as American Music Masters are icons in the history of rock and roll whose remarkable lives and artistry have influenced popular music in the United States and beyond. This year we honored 2008 American Music Master, Les Paul, a name that will forever be connected to the electric guitar.
Photos c/o Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
A tribute concert took place on Saturday November 15, at 8 pm at PlayhouseSquare’s State Theater. The concert featured Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees James Burton, Duane Eddy, Billy Gibbons and the Ventures along with Jennifer Batten, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Eric Carmen, Dennis Coffey, Lenny Kaye, Steve Lukather, Barbara Lynn, Lonnie Mack, Katy Moffatt, Alannah Myles, Richie Sambora and Slash. Tickets for the tribute concert sold out.
Community partner Cuyahoga County Public Library invites Les Paul’s friends and fans to post and share tributes and stories using the latest technologies by visiting conTRIBUTE. The testimonials will be permanently housed in the Rock Hall’s Library and Archives scheduled to open to the public in 2010.
The complete schedule of events for the 13 Annual American Music Masters® series The Wizard of Waukesha: The Life and Legacy of Les Paul included:
Monday, November 10 at 7 p.m. - Rock and Roll Night School: The Les Paul Sound at the Baker-Nord Center at Case Western Reserve University, 11130 Bellflower Road, Clark Hall Room 309
The Rock Hall’s Lauren Onkey and Jason Hanley, and Case Western Reserve Music Professor Mary Davis will introduce the life and career of Les Paul with a multimedia presentation, exploring his extraordinary contribution to music, guitars, and recording technology. This event is free with a reservation. Email or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.
Tuesday, November 11 at 7 p.m. – The Gibson Sound: A Night with Henry Juszkiewicz and Special Guest Ace Frehley on the Rock Hall’s Main Stage
Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, will take the audience through the story of Gibson Guitar, its history and leadership in music innovation while highlighting the company’s more than 50-year history with Les Paul, and the guitar that bears Les’s name. Special guest Ace Frehley will talk about playing guitar and demonstrate some of his signature riffs. This event is free with a reservation. Email or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.
Wednesday, November 12 at 4:30 p.m. Teachers Rock: Guitars in the Classroom in the Rock Hall’s 4th Floor Theater
Rock Hall educators and a Gibson luthier will talk about the history of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. This informative session is designed for guitar teachers, music teachers and interested educators around Northeast Ohio. This event is free with a reservation. Email or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.
Wednesday, November 12 at 7 p.m. - The Les Paul Guitar: An Evening with the Luthiers in the Rock Hall’s 4th Floor Theater
Three of the people who make Gibson guitars, luthiers Michael McGuire, Frank Johns and Ren Ferguson, will take us behind the scenes into the craftsmanship and dedication that goes into building a guitar. The luthiers will discuss the general concept of guitar design and some specific models from the earliest Les Paul solid bodies to current production models. Email or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.
Thursday, November 13 at 6:30 p.m. - Film: Les Paul--Chasing Sound! (2007) at Case Western Reserve’s Wolstein Auditorium, 2103 Cornell Road, in the Wolstein Research Building
Les Paul tells his own rags-to-riches story in this definitive feature-length documentary. Featuring a wall-to-wall soundtrack of greatest hits, the film also includes interviews with B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Tony Bennett, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, and many more. Director John Paulson and producers Glenn Aveni and James Arntz will introduce the film with a discussion of how they crafted Les’s life story, and they will take questions from the audience following the screening. Email or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.
Friday, November 14 at 12:30 p.m. -Guitar Clinic, The Case Western Reserve Community Hour at Case Western Reserve University’s Harkness Chapel
Sponsored by the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, this hour long program features a live guitar workshop by Jennifer Batten. Batten will discuss her guitar techniques in an interactive multimedia presentation. No reservation required.
Friday, November 14 at 8 p.m. at Wilbert’s in Cleveland – Concert by Webb Wilder and The Beatnecks Tickets are $15 and will be available at the door or in advance at Wilbert’s. Rock Hall members can purchase two-for-one tickets by showing member ID at time of purchase.
