The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 29 June - 12 July 2009
June 29thI sent my first 'Tweet' to Frenz.com today. I've just been lazy about it- funny as the tweets are such small short burst and should be perfect for lazy buggers like myself. I've been checking out (mostly) political stuff using Twitter. I guess I'll be making it a regular thing for our acts. Just another thing to do really- how's that for lacking in enthusiasm *GRIN*.So October 5th is the Blu-Ray release date for Star Trek, excellent. I see 'UP' has jumped past it, as biggest grossing US film this year, which is ok UP looks fun. We love the promo's for Ice Age 3 (Dawn of the Dinosaurs)- excellent- SCRAT is our hero...we chuckled over his 'love interest'. Scrat for an academy award we think. At least Miss Banshee will be happy with a new Ice Age movie coming up..... she's convinced that they 'live' in the TV- we own one very strange cat!!! Bruno has been copping a canning by the reviewers....Borat it isn't they all say. Wow Dolphins were swimming in the Yarra today, it happens once every few years- they looked so happy and relaxed- the tourists were all blown away- a few considered jumping in for a swim (Winter in the Yarra-no thanks). June 30thThe voting is well and truly underway for radio Triple J's 'Hottest 100' songs of all time. They expect about half a million people to vote. That's a lot eh? Just to have even one song in the 100 songs of all time would be amazing. I bet Crowdies will creep in with 'Don't dream it's over'- it's always a favourite for the general public -even on hip ol' JJJ. I've encouraged a few people to cast votes for Tim Finn too- seems they are all voting for either 'Persuasion' or 'More Fool Me'. I guess JJJ are paying attention to votes as I swear I caught the tail end of 'More Fool Me' last night as I left the office. Maybe they are playing it- it could explain the more recent sales of Tim's The Conversation at those JB HI FI stores around Australia. I've no idea what he has sold here, but his stock seems to be trickling over and going out to people.The Oz Lotto first division prize is $100 million tonight. Two people won it. We won $13.20! Not quite $50 million bucks eh! It was a record amount of ticket sales too- about 10 million I believe- with $50 million you could really annoy people, and help a few too. Start dragging out my Crowded House file boxes for the book, endless lead up before I start doing Interviews etc. The wheels are turning on this one, I do have some sort of vibe now. I know it will be fun going through 'our' history and looking forward to finding many useful gems. July 1stWell I'm in Oz- Ed Vedder and Liam in Hawaii. Just decided to put the dollars towards those remaining solar panels.That's if Origion energy ever get's back to us, been weeks now and not even a call- they are so slack or simply understaffed-neither is my worry- they should at least call people back.I hear the Runaways (Neon Angels). I quite like the line up with Kristen Stewart who looks brilliant as Joan Jett- she held a decent note in 'Into the Wild'...... whereas Dakota Fanning- no idea if she can even remotely sing- which is a worry as she is the lead singer. The costumes look 1975 excellent. I quite like biopic's if they are done well. I'm assuming the mini lesbian action between Jett and Cherie happens in the movie too. Look it could be a fun throw away musical romp....... but i do hope they have the band's visit to Japan where the Japanese went ape shit for them. Most biopics fail- I hope this one works simply because the mid seventies is an excellent era to pilfer from and the Runaways 'jail bait rock' was a fun idea. Hey I bought the first single 'Cherry Bomb'!!! I remember wandering in from school and seeing the clip of 'Flashez'! The Cherie Currie book that the movie is partially based on now, go for around $75.00 each- and that's starting price. For a band that really wasn't that big , that is over the top. Someone needs to make a movie on Hussy so all those copies suddenly become valuable. *GRIN* Meanwhile I'm spending insane hours on the Crowdies GHOST CAR book. I keep finding all these postcards that Paul mailed to me on chunks of tours that I didn't do. I almost wish I missed more tour areas just to have more cards- they are so funny- tears to my eyes- tears of laughter. He was such a funny bugger- he has indeed left a hole in our lives. I remember the last interview he did with me, possibly THE last Hester interview. He said the main reason he left the band in Atlanta- was that he began to vague out at shows. He missed the spontaneity of earlier tours and his heart just wasn't in it. I still believe if he would of just had a break- Crowded House could of just continued recording- that's if Neil still had the vibe. It's always complicated I guess and hindsight is an easy thing. It would also mean the band wouldn't of received the massive boost from the Opera House Farewell show- which really ignited the fuse for Recurring Dream and helped sell millions of units of that CD. But it's all history now... just this wading through material tends to drag me back into the past- who needs a Tardis for time travel when I can do it with my media boxes!!! July 2ndWe get some preview tickets for the upcoming Harry