The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 21 April - 12 May 2014
Autumn Kalorama 2014
April 21stSee it has happened again, fallen behind on my diary. It's not that I mean to do so, it just happens. I start it, the phone rings, or a rush on emails or some scans need to be done, or Banshee suddenly needs her dinner. It's a diary how hard can this be? Deb is probably relieved that I get sidetracked, gives her breathing space. See even now, I start this and Mark just says "I was going to get you to trim my hair in a minute". I've decided not to stress over this, it's only a diary, so it will happen ..go with the flow eh!Public holiday today...Easter Monday. We decide to go to the office and work on our live gig lists and other not so stressy stuff. It's peaceful in the office today... the phones are very quiet. Just here with music and my best mate. April 22ndThe leaves are changing colour outside my office window- all those reds and yellows- exceptional. Soon I'll hate them as thousands fall to the ground and I have to find ways to compost them.April 23rdI return Nigels dats today and it was originally going to be a quick drop in. But we got to talking, wading through his sea chest of Enz bits and pieces and checking out slides. All stuff for the Official Enz facebook page. It's great, I love it when band members make an effort around such things. That giving back attitude has a habit of being returned (in a good way) in spades! Plus it's nice to hang out with Nigel, just a good mate....a really good afternoon..as I drive off the sun is setting. No way am I cooking tonight, I get Marky to call our local Pizza place so i can call in and grab some takeaway.April 24thI paid my speeding fine today, a hidden camera on the way to Nigel's, I was a whole 6 km over the speed limit. For km's I didn't even see a speed sign, still my fault, I was a lot more careful driving to Nigel's yesterday!!! I put up a few of his photos instantly onto the Official Enz page and such a positive feedback. Our Enz bassist has always been great to the fans-he gets it!April 25thAnzac Day. I walked back from the general store today and noticed the Peace Monument at Kalorama oval didn't have a single flower or wreath. Weird as the council usually puts one at every shrine. So I walked around the garden and picked whatever flowers I could fine and took them down. I hate war, and the only good side of one is when it's over. I detest that we were suckered into Iraq... but I do have a soft spot for the old Diggers. Different times, so they do have my respect.Mark points out it was 25 years ago today that we moved to Cape Patterson for our year by the sea. It was a brilliant time for us , despite me not driving and we looked like two seaside Mormons on our pushbikes. Nellys coffee machine dies a death at the General Store, Pete still sneakily makes me a coffee but it's now stressy and Nelly keeps having to say "No coffee" to everyone that comes in-I hide my cuppa amongst the table display. April 26thGreg Skyhook calls about a tv piece on Shirls old school- great to see his parents looking so amazingly healthy (Ron & Joyce Strachan) in the interview. They are remarkable, they always look the same!Strange mood today, feeling sleepy and a tad blue. Kind of fog in my head! It will pass- thankfully this is rare. maybe it's all the fog outside and it's sneaked in. It's going to be a brutal Winter. April 27thWell tonight is Logie Award night, our annual bitch fest. Love to sit with Marky, have a great meal and we just attack (and occasionally give the thumbs up). It's appalling how many tv "stars" forget to thank the fans that voted for them. Young Bonnie Sveen who won New Talent- from crappy ol' Home & Away-did-so she scored big points from us. Scott Cam won the Gold, he seems kind of normal for a multi millionaire tv trade guy. The best speech of the night went to Claire and Adam Harvey who accepted the "Hall of Fame" award for their deceased dad Peter Harvey. He would of been proud of them. Kylie Minogue- the song was truly shite.. and the production really really bad. We do love our Kyles..well most of the time but this was Z grade crap. Some turds still float!Excellent "House Of Cards" tonight- Frank and Claire's 3 way with security guy Edward Meechum! Just great-what a show! Thank the goddess shows like this to balance out Reality TV bullshit for the meek minded. April 28thDoc Neeson on the Australian Story tonight. We watched it and enjoyed some of it, sad by other bits and in the end