The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 23 April - 6 May 2012
April 23rdWell we moved back into the 'real" office today. It feels rather strange to be working here again. The view is magnificent though, all the gold and reds of the leaves on those massive trees. Three chickens and a cat ran past just as the rain started pelting down-they know these things, humans are dumbed down when it comes to the weather. Too much time on Sheepbook and not getting off their couches and enjoying this amazing world.I work a solid 9 hours in the office. As does Mark, we get a lot done. I also manage to send out a few tweets on GryphonMusic which is always fun. Around 3.30 the temperature drops and it almost snows, well it does for a few minutes but the flakes never make it to the ground. Several very LOUD thunderclaps echo around the mountains, the weather gods are not very happy-quick feed them some virgins! I carry a bag of parcels down to the general store, I still like that in 2012 people get a parcel in the mail. The digital download stuff is great in many ways but boring as all hell, no real excitement to it. I like my analog fingers ripping open a parcel in excitement. A box arrived from my sister today, and she had dry cleaned 3 of our really good white shirts and they were all nicely washed and wrapped. My own postal laundry service- big thank you Sis-she rocks. April 24thToday I am determined to clear the final 10 pieces of work that are on the office floor, it's that time consuming stuff that one puts off- but I have my "work list" so I'm focused. I want to reclaim our carpet! The office is running like clockwork. At the end of every day I put together tomorrows work list and we try to get everything off the list and complete. If we get 80% done I am very happy. So there is some basic structure to it all. Sometimes it's unrealistic and things mess up, usually stuff out of our control.I hear from the record company and a whole 8 copies of Split Enz LUTON 2 cd arrive. I really didn't expect them to find a whole box of the cds, as I know roughly how many were pressed and really we were the only people who had access to the limited edition. So I offer the 8 up. They go fast, and a few people I had to say "sorry all gone". I've never seen one of the limited editions appear on Ebay which says a lot- people don't wish to part with such a cool double album. Eddie Rayner deserves a big round of applause for his efforts putting it together. Mad Dog calls from America and once again she has lost her Skyhooks Live In the 80s disc. What is that 3 times, mark flatly refuses to do another, actually pisses him off and with good reason. So I email her the iTunes link, let her spend the mere $12 and get a digital copy. If she keeps losing them Macainsh will become a millionaire from her continually buying it. Grey and wet outside and cold cold cold. We have the heaters on in the office and consume the last of the lemon cake. It's that sort of day! Looks like there is no dawn service for Anzac day up here tomorrow, people are now saying 9.00. I guess they are worried about the rain and fog and pitch blackness on the mountain. Light the big fire in the pool room, nice and toasty, sleet and rain outside. April 25thAnzac Day here. The gathering at the small stone shrine at Kalorama was put back till 9.00. Usually it's the rising of the sun but the rain, fog and weather misery was full on. I still slipped out as the sun was coming up with some of our wattle & a few other Kalorama flowers. The rain was bucketing down, that icy angled rain that somehow gets through your coat and soaks one. I ignored it, the old diggers from early wars withstood far far worse, we are such pussy's in 2012. I'm not a big fan of War, I detest the Iraq war and will never support it and that stupid invasion for invisible weapons of mass destruction. But i do have a soft spot for the Anzacs of the early wars, very different times. While I drop off my small bunch of flowers and elderly lady walks up and smiles. She lost her husband in the war, many many years ago, she's as wrinkled as a prune, such amazing features - that's what they call character. She told me she does this every year, I can't imagine saying goodbye to someone and they never return. The spirit is strong in her. This year I went really for some past distant family members- William Thomas James Boyce, my great grandfather, and my grandfathers brother Ronny who was a POW in Shanghai.The Avengers opens at the box office here, it will do a roaring trade, thousands of fans boys very excited. I was chatting to my mum last night and found out that my Great Grandfather was from Cambridge , New Zealand.. came to Australia is 1878. His father from NZ too- maybe that explains why I have so many NZ bands hanging around us, and why there are thousands of kiwi fruits growing along our fence line. It's that kiwi gene...yieks! I email Sharon Finn to let her know of my NZ heritage. Sex, Six, Sex Six... my voice is changing as I write this....! April 26thWe are still passing on any used postage stamps to the church charity. They sell them and money raised goes to buy prosthetic limbs for land mind victims. It usually means we give them enough for 50 limbs per year, and have been doing this for over 10 years so at a guess I'd say we have helped 500 people. Not bad from stamps that would normally be thrown away.Good to see that Jack White is headlining the SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS gig at Byron Bay in July , not a bad lineup this year, should be a fun few days. Tempted to go just to leave our freezing cold weather behind. If it's cold