Daily Surf Report: Music Legend Les Paul Dies – Why You Should Care Aug 13, 200912:26 UTC

Wednesday, August 12, 2009.

Music legend and pioneer Les Paul died today at 94, and while a vast majority of music listeners are unfamiliar with his name, they are all familiar with his work.  Tiger Woods may represent the U.S.A. in 2016, and a new era in filmmaking begins this weekend with the theatrical release of District 9. This is your Daily Surf Report, using the best videos on the web to keep you abreast of the day’s top stories.

Legendary Music Icon Les Paul Dies

It’s known as multi-track recording, and it’s the basis for everything you’ve heard or seen since the 1950′s. The process, which involves recording one track of audio or video over another, is a basic technique – one of the first things you learn as a recording engineer or an editor – and it was invented by Les Paul.

Paul also invented the solid body electric guitar, and his signature model produced by Gibson is (with the Fender Stratocaster) one of the two most famous guitar models in the world. Some of the thousands of musicians who gained fame on the necks of a Gibson Les Paul include Jimmy Hendrix, Duane Allman, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, The Edge, John Entwistle, John Fogerty, Peter Frampton, Ace Frehley, David Gilmour, Dave Grohl, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett, Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Joe Perry, Roy Orbison, Bob Marley, and John Lennon.

Paul’s affect on music is immeasurable, and his passing today in relative obscurity at the age of 94 is the loss of an American pioneer, inventor, and hero. While Paul enjoyed a certain level of celebrity during his hey-day as a musician in the 40′s and 50′s, there are hundreds of millions world wide who have heard his legacy without ever hearing his name.

This interview video with Paul, taken in recognition of his 90th birthday in 2005, puts in perspective his numerous accomplishments, and perhaps shows why the passing of this icon of music and recording should be felt by everyone… even if you never knew who he was when he lived.

Golfing at the Olympics?

The International Olympic Committee has endorsed golf and rugby for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic games. Although a full vote is required before the two sports are officially on the roster, the endorsement all but ensures their inclusion. Tiger Woods is among the many golfers who have indicated that they would play in the Olympics.

Excluded from the games were both baseball and softball – softball because of the international competition imbalance (the U.S. dominates significantly) and baseball because Major League players – representative of the best in the world – generally refuse to participate, leaving only amateurs to compete. What other sports missed the cut? This Associated Press video has the story:

District 9 Ushers in New Indie Sci Fi Era

District 9, which opens on Friday, is part of a new breed of Hollywood film. Yes, it has aliens, giant spaceships, and Peter Jackson as a producer. However, District 9 was made for only $30 million and features a character driven story atypical of science fiction blockbusters. Welcome to the rise of the low budget Hollywood sci-fi drama. The drastically lowered costs of high quality computer special effects are allowing filmmakers to add sci fi elements to smaller, more personal stories without requiring the giant budgets of movies like 2009′s Star Trek.

Smaller budgets allow the studio to take more risk and be more experimental, and as CinemaBlend.com points out, movies like District 9 and Moon are the harbingers of a new trend of story driven films that can now afford to incorporate special effects as a way of enhancing (rather than driving) the film.

Check out this report from Clevver TV for the scoop and the official trailer for District 9:

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