The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 3 December - 16 December 2012
December 3rdI'm amazed at how large the christmas tree has grown, we planted it in our yard a few years back. Thought we'd buy one that could be in the house for christmas and then grown in the yard for many years to come. Always seems a bit sad having some majestic tree in your house for a few weeks covered in christmas glitter and glam and then turfed out when it dies. Really it's a rotting carcass of something that was living and we tart it up for the silly season. I guess the one positive is that christmas tree farms at least allow trees to grow for a short period.... always saddens me though in the new year when you drive down a road and see dead brown tree husks by the road -out of mind out of sight? Maybe fake trees are better because they are recycled year after year.December 4thGhost Cars arrives, so the next few months for us will be postal hell. Each one we have to check to make sure we have the persons current address, they are all numbered, the padded envelopes written out, logged in, customs forms done, ID recorded etc....there will be many many late nights in the office. I worry people will start emailing en masse, which means we have to stop mailing these while we answer emails on them. Even a few hundred emails a day takes an hour or two from us boxing these. We have about 70 available for the overrun so a few late comers will be looked after. This stock will be on www.rocketpocketbooks.com when it's operational soon and I dare say the merchandise page of Frenz.ComDecember 5thYou can tell Summer is here, over 100 degrees today and that is up here on the mountain, we are usually 5 degrees cooler. I think it's going to be a hot extended Summer, and the mountain has had such a huge growth spurt with all the rain... so lots to burn. I'd love a bushfire free few months.......my only wish for christmas, oh also Santa some postage stamps. The one thing i can always do with.December 6thMark keeps picking the book apart, he keeps saying he could of done better, which so isn't true, I love it. Every book I expect at least 3 mistakes, they happen for one reason or another...I'm not losing sleep over this one, it's packed with content, and for the fans.... think they'll enjoy it.The Finn Brothers charity show in Auckland is coming up-rare the two of them get a chance to play on stage together. It's for the True Colours Org. who do such good work, so we hope they get a good walk up. We give the Neil Finn site another plug, not sure how many visitors it's had but hope it is going great guns. December 7thWe watch THE PEOPLE SPEAK, the Australian version and it's really great. Jack Thompson has such a brilliant voice, but we wish he would stop attempting that horrid USA accent in the guest spots in movies that he does. It's the one thing he fails at, always sounds dreadful- he should just use his own voice, it's commanding and fantastic.... and funny to see Jason Stackhouse on the show...!Enjoy "Don't be Afraid Of The Dark". It was mostly filmed at Drusilla Mansion at Mt Macedon here in Victoria. It has that Arthur Machen feel to it...the ol' mystic himself. Del Toro is involved, we loved his work in Pans Labyrinth as mentioned many times on this diary. Bailee Madison is brilliant as Sally Hurst... December 8thWell we were waiting on a call today from a mate and they didn't (call), so I've rescheduled my Sunday. A full day of work. I'm sure they had a good reason but at the moment we are in one of our busiest periods so if people can't get it together when they say, well they'll blow it with us.Track down a christmas present for my Sis..not saying here in case she is peeping at my diary site. She may have some good news for her brother next year too-so I'm excited. December 9thUp and out the door at 8.00, away for the whole day and afternoon, media stuff and it's endless. Urgh!December 10thHappy 40th Enziversary Split Enz. Forty years since that first gig.... how time flies. So I'm hoping the Frenz of the Enz club can do some stuff over the next 12 months to celebrate. Sad they didn't play a show on this date, I do wonder if they will ever play again? I don't mean something like Enzso (rolls eyes).... I'm sure Eddie's pushing that one with some of the good ol' boys but I never think of that as Split Enz.Anyway lots of supporters email me today that they are playing Enz and requesting them on radio-good to see. Long may the Enz be part of our lives. December 11thBargain or what, the 2nd season of Star Trek Next Generation is a mere $50 on Bluray, which is cheaper then Amazon in the States. Not a bad price for Australia.I wrap Belles little present, I found her at a local shop so not saying what "she" is but Belle will hopefully like her christmas gift when it finally arrives in France. I buy our mate Pete at the general store a passionfruit plant, it's one that has a subtle taste of banana in it.... cool. December 12thDrive to Bayswater and drop into the art place as well as the silkscreen guy down the road. I am determined in all the Ghost Cars madness to work on my little BEX art project. Hell it's another hot day here, the air con in the car gets a good working out. We drop in the artwork for the xmas cards, just a few, and the guy can do them in 2 days-which is brilliant and appreciated. I know he has a few dozen other jobs on but he seemed to enjoy what he was doing and thought them "fun to do" so we paid him and can pick up on Friday. Yey.December 13thGee, we worked on Ghost Cars all day and till 3.00 this morning... who would of thought, how exciting! