This morning I woke up and as usual, got my coffee, booted up my MacBook and opened up my Internet browser. To my pleasant surprise, there was an odd, robotic looking guitar on Google’s homepage. Not only was it a cool image, but it was an interactive guitar “doodle”. I soon learned this Google Doodle was honoring what would have been guitar legend, Les Paul’s 96th birthday. Kudos to Google for honoring Les Paul, the songwriter, guitarist, innovator, inventor! I can’t think of anyone who single handedly played such a large role in the development of guitar technology. Check out this article from The Atlantic that explains it all and also shows a video of the doodle for those of you who missed it. Below is a video of the man himself wowing an audience with one of his new inventions, the “Les Pulverizer”:
This comes shortly after the loss of another great guitar slinger. Last month month the music world lost an incredible talent, guitarist Cornell Dupree. Hailing from Fort Worth, TX, known as “Mr. 2500” (referring to the number of dates he had played on) he was known as one of the great session musicians of his generation. Though he played in a band with Jimi Hendrix at one time, he was glad to stay out of the spotlight which made him the ideal session musician. Pleased to simply earn the respect of his peers and fellow musicians/producers alike he worked closely with legends such as Jerry Wexler, Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, and even Mariah Carey. He was known as the man who could play both rhythm and lead guitar at the same time. Check out a few videos below to see rare footage of a young Cornell Dupree playing w/ King Curtis on sax as well as a more recent clip of him playing with legendary drummer Steve Gadd.
-Theo
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