For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Dec 01 - 01:50 PM

I lived in West Allis from when I was 4 (having moved from West Milwaukee) until I was 20 (1969) and left for New England. Went to Milwaukee Lutheran H.S. and afterwards hung out at the coffee house that Folky1 is now in charge of. Seems like I always dated lead guitarists back in that era -- played at The Attic, too, but I think I spent more time at Divine's Ballroom (at the Eagles' Club down on Wisconsin Ave.). Gave John Mayall a tour around Milwaukee once. When the Rolling Stones did a concert at the Auditorium (Brian Jones was in the hospital in Chicago) in 1964-ish, I was one of an audience of only about 200 -- nobody in Milwaukee knew who they were, yet.

Linn

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Coyote Breath
Date: 25 Dec 01 - 01:24 PM

Wow! Les Paul is from Waukesha? Hey so is Peter Stampfel! We used to go to dances at a "teen hangout" called The Attic. We being my Shorewood HS buddies, Ken Haferman, Jim Cole, Bobby Kleinow. We would play Waukesha HS in basketball, football. We usually beat them especially back in the early fifties when my cousin Elliot played for Shorewood.

Things change.

Peter Stampfel evolved into a modal rounder (holy as I ken) Ken became one of the best clawhammer (fretless) banjo players In Wisconsin, Bobby died (don't know how), I joined the Air Force, they built freeways all over the place and my cousin Elliot reps printing companies.

Racine and Milwaukee Joe Offer? Ever go swimming at the quarry in Racine? Place looked just like the quarry in "Breaking Away".

jeez I must be gettin old.

CB

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: 53
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 07:46 PM

i don't know where he's from, but he sure could make a les paul talk. BOB

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 04:58 PM

I thought he was from England.

Rick

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: 53
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 03:23 PM

JIMMY PAGE, JIMMY PAGE, JIMMY PAGE.

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 23 Dec 01 - 03:40 PM

For the time being I'll have to refresh my skills (?) with Tom's Guild. Gee, I used to think guitars were designed with women in mind, but my architecture is a little differently engineered these days. (Ask Jeri -- and actually her new guitar was the most recent one I've played.)

I'm not sure they make slim enough acoustics -- or do I have to pull the old Amazon trick? (No, I really don't want to think about that . . .)

Linn

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 23 Dec 01 - 11:58 AM

Hi Linn.

I guess an Ovation is out of the question then! When I reached 201 pounds I sold mine. Convex bodies and convex guitars make a bad combination! There are lots of slim body acoustics out there now, so give one a try....and watch your arms lengthen, Ha Ha!

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 23 Dec 01 - 10:22 AM

Would somebody please make "Twilight Zone" noises please? Moi was born on June 9, too, but a few years later (1949) than Les. Maybe this is a sign that I really DO need to get back into playing the guitar. (But not a solid body, despite all those lessons on the bright red Les Paul in the early '60s.) My problem now is that my, uh, "verandah" doesn't let me bring the guitar close enough to my body anymore -- so my arms are shorter than they used to be (and I can't see my fingers).

Linn

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 08:23 PM

It's all in code Joe.

Les Paul is credited with designing the first solid body guitar*

He's credited with making the first multi-track recording*

He did the first "on stage and live" VOCAL multi-track performance*

After busting his arm badly in a car accident, he insisted the doctors fuse the arm into a permanently crooked "playing position"!*

* he didn't actually. A man named Appleton patented the first one (source: Tom Wheeler's Guitar book)

*he didn't actually. Sidney Bechet did. You can hear it on my favourite website, Red Hot Jazz.

* he didn't actually. In a brilliant move, he HID another vocalist (with a mike) in the wings to sing harmony with Mary Ford.

* He DID, actually.

Rick

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 08:09 PM

Actually Joe, Jack Benny was from Waukegon. Y'all got too damn many Wahs........

As far as "Winnetka" goes, seems like a "big noise" came outta' there.(:<))

Spaw

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 07:52 PM

Well, this (click) is the only reference to "Waukesha Wizard" that I found of the Internet, but it's not quite clear to me that Les Paul is the "wizard," but I guess that's the case. allmusic.come says Les Paul was born in Waukesha on June 9, 1915.

