The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 2 April - 14 April 2002
April 2nd 2002
Hmm didn't seem to be many April Fools day pranks this year, either that or I was extremely gullible and missed them all!!!Spend most of the day emailing the various Enz boys and Crowded House and Skyhook people, mostly about DVD's. Seems like all our bands want us to work on DVD's over the next few months- which is good, be nice to get several in the market place for Xmas.
Have certain visions for all of them, between the band members and our office we should be able to release something that all parties will be happy with. Think most of the fans will enjoy them, many years ago we acknowledged that we can never get 100% in the happy fan stakes, always one or two that will want more on unrealistic things...people have to remember that some of our bands go back to the mid seventies and finding the original tapes on some items will be impossible- lost destroyed, thrown out, taped over or simply in such a poor state. "Scratchbox" is a great program to repair crappy old video footage, the BBC used this on some of their Dr Who DVDs (Tomb of the Cybermen etc etc), so hopefully the dvd people in Australia can do the same on some clips etc. Hopefully the final product will be good. I just want to make sure we have some new stuff on their for die hard fans too.
April 3rd
Bic and Campbell send us the new Bic Runga cd- BEAUTIFUL COLLISION....and it truely is... the first single GET SOME SLEEP is one of the best songs that we have heard for a long while. Mark says it's the best song he has heard for five years!!!!! June/July release....gave her a call and pretended I hated it...but I'm no good at faking it around the Runga woman..so fessed up that it's got us all excited and sweaty at the office, in the car....if radio ignores GET SOME SLEEP it will prove to many that some programmers should simply be shot. Maybe it's just too good for radio.Bardot are in India, at the Indian equivalent of the Golden Globes (IIFA) performing I NEED SOMEBODY, which is #1 on the India MTV most wanted songs....the awards are broadcast to 50 million people so it's damn good exposure. Rumors flying about them breaking up...I'm just telling people to get off their cases and let them hang out and talk....whatever Bardot decide we'll stand by it....just annoying- you tell some fans- nothing has been decided, and they go all fu*ked in the head and think you are holding back some major NEWS....and go all strange. Every band we work with had one or two real freaks who need to get some sort of life, 99.9% of the fans are just exceptional. Normal, music loving, good people....but a few you tell them something and the answer gets all twisted about somewhere between the ears and the brain. I just don't get it....it's such a small amount but they stick in your head. We've all grown fairly thick skins but at the same time if someone is being an ar$ehole I'm not going to sick back....happy to get in the gutter and kick some shit...wow heavy. (sometimes I'll just take it out on the kick boxing bag....much more beneficial).
April 4th
Kate start work on the Rocket Pocket Books website. Deb has done so many sites for us, I sometimes feel like a major charity case, and Jen was about to get into it and somewhere ended up being a governess on a cattle station, so Kate of "He comes scattered" fame picked up the baton and has been creating it. So we think it's a May release, it's a nice easy site, and a lot of fun....I look at it and get excited.Meanwhile Deb is going to restructure the LLT website into the Hester site as part of Frenz.com...with Pauls HAIRY NUTS cd having a Club release in a few months it will be good to have some fresh Hester material available... so lots of kind mates keeping the internet legacy alive...
Pete & Reg from Dog Trumpet call and we are going to help them a bit with their new album- titled DOG TRUMPET. They just put up their website too: http://www.dogtrumpet.com Paul and myself love the Dog Trumpet CD....play it a LOT. So if you are after some fresh good music, check it out. It's on HALF A COW records and there is an ordering area on the Dog Trumpet site. It's worth the effort. The Telegraph and Rolling Stone magazine have already gave it some 5 star reviews.
April 5th
Catch up with Spock at Babble in the morning, art meeting for WINGS OF FLIES. (25 years of rock photos). hand over our roughs, the photos, and other bits and pieces, so a huge part has been done.... feels good to get so much out of the way. It's different to the other books- exhausting in many ways, so much scanning...hoping it's appreciated.After Babble I head into Vali's studio and catch up with Toni, a few visitors-heaps of word of mouth. Vali is in Italy working on some new art, locked away in her love palace high in the hills.
Get a message that Nick Seymour is back in Melbourne for a month or so, and we are all catching up. been awhile.
April 6th
Toija joins us for breakfast, ok's me putting a shot or two up on the book site, she was our makeup (or make over!) girl.Posting some mail in the afternoon and I notice some guy following me...it's weird I have a sixth sense around that now, my spider senses tingling. He finally comes up and starts telling me about his band-who's name totally escapes me, doesn't seem too insane, no idea why he picked me , maybe he's a F/16 reader or something....I didn't feel too cornered, but it always feel strange..I never know exactly what people want -he didn't ask me to pass on any demo's etc...just happy to chat, so that's ok. It was weird as people I know kept walking pass and saying hello- they all thought I was in some deep and meaningful conversation and apologized for interrupting us ....I scuttled off down the street...and checked the shops just to make sure I wasn't being followed back to the bat cave.
