Chet exhibit at the CMHOF -- heaps of praise, one concern

[Robert El]

Before I say write what I intended to say let me chime in with
a vote in the yea column for Paul Yandell being included in
the CMHOF Chet exibit.

Haven't we all known or worked with someone who constantly
whines about doing all or a lot of the work while the boss man
or owners gets all the credit or money? It doesn't have to be in
the musical realm, it happens often though in the music business.

Paul wasn't a whiner. I think he feels he was blessed to have the
job he did. Not only did he support Chet on stage but off stage as
well. The CGP was his original idea wasn't it? But he didn't hint or
whine for that honor. His talent with working on guitars benefitted
Chet, his friends, and other musicians very much. He was not a selfish
person.

He didn't strive to be in the spotlight as he was happy with his lot
in life, that being able to sit next to a legendary guitarist, producer
and record company head (among other things) for many years.

Several years ago I obtained many items from a friend who became
friends with Chet back in the 1950's. There were photos, records,
autographs, books etc. One of the books was "Country Gentleman."
Chet and my friend became buddys over the years and when that
book came out he had Chet sign it for him. My friend passed away
and when I took ownership of these items his wife told me that Chet
and Paul both signed the book. I was looking through the book one day
found Chets signature but didn't find Pauls. I've had this stuff for years
and just recently was thumbing through that book and at the very end
of the book was Pauls signature. She told me he wouldn't sign at the front.
This was a book about Chet and he felt only Chet's signature should be
in front.Doesn't that sound just like Paul?

My point being that Paul never sought the spotlight, he was satisfied with
how things were going and if Chet had not passed possibly they would have
gone on for a few more years.

History should be remembered factually and the people that know it
have a duty to see that it gets done. For instance, Paul getting the
last CGP award that will ever be given.That was sweet justice.

I hope that someone will lobby the CMHOF in a tasteful way and maybe
we all can see Paul get his due. He walked the walk and deserves it.

Robert El

[Mike Nye]

WELL SAID Robert ! ! !

Paul did exactly what ANYONE with respect would have done by signing the rear cover page.

I guess the old adage 'Less Is More' applies here . . .

[Norm]

You know, it's entirely possible that Paul may have spoken with Fred Gretsch and insisited that the display be pure Chet and his contribution not be overly publicised.

The display is sponsored (meaning Money Paid) by the Gretsch company. They get a year's worth of advertising featuring their most brilliant aquisition (being Chet himself). The accompanying book is heavily Gretsch as well as it should be since Chet and Gretsch are so deeply entwined. On page 62 is a photo of Chet and Paul, mention of Paul and also a quote from Paul.

There does not seem to be any reference to the creation of the 6122-59 or CGP but such detail would be more important to guitarists, I think, than it might be to the general Chet Atkins fan. Not all of his fans play guitar. There may have been some mention of the reissued 6122-59 and CGP that got edited out of the final product. That happens sometimes. In any case, I only just scanned the book and found Paul's photo I did not look to see if the two special guitars Paul helped create were mentioned.

In any case, Paul is represented and photographed in the book and the book will be available and in home libraries long after the display closes.

[Mike Nye]

On page 62 is a photo of Chet and Paul, mention of Paul and also a quote from Paul.

25-years = page 62 ? ? ?

[bill_h]

Hats off to everyone who spoke up on Paul's behalf! It's an honor to be posting on the same thread as all of you!

I'm gonna throw this out for a theory as to why Paul's commentary was deleted and if it steps on someone toes; quiet frankly I don't care! On the dvd Paul mentions that there are some who falsely claim to be CGPs. Paul doesn't mention who these people are ( the one's who claim to be CGPs but are not.) Paul only mentions who the real CGPs are and mentions them by name. Add to this the fact that Merle Atkins Russell capped the CGP awards when she made Paul the final one, I can't help but wonder if this is why Paul's commentary was deleted. This is just a hypothesis and I could be off the mark but if Paul's commentary was deleted because of something he said, I can't think of anything else.

Based on what Paul said, there's evidently a person or persons who either awarded themselves the CGP title or is convincing someone else that Chet wanted them to be a CGP. ( Hint, if Paul Yandell says you're not a CGP, you're not one. Either you're patting yourself on the back too hard or someone's blowing smoke up your hind end.)

Not only is the exhibit incomplete without Paul's commentary, it's actually insulting to Paul that his input was deleted from the dvd. Who else could be called Chet's right hand man? If anyone was more instrumental in helping Chet be Chet than Paul was, who could it be? Paul deserves to be on that dvd more than anyone else!