Potter 'Half blood prince'. Nice they sent them but not remotely interested. Harry Potter is so lame... not interested.... it will no doubt be massive- I honestly care not.Well there is always one Venue that releases gig tickets early- this time it's for Tim Finns November batch of shows. Some are not confirmed yet so we don't announce them, but one is out and about on the Net so I might as well mention it. He plays the freshly made Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre on November 27th. It's at Nowra, just off the Princess Highway, south of lovely old Wollongong. It has a rather cool auditorium that holds about 915 seats. The box office number is 1300 788 503 and the venue link is: http://www.shoalhavenentertainment.com.au/ I quite like Tim at venues like this, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he doesn't sell this one out, I think quite a few Sydney fans will travel down for this gig. So folks tickets now on sale. July 3rdBrian Jones from the Rolling Stones has been dead for 40 years today- incredible 4 decades. Mark mentions this to me and the phone rings. It's my mum. My great Aunty just passed away at Wollongong. She was one of the matriarchs of the family-she hasn't been well for awhile but always so strong, so not a total surprise. So Great-Aunt Lucy has gone. It's odd as a few weeks ago I had this snippet of a dream of her flying around the roof of this big cave and all these crystal type diamonds were glistening above her, so strange. Today I kept having little flashes of the same dream.... and suddenly had a chuckle- "Lucy in the sky with diamonds"- how funny is that- I guess that will always be her theme song for me. I like intense short dreams, kind of 'twitter dreams', just little runs of images. Like those old film cameras where you could only ever film 5 minutes before the film ran out.Anyway it's kind of sad, sure she was old but like all the Aunts, full of good stories. In one way I'm happy for my cousin Lea, as bad as this sounds I'm sure her mums illness was exhausting and you never want to see someone you love suffer. A sad day, another piece of our families history gone but not forgotten. Australia gets it's unemployment figures, they move up some minute point of a percentage to around 5.5%. USA keeps climbing, just under 10% which must be worrying. I've been getting a lot of emails from people who have had a family member lose their job- that must be so hard especially when you have kids- I never know what to say- but all of them have been from the States- so it must be bad. 10% is a lot of people, especially from a population of 307 million. I don't know of anyone unemployed here, maybe it's because I am an old fart now. *GRIN* . I think England's rate is about 7.5% or around that area- so that's on the rise too. July 4thMum calls and Lucy's funeral is on Tuesday, I am sending flowers but I have been thinking that I really should jump on a flight for the day and go along with Mum. I worry more about the living, but also I should go to show my respect. It sits on my brain so I grab a ticket. I email Tim too as he was flying us up for the Poor Boy openings.... so I've blown that out as well. Family comes first and he gets it etc. So ticket is booked and hire car- I know I'll be leaving Kalorama about 5.00 in the morning to make the early flight- I might get Mum to reserve a plot for me as well as it will probably kill me too!!!I'm working away on the Crowdies book at The Verandah and Allie from Queensland friend- Jane I think her name was comes up and says hello. I sometimes wonder if I have a button on me saying 'Hi I'm Peter Green- talk to me I know the secret of life'! *GRIN*. Actually she was fine but it sometimes throws me. I had several coffee's and got loads done today. I take the 10 files back to the office and put them away again, 10 less to do- yey. I spot Australian guitarist Orianthi Panaganis in that final Jackson rehearsal footage. Think I met her a few times around the Crowdies- nice girl- she looks great, plays that Lita Ford style..excellent. Those blown out London Jackson shows would of been great for her career- I suppose though that final bit of rehearsal footage will make her semi famous. Miss July sends me a CNN link of Bubbles aged 26 in Florida. He's HUGE! He likes cucumbers for lunch and I'd say the odd keepers arm looking at the nervous glance she had when feeding him! I want to take Bubbles on a world tour so he can live away from charity. Make Bubbles a millionaire. Bubbles was the real talent behind Michael Jackson- he wrote the songs- truly- why doesn't anyone ever believe me. July 5thARIA charts are in, Jackson with album #1, #2 and #3 and #7-so 4 in the Top 10. Predictable really. A few more weeks and his estate might be debt free...good for his kids.Bec drops in, some fine pool playing today. The big open fire blazing away, burning all those chopped up fallen tree pieces. Mark and Rebecca are like a married couple- when they play pool they both swear so much at each other. I am the calm in the storm- I play- mostly strategy if I can set the balls up.... 1/3 I tend to blow it- and get 2 really amazing shots per game. I did win so something worked. I make Fajita's for dinner for us three, Miss Banshee likes that too as she gets steak! I