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZI did make it to Noel Crombie's place and he signed photos. Gave us a disc of his latest recordings, we love "Box of Ants"....Noel has one of the passionfruit vines with banana ...and it runs down the street for 3 houses... the locals just walk down the road and pick from his runaway vine. We chat briefly about filming a video clip for a Crombie tune... under our guise as the "Boys in Black". We'll see if it happens, a fun project for 2013. We love Cromb, such a sweet man and fun. December 14thWe rush off like crazy people, a mad dash in the afternoon, both screen printers and card printers call and both jobs ready, but they go home in 30 minutes, so I seriously cut it fine. Thankfully the silk screen people leave the screens at the art place so it's not as epic. The Canterbury Rd traffic is going the other way so we make it in time, desperate for some food we even call into a Hungry Jacks. After that our supermarket shopping and my grocery bill tells me I saved $43.50 worth of bargains-see I am a sensible shopper! The Woolworths card is great, flight points and bargains. I order a case of mixed wines and a brilliant saving of about $85.00 and 1000 flight points. I never shop at Coles any more, they never seem to have what we want. Woolworths on Canterbury Rd, a brilliant store, fantastic staff too.I'm so tempted by the silk screens I work in the art room till midnight. At first I'd lost the vibe, totally f**k up the canvas's.... takes me an hour to get it close to right, or at least happy. I take 4 into the house for Mark to give his opinion on-he has a great eye for art work. He likes 3 and not one, the same one I dislike so that is a good sign. I can still do better I know it, but ran out of canvas till pay day. December 15thRain has hit the mountain, but I still take some mail down to the general store and have a coffee. Pete makes a superb coffee, and seems to like his little passionfruit plant. I warn him that they have a habit of growing like crazy..it may well take over the whole of Kalorama!!!Work in the office till 4.00 in the morning, fingers ache. I keep using up so much postage, if anyone has spare postage stamps, think of us this christmas! Please Santa I have been good (well)....! December 16thTony Abbott's DISAPPROVAL rating is now the 2nd highest in the 40 year history of the Nielsen Polling. The guys a goose and can't be trusted, why anyone would vote for this idiot is beyond me. He'd make a shit PM and be one of the worst "leaders" Australia would ever have, lets hope it never happens. I'll be glad when he's gone so I can stop ranting about him on the diary.I find some time to finish cleaning the garage roof, get rid of the leaves etc for bushfire season. So I'm happy about that. We are down to one chicken now, just Meg, she's all by herself so I keep her with me for some of the afternoon as she looks lonely. Banshee has been sitting next to her and I swear they have cat to chicken conversations-so weird and wonderful. So incredibly sad that so many young lives were taken at Newtown Connecticut. I'll never understand America's fucked gun laws and the Bill of Rights and the Constitution is shit when it comes to this. It's from a period so long ago it should not relate to today. It just means more and more Americans will die because of this fucked up gun obsession. I worry about or friends who live in America, and their kids. There is no reason why a member of the public needs a military assault rifle, really, get over it! Politicians prove how gutless they are by bowing to the pressure and allowing this- and the blood should be on their hands. John hoWARd was a horror of a PM for Australia but he did the right thing around gun control, and sure 35 people had to die at Port Arthur in Tasmania for the public to demand action (and it was an AR 10 semi automatic rifle)..I hope one day America looks at the road it has headed down with it's gun bullshit and shakes it's head and demands change- truly sad and sickening. (Ok I am off my soap box enough has been said about this). To make matters worse you have the "biggest losers in America"-yes the inbred Westboro Baptist Church wanting to picket the Sandy Hook Elementary funerals because they believe God made the killer do this because Connecticut supports gay marriage. Wow, now there are a group of people who do deserve one between the eyes! If the second coming ever happens I'd love to be in that neighbourhood when JC knocks on their door and tells them they are evil mother fuckers & will go to hell! They have evil hearts and minds. In the words of a Skyhooks song " America she's got the best, she's also got the worst" (Keep the Junk In America).... What a sad way to end the diary this fortnight. Just over a week till Christmas Eve. Have a great christmas and don't let evil win, prove you are better and do one good thing for a stranger this christmas, it's a good gift to give yourself. Love life & thanks Deb for all you do! PG |