Tondeleo: In college, I learned that to succeed in business, you need a USP, a unique selling position. Would you say that pertains to having success with women?
Doc: “A what? UPS? That's for packages! But women like packages. 'Specially if they's jewelry in 'em. I ain't been to no college, but they is right about you got to package what you got.”
Tondeleo: Uh … OK, it does mean something that makes you different from other people, something that makes you unique, special. Is that true for meeting women to date?
Doc: “Well YEH – no wonder you ain’t no good with women! You gotta stand out, but not like a freak or a sissy. Like, you got to have money or a nice pickup with good speakers, or a nice house or somethin’ that sets you apart from the other guys who can’t catch a woman. Everybody knows that. How’s come you don’t know that?
“For me, I learnt to play guitar an’ sing when I was just twelve. I never been tall or good lookin’, but I can sing a song and play a guitar. My first guitar, I still got it. It says Colgate on the neck so I called it my toothpaste guitar.”
[Note: It says actually “Collegiate.” Collegiates were cheap guitars back in the 50’s. They cost about $15 brand new – Tondeleo]
“My Colgate guitar has been all over the place with me. It has been busted a lot of times. I have a bolt up there on the neck where the strings go up to where you tune ‘em, an’ a piece of molding down on the body where the strings go over the hole. It’s split and cracked an’ I learnt with it only havin’ 3 strings. I still play it like that. A guitar is s’posed to have 6 strings. But my Colgate only has 3.
“Playin’ guitar an’ singing makes a man stand out. Playin’ a guitar with only 3 strings makes a man stand out even more, cause most people can’t play a 3 string guitar. But I can. I can sing country, blues, rock n roll an’ even Jimmy Hendrickson. All on a 3 string guitar. You cain’t do that.”
Tondeleo: Three strings – no, I can’t do that. You also play a normal guitar too, right, Doc?
Doc: “Well YEH. What if I went somewhere an’ all there was were 6 string guitars? I need to be able to play ‘em all. I can play a bass guitar too. They have 4 strings.
If I got to play a ‘lectric guitar, I can do that too. I got a handful of ‘lectric guitars, one is called a Telecaster that I play. It’s from about 1971, somewhere back there. Someone said they’s worth about a thousand dollars nowadays. But mine ain’t for sale.
Tondeleo: WOW! I should think it's worth a lot more than a thousand dollars... I've seen those old Fender guitars on Ebay, Doc and they go for big money...
Doc: Why would I care what it’s worth if I ain’t tryin’ to sell it? I don’t care if it’s worth a million dollars, I ain’t sellin’ it an’ I would hurt a man if he tried to steal it ‘cause sometimes I make a livin’ off that guitar, an’ it provides food an’ shelter for me an’ for Marilyn. She’s my brother’s girl, my brother what died.
You can either blend in so you don’t get eaten or you can stand out to scare off the predators. Standing out is better.
I also got me a SEVEN string guitar what I play. It’s electric, like the Telecaster, but it’s a Ibanez. I got it from a devil worshiper with long black hair who played a club when I was in Memphis. ‘Bout 1998. So I been havin’ it for a while. This boy, I think he was a devil worshiper, cause he had long hair and played that yee-yee-yee music where all they do is scream.
He got himself in some trouble at a bar he was playin’ at an’ they was beatin’ him up on the sidewalk. He flicked somebody off or somethin’. Nobody ought to be beat like that, so I went over an’ pulled them boys off him. I sent two of ‘em to the hospital. Weren’t no big thing, I caught ‘em off guard an’ hurt ‘em pretty bad. But they had it comin. I took that guy to the room I was stayin’ at an’ let him get better for a couple of days. He left and gave me his 7 string guitar as a thank you. I aint never played a seven string afore. But he wanted me to have it.
I didn’t play it for a year, but then one day I was drivin’ down the road an’ a voice told me to put two bass guitar strings on it. So I stopped at Wal-Mart an’ bought bass strings an’ put ‘em on it. I still play it like that. Use my thumb on the bass an’ my other fingers on the other strings. That makes a man stand out, too. He had it all painted blue with purple stripes and that makes a man stand out.
“When I get work in another place I ain’t from, I might sit outside an’ play guitar an’ sing until someone comes by an’ starts talkin’. Sometimes, my brother’s girl, he’s dead, Marilyn comes with me. She’s a waitress an’ sings an’ plays harp [harmonica]. We sing and play whatever spirit takes us at the moment. Country, blues, gospel, rock, I don’t care.
When people see her with me, they know I am not dangerous an’ then they will talk with me. An’ I protect Marilyn from boys what gets the wrong idea about her. She’s a nice girl, a church going girl an’ I aim to keep her that way. She ain’t no fish for a man to catch with a plastic lure. Nope.”
Tondeleo: Thanks Doc. I’ll need to work on my USP with the ladies. I’ll do something to stand out…
Doc: Well, boy, remember it’s like the law of the jungle. You can either blend in so you don’t get eaten or you can stand out to scare off the predators. Standing out is better.