Saturday, November 15 from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Rock and Roll Retrospective at Case Western Reserve’s Wolstein Auditorium, 2103 Cornell Road, in the Wolstein Research Building
A reflection on the career of Les Paul and his impact on rock and roll music. Participants include Hall of Fame inductees The Ventures; Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Henry Juszkiewicz, Steve Waksman, Smith College professor and author of Instruments of Desire, Ideastream’s David C. Barnett, producer Bob Cutarella and Robb Lawrence, author of The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy. Tickets are $30 and are available through Ticketmaster and the Museum box office. Complimentary lunch will be served.
Retrospective schedule:
9:00-9:45 am Keynote Lecture by Steve Waksman
9:45-10:00 am Coffee Break
10:00-11:00 am Telling Les Paul’s Story:
A Panel Discussion with Bob Cutarella,
producer of Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played; Robb Lawrence, author
of The Early Years of The Les Paul Legacy 1915-1963; Glenn Aveni, producer of Les
Paul-Chasing Sound!, and John Paulson, director of Les Paul-Chasing Sound!
11:00-11:15 am Coffee Break
11:15-11:45 am Les Paul on the Radio
Ideastream’s David C. Barnett discusses Les Paul’s work for radio
11:45-1:15 pm Lunch with the CWRU Jazz Band
1:15-1:45 pm R&B singer/guitarist Barbary Lynn will discuss her career as a female guitarist in the 1960s and beyond.
1:45-2:00 pm Coffee Break
2:00-2:45 pm Guitar Clinic with the Ventures
2:45-3:00 pm Coffee Break
3:00 pm Les Paul in discussion with the audience
Saturday, November 15 at 8 p.m. Tribute Concert at PlayhouseSquare’s State Theatre
The concert will feature Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees James Burton, Duane Eddy, Billy Gibbons and the Ventures along with Jennifer Batten, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Eric Carmen, Dennis Coffey, Lenny Kaye, Steve Lukather, Barbara Lynn, Lonnie Mack, Katy Moffatt, Alannah Myles, Richie Sambora and Slash. Tickets are $30, $40 and $50 and can be purchased at playhousesquare.org and at the PlayhouseSquare box office (216) 241-6000. Les Paul is scheduled to attend.
2008 American Music Masters in the media
Rolling Stone
Associated Press
Us Magazine
The Plain Dealer
Akron Beacon Journal
WCPN Interview
“My main guitar is a Les Paul. A lot of great guitar players played a Les Paul, so I identified with the sound of it. It’s an extension of what I’m trying to communicate as a musician.”
-- Slash of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver
“Les is an old friend of mine. He gave me this special white Les Paul—he wound the pickups himself—for my birthday, first time I met him. I play everything from heavy metal to blues to jazz on it. He just hit it right on the head when he designed the Les Paul. I like it better than most girlfriends I’ve had. The godfather of rock ‘n’ roll, I call him. Without him, none of us would have a job.”
-- Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi
“Les is one of the most important musicians and inventors of the 20th century. He’s not a rock musician by any stretch, but some of the ways in which he approached the electric guitar opened the gates to a remarkable sense of possibility. You listen to his late ‘40s recordings, like ‘Lover,’ and the guitar never sounded like that before. My first guitar was a Les Paul. It set me off on a journey I’m still on today.”
-- Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group
“I remember going to sleep many nights with a Gibson catalog, dreaming about getting a Les Paul. I finally did, with a loan from my Dad. It’s a really heavy instrument. But it plays like butter. I met Les backstage at a show once. Jeff Beck made me play ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ for Les, which was a little embarrassing. He changed history, big-time.”
-- Jennifer Batten of Michael Jackson’s and Jeff Beck’s bands
“I don’t think there’s a guitar player who wasn’t influenced by Les. When our lead guitar player, Nokie Edwards, first heard Les’ stuff back in the day, Nokie didn’t know it was speeded up. So that’s the way he learned how to play it; that’s what started his fast fingers going. Les was the first to do many things. He just blew us away when we heard his music.”
-- Don Wilson of the Ventures
--Compiled by John Soeder,
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
