The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 30 March - 12 April 2009
March 30thWhat another diary already, for a short time I felt like I was ahead, could roll out the deck chairs and relax but another two weeks have rolled by. He climbs out of the deck chair, avoiding the small patch of slimy moss that has developed over the past few days from the rain and minimal sunshine. I look down the valley and watch a lone bird ride the wind, whilst further on the fog starts to blow in- it reminds me of San Francisco- hidden behind some stratus layer of fluffy white.Sydney has had another black out- 70,000 without power- welcome to our world on top of the mountain- with regular power drop outs. I've grown use to it but Mark gets all antsy. Is this the 2nd time in a week that Sydney has lost power. maybe they are practicing for next years "Earth Day"? Lights out forever? I call Georgia at Prahran and pay for good old P.O. Box 333 for another year- I just keep it, we never really use it and only clear the mail every few months but it's on so many album covers, I thought it worthwhile. I email Mr Judd the information for the PPCA. The PPCA stands for Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (LTD) and is a national (non government) organisation that represents the interests of recording artist and record labels. For a musician in oz they are great for distribute the license fees to artists- so when an artist song gets played in say a gym, or radio etc the artist will get some dollars each year. It just is an extra bit of dosh to get through lean times, thought he could use it...and well worth filling out the paper forms the once and keeping your song list updated. It's so incredibly simple and I'm amazed at how many artists have not bothered to fill out the PPCA paperwork. Australasian artists just need to be a permanent Australian resident. I sneakily watch the pilot of Lost In Space from 2004. It never made it onto TV, in fact the sets were sold off to Battlestar Gallactica - so it never happened. I liked some of it, but wasn't convinced, something was missing.... for this LIS fan it just didn't cut it. March 31stHad a chat to Noel today, mostly about the fine art of growing basil indoors. He's ripped out his tomato bushes and mine are just starting to have red fruit on them. Just shows the different of altitude, shade and type of plant. Welcome to the F/16 good gardening guide. Noel has also been working away on music, still not sure where the musical road will lead, an album of Noel creations??????? Guess we'll all know further down the track.It's the last day of the month so I have to do my stock take on Rocket Pocket Books. I'm surprised to find that the first diary book HUSSY is now down to the final 6 copies. This one covers us on the road with the Finn brothers for their first USA tour, I started reading parts of it, just got suckered when I opened it- what fun days, seems like eons ago. Anyway Deb has the final few copies of HUSSY on the merchandise area of the site (the link is at the very bottom of this page). I guess by the time you read the next diary Hussy will be sold out- I'll miss the ol' gal! April 1stGo Sweden-the 5th European country to allow gay marriage. Only a matter of time, before it happens everywhere. Hopefully Anita Bryant will be alive to see this- hell it might be enough to kill the old bat! (evil grin).No real exciting April Fools Day pranks, apart from someone wrapping up about 100 cars in the city in cling-wrap! Environmentally unfriendly but fun. April 2ndWe work in the office in the morning, and decide to have lunch at Lilly Pilly. A nice change instead of breakfast and brunch.'Sons of Anarchy' debuts on Foxtel tonight, it's good, not brilliant just good....Hell Boy and Peggy Bundy are in it...... we'll be back for more.... ! Go through the hoops with my airline, in the end I pull rank, and it's annoying to have to do this, but it all works out fine and I get my way, I'm amazed- sometimes you just stand up for yourself and you can get what you want. They even wavered all the extra costs. I guess with airline seats becoming more vacant on flights they can be a bit flexible. I'm stoked just to have it all out of the way. Monument Valley here we come. April 3rdIt floods down with rain today, this is so nice, I go outside and get soaked. Love it. It looks like it's going to rain for several days.,Sad to hear that Lorne (Andy Hallett) from Angel tv show died. He did have congestive