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How do you make a killer pasta sauce on a 109 degree day without turning your kitchen into a walk-in kiln? Grill some tomatoes, bell peppers, spicy eye-tralian sausage and balsamic vinegar-marinated portobello mushrooms outdoors, then bring 'em inside, chop 'em up and toss 'em in a pan with olive oil, fresh garlic, red pepper flakes and a pound of al dente pasta. You won't mind the leftovers, baby. I promise.
Well, that title should sure get "The Robe" some serious random search hits, eh boys and girls?
I'm only being partially gratuitous, though, as the above query was actually on a list of questions I found on the floor at the Gibson Showroom in Beverly Hills, where I went on Thursday to interview founding (and former) Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley. Ace is just about to drop his first solo record in two decades (the aptly-titled Anomaly); but according to his publicist, everyone keeps asking him "Paul is Gay" questions, since the nature of Mr. Stanley Eisen's sexuality seems to hold about as much enduring fascination for the Kiss Army as the "Paul is Dead" rumor did for Beatles freaks.
Still, this question even blew me away (so to speak) with its utter lack of tact or thought — I mean, I've been in plenty of bands with guys both straight and gay, and it's not like I've ever caught any of them in flagrante delicto. So the notion that Paul would have ever just gone for it in front of Ace is pretty bizarre... but, I admit, pretty funny as well. (For the record, Ace's answer was apparently an amused but emphatic "No.")
So, Ace and I didn't talk about Paul's flamboyant ways, but we did rap at length about his original influences, his time in Kiss (and why he lost interest in the band, both the first time around and after six years of reunion shows), the fact that Tommy Thayer is now playing lead for Kiss and wearing Ace makeup, his fascination with outer space, the making of his first solo album (the classic one with "New York Groove" and "Speedin' Back to My Baby" on it), the making of Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (which he loves to this day, having apparently a much higher appreciation of its "cheese factor" than Gene or Paul do), the infamous Kiss appearance on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show, his struggles with booze and drugs, and of course Anomaly, which is definitely the closest he's ever come to matching the raw magic of that first solo record. (Sadly, I totally forgot to ask him about THIS.)
Throughout it all, I found the man to be quite charming, funny, sweet and self-effacing (if also, by his own admission, quite deaf). He's proud of his accomplishments, but also very grateful to still be alive and rocking after watching many of his old pals (including John Belushi) fall victim to the same addictions that plagued him for decades. I don't doubt that the guy was a real handful at the height of his fame, but it sure was a pleasure to shoot the shit with him the other day. The interview will be running on ShockHound in a few weeks; I'll letcha know when it hits the interwebs.
Oh, and regarding the Paul Stanley question, I'm thinking about opening all my future interviews with it, just as an icebreaker...
My friend Bob just wrote me, rightfully admonishing me for a lack of Les Paul love on "The Robe." Been a crazy week, though, so I'm just gonna have to re-run the ShockHound obit I wrote for Ol' Les yesterday. But I will add that I had several opportunities to see the great man play at Fat Tuesday's in NYC back in the late '80s, but blew them off due to the 20-dollar cover charge, the two-drink minimum, and the fact that I would have felt VERY awkward and out of place at the time in a jazz club. In retrospect, of course, I totally regret not going...
ShockHound is deeply saddened to report that Les Paul, a man whose technological innovations massively transformed the electric guitar — not to mention recorded music as we know it — passed away last night at the age of 94.
Born Lester William Polfuss in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the son of Jewish immigrants initially embarked on a career as a country guitarist at the age of 13, billing himself as Red Hot Red and Rhubarb Red, before gravitating towards jazz in the 1930s. After moving to Hollywood in the 1940s, Paul lent his nimble guitar stylings to recordings by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, before striking Top 40 gold with a series of duets featuring his wife, Mary Ford. Their ethereal, playful hits like "Vaya Con Dios," "How High The Moon" and "The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise" all featured multi-tracked, vari-speeded and electronically-echoed guitars and vocals — techniques that Paul actually invented and perfected in his home studio, and which would later become commonplace in the recording industry. Paul's Thomas Edison-like flair for technological tinkering earned him the nickname, "The Wizard of Waukesha"; he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005.
Of course, Paul's best-remembered legacy remains the solid-body electric guitar, a device he began tinkering with in the 1930s. Frustrated by the feedback and lack of sustain endemic to the hollow-body electrics of the day, Paul created "The Log," a length of 4" x 4" lumber outfitted with a guitar neck, a bridge and a pair of electric pickups, which he then deposited in the hollowed-out body of an Epiphone guitar. Though Paul's axe was about as awkward-looking as the Frankenstein monster, the ideas and innovations that led to its creation were eventually incorporated into the first solid-body electric ever manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation — a model known as the "Les Paul."
(Contrary to popular belief, however, Paul didn't actually invent the solid-body guitar; Leo Fender was working on one at the same time Paul was tinkering with "The Log," and the Rickenbacker company issued a solid-body of its own in the 1930s.)
Introduced in 1952, the Gibson Les Paul has long since become one of the iconic axes of rock n' roll, prized for its beefy sound, singing sustain and fast-playing neck. The guitar's adherents have included Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Duane Allman, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Ace Frehley of Kiss, Slash of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver, and Ozzy Osbourne's right-hand men Randy Rhoads and Zakk Wylde, to name but a few — and nearly every guitar manufacturer has since "borrowed" some of the Les Paul's innovations for their own axes.
And yet, despite the guitar's popularity among hard rockers, Paul himself remained true to his musical roots, recording with country picker Chet Atkins in the 1970s and playing weekly residencies at New York City jazz clubs throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Still, he was always happy to share the stage with the young guns who idolized him, and he retained his charming Midwestern modesty 'til the end. Honored last year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's American Music Masters Concert, he joked, "Everybody thought I was a guitar until I played here tonight."
According to a press release issued by Gibson Guitars, Paul died from respiratory failure at a hospital in White Plains, New York, surrounded by friends and family. Of course, the Wizard of Waukesha had more friends than could ever fit into a hospital room, and his "family" extends at this point to just about anyone who's ever rocked a solid-body guitar or run a mixing desk. If you listen today to any music made in the last 60 years, spare a kind thought and a prayer for ol' Les — because chances are good that, in one way or another, he had something to do with it.
