Blame Paul Blart

It will be a profound shame, if the Segway's lasting memory is the horribly unfunny 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop'.

I would hate to think of Dean Kamen, the Segway's inventor, sitting on a porch, up there in New Hampshire, staring, zombie-like, into a lake, the image of the corpulant Kevin James in his head, quietly mumbling, droning, on-and-on, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop ... Paul Blart: Mall Cop ..."

Word recently seeped out (talk about a news dump, it was announced on Christmas Day) that Segway was sold to a British Millionaire, an investor in the Segway's U.K dealership.



And, without, the soaring image of millions of people, darting around town, doing errands, going to work, getting coffee (you just know, had they become ubiquitous, Starbucks would have rolled out new stores, geared towards the Segway, perhaps scooping up out-of-business car washes, retro-fitting them to grab your coffee, without having to slow down).

Which leads us to Chris Smith, on SiliconValley.com last Saturday;

O'Brien: Segway reminds us that even the best get it wrong sometimes

Today, when we think of the Segway, it seems like a self-contained joke. When it appears in popular culture, like in a movie such as "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," it's for comic effect. The Segway has managed to enter the pantheon of novelty items, albeit on the more expensive end of the scale.

It's hard to remember just how much hype greeted its arrival in 2001. The Segway's inventor, Dean Kamen, had a strong reputation in engineering circles, having invented the AutoSyringe, a mobile dialysis system, and the iBot, an all-terrain electric wheelchair. People waited eagerly to see what mysterious wonder he was concocting next.

Interest was so intense that the Segway was unveiled in December 2001 — on ABC's "Good Morning America," a product launch to die for. Not long after, Jay Leno was demonstrating one on "The Tonight Show." In a Time magazine story, Doerr predicted Segway would be the fastest company to reach $1 billion in sales.

[snip]

But the revolution failed to come to pass. For as Wired magazine wrote last month in a retrospective on the Segway: "With a price tag that started around $5,000, the Segway PT pretty much doomed itself to a niche market: rich guys who aren't afraid to embarrass themselves in public."

Yes, rich guys embarrassing themselves.

Guitar Legend, Inventor Les Paul Passed Away

Another giant of music has died, as news broke today that guitar legend, and inventor, Les Paul passed away, at the age of 94.



It is almost impossible to measure Les Paul's impact, imprint on music.

He was there early, he stayed late and he never, never, ever, gave up looking, searching, tinkering, demanding new sound, a new level he could take his genius to.

A news release, from Gibson Guitar;

The World Has Lost a Remarkable Innovator and Musician: Les Paul Passes Away at 94

New York, NY…August 13, 2009…Les Paul, acclaimed guitar player, entertainer and inventor, passed away today from complications of severe pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in White Plain, New York, surrounded by family and loved ones. He had been receiving the best available treatment through this final battle and in keeping with his persona, he showed incredible strength, tenacity and courage. The family would like to express their heartfelt thanks for the thoughts and prayers from his dear friends and fans. Les Paul was 94.

One of the foremost influences on 20th century sound and responsible for the world’s most famous guitar, the Les Paul model, Les Paul’s prestigious career in music and invention spans from the 1930s to the present. Though he’s indisputably one of America’s most popular, influential, and accomplished electric guitarists, Les Paul is best known as an early innovator in the development of the solid body guitar. His groundbreaking design would become the template for Gibson’s best-selling electric, the Les Paul model, introduced in 1952. Today, countless musical legends still consider Paul’s iconic guitar unmatched in sound and prowess. Among Paul’s most enduring contributions are those in the technological realm, including ingenious developments in multi-track recording, guitar effects, and the mechanics of sound in general.

[snip]

By his mid-thirties, Paul had successfully combined Reinhardt-inspired jazz playing and the western swing and twang of his Rhubarb Red persona into one distinctive, electrifying style. In the Les Paul Trio he translated the dizzying runs and unusual harmonies found on Jazz at the Philharmonic into a slower, subtler, more commercial approach. His novelty instrumentals were tighter, brasher, and punctuated with effects. Overall, the trademark Les Paul sound was razor-sharp, clean-shaven, and divinely smooth.

As small combos eclipsed big bands toward the end of World War II, Les Paul Trio's popularity grew. They cut records for Decca both alone and behind the likes of Helen Forrest, the Andrews Sisters, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Dick Hayes, and, most notably, Bing Crosby. Since 1945, when the crooner brought them into the studio to back him on a few numbers, the Trio had become regular guests on Crosby's hit radio show. The highlight of the session was Paul's first No. 1 hit and million-seller, the gorgeous “It's Been a Long, Long Time."

[snip]

In 1948, Paul nearly lost his life to a devastating car crash that shattered his right arm and elbow. Still, he convinced doctors to set his broken arm in the guitar-picking and cradling position. Laid up but undaunted, Paul acquired a first generation Ampex tape recorder from Crosby in 1949, and began his most important multi-tracking adventure, adding a fourth head to the recorder to create sound-on-sound recordings. While tinkering with the machine and its many possibilities, he also came up with tape delay. These tricks, along with another recent Les Paul innovation—close mic-ing vocals—were integrated for the first time on a single recording: the 1950 No. 1 tour de force “How High the Moon."

This historic track was performed during a duo with future wife Mary Ford. The couple's prolific string of hits for Capitol Records not only included some of the most popular recordings of the early 1950s, but also wrote the book on contemporary studio production. The dense but crystal clear harmonic layering of guitars and vocals, along with Ford's close mic-ed voice and Paul's guitar effects, produced distinctively contemporary recordings with unprecedented sonic qualities. Through hits, tours, and popular radio shows, Paul and Ford kept one foot in the technological vanguard and the other in the cultural mainstream.

All the while, Les Paul continued to pine for the perfect guitar. Though The Log came close, it wasn't quite what he was after. In the early 1950s, Gibson Guitar would cultivate a partnership with Paul that would lead to the creation of the guitar he'd seen only in his dreams. In 1948, Gibson elected to design its first solidbody, and Paul, a self-described “dyed-in-the-wool Gibson man," seemed the right man for the job. Gibson avidly courted the guitar legend, even driving deep into the Pennsylvania mountains to deliver the first model to newlyweds Les Paul and Mary Ford.

(You can use the above link for a great slide show presentation of Les Paul)



NYT (Jon Pareles) - Les Paul, Guitar Innovator, Dies at 94

Rolling Stone - Les Paul, Guitar Legend, Dies at 94

Les Paul on Wikipedia

Gibson Les Paul

Les Paul - Chasing Sound

Les Paul Website


And, of course, his music;

Les Paul & Mary Ford: Alabamy Bound /Darktown Strutters Ball




Les Paul & Mary Ford How High the Moon




Vaya Con Dios - Les Paul & Mary Ford (1953)



Yes, Vaya Con Dios, Les ...

It's been a gas ...