The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 21 October - 3 November 2013
Wilfred the Dog - Halloween 2013
October 21stI noticed that Woolworths have mentioned that it's average food and liquor prices were 2.9% LOWER in the financial year that FOLLOWED the carbon tax. So much for dumb arse Abbott's food will be massively higher. What a fool we have as a PM! Do we even have a PM? Such a horror! Gee soapbox rant so early on in the diary.We take the afternoon off and work in our ever growing vegie patch.... triple the size now and a huge assortment of vegies in it. Even a sugar plant. It's pretty cool, you can crush the leaves and use them as a replacement for sugar in lots of items in the kitchen, like cakes etc. A healthier alternative. Get together the final stuff for the exhibit. Glad so many of our favourite artists made an effort, a few didn't, and they are usually the bands who's sales grind to a halt because the public lose interest when nothing is happening or displayed or even made the slightest effort over. These things are good to be part of, even if it's for your audience to enjoy. October 22ndNikki 's present arrive a shipping container of Red Hots. Those cinnamon flavoured little red lollies..ok maybe not a shipping container but it feels that way, so many of them. Plus 2 packs of textured artists trading cards- little art papers that you can be creative with-love those! They seem to run out fast here at art stores , so I'm really stoked to receive these. Thanks Nikki.The vegie patch also has a Loquat tree in it now. Just have to keep an eye on it when the fruit grows as Queensland fruit flies seem to love them. It's a sweet juice yellow-orange fruit borne in little clusters, they make very cool jams. Love that we grow a lot of our own vegies, so easy to do. I think I really just like saying the word 'Loquat". My Sis emails me a few recent pictures of my gorgeous niece Maddie...wow she just keeps growing, taller and taller as babies do. Roll on Christmas will be brilliant to see her. October 23rdThe RMIT exhibit people turn up today, a rather large truck arrives first-wow they are after a lot of goodies. It takes longer then expected and there is now ay I can get to our excellent printers... thankfully they understand that it's a full on week for us. A funny moment, the exhibit group were in our garage, it was raining so I moved a few large items to that area for easy access for them. The curator looks at our large foam Mushroom..and says are we packing that... I had to tell him it's not part of our Mushroom archives but from a party at our house! Still it was a Mushroom ...it might of worked as part of their show. Also I found my old work portfolio from the seventies and early eighties.. it had some schedules in it. They got more excited over the portfolio with all it's Mushroom stickers and stage passes and want to use THAT in the exhibit, now that's brilliant! A little bit of "me" behind glass on display. Funny...So after all of Joe Hockeys criticising Labors spending, he wants to increase Australia's debt ceiling by $500 BILLION- what a total joke. October 24thExceptional night on 'Sons of Anarchy'-one of my favourite characters returns ' Venus Van Dam -the brilliant and fragile transexual prostitute, played by the extraordinary Walton Goggins ( c'mon Justified etc you know him!)- just excellent for all the right reasons. He just mesmerises us... "Sweet & Vaded" one of the best Sons of Anarchy episodes in years! I like how they keep Venus as cameo's.. makes "her" more special that way.Try for our printers again and a neighbourhood accident throws a spanner in the works.. I just roll with it, Nicky & David are so patient, "when you can" we like that answer. The Gods are against me... October 25thMy great aunt Esther turns 95 today and my uncle Des's birthday. I find a very funky photo of the great aunt, frame it and mail it up, hope she likes it, just a thought from me..imagine being 95, mind blowing. She's almost as old as some of the the Skyhooks! *GRIN*.Totally insane day, we are out and about, it seems endless and we finally get home in the evening. Realise BCO are playing the Flying saucer Club and guess who falls asleep on the couch. Mark tucks me in.. I need my ZZZ"s. Burning the candle at both ends lately. October 26thPearl Jam debut at #1 in America as well as Australia, which is fantastic. I like it when it's something we actually like at the top of the charts.I work on Banshee's Halloween costume, something that won't upset her, she's quite a cool cat, and has fun with us. She tried on her lion outfit and it was so snug and warm she decided to curl up asleep inside of it. She does look more like an EWOK then a lion I think...I'll have to work on it! I rip the pocket out of my leather vest and use that for ears. Tough leather I break a needle! I give Nigel a call but he must be out gardening, not near his phone. Still it could be the phone lines on the mountain, they seem to get worse. If the NBN had happened it would of been a blessing around such things, now it's just crap and decay, it