The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 17 - 30 August 2015
Fourteen years have now gone by since Shirl's sad death- he was unique.
August 17th"Famous people spend all day on the phone...." so penned Tim Finn. Today I must be extra "famous'" an insane amount of phone calls and they started backing up. The whole day, Telstra certainly made a profit today from us. Nearly all of it work related , a few non paying jobs because it is "family"; I seem to do more things for free then paying work. There better be a sack load of good karma coming my way soon- I swear.August 18thI hear from our friend Maz and Merelyn- they are coming to Melbourne in a week so it will be great to catch up. RIPE always seems to be our meeting place now- so I'm guessing that will be it.Chat to Bongo Skyhook tonight, always time for Bobby boy, we were both amazed at how fast this year has gone by. Why is that, if anyone even suggests old age I will slap them. August 19thJodes drives us to Montage and we shout her lunch. They have these magnificent chocolate orange cakes, almost mini cheesecakes, so we score all of them for afternoon tea. ten more laps around Kalorama oval for us, after this feast.I keep getting asked for my "desert island discs", people don't get that mine change daily, so I gave todays list , not very exciting but they wanted it, so.........up on my sheepbook page it goes. Sad news in the afternoon that Batgirl has died. Yes the brilliant Yvonne Craig from the TV show. She was amazing. I create some Batgirl art for sheepbook. The really odd thing was that I am working on MIM dressed in her bat girl outfit, just an image that I was tarting up, and then the news rolls in. Maybe when one Batgirl goes another is ignited? More power to potential Bat girls everywhere. I am Batgirl hear me roar , in numbers too big to ignore....... August 20thHappy Birthday Rosemaree, I tried her old work number, don't have a newie. I guess we all wished her a happy birthday a few days ago. Next year in August we are leaving the country to avoid all the birthdays *GRIN*.Finish the small art card trimming, making an effort to get the 350 little pieces of bonus art done by September 1st. The hand painting of them is easy, the silk screening is hard. I have to wash and clean and dry the screens after every dozen or so cards. Which means thirty times the screen has to be washed etc. Just time consuming but I still have the vibe to get them all done. Music and chocolate will get me through this. August 21stThe Woolworths grocery man arrives, we hide again and watch him on the security camera's, in case his truck gets stuck . It's a different guy today so we breathe a sigh of relief.I walk to the post box and there is this mind blowing box of presents from Wendy C. Feeling the love, very bloody well spoilt some would say. I'm a bit at a loss for works- it made our whole week. August 22ndI think I'm getting addicted to Goulburn Valley- Apricots in juice. Really delicious and probably good for me , so maybe it's an addiction I should stick with.The afternoon and part of the evening I'm in the art room. Miss Banshee the cat has been following me about all day and climbed up on the bar and watched me working away on the art pieces. At one critical stage she decided I needed a cat rub, and climbed down and just went for it. She's so cool, following me around, sometimes cat talking. She's a funny fur ball. Warwick and Navine may well kill me, I've been using this brilliant glass cheese platter they gave me for my birthday as a mixing board. It really is the BEST palette I have ever had ... love it. Hope they get that I will use it for that far more then a funky cheese board. It's brilliant. The security cameras and all the lights went on tonight, a deer of all things found it's way into the yard, and it took awhile to find it's way back out. It's great to know that the cameras and alarms etc are all working, but it did scare the hell out of us. Talk about Fort Knox. Deers are always welcome. August 23rdSkyhooks third album "Straight In A Gay Gay World" was released this day in 1976. 39 years ago! I still remember how excited Mark and myself were, we bolted to Wilsons record bar , at Crown street Wollongong and were first in when the doors opened. We secured the very first copies out of the boxes- and blown away. You can't keep a good fan down...god we were passionate, nice memories. A wonderful time to be a teenager in Oz.August 24thWhat was Brian from the Uncanny Xmen doing in my dream last night, how odd- nothing pornographic, but I woke up laughing, Manno's sense of humour no doubt!Waiting waiting waiting on my pay. How good is my "budgeting" when I get paid every 2 months. OK rich for a week... I don't really budget, I juggle, I make it happen. In the art room for 2 more hours today, the afternoon spent on Neil Finn "stuff" and a bit of Split Enz. Interesting phone call, looks like the wheels are turning - we shall see. Huge gust of wind when i was bringing in the recycle bin and the huge rainbow flag high up in our tree sprang to life. Gay Marriage is like the wind, no politician can stop it. August 25thI finally send off 6 rolls of old film, some of it goes back to 1979. So it may be useless. I sent it to Fotofast in Queensland , so fingers crossed for something interesting on the rolls. I still have 2 rolls of slide film, no idea what so ever what is on them. It's a bit like a lucky dip, I'm even wondering if all the reels were mine, imagine if they were not, there could be pornographic pictures on the rolls or even worse- a Liberal Party convention. I'll be stoked if I get 12 images that are from our past that are interesting. If nothing else it quenches my intrigue. I still need to find some place that develops slides, I might have to beg my friend Kiersten in the USA to see if there is a place near her.I