Acknowledgments

I’ve never been one for long thank you notes on my albums; they always seem inappropriate. Surely the people you really want to thank should be spoken to directly? Putting a list of ‘personal’ thank yous on a commercial product makes me uncomfortable; perhaps I’m worried that someone might think I believe it enhances a personal sentiment to publish it—I don’t. Hence there are very few or no thank yous on my CDs. My wife has expressly forbidden me from thanking her in public (mostly when giving speeches at award nights, etc) as she thinks it’s ‘daggy’.

Having said that, I’ve become aware that those who work tirelessly in the background deserve a public acknowledgment of their efforts. As I am truly grateful to many, I’m going to break with tradition and acknowledge on these pages some wonderful people.

There are those at Murdoch Books who thought it was a good idea to publish something written by a trumpet player who didn’t even finish school—they are obviously brave and visionary (and perhaps a little blasé about job security). Hazel Flynn convinced me that this whole thing was feasible and then stayed with me for the duration, being always available, trusting and forever bright (I wish she was in the music industry). Anouska Jones had the unenviable task of editing my ramblings (talk about hard work) and graciously allowed my favourite bits to remain as I wanted, even though she’s responsible for this being readable. Heather Menzies created this wonderful layout and made the book look so attractive and a good read even before you’ve read it.

I made many strange phone calls where I’d ring out of the blue to check facts with old friends and then hang up to keep writing—thanks for the time and your recollections; I will call back (eventually).

A heartfelt thanks to those (often misguided) souls who continue to put up with my idiosyncrasies and work with me, play with me and generally spend much of their limited time in my company—your friendship is a tonic.

My long-suffering manager David Green continues to cover for my lack of responsibility and makes life way easier than I deserve—I couldn’t do it without him.

At the risk of being ‘daggy’ (‘What risk?’ I hear you say), I’d like to thank my family. I’m not thanking Mum, Dad, John or Kath as they had nothing to do with the actual writing of this work—on the contrary, I’ve had to keep it hidden so they wouldn’t prevent the publishing of stories about them. My thanks for their role in my life won’t be covered here. My boys missed seeing me for longer periods than usual while I wrote this, and didn’t ask for any extra days off school. For that I thank them (we’re already in enough trouble).

Finally I’d like to acknowledge my wife Judi. Yes, she will make me sleep in the shed for this but it’s worth it (just). No matter how difficult I make it, she continues to stand by me and accept my shortcomings with good humour and grace.