The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 2 November - 15 November 2009
November 2ndWe do a drive today, Star Trek movie is on Blu ray in Australia, a month before the USA. I love how Oz gets so many movie releases before the States now, it happens every few years and then goes back to the same time release. They never explain why. I call JB and Wendy answers, and she tells me her store has sold out already and ordering a lot more. I find one other JB store that has 2 copies left so we do the drive, a bit further then wanted but I really want to see the movie again. It's a nice escape from all the Judd bullshit that is still floating around in the press and on the net.Media keeps calling, I keep saying no comment and Phil has little to do with our office, if they want to speak to him they should just get his email off his website. So much attention, and all for the wrong reasons. Make kofta spaghetti for dinner, it's a lot of messing about but tastes damn fine. Bliss out on Trek till the wee hours. November 3rdMelbourne Cup Holiday today- we decide to work, really just to start getting stuff ready for the mail out. 'Shocking' wins the Melbourne Cup, I pick the winner and hopefully Mum listened to me and laid some money down. PM Rudd picked it too, he can't lose at the moment. I guess every dog has his day, in politics it doesn't last forever though.The police helicopter was buzzing our house all night, think they are practicing emergency landings for the upcoming bushfire season. It's pretty freaky at night with the X-files type spotlights swinging through the giant trees. Judd starts sending stupid horrible emails again, here we go same old bullshit, so I give him a taste of his own medicine and email him 12 in a row of absolute nonsense. I don't want all his bullshit, I've dealt with enough of his stuff over the past week for a lifetime, time to really step back. The final straw was some stupid death threat on the Net about killing himself and it being my fault. No Phil, you kill yourself and it's your fault- so typical always wanting someone to blame, what a dickhead, why would you even say shit like that? November 4thLilly Pilly is now called Grind & Vines. We keep giving them a chance, once a week is fine. I know quite a few locals have given up, I'm sure they will get the tourist trade though. They really have to improve in the coffee department.I do the drive to Nigels, Mark works on getting the mail out together and stays in the office. Nigel's in the house with his paint brush, the turtles shell getting a paint job. I think he is enjoying me interrupting- sit and talk for awhile, I just love the view out of those numerous windows that he is working on. So lush outside, just like Kalorama. He signs some cds, and picks the contest winner. I quickly take a snap.... all a bit rushed and I don't give him time to tidy up. It's a nice visit, Voodoo the cat is looking excellent- spends most of the time weaving in and out of my legs as cats do. By the time I leave it's peak hour and people are coming home from the city to the hills. They all try and take the back roads, cars everywhere. I spot a dark round ball trying to cross the road. I hit the breaks and park on the side. It's a young echidna. I give it a lecture about even thinking of crossing during peak hour and encourage it to head back into the bush. It would of been killed for sure, they are such stubborn creations..just want to get from A to B with no clue. Well hopefully I've saved this young fella from being road kill. November 5thSo skanky (ex) Miss California Carrie Prejean dropped her lawsuit in 3 seconds after a XXX porn tape was found of her. God she was horrid, my only bad memory of our last USA trip- homophobic hypocrite. I'm glad she has been caught out.I'm way too excited, my Jostaberry plant has come back to life (I've nicknamed it Jesus) - a bit of warm water and a decent snipping and now it's double the size and loaded with green berries that will hopefully ripen. I'm going to use them in some deserts, packed full of vitamin C. Jostaberry Jesus Resurrected! Tim, Eddie and the band are now in Sydney, doing rehearsals for the upcoming shows. First gig is at the Enmore Theatre tomorrow, tickets have been selling really well. Anthology sales now beginning to climb in Australia, at the 11th hour the Kerri Ann people asked him to perform persuasion on the morning TV show. A lot of people watch it so good exposure for him. November 6thI email Tania congratulations on her house settlement, it's her first home, always a special thing- also a high stress area. The weather for Victoria has jumped dramatically, record breaking really, possibly a week of 35o degree days... so scorchers for us!. Remember it isn't even Summer yet!!! Naturally we all go into paranoia about bushfires, after last Summer it's no wonder. We have most of our defenses ready, well kind of, can you ever be ready??? I think if they catch any nutters lighting fires this year they should just put a bullet between their eyes!We do a drive today, to St Albans...it's around 100kms to the shop and back. Mark is after his infamous 65 inch Panasonic and the new model is half the price...... it's really our one and only environmentally non green moment. But fuck it we do more then anyone we know...so BIG monolithic tv it is! It's another hot day so by the time we arrive we just want a cool drink. No shops nearby, just a tacky Tabaret! Oh well, in with the locals. It's a bit scary, people who have been here all day, pokies and booze. Outside there is a traffic jam on the road...so we sip our cool drinks and cool our heals. I throw caution to the wind when I see the Aztec pokermachine. Put in a few bucks. 