Famous for Sixteen Minutes: Archive

The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 9 April - 22 April 2018

"Common knowledge that we Aussies always store our Anti-Radiation Pills next to our Vegemite". (Kalorama Pantry 2018).

April 9th

The phone rings very early and it's Neils rather excellent manager Bill- the cats out of the bag, ten days early, people are talking, Neil Finn has joined Fleetwood Mac.

So sleep out of my eyes, turn about in the shower for 5 seconds and head to the office.

My IN box is filling up. I run a small Neil quote on all our areas. I start sending the Press Release to the various media people who have already asked- "Is this real"? If I had a dollar today from people who asked I could buy the country of Liechtenstein!

I smile at the wackiness of it, not so much Neil joining- the exceptional jams with him and Mac in Maui probably made it all feel appealing, the wackiness is the extremes of peoples reaction. A few I just want to say-you do know it's Neil Finns life , let the guy do what he wants musically. Get on with your own life. Overall I am kind as I know a few people it's a knee-jerk reaction and I DO get why some people are a bit freaked.

"Two weeks ago I received a wonderful invitation to be a part of a truly great band. A few days later I was standing in a room playing music with Fleetwood Mac. It felt fresh and exciting, so many great songs, a spectacular rhythm section and 2 of the greatest voices ever. Best of all, we sounded good together. It was a natural fit. I can’t wait to play some more. " (Neil Finn).

By lunch time I know this is a BIG story. Media continually contact us, so out goes the Press statement , tagging a few things as Peter Green has the old groovy Mac fans asking "when am i returning to play guitar" - oh that old joke. Soon I tell them.

In the middle of all this young Elroy Finn releases his single WORTH THE WAIT.

You can check it out here. Finn Finns everywhere and not a drop to drink! You can check out Elroys song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8cYVQAUciE

I work in the office till 3.00 in the morning. So worn out when I eventually climb into the bed. What a long one.

April 10th

Up early, again dealing with the Finn Fleetwood stuff. Have a feeling that is all I will be doing all week. Planned to have breakfast with Mark this morning, but we end up having breaky at Montage at 1.30 pm. People come up to the table and ask about Fleetwood Mac. Like everyone else that we run into, so breakfast is strange but predictable. In the words of Sergeant Schultz- "I know nothing" -and mostly that is true.

GREAT to see Paul Kelly win an ARIA last night. A Co-write song with The Ferrets Billy Miller. Congrats to the One Louder team too. What a week.

April 11th

Humans are not meant to be 'static' , move on, move upward and enjoy this short life. I woke up with that floating around in my head today-what is life telling me?

Two full on hours in the office today. So had a break and a coffee at the General Store. Annie turned on the radio- first song Fleetwood Mac, second song Crowded House- of Cmon...maybe I need to Kabul in Afghanistan to have a coffee and escape the Fleetwood Finn stuff. I pop in my ear plugs and work via my lap top. Oh peace at last.

I send in my pay invoice, early but bills to pay, band post office box etc. It seems to take forever to get paid, it's only going to NZ but goes via several people. There has to be a better way.

April 12th

The crazy stuff continues, more like a second wave of emails and calls. I'm still wading through the first! If nothing else this certain has people talking. Herald Sun calls with a few questions, all basic. So a couple of short answers, I thought it was for a few column inches. I was wrong.

The weather outside my office bubble is wonderful. We can't believe it is so fantastic in April. I'm sure it will turn soon enough, better build up my arm muscles to chop wood. In the evening I cook up another batch of sauce , we are still picking tomatoes, Banshee walks in the vegie patch with me, smelling flowers and just enjoying the sunshine. She is so content to roam about, not caged into a prison cell. I wonder if she knows how lucky she is having such a big space to run and climb.