will keep getting worse. October 27thLast day for the 3 Little Ducks at Olinda. We wave goodbye to Marjo & Doug... lets hope the new owners open something good.... meanwhile we are back to The Deli with our buddy Wendy. It seems so much smaller inside, Mark's usual phobia of being surrounded by people! They really look after us, we always get a table.Lots of visitors dropping in to see us , which is great. Nice time up here on the mountain. We still have quite a bit of work to do around Ailsa Craig, but we do have the "vibe". Just a nice time of year to hang with friends. October 28thI finally make it to the printers. I call into Bunnings on the way and witness a car accident, so had to give the police a report, i swear I kept thinking, am I not going to make it to the print place yet again.. The Christmas Cards turned out exceptional-they do such good work and this year one of Markys designs..I wanted something around the Crowdies album covers..they all work so well together. Now to sign the damn things. Holly hand-ache Batman!Lots of Lou and The Velvets being played today, so sad that Lou Reed has died. We are huge fans.... I could give God a list of a hundred more people to die before Lou.....! Sad news. Musicians popping off left right and centre, it happens in three's I wonder who's next? October 29thI give our Neil Finn-Paul Kelly DVD-BluRay a big push.... I'd love for this to come in at #1 on the ARIA charts, I think it will be a huge seller over the christmas period. I think the DVD will sell more then the cd... they usually do around live recordings.Suddenly things are heating up- I think the starting gun has been fired on Neil (Finns) upcoming release DIZZY HEIGHTS, showcases selling out in minutes, webcasts , our mail outs... it's all happening. It must be incredible for a songwriter to have such a long career and his music loved by so many. October 30thThe power is out today, while they work the lines for summer and bushfire season. We spend it at the house with all the Crowdies Christmas Cards on the big table, signing and envelope stuffing, just getting Australia out of the road first.I am VERY happy, finally my Wilfred the Dog costume arrived just in time for Halloween... cool! Mark still refuses to be the Possum. He will however wear the Pimp outfit! Nelly & Annie waited at the general Store (they were closing due to the power outage) and they patiently waited for us to turn up to hand over my parcel-so good of them. October 31stHappy Halloween.The hardest thing to deal with is not scratching my blackened doggy nose.... the makeup is very itchy. The costume is excellent and so snuggly warm, don't be surprised if Wilfred makes many appearances on the mountain next Winter. The house is decked out in Halloween horror... smoke machines working and ghosties screeching. I get our gorgeous mate Jodi to take our photo. Mark is the most splendid pimp. Crushed blood red velvet with faux zebra skin, a huge pimp hat...massive chain with $ sign on it and a walking cane with a diamond. Shit he looks so very hot! I ask him to be my pimp forever. It does suit him. I am a cute dog with loads of attitude. Banshee growls when she has her outfit on... she also purrs like she is the worlds happiest lion/Ewok. Mark lets us take some snaps one to be framed for the pool room photo area. Kids arrive and grab our bags of goodies ....I am so late today I have not made dinner, so we decide on Indian. So while MG is showering, I jump into the 4WD, yes in the Wilfred the dog suit and head to Olinda. It's ok to drive in, my paws are VERY big and sitting on my tail just feels a tad erotic!!!!!! However my stupid big dogs ears do flop over my face. Our neighbour in his car spots me and laughs... "aren't we meant to get more serious when we grow older" he says and laughs. "No fucking way" says Wilfred-attitude intact! The only spot at Olinda free is the handicapped parking... for the first time I park in that area. I do a lap of honour around the IGA supermarket... and Emma is on duty-she loves Wilfred and wants a photo with him...opps me! So we pose...I howl. I bolt into the Indian restaurant and get a standing ovation. "Dogs with credit card coming through" I shout. One man asks if I am a possum..I bark, what an insult! The owner Den takes a snap of Wilfred with food baggy's, love it.....I am now totally in character..I pop my head into IGA again and HOWLLLLLLL... (again).... as I approach the car a girl with her boyfriend screams "Wilfred ...ohhhh myyyy God".. and runs at me. I smile and say " I'm a guy in a dog suit parked in a handicapped zone...gotta go the karma is building up". Well that was fun fun fun. Home again and I'm on the phone and I swear I heard voices outside..whispering (kind of like the Forest scenes in LOST)..I go out and aha-another Halloween bag gone.... I visit our neighbours in the dog suit and give their kids some Halloween bags too-they answer in red ski masks.....makes me laugh. I just bark. MY lovely pimp stays in his outfit for ages, I know he loved it, despite the protest. It's a fun night..... Halloween always