[Harp-L] Re: SPAH and seminars

[SONNYTONE@xxxxxxx]

Hi, this is Sonny  Jr. - It was too late for me to get arrangements to have a 
vendor's booth to  demo my new midsized powerhouse Cruncher amp, so I plan on 
being there next year  if all goes well. I would also like to do 3 seminars 
next year, Chicago, Dallas,  and one other city that I would like everyone's 
input on, whether they would  attend those two cities or another possible city. 
I do not have the means to  mass email thousands of harp players to try and 
promote this, hopefully my new  website will be up soon with new amp and sound 
bites. My seminars with be  doing my Sonny Terry seminar, and a full seminar on 
amps in general, and also  will have the new amp with me to sell at a 
discount so bring whatever you need  to. This will be a solo seminar, I want to run 
it for two days, to be able to  work one on one for a short time with everyone 
that attends, after the first day  of breaking down Sonny's style. I will 
bring a CD player with many of his  signature songs and try and break down pieces 
of them, as he had specific things  going on in each of these songs. We could 
spend years trying to get one song  down right, as he never really followed a 
12 bar progression, Brownie was never  recognized for being one of the 
greatest acoustic guitar players to ever live,  seeing him live for two years made me 
appreciate him. He had the ability to  effortlessly be either right with 
Sonny, or one quarter step behind him, so when  Sonny changed, Brownie was right 
there. How many have seen Brownie on his stool  with Polio play the guitar 
perfectly behind his upsidedown behing his neck??  Memories I will share along 
with my experiences with Sonny during the seminar.  These will be formal, and 
completely informal and open, I feel it is my  obligation to the world to share 
these first hand experiences with all of you,  and yes I hope to sell some amps 
along with it. There are thousands of Chicago  style players, and only less 
then 10 in the world who can actually understand  and play Sonny's style. I 
have heard many on this list say, I learned Sonny's  style first then moved on. 
Sorry, but it is so complex, you may Think you were  playing it, as I have 
listened to everyone on this list from your websites, and  am myself still growing 
with it. After 35 years and countless hours of talking  with Dave Barrett, I 
have now discovered and am working on the TRUE way to  tongue block, the 
approach, how the air comes in, how to shape your mouth, so  much of my seminar 
will be about this and playing electric also. Everyone will  have a chance to 
come up and play, they will get constructive ideas from either  myself or other 
members of the seminar. I will bring a Sitting in with the  Greats CD to have 
everyone play with. I need a minimum of 30 people to pull this  off. I have to 
spring for the airfare, hotel for 3 days, and hotel conference  room for two 
days, or one day, and will set my price accordingly. I do  understand guys like 
Filisko, Tom Ball, Wiggins, Little Annie, Paul Lamb,  Madcat, have presented 
their own great impressions of Sonny's style, I am the  only person who 
actually played extensive harp duets with him and he taught  first hand for two 
years. Time is ticking for me, I will not go into that, so I  feel the urgency to 
pass this along. So please, email me personally with a shout  of a central 
area you would attend, and I will plan and explore the costs. I do  not want to 
have to ship the amp back with me, hence your being able to buy it  there for 
less than you will ever be able to buy it new from me. I believe my  price 
retail with the 2 x 10 setup ( I stayed away from any 8" speakers this  time, I 
never wanted to hear, Great tone, BUT, concerning projection, and 8"  speakers 
may give a nice breakup, but cannot project into the house and always  sound 
the same), these 2 x 10's give tremendous bottom end, That Little Walter  
recorded sound, but with a midpresence attached to them due to the circuit at  30 - 
35 watts driving them, that you will hear behind you, it will get into  the 
house, has line out, and all the features of the 410. As usual, this is more  
simplified in tube swapping, you can either go up one tube gain, or down one to  
play at lower volumes with same great tone if in a tight setting. It will 
carry  Any room, the 410 will still be produced in a limited production, I have 
200  customers who feel it was the best investment of their lives, so if you 
have  that big two guitar need extra air to push, it is there. My first amps are 
still  working perfectly after 13 years in the field, my reputation for 
customer  lifetime service is part of buying an amp from me. I give tips on 
playing,  mic'iing the amp, can sell the best vintage 50's CM or CR elements in 
custom  shell only to my customers, stock the Danecho Delay, and always include the 
 padded Tuki cover, plus any extra tubes for swapping and patch cable for  
bridging the normal and bright channel. My price will always be higher due to  
higher build costs, great builders like Scott of Meteor can do it all himself, 
I  have a company using my custom parts building my amps, and I always take it 
out  of the box and set each amp up personally and must play through each 
one, sign  the bottom, and include the extra package and repack each one. Thank 
you for  enduring such a long note, I do not post often, and there are two 
separate  things I am trying to get across, so please email me personally about 
either the  seminar or amp. Thank you everyone. Sincerely, Gary " Sonny Jr." 
Onofrio. 



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