5 minutes later bells are going off and I keep winning and winning and winning. Every machine appears to be a 5c machine. Big gambling stakes here. It's kind of tragic, as more bells and whistles go off I am now attracting a crowd, watching...! I wonder to myself if they are going to mug me. I win $70.00, remember this is a 5c machine. I cash out. The lady in front of me has won more then me ..... $7.00 more. I ask her when she started..... 9.00 this morning. My god she has been here for 5+ hours! 5 minutes is good enough for me. We grab our bucks and drive back to Kalorama!!!! Mark happy he gets his TV in a week. November 7thI head next door and see one of our neighbours Barry. Just sit out on his porch with him. He turns 70 in January. He thinks he will be departing this world in the next few weeks. He's a realist , the big C, he's been fighting it for ages and all of us around here think he's a great bloke,we'll miss him a lot. His eyesight is going but he insists that he takes me around his property and show me all his natives plants- I'm honoured. He is so sharp and tells me all their REAL names, the true botanical name. They are incredible and I see why he has so much pride. After that we chat and just sit. Our chooks will love him as I have a packed bag of Silverbeet to take back with me. I keep thinking this may be the last time I see him, it saddens me. Why is it that some people fight for every last second of life and are just such good hearted people, and others just want to throw it away and are total arseholes. maybe that's the balance?Tim's Melbourne show is tonight, a healthy set, nice that parts of Hermitt and Red are played, two encores, real encores. Lots of Frenz cheering him on. Eddie NZ's own Liberace I reckon! (Love ya Ed!) November 8thA sad day, I head to the Verandah, grab my usual table. It's owner Joys last day and the cook Melba & staff. The real owners of the building want to run a coffee place their themselves. Change, it happens to us so regularly around food places. These guys have treated us so well- and I loved having my own little table, and it was always fun when travellers wandered in and said hello.I put the rest of my tomato plants in today- Tigerallas which are tiger striped tomato's , Beams Yellows, Baby Roma's and Mighty Reds. I have a feeling it will be a bumper crop this year. I hear from Russell who is working on my newsletter layout, a few corrections, he is onto it. I'll have it ready for the lovely Miss Nicky at the printers next week. November 9thMark reminds me that we have been in Melbourne for 30 years today. Three decades. Incredible, I try to think back, so many adventures.From the 4 of us in that little 2 bedroom flat in Toorak, where Bongo Skyhook was our guranteur because we were so young.....and then the first time at Osborne street, when Gina and others moved in- and Bongo became our landlord, I remember Tim Finn coming to one of our parties at the house- and people were out in a giant sand pit with beach umbrellas, after that it was the Surrey Road House, with Katja, and gay Simon and Gina as a floating tenant, then our first home at Nicholson Street, Sth Yarra, just the two of us....... next we escaped to Cape Patterson to live by the sea, once again a wonderful house and enjoyed the solitude-and loved it when people like Cecelia visited & she did regularly-she'd drive, which was so cool of her.....Marks birthday bash with the Rolling Stones cover band...... and Neil calls and us us to move into their Osborne street house..... so the Finns as landlords, I live in the music room-and share it with the Finns ghost. Next it's the Woodface apartment next to Finn manor , with the girls living downstairs-Jen & Merl- late night singing and drinking sessions on blankets on the lawn. We buy again, the lovely terrace in the heart of Prahran-funky Greville street- and find Cosmo the bunny.... but the green hills of Mount Dandenong call us- and we both spot the perfect home- Ailsa Craig. I've lost count of the bands we worked with, and even some of our friends have gone by the wayside. It's been the best time-even the band stuff was kind of cool in it's own strange way. What a journey!!!! here's to another 30! 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down.... so many anniversarys..... I think of Hedwig! You have to leave something behind.....!!!! Our charts come in for Recurring Dream- The Very Best Of Crowded House. I've been working this one all week. It has made some headway-jumps 65 spots on the national chart, #11 on the Aussie Artists chart and a massive #45 in Victoria. The only state to have a state chart. 