is up here. November 1st.Well Wilfred is in the dog house. Guess who forgot to turn the sensor ghost off last night. So at 6.00 it started screaming outside Marks bedroom window...and screaming and screaming. A piece of fake cobweb had landed on the sensor... eventually I stumbled out of bed and switched it off. Mark tells me I fail to turn it off EVERY year.......opps, my bad.Catch up with Rosemaree for some food and grocery shopping. Our shopping cart is full....it's all good. At least I'm awake for Neil's webcast and it goes well. Really well, I'm flooded with emails for days. "DIve Bomber" makes it's appearance on the net..... I like it's atmosphere. I'm sure some will be confused...ethereal will be bandied about . I like that. Aussie iTunes will have more -think it's currently 30second samples of every song from Dizzy Heights... I can hear those Flaming Lips pieces floating about in this material-anbd I like that. Now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks_-25Fgh5U We all jump off cliffs, just sometimes they are not made of stone...and depending on the way you live your life you may stop and hesitate on the edge... jump i say , go on JUMP! November 2ndEddies Enzo #1 on tonight, some nice emails in, it's a sold out crowd at Parnell , and I think they'll be appreciative. I get a really nice emails from Eddie which made me smile....he was so vibed about it.Mark surprises me with the Morrissey "25 Live" blu ray. Just excellent. A great set list and such an intimate venue is Hollywood High School. It was filmed in March this year. I wish more bands and artists would take a page out of Morrisseys book when they release a show. The extras on the BluRay are very fan friendly. He also ventures into the recording studio with Mr Visconti and records 4 news songs in front of the cameras. "Action is my middle name" is the obvious choice for a single- Morrissey at his best. I'm stoked that Speedway is in the live set. "All of the rumours, keeping me grounded. I never said, I never said That they were completely unfounded.." My favourite Morrissey line.....could well be my life... Thank you Marky you made my whole week...such an exceptional show. Morrissey sold that one out in 12 seconds-that must be a record for a gig in LA! Tried explaining to a facebook fan why it's kind of rude just to grab my photo images or our archive images and use them without asking....etc. Some people just don't get it. I stayed patient just shook my head in disbelief a few times. It's facebook get over it dear I so wanted to type...but I'm a nice guy and tried to explain why something is bad... and really if we all just put the same old photos up it would be so fucking DULL! C'mon some of you make Facebook just slightly unique instead of boring. GREAT coffee at the general store, kicks me into gear to get a lot done. I work on the roof gutters, our house roof is insanely high-you want Dizzy Heights Neil Finn come and join me on my roof! Meanwhile Mark mows the lawns , and gets some slight sun stroke... the vegie patch looks healthy and so far Meg the chicken hasn't invaded it for a feast! Work in the office till 10.30 at night, get a lot done. Hear from Marks brothers wife about her 50th in NZ but fairly sure we are in Hawaii.... so sadly we'll be away. November 3rdBack on my Ginko which is great, 3 tablets a day.... good for the old cranium! The weather has turned again, cold, weird day. I did so well yesterday on signing cards at the general store, I ventured down again today and scrawled away, yet again. Have to make some time this week to finish THE EARLY YEARS, fallen behind just a little bit..it will be ok.Adam Ant turned 59 today so I run some Adam bits on my sheepbook page. I forgive you Adam *GRIN*, he's back in flavour again.... well the Dirk Wears White Sox Adam!(My favourite AA album). As expected "Transformer" jumps on the ARIA catalogue chart to #12 after Lou Reed passed away. I can't believe it is only Gold here... surely after all this time it must be multi-platinum- maybe the CD is Gold? INXS Best Of now #1 on the catalogue chart. After all the fuss they make about being "a band" they stick a picture of Michael ONLY on the cover-kind of self defeating around the "band" line. Pearl Jam still in the national Top 10, what a fine album that is. Tomorrow James Freud would of been gone for 3 years now. I keep expecting to see him at the coffee bar at Prahran. Just seems kind of strange, even now people don't mention how he died, maybe it's a respect thing or just sadness who knows. Think I'll be playing 'Breaking Silence" in the office in Monday. It was a joy working with him -even for that short time period of his solo career. We watch the documentary on Jeremy Oxley from The Sunnyboys on the ABC tonight ("Sunny Boy")- all about his life after the band and dealing with his schizophrenia. It ran the full set of emotions, was left with very mixed emotions ourselves. At least people who know nothing about Schizophrenia get a small insight. Thanks Merelyn for reminding us that this was on. Keeping passing the open windows... PG |