now, imagine what Winter will be like! Festival Hall & the Hordern for Melbourne & Sydney. I seem to be wearing a lot of red socks lately. The black ones are all pushed to the back of the sock drawers. maybe because the reds are so nice & thick and plush! Warm. So Newt is out in America and Mitt Romney is the guy to go up against President Obama. Mitt has been attempting to kiss arse (yes I did write KISS) with the Gay & Lesbian community, but really he opposes marriage equality and gay people in 29 American states can still be sacked simply for being gay. At least Mitt's low interest rate student loans are a small positive thing. Where as Newt screamed for "traditional marriage" but the guy cheated on his last 2 wives. bring on the election, kick his arse Obama and fix the lovely USA. Mitt still rhymes with Shit no matter which way you say it. We work in the office till midnight tonight, just tidying up stuff, answering emails and a hundred and one other band related things. Ok way too many GryphonMusic Tweets. Miss K telling me I am a Dick-tator! *GRIN* Lovin how we had people dancing on their desks and beds worldwide to the Stones Starfucker... every so often the world is in synch and people just do it. Excellent. Homemade hamburgers for dinner- oh yum. Mark baked the rolls himself. Such a talent he is, the ol' dough wacker! My life would be so lame without him. I see England has slipped back into recession again. I'm hoping Australia will withstand the next world recession like it did last time. Scary times for some. It will pass, it has before, just have to ride it out. The Federal government did the right thing last time, made a bit of a fool of Abbott by being the only developed country to be recession proof, despite Abbott's doomsayer approach. Tony Toupee really doesn't have a clue. Lets hope Oz survives the next disaster. April 27thYet another cold grey day. It's like Winter has arrived early. You can feel it in your bones, that unrelenting cold. I carry armloads of wood to the house, it will be nice to have an open fire this evening.Mark and myself decide to work all day and what ends up being 3.00 in the morning. Talk about a long day at the office. Lots of music, green tea and work work work. By the time we go to bed it's 3.30. Banshee has put herself into my bed. Climbed into the middle, under the big Peruvian blanket. She's asleep her head actually on the pillow. Totally suckered me, I can't make her move so I snuggle into next to the cat, ridiculous I should of just moved her- not the most comfortable position to sleep in. April 28thI let the cat out, put the bread in to be baked..head back to bed for a few hours. I am tired but decide Nellys coffee at the general store will get me motivated.Great to hear that Tony Burke, the federal minister for the environment made the effort to go to Tarkine rainforest area in Tasmania. He stayed for 3 days which is fantastic. The Get-Up supporters (which I am one) bombarded his email account/twitter to do so. It's such an incredible area of Tasmania and should be put back on the heritage listing and not open cut mined. lets hope he says no to the applications to mine the area. Another long day in the office. But we are getting a lot done, so I'm happy with that, and miserable weather outside so good to be in. April 29thBanshee slept in- luxury- I feel good! Cats run our lives.Great to see Jack Whites solo album BLUNDERBUSS debut at #2 on the Australian charts (#1 on the digital charts here), held back from the top spot by One Erection. Opps Direction. The kids seem to love them so hey I'll shut up, if they are having fun why should I be an old fart and slag them off. I see Cold Chisel failed to get to the #1 spot. All that promotion, shows etc and only Gold. That shows how weak cd sales have become, and remember that is SHIPPING gold , not necessarily sold gold here. We watch Love Is In The Air, the other music doco via the ABC which came after Long Way To The Top. In many ways it was better, cooler footage, better editing and less mistakes. Some horror mistakes in Long Way To The Top, whoever they used to check it did a crap job. We looked up and suddenly it was 2,00 in the morning! I did a good deed tonight, spotted a friend who was very drunk and made sure they didn't drive home, so I drove them. We all have a moment where we get a bit plastered, nothing to be ashamed of. April 30thLooks like we are heading to Dame Edna's afternoon show (shh it's meant to be a surprise) and then after that to Festival Hall to see Jack White. Despite so many great seventies concerts at the Hall (Skyhooks, AC/DC, Enz etc) Mark still calls it Festering Hall not one of his favourite venues. Still it's Jack White so worth attending.Westpac are so slow today, had all this banking "stuff" and I think the person who pushes the magic button must be asleep. They are becoming such a slowwwwww bank for online banking. Maybe they are too busy counting all their profits? I spend the afternoon putting the Crowded House packs together. I ended up being 1 short as the final Recurring Dream mouse pad had a huge split down the middle, I'd say the courier service played football with the box. Hate that. It was so cool of Tania to donate those Crowded House shirts, I remember when we were asked for a design that old retro Crowdies design came to mind from the USA tour, EMI were very happy about it at the time & Nick didn't have to supply any new artwork, some things are just easy. Two of the three chickens are losing their feathers so they can have some funky caramel coloured news ones, crazy though as I'm sure it must be cold being chicken naked this time of year. OK