Public tribute for Les Paul set for Friday at Discovery World

Published on: 8/18/2009

Discovery World Museum will hold a public visitation and tribute Friday for Les Paul, the "Wizard of Waukesha" who gained fame as a pioneer in the creation of the solid-body electric guitar and an innovator in recording techniques.

The museum is home to the exhibit "Les Paul's House of Sound."

Members of the public will be able to pay their respects to Paul, who died last week at age 94 of pneumonia at a hospital in White Plains, N.Y.

The closed casket containing Paul's body will lie in the Discovery World promenade from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. Doors at the museum, 500 N. Harbor Drive, will open at 9 a.m.

Fans will be able to post tributes to Paul. Discovery World also will show video of Paul's last concert in Wisconsin, a 2008 appearance at the Pabst Theater. Admission to the "Les Paul's House of Sound" exhibit will be free.

The Discovery World event will be held before a private family service at Prairie Home Cemetery in Waukesha, where Paul is to be buried. His mother also is buried in the cemetery.

Instead of flowers, the family has requested contributions to the Les Paul Foundation, 236 W. 30th St., 7th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10001.