mail off some transparency's by next day envelope, god Australia Post is expensive. At least this way I know they will arrive safely. They are all originals, so that always worries me when they leave our hot sweaty hands. Maz and Merelyn pick us up and they are a bit late so RIPE is out of the question, so Montage it is. Funny as that was the scene of the very late "lunch" when they were down last and it was called something different, so hopefully todays efforts will be quicker as far as service. We are spoilt by them, some lovely chocolates, they know our weakness. Great to see them. Maz's sonic witches cackle can break glass 20 kms away- which of course makes me laugh. August 26thI'm out of lettuce so the BLT's I'm making us for lunch become BCT- (Bacon Cheese Tomato) which I have say taste pretty fine. Thumbs up from Mark.Last Season of HELL ON WHEELS is off to a good start. Such an underrated show- we love it. We are also having a bit of a flashback by watching the NUMBER 96 dvds, the iconic Aussie tv show from the seventies. Billed as the night Australian tv lost it's virginity. The first gay characters, full frontal nudity the list goes on. We dig it, it's cheesy and just so Australian. Mark still doesn't forgive me for two things in our endless life together. 1/ I (accidentally ) broke his Tandy electronics torch at the first Skyhooks gig we went to 2/ I met both the Panty Hose Strangler and the Sexy Russian from the Deli- both from Number 96-when the Number 96 train pulled into Unanderra station, on the way to the Logie awards in Melbourne. I'll be reminded of these two things forever. When it's our 100th year together he will most certainly bring this up. August 27thMy Sisters birthday coming up and I know she loves her Clarins. her brother got her onto Clarins when she was a teenager. So it's an easy present, and one she will use. Nothing worse then buying people presents and they are never looked at etc. Clarins is pretty good quality too, but she is worth it. My sister is one of my best friends, great we are so close. I regret she lives so far away.August 28thI mail off a small parcel to our friend Laura, it's heavy so the postage is insane, but hopefully it's something she will like. A "local" gift from the bee's of Kalorama. Kalorama honey, tastes like liquid gold. (whatever gold tastes like).There seems to be growing support for the Labor representative for the Western Australian seat of Canning. His name is Matt Keogh and the Canning seat is a safe Liberal seat. Held by 11%. However all the latest polling shows that the Liberals have lost 10%+ in support, just goes to show what people think of the Liberal Party in Australia. Unemployment in that area is a major issue, it's above the national average. Western Australia overall is in a bad way, 1% rise in unemployment will make them the second highest unemployment rate in Australia. Add to this the $500 million cut from Perth airport and the light rail and neglected infrastructure and it means this safe little By-Election may not be that safe after all. I dare say people also want to send a message to Abbott in Canberra. So if you know of anyone voting in Canning- Matt Keogh is worthy of their support. August 29thHappy Birthday Sweet Sister. Hope your day is fantastic Jennifer. I wake up very early and give her a birthday call. Of course my Mum has already beaten me to the punch and called an hour before. Mothers always call first, it's the golden rule eh? I dare not steal her thunder, it will be strange one day knowing Mum is no longer alive and getting up early to make that first birthday call.The one thing about my sisters birthday is that it reminds me that it is also the anniversary of Shirl from Skyhooks death. It's been 14 years now. Working on various projects lately and they remind me just how exceptional Shirl was. Such a vocal range, such a larrikin - no one can fill that void. RIP Shirl! So sad that he went so soon, lead singers are so hard to "replace" especially unique ones. The Skyhooks facebook page is a hive of activity today, a record number of visitors. A big part around Shirls death, and also because a radio station gave the page a mention on it's Sheepbook area. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Skyhooks/751125208300602 August 30thThe Countdown documentary get's it's repeat tonight so I make sure the answering machine is on. That little cameo is amazing, people stop you in the streets, and always comment , so far all good. God bless the ABC for such things.We are announcing 2 Neil Finn, NZ shows tomorrow. One in Christchurch (October 14th) the other Wellington at the wonderful Opera House (October 13th). I've had to hold back on our VIP email as we haven't been supplied links, but still time, so not too fussed. Mark and myself are enjoying the fabulous Gecko Brothers in the new cable show "Dusk to Dawn". It keeps on improving so we are sticking with this one. Obviously there was the original film (1996) with Clooney , Keitel, Tarantino & Lewis which was wonderfully freaky, but this TV version IS different in some ways, maybe more subtle? Anyway, we keep coming back.. and not just because I think Don Cotrona is hot in a suit! It will be interesting to see how many seasons they get out of this and if they can keep it interesting. We also decide to watch Dallas - the ORIGINAL tv show (not the sad re-boot) and J.R.'s secretary in season one looked very familiar. Oh my god it's Tina Louise from Gilligan's Island. Yes Ginger ... so I had to look her up and she is still alive, aged 81 now..and only her and Dawn Wells (Mary Anne) are still alive. The rest of the Gilligan's Island cast have gone to that big island in the sky. It's sad when all the cast members of a show have died. Will Ginger be the last castaway standing?! On that note.. it's time to weigh anchor! Adios dear readers. xPG |