put out some clothes for Tuesday, and dig out some cool hair dye- funky but not extreme, respectful but not too boring. Why do I always think of 'The Big Chill' movie when a funeral is coming up. No I didn't pack a joint. July 6thWell Poor Boy is off and racing in Sydney. had quite a bunch of Emails from people attending. It's a much larger room but hopefully all the media and the general vibe will fill it.For the 8th week in a row Melbourne home buyers have bought over 80+% of the houses on the market. It's certainly bounced back. The average home price is now around $600,000. They just keep on climbing and for some reason Victoria is way ahead of the other states as far as the amount of home sales. Western Australia has dropped back majorly- and house sales have stalled in that state. I'd hate to be buying a house for the first time now- too much pressure. At the moment I am obsessed with Crowded House super rarities, just demos and such. 'Descension' and 'Drug Song' are still my faves from the York Street demo period. Neil Finn sings the word 'hospital' far more melodic then any living person on Earth! I love bands demos, a lot of the time more then the finished product. Not sure what that says about me. Greg Skyhook has some demos on their way to me from 1975 which I am so hanging out for. Feel a bit spoilt but I tell the bands I get paid in demo's and songs... forget my pay rise, just give me the music, it means more. Not sure how that helps with my monthly Amex bill though. I decide to go to bed at the usual time, around 12.30...even though I am waking up in 4.5 hours. I know I wouldn't sleep. July 7thThe alarm goes off and Banshee jumps out of her skin and off the bed into the air- freaked the poor snoozing cat out. I'm trying not to wake Marky up, and keep Banshee in my room for awhile so she doesn't go knocking on his door. A quick shower and I dress in new black levi's , a black shirt and my subtle pinstripe suit top. I take a few ties in my carry on. The original black shirt I had out had this annoying wrinkle and I couldn't get rid of it- so in the end I wore my shiny black shirt the US gals gave me (yeah with the orange flames on it...) but the suit covers the flames and the shirt looks great- so the US gang you saved my life. I wear my runners in the car and change to leathers when I get to the airport. I say goodbye to Marky- I hate goodbyes- I feel like I am sneaking off on tour. Banshee goes back to bed (good cat) . It's cold outside but illuminated by a huge full moon, a baby possum sits in the tree eyes all aglow when I walk past, I'm a blur travelling through it's night time world. A fine mist of rain is falling,..maybe sleet. The mountain road is empty but 'stuff' keeps gathering on my window. I pull over and glory be- it's SNOW! A light fall and soon over, glad my new tyres are gripping to the mountain road. Check the car into Valet and it's so cool they both air tickets- no luggage so off to frequent flyer.The flight- work on the Crowdies book for a bit, I could feel the person behind me watching what I was doing... they wouldn't stop absorbed in my scrawls, I could see their peepers in my sun glasses...so I drew a huge penis on the page and they looked away (and yeah I giggled like a bad school boy). Flight lands on time, grab my hire car and off . Triple J is on, the hottest 100 so I tune in- quite a nice selection of songs. I call Mum from the top of the pass and beg her to make me a sandwich as I'm famished. They are doing serious road works around my Mums areas so it takes me an extra 10 minutes of driving to get home. Great to see her, even under sad circumstances. She picks a tie while I pig out on a sandwich. We have 20 minutes to get to the funeral so we are off. My sports car drives well..I am good sitting on the speed limit. Arrive at the crematorium and no parking... so I drop Mum off and head to find a park. Oddly enough it's in front of my grand father, grand mother and uncles grave. It's a full house- watch my cousins speak and it's nice. Funerals over all are such shitty days. This was nice because it didn't have too much b.s. and got to see the remainder of the family. At one stage I look back and see my Mum on a bench with the remaining great aunty's on either side. I tell my cousin David it's the three wise monkeys. We all grin. My cousin Lea has been remarkable around her Mum, the pressure was on her- at last Lucy is at peace. So we talk to other relatives and family friends and Mum who has the flu- I decide to get home and avoid the wake. She looks pretty tired- hell I'm sure after my day so do I. I kiss my lovely Sis goodbye- such a short visit and we drive off. I go past a JB HI FI so run in and grab some stock, including some presents for mum. So Tim Finn has now sold out at Wollongong too *GRIN*. At some stage after we got home we both fell asleep. Mum wakes me- 'It's time to go'. I'm a blur where am I.... what time. I say my goodbyes to Mum- count my blessings she is still around, I'll be totally messed up when it's her turn to go, Jen and myself love her, faults and all. I call in and visit Marks Mum, drop in some dvdrs- always good to see them- though a short visit. 