RE:Subj: RE: [Harp-L] Sunny girl

BostonMoeJo@xxxxxxx · Wed, 12 Oct 2005 11:47:25 EDT

Annie~

I'm posting this on Harpl  (e-mail to:harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx) & cc'ing: to you.
Happy New Year!!!
~Bo

Subj:   RE: [Harp-L] Sunny girlÂ    
Date:   10/11/2005 7:12:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time 
From:   paulandannieblues@xxxxxxxxx 
To: BostonMoeJo@xxxxxxx 
Sent from the Internet (Details)    

Dear Bo,

Thanks for passing that on.ÂÂ Since you are on the harp-l list and I never 
know how to post to it, I was wondering if you would do me a favor and pass the 
following message on to the list at large in response to the Icemanâs post:

Â

I was happy to read the Icemanâs update on Colleen âSunny Girlâ Crongeyer.Â 
I did have the pleasure of sharing the stage with her at the Buckeye Harmonica 
Festival a few years ago.Â In fact, it was such a positive experience that I 
feel the need to set the record straight and contradict Larryâs report:Â At no 
time while we played together did I try to âburyâ Colleen.Â When I am 
playing music, my only goal is to attain a higher level of communication with the 
other musicians and the audience.Â This is a musical ethic that was passed on to 
me by James Cotton, Jerry Portnoy, John Sebastian, and many other masters and 
master teachers.Â I tried to give Colleen the same encouragement and share 
the same information that had been so generously shared with me in my formative 
years.Â I am surprised that Larry, an experienced teacher himself, would paint 
a competitive scenario in which we engage in a musical slugfest.Â If I felt I 
could âburyâ someone, it wouldnât be worth my time to play with them at 
all.Â I know it makes for an entertaining yarn, but it is simply not what 
happened. Â

And why would I of all people begrudge a young girl the right to play the 
blues?

-Annie Raines

www.paulandannie.com

Â

Â

âThanks Bo.Â Have a good week off and Iâll see you in class on the 19th!

Â

From: BostonMoeJo@xxxxxxx [mailto:BostonMoeJo@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 4:11 PM
To: paulandannieblues@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Fwd: [Harp-L] Sunny girl

Â

Annie~
I  thought you might be interested in seeing this:
~Bo

In a message dated 10/11/2005 10:55:58 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
icemanle@xxxxxxx writes:

Subj: Re: [Harp-L] Sunny girl 
Date: 10/11/2005 10:55:58 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: icemanle@xxxxxxx
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent from the Internet 

The Sunny Girl story is a great one. 

Her father brought her to me, at age 6, at a SPAH in 1996, a pure talent in 
search of a teacher.

Colleen is a very mature old soul in a new child's body, so teaching her was 
very easy and rewarding, as she responded directly to the sounds and music 
without the need to intellectually explain what was going on. We quickly got into 
MUSIC, blues being a sub-catagory, as well as stage presence and 
professionalism.

Her star rose quickly over the next few years and her performances at SPAH 
(on a main stage or just going head-to-head w/Annie Raines during an afternoon 
clinic - it was great, as Annie tried to "bury" her, but Colleen rose to the 
occasion and threw it right back in Annie's face) were always a highlight of the 
convention. As I mentioned before, the attendees also had the opportunity to 
watch Colleen grow and mature, a real magical experience. Sunny Girl played 
blues on Thur Night, played jazz and traditional on the Sat night banquet show, 
and even shared the stage with Douglas Tate revealing her natural star talent 
in her ability to keep up with Doug's sense of humor.

Colleen also was featured in a few public TV "after school" specials that were
 the most requested segments on public/cable TV. She had a few different back 
up bands over the years and performed around the Detroit area, at clubs and 
festivals. Sunny Girl was also invited on stage by many local and national 
performers.

We began to work on her vocal abilities, giving her a wonderfully mature 
sense of timing and delivery for such a young girl.

Unfortunately, when I left Detroit in 2000, Colleen was left without a 
teacher able to challange her abilities and her career lost momentum as she was 
thrust into the "blues girl" image by her father rather than an overall talented 
musician. Her vocals improved, however, as she found a good vocal coach at 
Marygrove College. After playing at a local Dearborn club as a once-a-month 
featured act, the club folded and Sunny Girl spends most of her time these days as a 
very talented 15 year old high school student.

I hope to re-connect with her again, bringing her to the public - perhaps at 
Augusta Heritage Blues Week. At the very least, I'm hoping to get her to come 
to FL for an extended visit. We still stay in touch by phone and miss each 
other very much.

I'm imagining pairing Sunny Girl with my other major talented student, RJ 
Harman. It would be very exciting, to be sure.

The Iceman

-----Original Message-----
From: John Kerkhoven <solo_danswer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 01:10:34 -0400
Subject: [Harp-L] Sunny girl

I'm surprised that no one responded to the Sunny Girl web link posted a few
days ago.

No doubt many of you know about her. I didn't. Quite amazing ... and
humbling. At fifteen she's played with James Cotton and Buddy Guy, plus a
host of others. She's got some music clips available on her site.Â The
girl's got talent, and already a ton of experience. I expect we'll hear more
of her before long.

John

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Â