We tried to buy a local Bluray of The Doors Live at the Isle of Wight. (1970). The last live show of theirs filmed, and only 3 other shows after that and the Doors break up. It's just after the farce of Jim being charged for obscenity and facing jail time. So he is very subdued but singing so incredibly well. I love that he was looking like some Jesus Poet and not a rock star -the beard suits him. So it is an important time capsule, but no not available in Australia. It is in NZ and everywhere else, so annoying, no local copy- no wonder the Bluray sales are dying in the arse in Oz.

Mark finds a brilliant Russian website, so manages to reconstruct it for us on BluRay. Annoying as we really want to support the local bluray industry but that seems to get harder and harder to do.

April 13th

Lost In Space relaunches on NetFlix tonight. Looks great, eager to see it.

The wonderful Geoff Lloyd calls, Lloyd'y was part of our original CH crew, so great to hear from him. He's a good egg. We always have a bit of a laugh.

I still continue to stare at all these emails in horror. All I can do is chisel away at them. I notice a few are people just intrigued about Neil and Crowded House, so I suggest they check out the Very Very Best Of.

April 14th

I'm at the General Store and chatting to a local Edna. She asks me what would make today great and I say "rain". As we are standing there it starts, at first a few drops. Then heavier and heavier. I should of said a million dollars left in our letter box. ! I look in her paper to see that the few lines on Fleetwood Mac-Finn are correct, quite shocked it's two pages and in the centre of the paper! That's rather a lot! My few quotes in it seems (mostly) correct so that is the main thing.

The rain is now bucketing down. The dirt road rather slippery to navigate but we get home safely. Some friends drop by in the evening and it's still raining.

Watch "A Dog's Purpose" on cable. Quite a few tears around this one. What a cool little movie. A very late night tonight- again.

April 15th

A luxury sleep in. I really needed it. The hours have been rather long. Not even sure if it's appreciated, probably not.

I bake a pretty good cake for desert, a drop of alcohol made the difference to it.

Charts are in and Crowdies "The Very Very Best Of" , re-enters the aussie top 50. It also jumps a huge 32 spots to #15 on the ARIA catalogue charts. As does Fleetwood Mac. I'm not too surprised, in some ways even amused. I email Neil and joke that it must be all those Mac fans checking out his work. With the press saturation that this has had , and so many CH clips being played I guess it had to happen. I'm probably more shocked that people still don't have a copy of a Crowded House Best Of album.

April 16th

A few little parcels of used stamps arrive for the charity box. Our 2nd box now and it's about half way full. Thanks everyone for making such an effort.

The weather has certainly or simply became 'normal'. Love seeing the locals in their beanies and hand knitted jumpers. I wear my favourite jumper today. It's a really cool wool mix and colour-people always stop me and say they like this. I haven't a clue where I bought it from.

Still no pay, trying not to panic but close to a week since I put in my Invoice. Just once I wish poor old me would be a priority. Just once ....

Mark has cleared 99% of the decking, incredible. Next project is replacing some of the wood and putting new plants into the pots that go around the edge.

April 17th

Hopefully a time coming up when I can get a few days off with Mark and we can recharge. Seems like we are in the office a hell of a lot these days - or maybe we should save our break to Winter and escape to Magnetic. That might make more sense, break up that tough Kalorama winter.

Neil must be heading off soon for the new Fleetwood Mac group photo shoot. It's strange I can totally deal with Neil in Mac but something bizarre about him being a new promo photo with them. can't actually articulate why, maybe I just find the photo concept funny. Maybe it's because I'm so use to all the previous photos- that this one will actually be very different.

April 18th

We didn't mind The Gifted. Didn't know Bill from True Blood and Fred from Angel were on the show. Love that Bryan Singer worked on this. It could be another hit for Marvel, part of the X-men world.

People still coming up to us in the street and giving their thoughts on Neil joining Fleetwood Mac- it's now getting weird. I just smile and go into repetitive waffle mode. I probably look bored with my standard reply.