April 7th
Up early before the alarm and get ready for the Collectors fair, meet some new people and that's good, stayed till after 4.00 and that is enough time for us....the Fair seems to be getting smaller, sections closed off. I was horrified by the prices elsewhere of Crowded House and Finn related cds. Took a few Skyhook fans around to various collectors tables and saved them all some money...they were stoked. gave them a bit of free stuff from our table, good to look after the fans.Home again....order in dinner....it really is a long day.
April 8th
Our first meeting today for the Skyhooks and Split Enz dvds. Greg from Skyhooks calls by and is part of the meeting- glad all our bands are involved. Dean pulls out the slip case for a Skyhooks CD that is coming up soon....we found a colour tranni in our archives file and it looks great. All these side projects are good, keeps the franchise for both bands alive.Move the car and could I find a park- no way....end up near the old persons home, always a park available at their place...some old lady waves out the window at me....she looks like she is about to escape. I've seen that expression before on the faces of the actors in Prisoner....she wants out of that old persons home....be fun stealing a granny for a day.
April 9th
Igor is in fine form...talking in goat-speak for the first hour we are at Beenami. Go hiking, fresh air and exercise. All the blackberries have gone between us and the birds we've picked them clean. Some areas of the Forest still have morning dew...glistening like diamonds on the green landscape. We take the secret passage which looks like it's part of the Fairie' kingdom.. and head towards the hidden river. These two massive trees that have fallen a hundred years ago (or maybe yesterday)-time has no relevance here after all. I can tell when it's not safe so I do warn Mark that the log could be slippery. Soon after he takes a fall, now normally both of us laugh at the others misfortune but I didn't this time, it would of been so very easy to crack his skull....he climbed up again and said "well there's something for your diary site"....I didn't bite.....but the goddess did and he slipped again....this time mud.....to his credit he kept his cool....and went back to the clearing. Even here in the magic forest it can be dangerous.We scare some animals on the way back to Beenami....and head down the hidden trails that we now know so well....huge ferns hang over the tracks filtering light and you can smell that deep earthy air.....if we have our way eventually we'll buy this land too and no loggers will ever chop down the trees here again. It's hard to understand why they can't see the beauty in these old growth forests. I truely think the only way that they can be protected is by owning the land...it's good to voice disapproval 20, 30 years down the track.....
Arrive home to a box of chocolates from Jackie Jaimes in the USA. From Chicago's Marshall Fields store- YUM. Heaps in a box too. OINK!
April 10th
Some scary stats . Up to 2.3 million people under the age of 15 have lost either or both parents to AIDS in 2000. AIDS related charity's are one of the areas we are going to do some work with this year, for some reason a lot of people think the AIDS problem has diminished, it's growing every day at an alarming rate.Neil is now back in N.Z. , sounds like he is taking life easy till the USA tour. There is a show coming up in NZ as part of NZ Music Month...think it's around Queens Birthday Weekend (so happy birthday all you Queens *grin*)... May 31st- "The Finn Bros Hooley"...Neil & Tim and guests and once again it's at the St. James Theatre. Don't think this has been announced yet so I'm not sure when tickets are on sale. Should be good, have to be there for that one. (Thanks Helen).
April 11th
Mark starts cataloguing Enz and Hooks video material...so we have lift off.Yet another review that hates Queen of the Damned, it must now hold the record for how many bad reviews it can get. It could of been so good. The review in the Sun says how hopeless the local extras were and they sold out for an American cheque. It's up there with Mariah Carey's GLITTER movie. "Queen ..." only came in at #2 after all those many TV adverts. It was beaten by ICE AGE- kids have better taste. Hope the extras haven't given up their day jobs.
April 12th
Speak to Hessie today and we are going to be working on his solo CD promotion for HAIRY NUTS. Between us we have some good ideas....apparently Reg Mombassa has a "nut" collection of art.....bizarre. We'll keep you informed.DVD Review: THE TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN-(Dr Who). Australian release.
It's the Patrick Troughton Dr Who- you know the one with the Three Stooges Haircut. This story was first broadcast on the BBC1 in September 1967. It has been missing for 25 years but a copy was found at a TV studio in Hong Kong in 1992. We have the video release of this and am happy to report that the BBC spent some money repairing the tapes....using repair tools like "scratchbox" etc etc.