If my hypothesis is true, I realize that whoever made the decision to remove Paul's commentary may have been thrust into a touchy situation but the only right thing to do is to reinstate Paul's commentary. That's only right thing to do regardless of why it was removed.

[Norm]

Also on page 44 of the book Paul is mentioned in passing.

The book mentions the split pickup and two output jacks but does not specifically mention the ptototype CGP's unique solid top.

Still, as I said earlier... Paul is mentioned as Chet's sideman in the book which will outlast the display

It seems odd that the book doesn't mention the 6122-59 or CGP guitar but the book and display was put together by a crew under supervision of Gretsch and the CMHOF.

Again, playing devil's advocate, I believe the display shows guitars actually owned by Chet. That's what museums are for.

The CGP and 6122-59 guitars were crafted after Chet died. They are modern products. Wonderful as it was that Paul caused the guitars to come to be it appears the museum folks thought it best that the exhibit be confined to guitars Chet actually owned.

I could be wrong....

As to what was removed from the display in the way of Paul's commentary or the abovementiond DVD I have no knowlege. That's a whole nother can of worms. I'm just commenting on the CGP/6122-59 issue and reminding that the 'official' museum book mentions Paul more than once.,

[Mike Nye]

Also on page 44 of the book Paul is mentioned in passing.

Norm,

We're simply speaking of Paul's RIGHTFUL mention as Chet's FRONTMAN -that's all, not whether or not his participation in the 59 & CGP projects should be a main topic of the exhibit . . .

Mike

[Norm]

In a lot of ways I think these kind of things, be the books or exhibits are kinda like some magazine articles and "interviews" we've all seen. Put together or written by people who either are cluleless as to the topic or, in this case, not as deeply guitar oriented as we are.

Do I think Paul should have been more prominently featured? Sure! We all know how close he and Chet were. But by the same token, looking over the accompanying book based on the display I can see that they wanted the exhibit and book to be 98% Chet.

It's a museum display. I cited the book that accompanies and is base on the museum display. There are inaccracies in the book...misstatements that happen when text is written by "professionals" and not by the people who were actually there.

Not much we can do about it now. We certainly wish Paul would have gotten more mention but I am not able to travel and see the display and wish I could have. It is what it is and those who got to see it are fortunate indeed.

Frankly, knowing Paul like I think I do, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Another small point. A "front man", as I understand it, has a lot of mic time during a show and often opens the show. I've seen Chet live three times. Each time Chet himself opened the show. Paul was usually as still as a statue until it was time for him to do his job and even then he was very content to not draw attention to himself.
Folks like us would look for him and watch what he did because we knew who he was. But Chet had such presence that the non guitarists in the house hardly noticed Paul at all.

"...We would walk out to stage right and at Showtime, the lights would go down and the spotlight would go up and Chet would walk out, plug in his guitar, check his delay and amp and start playing.
He would do about three tunes and then he would bring me out and we did about three more. At that point he brought the rest of the band out and we would do about forty five minutes. After a thirty minute intermission we would go back out and do about an hour...." __Paul Yandell cgp

Paul was Chet's closest friend. He was his guitar tech. He was Chet's bandleader. Every show he was immensely proud to be Chet's "second".
Once Chet hired Paul he never looked back...and Paul knew it.

And so do we...

[Norm]

by bill_h » Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:06 pm

Based on what Paul said, there's evidently a person or persons who either awarded themselves the CGP title or is convincing someone else that Chet wanted them to be a CGP.
___

There is a video where Chet is talking to Liona Boyd where he gives her a CGP pin that was circulating around at a certain CAAS and he clearly says she can sign herself off as CGP but there were only a select few who got the full treatment... a 'trophy object' and a 'proclamation' delivered by Chet himself.

Seems like I remember reading years ago that Tommy E. wanted to 'carry on the tradititon' of awarding CGP's but Miss Leona put the kebosh on that.

[mark reinhart]

I did think about the fact that the CMHOF's exhibit book DID include Paul, and that the book will be around long after the exhibit itself has come down. Still, I'd like to see Paul represented at the exhibit for the benefit of casual CMHOF visitors who don't know all that much about Chet's story. Again, I'm not saying that because I think Paul would have cared much about it one way or another, I'm just saying that Paul was a big part of that story -- these casual CMHOF visitors should be given the chance to learn a little bit about him.