just not sure how we felt around the whole story.I go for a jog and run into Carol and Kathleen, so walk 6 laps.. darkness descends on Kalorama so I escort Carol home-in case a crazed wombat jumps on her! April 29thI think it's time to head back to Marysville for a visit-the bushfires have been over for 5 years and I bet the town still needs support. So we'll make a day of it. I keep meaning to tell Mark about going to Bruno's sculpture garden... as he's repaired most of it from the fires.April 30thNot many Neil Europe shows to go... lots of emails and great stories. I contact NZ (again) to hassle around our Dizzy Heights stock... it looks like the wheels are finally turning on those!May 1stMy heart does a little flutter on the first day of May. My birthday I guess, one year closer to death! In some ways it is a wake up call- stop sleep walking through life..stay focused. Is it my imagine or is the world a lot tougher, more expensive and more and more people seem to be drowning and falling through the cracks. 2014 -me me ME! Imagine if every person just lent a helping hand to someone- people would probably snort at me for that notion these days?I do call our mate Warwick a day early for his birthday..good to chat and we are all catching up soon. New Polling in- Labor- 54%, Libs 46% - wow considering Abutt was 23 points ahead... what a drop! Stinker (holds nose). Even 2/3 of the Liberal voters polled reject his "working till 70's" plan.....! Why would you continually shoot yourself in the foot, I'm not complaining but considering he's meant to be this smart political operator he's making some stupid moves career wise. Rocket Pocket Books did well this month- people love those little books. I'll be glad when The Early Years is ready , delays shit me.. but with books it's such common practice. At least it gives me extra time to finish the 300 little art pieces. We still have a handful of the Crowded House GHOST CARS ON THE FREEWAY books left, just a box or so. A good fun read- www.rocketpocketbooks.com OR a cool present for any new Crowded House fans. May 2ndWe head to work very early today so we can finish early. My Sis, Mum and lovely little niece MIM are arriving today so we want the house all ready for them. We fix up the main guest room, lots of fresh flowers and the house looks great. It's only for a few days but I'm exciting they are arriving. I don't see my family as much as I would like to.The flight is delayed, aren't all flights from Sydney?-but they make it down & not too late. Mum is a bit sick from the travel, but Miss MIm loves it... she's amazing, and we stayed up till 1.00! I have a night owl as a niece. Great to see Sis, she's a brilliant Mum. Maddie just checks us out and suddenly this huge smile and giggle. She spots Mr Gruff my old golden teddy bear, in the spare room when she is getting changed. He's a bit worn, not too grotty but she loves him and drags him around the lounge room floor. She's also up to her 4th tooth as far as teething goes so he is chewed on. We are also blessed as MIM sleeps through the whole night.. so we all get some sleep. Only a bit for me as I can never sleep when we have guests. May 3rdI'm first up and I'm as quiet as I can be and cook breakfast and squeeze juice and all of that and even pick some wild berry's. Mark and Mum look after Maddie while sis showers and they find enough to distract her. Mark tells me that she spots this tiny piece of lint on the rug..crawls over, picks it up, inspects it like a crazed scientist and gently replaces it where she found it! So freaky. Of course I take 97 photos... am I a bad uncle for not taking 100? We head down to the Kalorama General Store. Nelly has this custom where new babies are in a basket on the Aust Post scales and photographed for her baby wall in the shop. MIM almost nods off- that will teach her to stay up to 1.00 raging with her uncles! Our mate Trudi arrives, she shared a room with my Sis when we went to Kenya and they get along really well. She turned up bearing gifts -which was so generous. For all of us! I created a healthy lunch and we had a chat about the next possible adventure to Alexandria and Petra. It freaked my Mum out a bit. Think she's under the illusion that if someone has a baby their life must grind to a halt! May 4thSis and myself head down to the Kalorama Chestnut Festival. I have Miss MIM in her baby carrier hooked onto me and no back pain or anything it's oddly works well. The sun comes out as we head off, it's been raining all morning. We