13 platinum here we come. I hope people give this one as a gift as Christmas. November 10thBreakfast today at Ranges. It's a bit more expensive but a good hang out..... they make a great Brulee as well.The first big fires of the year are already blazing away at Cape Conran and Point Nepean National Park, this weather is way too hot for mid November, hell it's not even Summer yet. It's the hottest start for November in 100 years. We have to get a swimming pool soon!!! I go to add some fresh water to the chickens big run. Inside their house I see a small black rat shivering in fear in the corner. I try not to kill any creature...so I manage to put him in a box and go for a long walk to the park- and set him free. At least he has a chance to survive, and at the same time keeping the chicken pen bush rat free. Remember we live in a national park so the odd rat turns up, not often maybe 1 or 2 a year and never anything like that in the house- anyone else probably would of hit it with a shovel. Yeah I'm a sucker..... sorry. and speaking of rats and mice and rabbits! Scientists in the USA have engineered penis's for rabbits. The parts are lab grown and grafted and fully functional! 4 of the females are already pregnant that share the rabbit houses. I see a Melbourne company has worked out a way for women to grow their breasts back after breast cancer, it's early days but it's incredible , it looks like it will be the way for the future... technology is incredible. November 11thAnother day where it hits 35o plus... which is just below 100 on the old scale. I'm off to Balaclava near St Kilda to catch up with Enz man Eddie Rayner. He is in the studio working on some solo artists project, as is Michael Barker from John Butler Trio and our Enz drummer on the NZ tour. I time it well, the GPS guiding me through some short cuts and I get a park right outside the studio door. City traffic- ych, am so glad I don't deal with this every day. As climb out of the car and glance just as Ed enters the building carrying some Californian rolls from the local Japanese take away. We sit inside, a small funky table in the worlds smallest foyer. Ed chews away while he signs the latest batch of Split Enz 'Mental Notes' covers. 'I'm amazed you have found even more people to buy this cd' he says. I tell him I keep saying to people it's a great investment, you never know when Enz members are going to die! Eddie laughs hysterically .... 'so true'....he knows I'm joking. Well I am but I guess it is true. As time marches on we tend to lose a few people along the way, so I guess Mental Notes signed by all the band will be valuable, no wonder Wally Wilkinson has bought 10 of them last week *GRIN*.I set up the HD camera and Marks funky mike. Everyone loves the new microphone especially studio buffs. I chat to Ed about the project he is working on, also a second project BRR...yes 'BRR'...more on BRR down the track. Also a bit on his time in Crowded House for the Ghost Cars On The Freeway book. We gossip and laugh, a nice few hours. Eventually he escapes to keep on working and I want to get home before the peak hour. On the way I wing into Rosemaree's who has been busy doing some typing for us- excellent as she remembered to leave it outside for me. I call into Bunnings and buy some native plants, plus a new peach tree and a few other bits and pieces. A few natives for Tania and Warrick too as a house warming present. Plants are great presents. I get home just before the influx of traffic starts heading back to the hills. November 12thI wake up early today, it's the help our mates move day. I don't know if anyone else offered, but thought we should. Moving is stressful enough at the best of times. We zoom off, have some breakfast at RIPE- coffee is good today so I feel a bit recharged. Arrive at Fort Knox Storage and we start to fill up the hire van and our 4WD. It's actually not that much, my hand is wrapped up because of the Carpal stuff but it doesn't feel too bad. We arrive at the new digs, they've bought at the base of Mount Dandenong so they are our closest neighbour-friends. It's another hot day but we just focus and try and get it all done. Two trips and we've cleared out the lock up. I buy a full watermelon, I think I'm the only one with the vibe to eat it- yeah teenagers prefer KFC.... their loss..Tania has some. We finish our good deed within a few hours and head home. We throw caution to the wind and have KFC too.... fast food yieks- we remember fast food!We are watching South Park on dvd, and Kyle has carpal Tunnel from too much game play- makes us chuckle... god South Park is extreme, amazed they get away with it- we LOVE South Park! Nice and childish. November 13thMy sister arrives tonight, will be great to see her, a brief stay, just the weekend really, a chance to chill out a chance to stress out at Knox and go Christmas shopping. Thankfully