| Susie |
| SUSIE HARPER, keyboard, guitar & lead vocals An original flower child (someone actually wrote in her high school yearbook "to the hippie of the freshman class"), Susie was born in Lansing and grew up in Royal Oak. Music has been in her blood all her life--both instrumentally and vocally. She played violin in grade school, began playing cello in junior high, taught herself to play guitar and keyboards, and has been singing for as long as she can remember. She bought her first guitar at the age of 12, then she and her sister subjected the rest of the family to the ordeal of teaching themselves to play. Susie was a natural, though, and soon was playing for friends and family. She and her sister even played coffeehouses and "hootenannies" in high school. (Hey, we all have to start somewhere!) Somewhere along the way, Susie caught "penguin fever" big time. To say she is a collector is an understatement! Currently she and John share their home with literally thousands of penguins--stuffed toys, figurines of all sizes made out of everything imaginable, puppets, pictures, linens, clocks, games, pillows, salt and pepper shakers, lawn ornaments and wind chimes, jewelry, Christmas ornaments, clothing, ice cream scoops, and even penguins that sing and dance. SUSIE'S FIRST GUITAR: a Kay archtop acoustic complete with f-holes. The thing was a beast and survived being sat on and more campfire sing-alongs than you can count. SUSIE'S CURRENT GUITARS: an all-black mutant Fender Stratocaster (aka "Black Beauty"), a white Epiphone Les Paul Custom with pretty gold hardware, a purple Danelectro Mod, a beautiful bird's-eye Epiphone PR 7E VS electric acoustic, a Washburn D-17S elecric acoustic, and a lovely red Fender Custom Telecaster FMT (aka "Miss Scarlett"). SUSIE'S KEYBOARD: a Roland D-50 (they sure don't make 'em like this anymore!) with three different sound cards. SUSIE'S AMPLIFIERS: a Peavey Bandit 112 for her guitar rig, and a Fender KXR 200 for her keyboard rig. SUSIE'S SPECIAL EFFECTS: three Ibanez Sound Tank pedals (Tubescreamer--her favorite--Super Chorus, and Auto Wah) and a Danelectro Hash Browns Flanger for her guitars; and a Dunlop Rotovibe for her keyboard. Susie also adds percussion effects when she has a free hand--wind chimes, afuche cabasa, dumbek, veggie shakers (avocado and tomato), and a few other oddities. SUSIE'S BRUSHES WITH GREATNESS: standing right in front of Bob Seger when he played at her high school and getting hit with Bob's own sweat (got an autograph too). More significant was meeting and talking with Dick Wagner of the Frost and Alice Cooper fame. She also had her picture taken with REO Speedwagon. SUSIE'S BEST MOVE: marrying her rock and roll sweetie! SUSIE'S BEST QUOTE: "I can't hear the monitor--turn down that damn guitar, John!" When she's not involved with music, Susie works as an administrative assistant. She also throws herself into the Renaissance festival experience in full period costume (yes, that means those tight bodices and sometimes fun leather goodies), driving the "Penguin Cruiser" hot rod, and reading Star Trek, Star Wars and Anne Rice novels. Her fondest wish is to pet a live penguin! |
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