The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 25 June - 8 July 2012
Crowdies Backdrop airs on the Kalorama Trees.
June 25thHappy 60th birthday Tim Finn!!! We get this wonderful email from him, for once Aussie/NZ post got their timing perfect and our small parcel made it to his doorstep right on time, in fact the first birthday well wishes of the morning! All the fan cards were included in the parcel too, so it was nice for him to get such things on such a landmark birthday.The Very Very Best Of Crowded House still in the National chart, drops to #47 this week but still ticking over enough copies for it to chart. I'm waiting on EMI to get back to me to see how close we are to platinum in Australia. So life in the old Crowdies yet, those classic songs just keep on being loved even after all this time. So pissed off, Major Andrew Craibe from the Salvation Army Victoria endorses that gay people should be 'punishable by death'. So the Salvos have totally lost our support, so many friends phoned them and told them to get rid of the dickhead. We'll vote with our wallets, the Salvation Army will never get a cent from us again- Andrew Craibe isn't a christian he's just an arsehole waving a tamborine. sad because many other members of the Salvos do good work but dickheads like Craibe make you want to support another charity. So we will.... (off my soapbox now). June 26thHaircut day-yey. It was getting bushy and that lovely few grey spikes! I had to go, so off to mountaingate for the girls to work their magic. What a great scalp massage as well... a Gryphon purring like a pussy cat that was me. I'm starting to think I'd sell out the world for a scalp massage and a Nestle dark chocolate (orange). Drop some jumpers and clothes in the local charity bin, some almost brand new.June 27thI email Bic, still working for her but waiting to see what she is up to. OPossom's album is now out in Australia, a mere $14.99 at JB on line. Bargain.I hear from Sue which is great, have a chat, some of her Mullanes snaps may well be appearing in the Ghost Cars book. It seems so long ago and they are so baby faced in the snaps. Love it, Neil and his bit of blonde hair, Craig Hooper head down and focusing on his playing (using that wonderful gold guitar of Neils), Nick and Paul just having a ball....a fresh new band caught in the moment. June 28thAlmost the last day of June (no pun Neil Finn) we start on our tax soon... I think my accountant thinks we are freaks because we get it all in quite quickly.Nights have been spent watching the final season of 'Seachange'..... I can't stop singing that theme (goddam you Richard Pleasance) "Don't wanna live in the city, my friends say I'm changin'...."! and of course the original Star Trek on BluRay as Captain Kirk seduces his way through the galaxy in lovely HD! How many times does he lose his shirt? Notice how Sulu somehow manages to get next to the cute Trek boys in shots! *GRIN*. June 29thStill trying to get a week away in the sun late July-late August. Magnetic Island is tempting just finding the right house, as the one we usually grab is currently off the market. We may even see Fran, Pete & the kids up their as they are trying for a similar escape. It's good to see our friends with a happy family, the 2 boys are well behaved. Hardly ever hear them crying.Still haven't heard from Bic so I'm guessing my work stuff is still happening, I just don't like limbo land, so be good to know either way soon. I see Opossoms album dropped out of the NZ chart after one week, not sure if they are doing more NZ shows, I have asked. I have been sending out a few requests for CH gig information, great to hear from Janet in Texas, think we are still laughing if it was called Opry House or Opera House in Austin at the time. June 30thA cold day up here, so make some fantastic homemade vegetable soup. Our mate Spock (no not the Vulcan) is visiting so I grab some wood for the fire, got to warm the house up a bit. Such grey days it seems like it has been a long long winter already, I know why people go insane under such conditions. The way to beat that is to be insane at the start, that way there is no change! *GRIN*.We spend long hours working on Ghost Cars. Till 4.30 in the morning. We almost see the sun come up but the vampire in us says "no what are you doing, back to your crypts"! July 1stMark is checking out canon scanners on the net. He finds one that gets a high rating, so we are making some calls on Monday. Insane that you have to get a new one because Canon don't keep up with the operating systems of Apple Macs. You should be able to take legal action against companies that don't, when they sell a product as Apple compatibleOur mate Jeff Apters SHIRL book is out in a few weeks-thanks for the thank you Jeff- VivaLa Gong indeed. Work on our BAS on the weekend, good to get all our tax paperwork over and done with! July 2ndA porn-star we know (now not many people can start a sentence with those lines)...gave me a really cool woollen beanie. It's part of Diabolic XXX DVD company promotion..so has their embroidered patch on it. I'm tempted to wear it just so it freaks a few people out but will it add or subtract to my reputation.??? Do I even care?