Positive cycle-analysis
ONE-MAN CHARM MACHINE:
By wheeling around his Motorola megaphone, Austin performance interventionist Robert “The Compliment Guy” Drlicka issues life-changing felicitations to passersby. (Photo: Truitt Ray, 2015.)
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Yes, of course, I know about Leslie Cochran.
He’s the original “Keep Austin Weird” guy in the bikini. He actually lived about 200 feet from here. He stayed right on the other side of Bouldin Creek. Our paths never crossed in real time. Leslie exited about the same time I arrived in Austin — three-and-a-half years ago. However, his spirit will always live here in Bouldin and on South Congress Avenue. His influence is everywhere in this town.... I think one of the most powerful and interesting things about being a human is our ability to become anything we want.... About five years ago, I was working on a project called “Road-Kill Awareness.” That’s when I started riding a lot. I would bike around and take photos of fascinating road kill. It was beautiful in its way. And it got people to think. When you’re on a bike, you can see a lot smaller subjects. Bicyclists don’t usually hit any animals. Then I added InsaneMan.com to my repertoire. I had just come out of a period of living off the earth in the wilderness. I think that’s self- explanatory. Now I’m mostly focused on The Compliment Guy. It’s amazing to see how people change when you give them a compliment. You can change their whole day with just a few words and the right intention. The big biker guys are the best. They aren’t used to being talked to or teased. And if you say something like, “Nice posture, sir.” I mean — only if they have nice posture, of course. Or maybe you say, “Nice man-pecs.” You may not immediately get a smile. But you get them to listen. And when they hear what you say to the next person, maybe, “Nice smile, young lady” or “Beautiful laugh, ma’am,’’ — then they start laughing, too. They see that you’re treating them just like everybody else. And they aren’t used to being treated like everybody else. They aren’t used to being treated well. Maybe they see that we’re not all separate people walking around alone. But we’re all connected. There’s something life-changing about altering a person’s perspective like that. Giving compliments and getting laughs all day is like letting go and getting gold. |
