The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 5 November - 18 November 2012
Miss Banshee takes a bath-Kalorama November 2012.
November 5thWe start work on the Neil Finn-Paul Kelly Australian Tour stuff today- the tour itself is still 4+ months away, so it has a wide window to move tickets. I think it will sell fast, or at least 90% of the tickets, the final few will tick over till the shows start. I wonder how many extra shows will get added in Sydney and Melbourne?The beautiful Palais Theatre is the venue this time, 2 nights, not sure if they will make 3- tickets these days are so costly compared to a decade ago. Guess people are counting their penny's, saying that, it is Neil Finn and Paul Kelly, two very gifted songwriters together- that would tempt many. November 6thUSA election tomorrow, seeing we are ahead of the world *GRIN* I like saying that. Not sure if it was an omen or the Gods speaking from Olympus but the LOUDEST thunder crash happened at dusk, 2 of our windows had huge cracks in the glass, it felt like a bomb had gone off. Mark was working in the office and it freaked him out-probably thought I'd put too much mower fuel on the rubbish fire!!! I hope Obama wins, the press say it will be close but I keep thinking it won't be. A lot of people are nervous, especially those who do not want to see that horrible Bush type mentality destroy America again. Still I have faith they will give President Obama another chance! Since the last F/16 diary extract on the net I've had hundreds of emails from people saying, we are indeed voting for Obama. Not a single email voting for the other guy-maybe they are too scared to email me that, which is crazy because people should vote for what they believe in.Meanwhile it's the Melbourne Cup here.... so a public holiday for the race that stops a nation. November 7thI am awake at some stupid time so watch the start of the election, really I'm to early, still a few hours before results tick in. So we head off and post the mail and have some breakfast. Later on in the afternoon I take the lap top to the house and work in front of the tv and cable news. A friend in America working on the Obama stuff calls, really to say hello, she said it "feels good"... a few minutes later she says, "F**K I think he's done it"... watch your tv in the next 5 minutes... I suddenly could hear all these cheers in the background increasing , couldn't hear her in the end, think Ohio has a recount, or something. I'm on Gryphon Music my twitter area so I tweet "I'm calling it, Gryphon protector of the sky and earth says Obama-Democrats have won! (shit imagine if 'm wrong what a goose)." Of course suddenly emails started and tweets, and a minute later it's on tv... I exhale... good! Now Mr Obama really has to deliver and start fixing America's problems....America deserves it, as do the people who put their faith in him for a second chance. I bolt to the office to tell Mark and he goes "already", yeah Mitt didn't get the states he needed earlier on. What a day and I'm not even an American!November 8thI post some mail at the general store and Annie gives me the 2 paper headlines that go in the news displays, so thats cool, Obama on the front-a piece of history. Sweet!We find some time to watch "I Melt With You" and I loved it, a good cast-Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe (one of his finest moments), Jeremy Piven and Christian McKay...an off the rails sort of movie- enjoyed it a lot, ina drugged up fucked up sort of way. November 9thHappy Birthday 'Belle in France. I try to send her an email but it fails and is returned, maybe her email has changed again? Oh well I tried. Hope she has a fun day.Our friend Rosemaree departs for a few days , so myself and Miss Jane are on cat duty. We call into her place and run through feeding details, all fine, it's simple really. Only a couple of days anyway so no biggie. The 2nd Green Day album DOS is out today, i'm not near JB till next week so I will hang out... brilliant they are releasing a new album every month. November 10thI go early to Rosemaree's to feed the cat and find Scully has vomited around the house, not once but five times. Six if you count some "ych' on the pillow case. So first hour cleaning it, washing the floors, hand wash the pillow bit and stay for hours and hours. I'd freak if it died and I was away, so sit and wait this out, if I thought it was really bad I'd be at the vet with her. Luckily I have a book in my bag. I see the other cat for 3 seconds that is it, so I know Scully didn't eat it, though she is a bit porky so it was possible (GRIN). I talk to her softly but don't want to pat her in case the cat gets worked up and vomits again. I have fresh food out and 4 hours later it waddles to the food bowl but she decides to eat