A 71-year-old Woodstock man will have more tunes and movies to enjoy on his iPod while he’s fishing—at no charge to him.
Louie Sulcer won a $10,000 iTunes gift card for downloading Johnny Cash’s “Guess Things Happen That Way,” the 10 billionth song downloaded from iTunes.
Apple started the two-week contest to celebrate the milestone.
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Erika Neldner | Ledger-News
Louie Sulcer, 71, of Woodstock, enjoys listening to his blue iPod Nano. Now, he has to figure how he’s going to spend a $10,000 iTunes gift card he won in an Apple contest he knew nothing about.
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Sulcer said he and his wife, Harriet, had just returned home from babysitting their grandkids when they noticed several missed calls on the Caller ID from Apple, Inc. Sulcer thought the credit card he used to purchase the Johnny Cash song might have been expired.
They were watching the Olympics when the phone rang. It was Apple, Inc. ... again.
Sulcer said he picked up the phone and a man said “Congratulations, Lou, this is Steve Jobs.” Sulcer sarcastically said, “Sure it is.”
He really thought it was his son playing a joke on him.
“It took him about four times for him to convince me,” Sulcer said.
Sulcer said he couldn’t believe he won, and he didn’t even know about the contest. “I had no idea, and that probably made a lot of people mad, especially some of the younger people,” Sulcer said.
He also said Apple had another surprise for him—it was a call from Roseanne Cash, Johnny’s daughter. Her backup guitarist, and husband, played “Guess Things Happen That Way,” for him over the phone.
Sulcer’s kids bought him an iPod for his birthday in October. He said he’s added 400 to 500 songs to it—some from his CDs and about 40 to 50 from iTunes. That collection soon will rise. At an average of 99 cents per song—it could be years before his gift card is depleted.
“I’ve just loved County & Western my whole life,” Sulcer said, adding he enjoys older country more than current country music.
Some of his favorites include George Strait, Don Williams, Alabama, Vince Gill and Garth Brooks.
He says he’s not sure how he will spend the gift card—he can download music, movies, television shows, games, podcasts and applications. But, unfortunately for him, he can’t use it for physical merchandise.
“That’s the $10,000 question,” Sulcer said of what he will buy.
Sulcer has become an instant celebrity. Following the announcement Feb. 25, he said he’s had all kinds of interviews from local and national television networks to the local newspaper and Rolling Stone magazine. Interviews started in the morning and went through almost 11 p.m. Feb. 25.
“I had five camera crews in here at one time. I’m not used to that,” Sulcer said. “I played football at (Georgia) Tech in the 1950s and 60s. I sure didn’t get this much (attention). I’m not someone that craves attention.”
Apple hasn’t suffered from all of the attention, either.
“We’re proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services.
Sulcer is a family man who moved with his wife of 47 years, from Cobb County to Woodstock seven years ago to be nearer their kids and grandkids. They have three children and nine grandchildren.
“The happiest I am about is how much everyone in the family loves and gets along, ” he said, adding his grandkids regularly come stay the weekend with them. “I have a ball with them. I take bushels of medicine for all the things wrong… but my grandkids are my best medicine by far.”
While he’s taking his grandkids fishing, Sulcer will have plenty of music to keep them entertained while they’re enjoying their time together. Here’s to hoping his computer can handle all of those MP3 files.
