Vaya Con Dios Les Paul

The sound of early rock music turned when the Wizard of Waukesha brought his inventive ideas to guitar design, music recording and engineering.  Les Paul, who died today at age 94, wanted more sound, more sustain, just MORE out of a guitar.  In 1941 he brought his first electric solid body design to the Gibson Guitar company.  It wasn’t pretty.  But little more than a decade later, Gibson began producing the Les Paul guitar that would become an emblem and inspiration for generations of rock musicians.

Last November, I took my 14 year old son – an aspiring guitarist – to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s tribute concert for Les Paul.  I wrote about it on this blog. Frail, but still electrifying the crowd, Paul played one of his final public performances.  The musical tributes that night from a handful of his very famous fans still resonate in my memory.  I am so glad we were there.  And as I said to my son today, “all of you six slingers owe that guy … in many ways.”  I think he gets it.

“Vaya Con Dios” was one of Paul’s #1 hits with his wife, Mary Ford.  The phrase translates into English as roughly “Go with God.”  Les and Mary…together again.

Meanwhile, summer winds down in Cleveland.  School doors will swing open in about a week!  On a perfect evening recently, I was able to join friends on their wonderful sailboat.  We drifted (rather than sailed, owing to zero wind) past the city skyline as the sun dropped below the horizon.  I always say that Cleveland is at its most beautiful from the vantage point of the lake, and during that magic twilight time it is breathtaking. The lights of the city, standing out against a sky still deep blue and luminous from the retreating sun, present a majestic and inspiring sight. And a perfect opportunity for reflection and gratitude.

Vaya Con Dios.

Sleepy Hollow

Yesterday my golf buddy and I “graduated” to the front nine at Sleepy Hollow. It was a very interesting experience for me on a number of levels.  First, they were BUSY, so I gulped as I digested the required pace of play and an entire list of “rules” posted to keep that pace up.  You see, until now, “Viv” and I have chosen courses that are, um, NOT busy.  Which allows a lot of room for a more leisurely pace, and time to focus on all of those things I’m supposed to be remembering about my drive, my pitching, my chipping and putting.  So this new “hurry up and you better have all the clubs you need in your hand” style had me just a tad rattled.

Sleepy Hollow is a beautiful, but very challenging Metroparks course. I lost three new balls on the first three holes.  No crying in golf!  Especially when Franco and Benz are watching.  Franco was barely off the plane from Japan, and instead of sleeping – he’s out there chipping away with his buddy.  No twosomes to interrupt the flow of a full course allowed here, so they joined us for what I hope was a fun experience for them. They were certainly polite.  (although frequent digressions into their own language had us wondering what they were really saying about our golf abilities.)

Thank goodness for a great golf partner with unflagging support and encouragement, it makes those rough spots easier to deal with as we move onward to the next tee.  However, next week – we will be looking for another “less busy” course.  A little more time to make the shot, take it again if need be, talk about our lives, laugh A LOT, and be in less of a hurry.  No timer on the golf cart, thank you.