70 minutes later I'm dropping the car back into the Hertz and heading to the freaky flyer. I ask them for a shower pack and enjoy the hot water on my back. It's one of the best parts of being a life member of Qantas- the showers after a long day. I swipe a handful of free dark chocolate samples for Mark, I've got to take a present home. The flight is boring-I can't even remember it. I have a pillow so I pretend sleep. Home by 10.30. A long day but glad I made the effort. July 8thI thought I'd sleep in and be exhausted but up at the usual time and off to Lilly Pilly for some breakfast. Just as I leave Crowded House are on Triple J with 'Don't dream it's over' at #50 on the Hottest 100 songs. They have had about 520,000 votes so to even have one song in the top 50 is incredible. Nice that so many people bothered to vote.I leave a message for our friend Alison who has all the editions of Juke magazine... I thought I'd wade through the gig guide for some of the Mullane's dates that we still need. If I get desperate there is always Melbourne library as they will have them, the last time I checked they were still on micro-fish. I'm digging around and find our original fax that went out to the media announcing Crowded House to the world- it's basic but a fun find. I also found the European promo itinerary from June 1986 which is fantastic as that will fill in many many spots. It all seems so long ago- time really has sped by hasn't it. July 9thRosemaree comes along with us for breakfast. I get a belated birthday present which is great as it's something I needed for the garden- just have to assemble it, presents that I can use- so cool. A second present- she cooked us dinner, god bless her gorgeous italian genes. I pay her back by shouting her breakfast and she gets a small present from LA. A black cat pencil sharpener. You pop your pencil in the cats bum, and it sharpens the pencil- the cat also lets out a 'meow' when the pencil is inserted!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Lilly Pilly staff wet their pants laughing. Some may say this beats squirrel underpants-we think not.My hand writing is appalling, the cts doesn't help I'm sure. I'm writing down some of the CH press for 1986 and the magazine was HUMO, oh course I wrote HOMO! I'm hopeless. Arnold the goverrrrnorrrr of Kalifornia is a dick. He wants all books to be electronic. Everything into kindle. Well Arnie when the pulse hits and all digital dies- I know quite a few people who'll be turning the pages of HUSSY glad that they have a paper copy! If he really cared for the environment he'd get rid of his 6 Hummers! July 10thDo the drive to Mountain Gate. Safeway now give us Qantas frequent flyer points on our supermarket shopping, all helps for the next business class airfare.We head to Knox and it's not as insane as we thought, being school holidays and all. Buy more stock at JB HI FI, I'll have to order more Tim THE CONVERSATION cd's via EMI as the store stock doesn't seem to be enough and it is sold out. So our next order will arrive in a week from EMI. Ben and Jen gives us a call tonight with some great news-we'll see you in September-congratulations. xxx July 11thGough Whitlam Turns 93. I'm going to send him a 5x7 of the photo of us and hope he will sign it for me. He's still my favourite politician and just a lovely man with an amazing mind and wit. Sadly they don't make them like him any more. He's now Australia's oldest PM.I'm back at the Verandah working on the book. A girl walks past and spots the (very) young Crowded House photos. 'Wow Crowded House, I love Neil Finn '. She's nice, I do my usual go red, shy and lower myself into the chair. She asks if I am Peter Green. I can tell she's not some crazy stalker so I admit I am that evil villian of a man. Anyway here's to you Mary B nice to meet you. The girls put themselves into their pens tonight- we like that,well trained chickens. I wish they were this good every day. Winter still no eggs. So no chocolate mousse. I hear from Alison and we chat for awhile, it's nice to hear her voice and I'm glad she loves her new job. July 12thMy Crowdies gig list is around the 800 show mark already. I'm hoping we will get it to 1000. I hear from Iarla who's going to put some more Skyhooks mini tour posters on the site soon and a few other small corrections. he's done such a good job on the site-lots of positive feedback. I'm hoping to have some good news on the Skyhooks catalogue soon-I am hoping all our suggestions will happen.I took a break from the Crowdies book for a few hours and signed copies of GLAMOUR- the third diary book. It's down to the last dozen or so copies, so book #3 in the Famous for 16 Minutes diary series will be gone soon too. So a third empty space on the stock shelf. I'm starting to run out of things to write again. I'm just not witty enough. I worked out today I am damn good with an axe. I'm talking serious axe work- perfect splintering, it almost makes me fearful!!! Imagine what body parts I could remove with my perfect swings. So please don't piss me off, the Dexter in me will emerge and anything could happen. The chickens all turned and ran as soon as they saw me with it- I'd never do that.... took awhile to convince them it was only wood I was chopping. I wonder if everyone on Earth ran backwards could we make the Earths rotation go the other way? No ok well that's all from me. Love PG |