heart disease I think. he had an amazing voice. Oh Art Garfunkel looked a bit scary at the press conference , way way too much make up, he looked a bit like Mrs Doubtfires stunt double. You can tell S&G are not very close, they both look like they'll do it for the buck$, one more time....and charge a mint. April 4thThe mountain is covered in fog, I love it- somehow the crowds have made their way up here, as the Verandah is packed. Joy is holding my small table for me, so i slide on in. Do a bit of writing and scribble down a few ideas. I spend most of the time reading the newspaper and watching the passing parade. Quite a few Japanese tourists in today, who see my Anti-Whaling T-shirt and keep a wide berth , I smile that Gryphon shit-eating smile.... oh please comment! I sign 4 copies of Hussy and write out the padded envelopes while I'm finishing up on my coffee. That 'Hussy' title always causes people to smile. I owe Hessie for suggesting that one.Call our neighbours Martin and Hisako and drop in for a visit. A nice surprise amazing box of chocolates for us- just does my head in. How nice is that. I make the chickens chase me as I wanted to see who can run the fastest- it's still Belinda, she is lean (and occasionally mean) where as Joan is a bit chunky. Mark points out that when Belinda is wet she looks like a saturated crow! April 5thMy nose has started running, the house surrounded by fog, it's that time of the year again. Day light savings is over so we get to sleep in for an extra hour. Someone forgot to tell that to Miss Banshee who climbs off my bed at the same (old) time. I'm wondering if I picked up some bug from the neighbourhood kids. Maybe it's more than the Kalorama sniffles.I climb out of bed and go to let the chooks out. I run into (baby) Mr Fox on the walk trail- he is dashing and handsome and not that easily spooked. He stops and watches me from a distance. I hold off on letting the chickens out till the fog clears a bit- I love Mr Fox but there is no way I am giving him chicken for breakfast. We can't wait till Mark and myself visit and film in the Neon Boneyard at Vegas. So so so cool....The Killers filmed some of their 'All these things that I've done' clip at that location. (It's about 3 min 15 seconds into the clip). It's on You Tube of course: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6ERe23kSBM It's still raining by late afternoon and I have a small fever, so blow out the BCO gig at Eltham. I feel crappy and the rain is bucketing down. Not even sure if it ended up happening. I just want to stay dry and snuggled up under a warm blanket. I wanted to go but thought I'd be a bit of a typhoid mary and inflict this on people. April 6thWork on mail out stuff today, it's mostly getting all the address stuff correct and on countless thousands of envelopes- an unthankful horrible job but by starting this now I will be ahead. Neil is still working on '7 Worlds II' stuff and we don't even have cover art yet, so we've lost our deadline. Thankfully Nicky at the printers was forgiving. No idea what all the delays are, but I'll just be patient, end of the day I'll just mail out some update sheet. I just hate messing people around. I'm sorry Nicky.April 7thI pay Banshee's animal registration , so she's covered for the year. Barry told me since his little doggy died that cats have been invading his yard and killing birds again. Thankfully Banshee doesn't appear to be one of them, she has her bells and reflecting discs and just spends most of the time watching the property from the bird house. We keep her inside for a big part of the day and all of the night.Well exciting day here, the Star Trek premier was at the Sydney Opera House tonight, Aussie Eric Bana as NERO the Romulan. Chris Pine the new Captain James T Kirk (I remember him in an episode of Six feet Under and of course Smokin Aces movie)..he's a good Kirk. Zachary Quinto, who always looked like a young Spock in tv show Heroes...even before he was offered the role as Spock. The Sci Fi geek in me just hopes this latest Star Trek will kick some life into the franchise and be massive. Leonard Nimoy who is the original Spock is now 77 years young and he will make a cameo appearance, the only original cast member to do so. The cool thing is that Star Trek opens May 7th here, a day before the rest of the world. If it's anything to go by, the trailer for the movie broke records when it was downloaded 1.8 million times in the first 24 hours earlier