When I finished writing and illustrating
PlaneTalk, I took the draft of the comic strip around to two of Australia's great guitarists,
Tommy Emmanuel - CGP and
Ian Moss.
Tommy of course has enjoyed international stardom for some time now. The CGP after his name stands for 'Certified Guitar Player', an award bestowed upon only 2 other players by the Late Great King Twanger of them all, Chet Atkins. Tommy is a dear old friend and we have worked together on scores of occasions, once in televised concert that included a full rock band and the entire Sydney Symphony Orchestra!
Ian Moss is a fantastic rock/blues player who spent decades with Aussie supergroup Cold Chisel. He has been fronting his own band for several years now, and just after Cold Chisel dissolved, he and I put a 'fun-band' together. We called it JERX for some reason (most people don't think we're jerks) which included some fantastic Sydney players. We played one venue only, Moby Dick's at beautiful Whale Beach, every Thursday night for quite a few months.
Here are their short endorsements which appear on the back of the book. They did warn me by the way that they wouldn't write anything all if they didn't like it:
"A fresh and new approach to helping young and old to have a more complete understanding of music and the guitar. Well done, Kirk." Tommy Emmanuel
"A simple and unique approach to learning guitar! There's something here for guitarists on all levels. Brilliant artwork takes out the 'chore' and puts the fun back into learning!" Ian Moss