the temperature for Saturday looks like it has eased, from above 100 to the mere 90's!Mark finishes breakfast while I go and check my lotto ticket, it's so few numbers, but it wins $70! Yep $70 again, I know 70 million would be better but I'm stoked winning anything, the gods are smiling. To make it cooler nearly every item I need is on special. The good karma god is dishing it out. We get home before midday and work in the office. Our mail out is coming up, everything at the printers so we are just getting the numerous bits and pieces ready. I get my Tim Finn pay on time, we like that, I love it when I get paid on time, luxury. I think Tim's now back in NZ so he's obviously zooming home between all these days off with gigs. Loads of emails from people who enjoyed the shows. It's been such a strong reaction to the gigs he'll hopefully return at some point down the track I'm hoping...saying all that he still has a bunch of Oz gigs to perform. Sis arrives, we all chat till 1.00 in the morning. I didn't sleep too well, always happens when people stay, it's like my radar knows someone else is in the house. November 14thI think Sis needed the sleep, we eventually woke her up!!! Off to Knox today, just the both of us, some serious Christmas shopping, Mark avoids the place on the weekend, way too many breeders with 5 kids, pregnant and pushing triple baby carriages. Insane, to each their own I guess. We score an easy park in the shade, thankfully the temperature isn't as bad as they said. We head to Oxfam and Ishka stores first , they always have some funky bits and pieces that make good presents. I did find this very cool hand painted box from India, so first present was on for us (Opps). Knox fills up fast, it's a huge place but with 6 weeks till Christmas it's a case of people well and truly getting into the Christmas shopping insanity. A few stores had all check outs open and a dozen people lined up at each. It wouldn't surprise me if it is a record sales figure this year- quite a vibe in every store. I think we end up heading into 200 shops. My last purchase, some radox to soak my sore fee. The line at JB HI FI was long, had a laugh as 2 different people in different lines had copies of Tim Finn's 'Anthology' in their hands, maybe it will gather some sales leading up to Christmas. Sis grabbed a few copies of Recurring Dream for relatives, all helps. The woman behind the counter says that it sure is a popular CD!!!! No kidding. I hope it continues it's chart climb.Home again and it's home made healthy Pizza's for dinner, Sis helps prepare in between feeding the masses of Cockatoos and parrots that arrive for a feeding. The bird life amazes her. Banshee watches them from the window and licks her lips- yum big cockatoo's - I'd like to see her try with those big claws and beaks! Silly cat. The heat is working wonders for our rose bushes, all are flowering, and those chunky old world roses - you can smell their perfume rich in the air. We watch a Demons and Angels on Blu Ray tonight, it was ok not brilliant, a bit throw away. November 15thThe sun is shining still, I've lost track of how many Summer-ish days it has been in a row, hot too. Our place is still nice and cool, a small blessing. Today I have my list of things to do. We're putting in some more native plants, old Barry next door has inspired me, plus the birds love their nectar. I've also bought a peach tree to add to our fruit tree collection. When I'm some old crusty man I'll love lying under the tree reading, shaded and chewing on a peach! It's one of my fondest memories from my grandfathers house, those magnificent fruit trees.I've had a craving for Ranges Brulee since I woke up, it must be some sort of sugar hit. Sis needs to go to Mangana so we'll call into Ranges on the way as it's only a few doors down. Ranges have sold all their Brulee so that day dream is over and done with. Good coffee today, again they get our payment wrong and try to over charge us by $25. All honest mistakes but twice! *GRIN*. Glad I'm not paranoid. Qantas have some workers on strike today so we are wondering if it will cause havoc on my sisters flight home, Qantas say no but you just never know. It's that time of year, some part of Qantas always goes on strike leading up to Christmas. We have some photos taken with Sis by our super special photographer... ok it was Mark. He knew it was coming, we always get some snaps together for Mum. Jen leaves at 2.30 for her flight, our house seems very quiet without her. I visit Jason and Jodie across the road and have a beer, nice day sit on the verandah and just chill. perfect place to do that up here. At 6.30 I get our charts in and Crowded House Recurring Dream has jumped again, #50 nationally (from #60) so it's now back in the National Top 50. It's #8 from #11 on the Australian artists chart too I think quite a few people are buying it for Christmas presents this year, some are just grabbing extra copies to get us to to 13 platinum I'm sure!!!! For whatever reason this is fantastic. Thanks for the support readers. All the best PG |