this month. Like the batman movie, Star Trek may well be the movie to get the movie industry through some very tough times. Boldly going......boldy costing a lot to make as well! April 8thI totally hate it when people say one thing and do another. Even with good intentions it annoys the shit out of me. The recent Phil Judd interview of ours , up on You Tube- hate it as it's such a crappy half arsed pissy quality version of the original. Why bother filming something in high quality when it gets diluted to such crap on You Tube. Shoot me now. All it does is make me want to say no to any of our future stuff being used for anything. I'm sure it's all good intentions but I cringe. So now you get stuck in that position where you feel guilty if it's removed because some people may see it and buy old numb nuts cd! Or ask for it to be removed and think he may lose some sales. I'm hoping Del will make the decision for me *GRIN* The cowards way out. Mark went off as he spent so much time editing out PJ's ums and mumbles and eye twitches so to have it reduced to YouTube shite makes him yelp like a coyote- and for good reason I think. If Judd wants shit interviews he can film himself on his mobile phone and put it up himself. If he had a website that actually was more then a sales site for CDs he could have it up looking half decent.Thinking Kate Murray may get some dollars from us- she is the amazing King Lake vet that jumped on the back of CFA trucks to look after animals in the fire zones. The Kinglake Veterinary Clinic burnt down, apparently money has been given to rebuild so that could well be the person we will donate some money to. Book in with my Prahran doctor next week, just fora check up.... I love in 2009 how you can simply get a prostrate check via a blood sample, so I'm going for a full check up. Worth doing. April 9thRosemaree calls in today, we are both awake by the time she gets here. She flies out to London on Etihad airways in 4 months. I worry about Etihad, as I know their reputation as a terrible airline, rude staff and their infamous lines of 'Etihad doesn't go by the rules'....as people get stuck in Abu Dhabi for 48 hours with no hotel. I'm hoping she gets a good flight and has nothing but fun. I've probably done about 600 flights now, and Etihad are one of the few airlines I'd never fly with, unless I totally had to. An airline that has never ever made profit tends to mean they are cheap when it comes to maintenance -which worries me. Mark asks if she has made a will- he is terrible. She'll be fine, if she gets stuck in Abu Dhabi she could marry an oil sheik from the region. We may never see her again. I'll have to play her Split Enz 'Abu Dhabi' song before she departs.... I'm sure I'm worrying over nothing.We head to Morrisons for brunch and supermarket is next. Mark buys some Winter PJ's that are not really Winter PJs.... nice to have Rosemaree shopping with us. I notice that Kim Jong is reelected as North Koreas leader..... Mark points out that he does look similar to a certain resident of Eltham that we know. April 10thSo Ed Vedders solo tour finishes in Honolulu on July 1st and 2nd. It might be worth a flight to attend, plus Liam Finn is special guest- really want to see Laim play again- just love his shows. I wonder if I need to do a mail drop in July, could be an excuse to call back into Honolulu! I email Sharon and ask her to fly in with me.Oh God (literally) Cardinal George Pell (rhymes with Smell) climbs onto the press wagon and says he wholeheartedly agrees with the Pope on condoms and AIDS- he's always been an out of touch old pig, just same old same old boring out of date Catholic Church. I know the Church has many amazing ministers etc, sadly the ignorant ones seem to bubble to the surface. He gets slammed in the letters pages in the newspapers. The Melbourne Sun prints runs a letter from us, and I notice 2 letters up, one is from a certain Nick Seymour giving them a swipe too! Good Friday, all part of the Paschal Triduum holy week.....I still think Isaac Newton was right that if the crucifixion of Jesus happened it was probably in AD 34..I've always trusted Newton! (: We Peters are always denying people three times..... No No No! Even now. It's kind of true I give people 3 chances and that's it. The Churches didn't seem as packed on TV, usually they are overflowing during Easter. Not sure what that means. I tend to take a few moments on good Friday to reflect and count our lucky we are. Hot