Les Paul Lights Two 18-Story Guitars

M&I celebrates 93-year-old guitar legend


MILWAUKEE, June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Inventor, musician, and entrepreneur Les Paul “flipped the switch” at Marshall & Ilsley Corporation’s (M&I) corporate headquarters in downtown Milwaukee on Friday, June 20, lighting two sides of the 18-story corporate headquarters in the shape of Les Paul styled guitars.


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080623/AQM533)


To honor Les’s recent 93rd birthday, M&I also presented him with a birthday cake, which was a life-size replica of a Les Paul styled guitar, and gave him the world’s longest virtual birthday card, which was a compilation of tributes to Les by local dignitaries, fans, and musicians worldwide.


The event also celebrated M&I’s sponsorship of the Classic Rock Stage at Summerfest, the world’s largest music festival, and the opening of the Les Paul’s House of Sound exhibit at Discovery World in downtown Milwaukee.


Approximately 100 M&I employees “built” the guitars by covering the interior side of over 900 windows to create the familiar iconic Les Paul shaped guitar. The guitars will be visible on the south and west sides of M&I’s corporate headquarters, 770 North Water Street, during the evenings now through the end of Summerfest, Sunday, July 6.


Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE:MI) is a diversified financial services corporation headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., with $63.4 billion in assets. Founded in 1847, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank is the largest Wisconsin- based bank, with 193 offices throughout the state. In addition, M&I has 51 locations throughout Arizona; 32 offices in Indianapolis and nearby communities; 31 offices along Florida’s west coast and in central Florida; 15 offices in Kansas City and nearby communities; 25 offices in metropolitan Minneapolis/St. Paul, and one in Duluth, Minn.; and one office in Las Vegas, Nev. M&I’s Southwest Bank subsidiary has 17 offices in the greater St. Louis area. M&I also provides trust and investment management, equipment leasing, mortgage banking, asset-based lending, financial planning, investments, and insurance services from offices throughout the country and on the Internet (http://www.mibank.com/ or http://www.micorp.com/). M&I’s customer-based approach, internal growth, and strategic acquisitions have made M&I a nationally recognized leader in the financial services industry.


First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: sara.schmitz@micorp.com

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080623/AQM533
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Source: Marshall & Ilsley Corporation


CONTACT: Sara Schmitz of Marshall & Ilsley Corporation, +1-414-765-7831


Web site: http://www.micorp.com/