are just going to support the festival which raises money for the pre-school up here. I take Maddie to meet the Chestnut Fairy Queen who is one of those white frozen statues that slowly moves. We have a photo taken. Mim reaches out to her -very cute. Locals come up and say hello and chat. We buy 20 treasure chest bottles, once more bucks for the school and we give them away to our neighbours kids. Briefly catch up with Rosemaree , I think we are all walking fast as rain is on the way. Great that Sea Shepherds have a stall at the festival. Mim gets her first activist badge!By afternoon bags are packed and the family is heading off, it's been a lightening fast visit but a good one. So stoked to see the three generations of woman.. love them all. By evening Mark and myself collapse onto the couch. It is good to have the house back. May 5thWe donate to get the latest advert aired again on Australian TVS. Brilliant Australia has awoken from it's nightmare and wiping sleep out of it's eyes!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHWNmeV9tw4 May 6thEnz bassist Nigel Griggs loves his anagrams and emails me a few for the Official Enz page. Enz songs and one Enz album. I'm reading mark's River Phoenix book at the moment and noticed the anagrams for River Phoenix is- "Viper Heroin X". Considering where he died and how that is a bit freaky!May 7thMy lucky BP petrol gift vouchers arrive, so $20 off my fuel. Excellent.The leaves are starting to fall off the trees up here, the ground is all golden! I'll have to use that in a photo. May 8thWe head to Eastlands, JB have a sale on and we also have some discount vouchers from their website, plus a gift card from my sister. I take a punt and buy "Under the Dome" tv show on Bluray. It was 1/2 price and 20% off so not a huge risk. Dean Norris is in it (Hank from Breaking Bad)... he always reminds me of Michael Chiklis...so I bait Mark saying looks its The Thing from Fantastic Four. (I so know it's not but Norris looks a lot like Chiklis). Mark doesn't fall for it. He doesn't want to play!I return Bongo Skyhooks call, he wants to do some PR for his shows. I suggest the morning slot for Gold FM and set that up. I'm happy to help, Bobs a mate. May 9thOur cheque for the house insurance went missing via Aust Post. Thankfully Kareena ID stamps all my paper work so I even have proof/date. Lucky i looked. After 27 years of being with them and not a single claim you'd think they would of at least called and checked. Freaks me that our house might of not been covered for a month! Worries me they didn't hassle purely for the MONEY!May 10thCoffee with Miss Rosemaree and she gives me some stamps for my birthday-which probably sounds weird to some, but postage is always appreciated around what we do. Plus it's good to see her. She watches me do some editing on the Macbook Pro. I love my computer.Wade through some Skyhooks recordings today, it's a nice vibe. We love it with Hooks music in the office. May 11thHappy Mothers Day Mum! ... and yeah happy Birthday to me. I avoid birthdays when it falls on Mothers Day. Too hard to organise and the restaurants are always packed. So this year can slide. I am a bit blown away by how many emails and messages and cards and presents that arrive! Wow feeling the love guys!So I survived another year and I'm still here. I feel ok, still passionate. Thanks to you all for the Happy Birthday messages. May 12thWe decided to delay going to Bruno's Sculpture Park till today and a wise decision. The sun is out when we depart. 10 minutes from Marysville massive fog bank and we question if we made a mistake. We arrive Marysville and the sun is shining, really beautiful day. Bruno's sculpture park is at 51 Falls Rd. We were stoked we had the whole park for ourselves and there was Bruno working away. Such a lovely bloke and he seemed to enjoy a chat. The park is so peaceful and about 100+ statues. Some new, some reworked that survived the fires that burn't the park to the ground. If you live in Victoria it is a must see. We say goodbye to good natured Bruno and take a drive down Falls rd... to the Steavensons Falls. They decided to light the falls in 1972. So every night around 7.00 the falls light up-just great. Nice to go for a bit of a hike. Afterwards we eat at Marysville, good to support the town which is still recovering from being destroyed in the fires. The population is half to what it was before the bush fires. Anyway a lovely day and a big thank you Bruno for being such a good host.Take care Peter |