it all in one go. Of course she then chokes near the back door...and much to my relief doesn't vomit. So I stay a bit longer, water Rosemaree's plants outside. I turn to go and check the kitty litter and the cat jumps up and scratches my leg and nips at me, she draws blood from a 6cm scratch. I hiss like Banshee showed me to do and it stops. Very nasty, considering I have been nurse to you cat. She's missing Rosemare so I forgive her , I head home as I need to get some cream onto the scratch, and put my bloodied grey 505's in the wash-did it have to be my favourite jeans, I should of worn my gardening clothes. I hope when Jane arrives she has more luck..and less vomit.Work in the office till 9.30, pre-sales for the Neil Finn-Paul Kelly tour happen on Monday, so I make sure we have everything ready so it will be out of control. I hate pre-sales always a nightmare and fans have heart attacks! November 11thWell no cat vomit this morning, but no Scully. As I walk past the bedroom I hear the Darth Vader noises from the wardrobe and she is hiding in the clothes area. She seems comfortable so say hello and leave her be till she wants out. I open the back door and sit with her in the garden. Cat #2 is still invisible...! All seems ok, so I leave a message for Rosemaree so she won't worry. A farewell hiss from Scully to me and I am away, cat duties done for today.Deb puts the Finn-Kelly tour poster on www.frenz.com/neilfinn/ what a beautiful poster. I copied Nick Seymour the image as it is really quite cool, almost deco-ish in it's look. It would do well hanging on the wall of Ricketts Sanctuary up here! She's also added a NEWS area to www.frenz.com/crowdedhouse/ so we can add information on what the various members of Crowded House are up to- great for people like Mark Hart and his upcoming solo album. For the next few days Mark and myself become Mr Kidd and Mr Wint from the James Bond movie "Diamond are forever" -I even answer the phone Kidd & Wint Productions which throws a few people! *GRIN* November 12thI am awake so early (again) and already emails coming in on the pre-sale asking questions, about 60. I get back to people almost straight away even when the pre-sale is happening. Looks like ticketmaster have crashed a few times, that part is out of my control. We leave about 11.00, I need a haircut and a quick dye job so off to mountaingate.We pick up a new office chair called "The Zen" and it even has a massage control (oh-la-la). The tax man gives us some small cheques so we cash them. I'm back for a full day of pre-sales and questions and extra shows added. Jane catches up with me at Mexican for a hot date! Mark stays at home. November 13thStill more pre-sale emails in the morning, why do people leave everything to the moment pre-sales are happening before getting in contact. If I roll my eyes any further I'll get vertigo! I head to Dr Chiro for a bit of back popping corrections. A neighbour misunderstands that I said we were going to Chiro and thought I meant Cairo, Egypt! That made me smile.I mail Foxy ones birthday present. Hope it arrives on time. November 14thWe are locked in for our meeting with our new book printers on Thursday. I timed it well as all the power on the mountain goes off on Thursday while they change over the power lines, apparently better for bushfire season?!INXS decide to split up, they ramble on that INXS wasn't just Michael Hutchence. If that's the case one has to ask, with the new INXS Best OF on the charts, why is Michael the only one featured on the front cover? Have one last look at our little Crowded House Ghost Cars book. If all goes well it should be ready around the same time www.rocketpocketbooks.com is online , so in December. Neil Finn and Paul Kelly add another Palais Theatre show, the 3rd....... and then another for Feb 20th. Extra Opera House shows too. The Pre-Sales so strong for the Opera House, that very few tickets remain for the general public sale. November 15thThe electricity goes off exactly at 8.30 as they said it would, all our back up power kicks in for the security system and cameras so it's good to see it works. We leave the mountain to head to Port Melbourne for our printer meeting, with the book people. Always both exciting and a bit scary when it's a new company.We head via Prahran and time to kill so park at Prahran Markets and walk to JB on Chapel Street. Mark is excited as they have individual James Bond blu rays compared to the whole box set, we already have quite a few on blu ray so didn't want to have to buy the whole box again..so this is great. I also buy him GRR! The new Rolling Stones Best Of, it will be interesting to see how this one sells, do the old Rolling Stones still have 'it'? Next we drop into the Market Cafe to see the family, they are so excited to see