they are not totally nude and pink but when they do this they do lose a lot. Better them than me. May 1stOh c'mon really May already!!! Do you ever feeling you are just treading water and the slightest beat of a butterflies wings will cause a ripple that will take you under? Where did that come from?May the month of endless birthdays. Time for a Fave List. Fave Gadget- SteriPen (Freedom). A pen like purifier that uses ulatrviolet rays to eradicate 99.9% of bacteria, viruses & protozoa found in water. Charge it on your lap top. Fave Album-well we all know what that is- Jack Whites Blunderbuss of course. (Doh). Fave colour-shiny shiny black. Fave Book- Peter Fitzsimons "Mawson" book. Fave Person-Had to be Rollins this month, and Stephen Smith (an honest politician?!). Creep of the Month- Ok I'll just nominate Tony Abbott for the full year, and get it out of my system. Obsession of the week- Where did I put the Cabaret soundtrack cd. "Here Liza Liza Liza....come to Petey!" Maybe I simply don't have it on CD, just vinyl. No wonder I can't find it. Spend some time in the office emailing Greg on a few Skyhook photos, guess they are from 1975, trying to work out where- and where we got them. Some good shots. Low res scans but still they capture the moment. Music in the office today, The Beatles "Abbey Road" & "Let It Be". Sometimes you just want the basics. Also a seventies flashback because we have been watching all these Australian music docos... Ross Ryan's "I Am Pegasus" is stuck on an never ending groove in my head-I think it will send me insane. Tonights Tattslotto is $50 Million, i could do so much with that much money. So many charity projects we could work on. I walk to the general store, a suss dude at the park was following a middle aged woman so I sped up and said hello to her, I was wearing my metal capped work boots. She sounded nervous as she spotted him and was going to pay some bills. So i stopped dead and faced him and he ran off. Maybe it was my boots adding some height or my bad hair-day hair *GRIN*. She was so thankful, bad shit rarely happens up here, I should of chased him but if he didn't actually commit a crime you can't do much. I didn't really make a fuss over it to Mark, I do feel safe with my Wolverine work boots on. Cocky little bastard eh! May 2ndHappy Birthday Warwick. It's the start of the endless May birthdays, 12 in row... and then Sharon & Neil's!It's a week of rain and cold here, by the time Winter arrives we will be frozen statues. The amazing golden and red leaves are floating through the air, twirling like tops before they hit the ground. So many trees., so many leaves to clean up. We love it up here but the cleaning up seems endless. My mate Allie's place up north , it's her main gripe too, staying "on top of it" as we seems to say. Still beats living in a box, just looking out the office window gives me a lift. I had so many brilliant emails today from the Frenz, regarding the Enz 40th project, so many people are behind it, feels wonderful . It is such a cool present. I speak to Bongo Skyhook about a couple of charity's who raise money for brain cancer equipment. All the stuff going around with our mate I thought it a good one to support. So I've checked into a couple, and I'll be spending the rest of the day finding some items for a monster raffle. After this I think our prize cupboard will be empty. May 3rdFeeling a bit blue today, so much cancer in the world, trying to shake it all off today. Following me like some big black cloud.Well Ben is in Melbourne we think but no word yet from Mr Yeti. I've offered to drive to where he is , if he can't make it to the top of the mountain, so we'll leave it in his hands. Mark records AMERICAN HORROR STORY and it is FANTASTIC. So nice when a show has the perfect cast- I hope all the other episodes are this brilliant. May 4thGreat to see that the Australian Federal government have put millions aside so more bowel cancer test kits can go out (people aged 60 and 70 years now). They get such a good response, I never understand why people are so stupid to put off doing these tests -if you have bowel cancer the quicker you act the bigger the chance of survival. Your health should be the most important thing, its brilliant that a government actually gets these to people so they can do the test in the privacy of their own home. I guess at 60 and 70 quite a few old rockstars will be getting them *GRIN*. Those who hesitate die!Bic plays the Athenaeum , she's in fine form, Melbourne seems to love her, wish they'd all buy the album, I think import sales dealt her a deadly blow here. May 5thA week of rain , fog, sleet and cold- oh joy... I chop wood , got to keep the house nice and warm.The rain is so bad that our bikers don't make it to Kalorama.... I guess at least they tried. So we have lots of fantastic home made soup for ourselves. Mark hates soup. People ask me what I want for my birthday on may 11th. Postage stamps- thats it.... I go through so many. Yes a strange present but hey I am being honest. SOS-Send Stamps! May 6thJane and the kids rock up and we head down to the Chestnut Festival. The rain holds off and thousands turn up. I let 3 cars park near our back gate. They all have kids. Some are excited to see "real live chickens mummy"... so they pat them and just get such a thrill. Love it, city kids. It made my day.It's our 4th night of working in the office till 2.00 and 3.00 in the morning. Feeling rather fried these days, be glad when the next week is over, and life returns to the slow lane. Thanks everyone for supporting the charity raffle- really amazing. Stay warm (we are trying to up here) xPG |