Get well Allie - Get well Fen- sad when our mates are sick. Count our blessings how healthy we both are. I need to exercise more over Winter, less time on the couch. Part of our friends problem is that they do so little exercise.

April 19th

Tim Curry, the good Dr Frank-N-Furter turns 72 today. God bless ya Tim Curry.

Mark makes me speak in a Frank N Furter voice all day. Sounds great when I answer the office phone as Frank!

Right on the dot of 5.00 I'm out the office door and sit out in the sun re-potting plant holders for the freshly cleared decking. I grab some natives from Karwarra Australian Plant Garden near us at Kalorama. Crowea- which is both aromatic and has masses of pink starry flowers. A huge Rhodonthe - which also breaks out in big star flower bursts some Grevillias-the "fireworks" variety-with bright red & yellow flowers. I have some daggy old Chrysanthemum and even a Geranium for some colour. I'm one pot short & remember Sharon Finns lovely old mosaic covered pot she gave us 30 years ago. It's perfect for the Marians mini Correa. I head inside and get the Tulip bulbs out of the fridge. We laugh that they are Fabio tulips- the famous Fabio and the Goose moment. (rolls eyes), so quite a bit done. Still some smaller pots but will get onto them in the next few days. We are rebuilding the decking underneath . Lots of wood projects on, Mark shaping and sawing the new shelves for the bookcases. Good to get active and do such things. We are not too bad when it comes to wood work.

Watch the last episode of Season One of HERE AND NOW. Lets hope HBO sign them up for a second season. We really enjoyed this one.

April 20th

The sun is shining and black cockatoos are flying overhead - beautiful day at Kalorama. The last gasp of Summer? I carry a dozen photo albums to the General Store, looking for content for the internet and fans. Fun to wade through all these memories.

Still playing Cheap Tricks SEX-America box set-what a beauty that one is.

Facebook has some truly tragic moments. People airing their lame little lives and dirty linen. In the end it can make someone look just as nutty and fucked up as those who perpetrated the offence in the first instance. The high road shows dignity and class!

I post a little piece on the Civic Hotel, Sydney 1979 - we saw some great gigs at that inner Sydney deco pub.

A bit of spin from the Liberals re the Victorian Election. I see they conveniently forgot to mention the "Preferred Premier" Polling. Daniel Andrews leads Matthew Guy (yeah Who) by 20 points! While the Vic Liberals have Guy as Leader they'll probably never get back in.

April 21st

This diary has now clicked over 488,000 visitors. Incredible-thanks folks.

Record Store Day. Happily give Dixons a huge plug.

Jason Resch and Jerome Smith are back at Mount D hotel this Sunday, so may well head up for a drink and some music. Jerome had a stint with The Divinyls so that is pretty cool too.

Off the mountain for dinner with friends. The CFA-Council burn off is happening all over the mountain and it is HUGE. Big delays, endless convoys of fire trucks and the burn off goes all the way down the valley and as high as the roadside. Thankfully slow so native wildlife can scram and hide in our lounge room!!! (it wouldn't be the first time). They had a public communicator this time so they'd walk up to your car while you waited in line & tell you what was the latest. Very sensible.
By the time we came home the darkness was lit with thousands of mini fires glowing in the blackness. Kind of pretty in a "if the wind starts up we are goners" sort of way. Still happy they have cleared a lot of the tree drop. It feels safer.

April 22nd

Oh, we wake up to the sad news that Verne Troyer who played Mini-Me in two Austin Powers movies has died, age 49! The ladies certainly loved him!!!!!

I archive in the morning, some of Chris Gibbons items that were donated. What becomes 1 hour ends up as 3 hours. But I get a lot done. Still in awe that Crowded House generated so much press over the years, countless files of newspaper clippings.

I'm cleaning out our pantry this afternoon- gotta make sure the radiation tablets are close to the front. You never know these days. Still not sure you'd want to be a survivor in a nuked world?

On that positive thought (cough) Duck & Cover folks.

Peace! PG