Cross Buns seem to be everywhere, they are now square, traditional hot cross buns are round..... Thunderstorms tonight here, not a lot of rain but some serious sound action. April 11thJasper the cat makes the headlines in the Melbourne Sun today- he's the feline that wanders through The Lodge in Canberra, home of PM Rudd. Not sure if he is the first PM in Australia to have a cat in the Lodge...doesn't Obama and family have one in the White House- SOCKS? (Wasnt The Clintons cat named Socks too?) I know Abe Lincoln was the first in the USA to have a cat in the building, her name TABBY! Why am I pursuing this?Del takes down the shitty You-Tube Judd Interview footage, by this stage I'm not all that fussed , but appreciated, it will go up in higher quality at some stage. Judd doesn't get why it sucks but I didn't expect him to. .. really good of Del to do that and I didn't ask for it to be done. But thanks, I offer to mail a higher quality disc for Del to use if it's easier for them. Work in the office all day and till the very wee hours of the day. I hear from Peter Inglis, one of the very early Skyhooks guys, he's been checking out the new look Hooks website which is great. I love it when band members make the effort to do so. Emma G from OLD SOUL LINK emails me about doing an Interview, had a few last week, a couple of people wanting to do phoners, my voice is still a bit croaky so avoiding them for the moment. Old Soul have 'better living through minutiae" as their saying....doesn't minutiae mean 'trifling matters' or small details? maybe I should check it out... I suppose it's a good way to add to ones life? Anyway it could be fun so I'll say 'yes' to this one.... and Emma sounds sweet. I'll add the link to the Famous for 16 Minutes diary when and if it appears on the Net. Her website is located at: http://www.oldsoulink.com It may well be up on the site as you read this. She emails me some of the standard questions so I rattle off an answer or 5..... fun. The rest of the evening was spent getting nutter emails from Judd, must be off his meds. In the end they all just get returned to him. I keep every Email that comes in, if nothing else a good read in 2020! There is a funny side to it all, Phil has a 'mini-me'- a brown nose who is so much like Phil he should just become Mrs Judd #5. It's hysterical, made the night worthwhile. Get a late night email from Tim, his email, so up and vibey- so positive after a really great gig, just enjoys playing his music and going by the response Byron Bay #1 went very well. 'Made My Day' is back in the set after several decades plus. They play the Jambalaya stage again tomorrow night, so hoping the second gig is as positive. We've had about 4 dozen more requests for The Conversation with the bonus dvdr so this will be available again via us in May. So the many who missed it the first time round will grab it in May. We head to bed late, watch dvds to the wee hours, not really sleepy, hate run ins even with new breed minions. April 12thWake up a bit bleary eyed. Suns out , a nice day. Email Laura about the new Church CD 'untitled #23' which is out on Monday, I've heard some good things about it. They just continue to churn out the music. I know they are playing shows in the USA in June- so catch them if you can, always a fine nights entertainment.Well the Liberals Malcolm Turnbull has lost his most senior adviser- Brad Burke, BB has quit, the first of many rats departing a quick sinking ship. Much as I hate it, I know in my guts that Peter Costello will be in charge of the Libs by the time the next election is on, Turnbull really ended up being a rather toothless old tiger. Talk to a police friend who is stationed near Sutherland in NSW , love his no shit attitude - his favourite quote was always 'take the rabid dog out and shoot it'. One of the big protectors for us- underneath a big softy- we have a few people around us like that, some of the crew take on that big brother persona. It's not like I am innocent and couldn't hold my own in a brawl- hey we were originally from the 'Gong. I've seen a few in action where they could easily remove some limbs- and next minute just big teddy bears. Funny isn't it. The girls down the road call in with some easter eggs, more chocolate , are they trying to put me in a diabetic coma! Oh what's one more.... I thank jesus for allowing me to eat this much chocolate...and peace on earth! That's it from us.... have fun and more waffle in 2 weeks. Peter |