Basically an expedition from Earth arrives on Telos-the homeworld of the Cybermen- to try and discover what happened to them. Soon after the Dr arrives (with friends-Victoria and Jamie..in his tartan kilt- nice legs Jamie!!!) just as the archaeological party is about to open the doors of the Tomb. It turns out the Cyberman are not as dead as everyone though..just frozen waiting for some good old human intervention.
The one thing about restoring the quality of tapes is that they are so clear that you get to see the odd string and wire...that you would of missed on scratchy 1967 TV B/W transmissions....so when a Cyberman lifts the huge man slave of some snooty English woman ...you get to see the wires that are really doing the lifting, plus the wires on the cyber-mat caterpillar animals etc....
However it's a great one for Sci Fi buffs...The Cyberman are the original Borg (in my book), machine outside organic inside... their voices are a bit annoying and we are too scared to ask what all those bits are flopping about in those rubber suits....and they add a whole new dimension to cyber-sex!!!! The American rocket captain is atrocious- we can't figure out if he is just a terrible actor or someone's idea of a bad American....sadly he is one of the few who don't get killed. The complaining Englishman dies early so we are spared of his moaning. The hypnotising machine is really great- trippy man and should be sold off to the next BBC Rave/dance party fund raiser....
The bonus special feature on the repair of this footage is really good... technology that works without removing any of the original feeling (in other words NOT like ET Mk II)...producton notes, photo gallery.
7 and a bit out of 10. Patrick Troughton is one of the better Dr's I think.
For Melbourne DVD buyers- our favorite shop is CC Music- 1268 High Street Armadale. Phone: 95002977. They have really good prices on all DVDs- $30.00 for latest releases. So if you are after a particular release (all local releases) give them a call. They should be supported just because of the fair prices they are charging. Mention to them that Peter from the Finn office suggested them, and they'll look after you.
April 13th
What's the difference between L.A. and Yoghurt?Answer: Yoghurt has live culture!
Sorry just loved that, had a chuckle and feel free to fill in any city instead of L.A. (sorry LA people...sh*t now I've managed to upset 20% of our readers!).
...and speaking of L.A. Proving it does have live culture (hey great tag in Green) May 25th-August 10th....L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art will stage the Warhol Retrospective. 200+ works. It's the same show that was at London's Tate Gallery...worth a look if only to go "Oh my gawd the Marilyn Warhol paintings are so huge"...and they are....
Notice Peter Green (Ex Fleetwood Mac) is playing at the Prince of Wales Hotel....am tempted to go hang out and have one of those Peter Green meets Peter Green photo shoots. (I'll be the cute one, ok he can be the talented guitarist).
Tiff Bardot emails me and everyone is back in the country....love the CREAM magazine article, especially the Bardot front cover- all dressed as bad school girls...the odd bit of hair pulling and sensual chocolate eating.
Mark is going through some Hooks video footage and finds an audience section of the band at Bombay rock...he says I'm charming because I have on a Tshirt that says "Why dontcha all get fucked"....which is the title of Hooks song...so I can blame them. I think I wore it so the camera man wouldn't film me...obviously that didn't work.
April 14th
Breakfast with the lovely Rebecca, on time, early. I take the G4 in case she stands me up...and she didn't. A good day, and I like the Sunday morning ritual of food.After that I head over to Elwood to visit with Paul in his recording studio and how good is it to see Nicholas More Seymour.... a few mates in the studio having a play.....really good. Return Nicks art book of originals and he is happy. Set up a few meetings around the possible Crowded House DVD(S?) nothing locked in yet, just for further down the track- want to get the Hooks and Enz ones out of the way first.
Driving home and I'm singing to some new music, giving a bit of thanks back to whoever controls my destiny. It's a good feeling, and every so often I just wait for this balloon to pop...like everyone there are good and bad days but the good out way the bad ten zillion to one.
The other night I was thinking about reincarnation and there is a certain fear (not that I believe in it totally) but the fear is, what happens if I come back and it's a real crappy existence. I suppose I wait for the time after that and hope it improves each roll of the dice.
Ben calls by in the afternoon and he has the sweetest grandma, she's in the car double parked...good move, no one would dare book this sweetie. I tell him how great it is that Grandparents pass down stories...it's a bit like the elder of the tribe passing down the story, some history and knowledge to the next generation... We all gotta pay attention to those stories, once lost that's it- that's why storytellers are really respected in tribes. Especially those who don't paint or draw or write their history down. I always thought the Inca's must of told great stories. .....and gee haven't I sidetracked today....I'm just here typing away whatever comes into my head....so I guess embrace what your elders tell you...or visit your granny and ask her (or Grandad)...or Mark dressed as Grandma!!!!!!!...to tell you what it was like when they were teenagers. Just remember though, every family has a skelton in the closet so don't press the subject if they start shaking and swaying.
Going backwards is sometimes the best way to go forwards. (whatever that means).
Peter