us, felt a bit like celebs walking in as a cheer went up. Locals did look at us with envy. So good to see them, Christina is just looking stunning and even the dad is in today, so our coffee is amazing. It's an odd feeling every time we return to Prahran, it seems to look more grotty and people very stressed. Mark says it's just like a stressed Oxford street in London...he's probably right. Two drivers almost crash into us before we even leave the car park, too busy talking on their phones and not bothering to look where they are going. Good ol' Nav-woman gets us to the book printers. Laz is great and takes us on a guided tour-the place is massive, like MASSIVE and the most amazing print gear. One area just felt like I was in a space ship, impressive and quite humbling with our little book on Crowded House. The art director tells Mark he did a really good job, especially for his first time doing layout, it's close to 100% correct, just 2 small errors that take us 2 seconds to fix up.... Laz hands us a copy of Les Pattersons "Travellers Tool" a re issue and we do love the ol' Sir Les so it's ours to keep (yey)...! So we can proudly say that our printers do nothing but quality work... Sir Les Patterson the seal of approval...! So we finish up and head home. As we walk in the door the electricity is back on, glad we had the meeting , both of us feel really good about how it went. November 16thThe cocky we rescued last year has been returning to our place every day for months. He's such a loner and doesn't appear to be with a flock, and yes feeding him doesn't help but I worry he has been rejected and doesn't quite know how to fend for himself. I'm just keeping an eye on him and not domesticating him that much- each time he see's us he tries to talk- quite bizarre-he is a cute cockatoo- I'm just glad he is ok and his wing has healed. He does make rather dramatic landings on the decking!!!!Started reading "Huxley In Hollywood" by David King Dunaway.... it's a cool little bio on Aldous Huxley. It's been by my bed for way too long so getting my teeth into it. I'm in that head space again where I keep thinking how nice it would be to quit work. We seem to work so hard and such long days but never a thank you from NZ these days, you just wonder sometimes if it's worth bothering with. Which sounds a bit dark but no job is perfect... roll on 2013. November 17thJB HI FI has a 20% sale on and that pisses Mark off after buying some Bond Blu Rays a few days ago...but we drive to the nearest JB and grab the rest. I take the plunge and get Bob Dylans TEMPEST album, and they must of forgotten to charge me so free is good. They had the Crowdies Very Very Best Of.... buy 2 and get one free, and after that a further 20% off, so they worked out to be about $6. I've got no stock in the office so I thought what the hell give the band a few more bucks and get some stock. Maybe it helped sales as it moved to #14 from #17 on the Australian artist chart. With all the publicity of INXS splitting, and there was a lot I thought The Very Very Best Of INXS would climb to the top 20 but it dropped to #48!The Rolling Stones, god bless them still around and a huge debut with Grrr! #8 and Platinum first week- so it will probably drop next week -a lot-still life in the old Strolling Bones. Good to see. It's a lovely sunny afternoon so I decide to give Banshee a wash- she loves the water-born on Tsunami day no wonder. She had this small spike thing somehow knotted in her fur under her leg and I could not get it out-she hated me for trying. But the bath seemed to loosen it and she just chewed it out. So funny as her whole personality changed once it was gone.. so much happier. I'm amazed at how sleek she is under that massive pile of hair.., such a leopard. All that running on the two acres and climbing those trees, not an ounce of fat on her! Mark takes a few snaps..she looks like a drowned ferret! November 18thHappy Birthday Foxy one! Give her a call and hope she loves the cool birthday gifts! I went the extra yard and spent some time painting the box that the present was in, the box is probably the best part. I like it when people make the effort on such things. Still her diamonds are a hard act to follow! Good move Yeti!Israeli troops mass on the border around Gaza, it's all very depressing and of course the innocent will be the ones stuck in the middle of this bullshit. Both sides should be ashamed of themselves. After all this we really are still appalling, no wonder aliens haven't visited us, why would you. Come to Earth and watch us kill each other. Urgh! We have the capacity to be amazing and somehow most of the time all we do is suck! I have to end on a positive note- Mark made amazing homemade sausage rolls today- they rocked, and the world felt a bit better! PG |