Hey, I've been to Winnetka, too. I know there's some connection between Winnetka and Jack Benny, but Benny was born in Chicago.
I guess I have to admit that half the time, I don't know what the hell Fielding is talking about. [grin]
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: 53
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 07:51 PM

i never did listen to much of his work, but i know he has been a great influence on a lot of players, but he did have a part in developing one of the greatest rock guitars ever, go LES BOB

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 06:49 PM

I don't know about you, Rick, but ever since I've been on Mudcat my beard has turned gray, I've had to start carrying reading glasses around with me, and I keep, uh...um....I keep...damn!...what was it?...oh, yeah: I keep forgetting things.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 06:46 PM

Gosh, I feel like a kid around you guys!

Rosemary N. Thyme

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 06:23 PM

Hey cool it! I may have turned 54 (or is that 55?) but I'm still far more immature than Spaw (despite all evidence to the contrary) and as far as Joe goes?...Well, falling in love at his advanced age may be foolhardy, but at least he's gonna do the mature thing and make it legal!

I know nothing about Waukesha, so Bat and Joe...fill us in. What's the REAL poop? Once you've done that...how about Winnetka?

By the way Amos, have ever noticed how Mudcat has brought out the youth in all of us?

Elderly Sage (or just plain Old Spice)

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 02:28 PM

Good point Amos....Y'all sure do have the age on me! Rick started using one of his old beaters for a cane awhile back........

Spaw

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Amos
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 02:22 PM

That's Mister Fielding, SIR, to you, ya whippersnapper!

Old A.

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: CraigS
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 02:22 PM

I once read an interview of Richie Blackmore (Deep Purple) in which he said that Les Paul was the greatest influence on his playing, and that he had ignored other people when learning the guitar because he spent so much time seeking out old 78s of Les Paul.

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 02:15 PM

Truly a find Mr. Fielding! I say Mr. Fielding because your age is showing. I'd say SEVERAL generations of guitar players...........

Spaw

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 02:00 PM

Yeah, tell us more about Waukesha, O Honorable Fielding. I knew it as the home of one-lung gasoline engines and Waukesha Memorial High School and a sweet young thing I lusted after. I actually spent many happy days there as a mere youth. I suppose that with a name like Les, it would be likely he would be a Wisconsinite.
Waukesha was a very nice town in my day, it was.
-Joe Offer, who grew up in Racine and Milwaukee-

Subject: RE: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 01:41 PM

Waukesha? As in Waukesha, Wisconsin? Geez, and I took my first guitar lessons on a Les Paul in the early '60s -- in West Allis, just a few blocks east of the Waukesha County line.

And Les Paul and Mary Ford were still on Top 40 radio.

Linn

Subject: For Guitar nurds: The Waukesha Wizard!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 22 Dec 01 - 01:12 PM

What a find! The Complete (sort of) Les Paul recordings from 1936-1947, on MCA/Decca.

To a whole generation "Les Paul" meant a type of guitar..no more, no less. Well I hope a lot of those folks find this amazing album and check out the real guy behind the name. From early blues recordings with Georgia White, through the amazing "Rhubarb Red" sessions (Les singing, playing DOUBLE REED harp on a rack, and jazz-chording his L-5, to his Hawaiian period, and finally, backing up Bing Crosby.

Forget "Via Con Dias" and the rest of the Les Paul/Mary Ford gimmicky (but good) multi-track stuff. This is Les, the incredibly gifted, harmonically-sound, virtuoso. Yeah, he still shows his sense of humour in his musical "quotes" and he loves to throw in "the kitchen sink" at times...but just listen to the TECHNIQUE! Clear, clean...this album is like a private lesson from a man who absolutely LIVED the guitar.

Bravo Les (and MCA/Decca)

Rick

P.S. I can't overestimate the value of something like this to a person who wants to play good "folk" or "Blues" or "country" guitar. Yeah, Les was always "pop" oriented, he was ambitious, and I'm told could be difficult because of his ego and absolute obsession with the guitar...but no matter what style you play, absorb some of Les's dedication, and you'll play BETTER.