Doc's Biography
Raised with three sisters and parents that all played the guitar it was no surprise that Doc became a guitar player. Starting at the young age of six (1955). (cigarette and all, whew!). Doc's younger sister (Dorothy, age five) gave Doc his first guitar lesson. His father (Buddy Quinn) then bought Doc his first guitar, it was a Stella Sundale. Then came a J-45 Gibson (Jumbo Gibson) and it was all Doc could do to reach his arm around it in efforts to strum the strings. He played that guitar for years and with the help of his sisters and parents he was ready for his first electric guitar at the age of twelve. Doc's first electric guitar was a 1961 Blue Fender Jazzmaster with a Fender Amp for sound support. Doc was the King of the Rock & Roll world that day and many days to follow. That Fender Jazzmaster took Doc to the level of guitar knowledge that superceded that of his sisters and parents. To Quote Doc, "Without the support of my family thru the years, I wouldn’t be the bluesman that I am today. I love my family". To quote Doc, "I gladly state that the major influence to me in my music/guitar world was my father, Buddy Quinn, my Mother, Lois Quinn & my Sisters, Donna, Della and Dorothy". Several other Blues artists but we will talk about them below. Doc and two of his sisters (Dorothy & Della) along with Bradley Berg, Dennis Howard and Freddie Thomas formed a band in the sixties called "The Exotics". That band won their share of the surrounding battle of the bands contests that were real popular in them years as well as won trophies in the county fair parade float contests. Doc has told me that they, (the band members) used to stay up all night the night prior to parade day making sure that everything they built for their floats was as strong as it could be. They would ride the float (truck trailer) that was being pulled by a Royal Crown Cola truck driven by Brad’s (the drummers) father. They would perform Live, Loud Rock & Roll Music during the parade while some of their friends would dance on the bed of the trailer. Brad's father (Bergie) also provided the power for their amps with a generator that was mounted on the back of the truck pulling the trailer and in-cased in a box to limit noise. To quote Doc, "Them were some really good times"! In 1966 Doc joined the US Marines and there again Doc was surrounded by more guitar players from all over the United States. Meeting guitar players from all around the United States boosted his guitar knowledge and added a little different style to his sound. Not having the 1961 Fender Jazzmaster anymore (hocked it and gave the money to his sister Donna so she could get married) Doc had to play lesser quality guitars but never gave up. After being Honorably Discharged from The Marine Corps Doc continued supporting his new family while still finding ways to keep his music alive. Doc would work all day and play music at night. To quote Doc, "Thanks to some very dear friends back then, I was able to sit in and jam on several jam sessions in the Los Angeles, Ca. basin with some really great and fabulous/famous guitar players". Doc spent a good portion of his life (30 years or so) playing music with the original band (The Exotics) lead guitar player, Freddie Thomas (The Electric Penguin). To quote Doc, "Freddie was such an influence on me and I reckon, one of the best things that ever happened to my music career. He was a fabulous guitar player and I was always trying to catch up with him. My efforts to catch up with him drastically sped up my learning rate. He was such a fast player, (shredder) and would always want me to maintain a strong solid rhythm for him and this brought my timing skills to near maximum. I’ll never be able to thank him enough for the never-ending hours he sweated in efforts to enhance my skills. Freddie is one of my true heroes". There again Doc's style changed even more and added to the style Doc plays today! To quote Doc, "My style of guitar pickin' is some Rock, some Country and some Blues all mixed up and swirling around in my head. I sort of think of it like maybe a, Raw' Con' Blues' style. So when you hear Mistabluesman (that's me) hackin' away at my guitar you're going to hear some "Raw' Con' Blues Baby". - Raw' Con' Blues = Rockin' Blues! Doc has owned over fifty guitars to date and still maintains a collection of twenty one guitars. Some rare and some that he just can’t let go of due to sentimental values. His collection consist of Gibsons, Fenders, Washburns, Gretchs, Martins, Yamahas, Regals, Stellas, Galvestons and ect, ect... Doc’s favorite acoustics to just sit around and drive hard on is a Washburn and his Epiphone, (EJ-160E, John Lennon Series). Doc's favorite electric guitars that he loves to extract his blues out of are his, 1992 Gibson (Les Paul Humbucker Special) and his 1991 Fender (Nat. Strat) and his Fender Tele. Doc named the 1991 Fender (Nat. Strat), Jenny, Jenny, Jenny. When Doc gets into his Delta Mississippi mode it's his Galveston Steel Body Dobro and/or his Blue Stella Sundale that makes that Happy Blues Sound. Not only does Doc love playing his music he has traveled around the US on several occasions driving his 1929 Model A Ford Pick-up loaded up with guitars and supporting gear, (towing one or more of his Harleys behind him), stopping and teaching his easy as your ABC's Easy Guitar Lesson. Doc would just stop here and there teaching folks of all ages how to play the guitar. Doc feels that he has a way of teaching the guitar that is so simple anyone can learn and be playing a little guitar music after only about two hours of his guitar lesson. To quote Doc, "When I teach the good people how to play, love and caress the guitar in their hands and arms, they go on to learn more and love the guitar more. I don't only show them how easy it is to play the guitar, I teach them to love the guitar and the beauty one can bring out of a guitar. I also teach them how the guitar can bring the beauty out of them". Doc states that he will continue to grow on the Internet and offer his music to the listeners as he works on making more of his material available. To quote Doc, "I have a lifetime of all original music/blues to share and it's time to cut it loose". Additional blues influences to Doc were/are, Lighting "Sam" Hopkins, Lowell Fulson, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Doc Pomus, BB King, Albert King, Albert Collins, Freddie King, T Bone Walker, Little Richard, T Model Ford, Louis Jordan and many additional male and female blues artists/greats. Doc's style fits his personality. Even though Doc plays the down and out blues he is happy about it and this feeling Doc gets makes his blues sound and feel happy. Doc's style/sound will also surround you with this feeling. It must be mystical and virtuoso to say the least! One last thing, but a very important thing to Doc. To quote Doc, "I love you all and may God Bless you as he has me. Thank you very much and believe it when I say, Mistabluesman is diggin' ya' baby!
|