(NO), it is nice and snug. I'm just waiting for some nice old lady to ask me what 'Diabolic' refers too and then I will be a coward and run a mile.Politician Craig Emerson gets massive press today by adding his own words to the tune of Skyhooks Horror Movie in front of parliament. He shouldn't give up his day job but it made me laugh, and went viral on the net. Of course the Liberals went all angry -no sense of humour (yet again).... but I noticed the real version of Horror Movie has received a lot more airplay since he did it...how funny. I hang a few Crowdies backdrops out to be aired and give them a clean, I do this every year... not many exist so try and take care of what we have. They were originally going to be destroyed so I saved a few. They always look amazing hanging amongst our gum trees. July 3rdFrance say YES to gay marriage....not long Australia-you can see marriage equality getting closer and closer. Everyone should have the CHOICE around such things! It's nobody's business except the two people involved and especially NOT the business of the church who really need to keep their beaks out of peoples lives.Rosemaree has some breakfast with us. Rather touchy today, that italian blood rises to the surface, thought she was going to blow a gasket. Hope her new cat works out, always nice to see her, even the heated moments. Which are far and few. Spoilt me with a nice birthday present, I worry about our friends spending money. I offer to feed her pussy (lets not go near that line) !!!! July 4thRosemaree does some layout on an update sheet-thank you. I hassle the company around my Stones courier bag, which has gone astray in the USA- my publishing bag has almost died so need a new one, be glad when it arrives.Mark tracks down the Canon CS9000F scanner which is brilliant but Officeworks only have store stock, but it's $200 cheaper, so hard to find them, so stoked at the price. I do find one though at Doncaster, so we do the drive. Head across the road to Doncaster shopping centre. Mark shouts me some fresh Californian Rolls which are brilliant. Home again and several negative holders etc are missing from the unit so I call and hassle them... I know it will all work out... Officeworks promised me everything would be in the box GRRRRRRRR! July 5thTim Finn is playing the Art bar in WA, quite a good live set I heard, 60 and still putting on a fine show.Call our officeworks guy and he says he will "somehow" get in the missing pieces, I trust him... they can deliver them so I don't have to drive for 2 hours. I use the bands name to hassle them into action. Rare I do that but we really need to start scanning stuff. Plus it is band related. July 6thI'm at the supermarket today and Woolworths staff are handing out a free raffle ticket. Yay I win, it's a BBQ meat tray. So lots of steak sausages etc. So strange as the guy was drawing it I knew in my head I had won- Red 61 that was me, I even started walking up before he read the number-whata strange young man I am!Play lots of 'Together Alone' demo recordings, thinking of doing a Demos and Rough piece on T.A. for the Ghost Cars book, saying that, it is hard to actually write such a piece, listening is easier...... I find 2 birthday presents for Mark and Bongo Skyhook (July 26 and 27th)... these limited edition Stones SOME GIRLS wig boxes full of very cool collectors items... they look fantastic... hopefully both lads will love their birthday gifts. July 7thWe have a few days where we work on the Ghost Cars Crowdies book till 4.30 in the morning, the other nights are midnight, a few 2.00 just reshaping it, correcting it, filling in some blanks in the "Live "area... it's quite hard to list ALL the bands gigs but we are giving it a good shot. About 900 shows so far stretching right back to the Mullanes. I figure we have about 200 spots left for orders of the Ghost Cars book & a few selling every day so it will be sold out before it is printed. Which is amazing. Fans have been so patient with this one... hoping this little book will be worth the wait.A bit sad though as part of todays work was the Peter Jones interview for the book. July 8thThis diary is a bit late, my fault. Ghost Cars book has taken over our lives, everything else seems to be pushed back. At least I've caught up on all the emails in the office. Neil's away on holidays and some songwriting so quiet from New Zealand. We have forfeited our 'real' lives just to focus on the book. Mark is radioactive from scanning...he says "surely the Enz book was easier"... and he's right it was.Thanks Deb for getting this issue up and apologies for my tardiness. XPG |