Thanks Very Much

Firstly, thank you to the band Gentle Giant, and I mean all of them. Each album has memories for me. All of it has impacted myself and other members of the band in a HUGE WAY. To get Gende's Giant up and running, it took quite an effort (which is still taking shape). That kind of effort was born of one thing: The love of this band and its music.

Thank you so much Gary Green and David Zammit for being at our first show. David actually ran our sound when we were at a last minute loss for a soundman. Who better? Gary was very approchable and it was a genuine thrill to meet him and his family. His presentation of "The Official Gentle Giant Seal of Approval" is something that the band and I will never forget. I still can't believe it.

Many thanks to Mr. Phil Smith who is our chief transcriber. To PLAY the music, we had to first HAVE the music, learning it all "by ear" was going to be too difficult. Phil is a talented fellow with perfect pitch who was able to write out these songs in band arrangements. He did so pretty accurately given the time constraints, I could not have done it. His input was instrumental (no pun intended) in getting this off the ground. You can see some of the sheet music results on Dan Barrett's site. Thanks as well to Geir Hasnes who also emailed me some trascriptions. Most appreciated.

A huge "thank you" to the musicians who helped bring this whole thing to fruition. It was far from an easy task. Many thank-you's to Tom Hipskind, Jamie Pastman, Ernie Denov, and Chris Clemente. The show couldn't have happened without your expertise and abilities.

Thanks go out as well to Scott Blackman and Tom Kozma, our "Gende's Giant Singers". They learned some difficult vocal parts and did so for nothing more than a "thank you" for doing it. Hey, some of that stuff was pretty tough, you try singing "For Nobody". They greatly enhanced our performance, thanks again.

Thanks very much to Norm and Matt who were the promoters for this show. They went nuts spreading the word, helping and improving on our poster art, picking the venue, the date, everything from "soup to nuts." On the day of the show, they were there getting the stage set up, helping set the lights, and collecting the door. The first show could and would not have taken place without their help.

Thanks to many other unnamed folks who had a part in bringing this band together. All of you know who you are. Anywhere from people who helped me out for nothing to folks who just encouraged me to "stay the course" and get this done. Your input and help is greatly appreciated.