The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 22 November - 12 December 2021
"Naughty & occasionally Nice - that's me. Happy Christmas."
November 22ndWhat a glorious day on the mountain. The rest of the East Coast can have its rain, we are loving the sunshine here at Kalorama.I drive to Montrose and grab a coffee, some bread and a few other bits and pieces. I carry a box of grocery's to an old ladies car- so scored a boy scout merit badge for that! I hope when i'm a wrinkled old lady someone carries my groceries. She tells me when I load up the boot that I've done this before. What lift groceries? No silly you've carried these to my car a year ago. She was right I did. I'd forgotten. I move some boxes in the garage and find a really cool hammock. It's made of natural fibres. I convince Mark that it must go up in between the trees in the grove area. I use one of my old reject climbing ropes, which was kind of stupid of me. Yes you guessed it, as soon as I climb in, the rope snaps and I end up on my bum. All we could do was laugh, I looked so silly. "Will you give up now?" laughs Mark. "No, NEVER" I reply. I find a better rope and it's up. So nice and it is comfortable. I stay in it for an hour and read Tim Winton. The phone rings when I'm back inside and it's Simon who had a lot to do with Liberation/Mushroom/Michael Gudinski. Nice to talk to him, he's working around the Gudinski/Mushroom archives. He has collected a lot of stuff and wants some help from me IDing some band photos. That is easy and i reply as soon as the emails arrive. We are going to catch up at the archives. That will be fun. So much in common. I'm doing some press work around the upcoming Andy White show at the Brunswick Ballroom and I'm playing the Andy+Tim unreleased album as backing. Even while writing this diary "Save Me A Weekend" from the album is playing. It's nice music to work to. I love the first track " The Sea Holds The Memory" especially the lyrics. I'm going to have to listen to this album quite a few times, it's a feast of lyrics, sounds and I need to devour it. November 23rdFive years ago we were at the Opera House again, a return encore of 4 nights with the Crowdies. Overall really great, I had fun looking after the band room & some other areas. I remember working incredibly hard, at times wondering if anyone noticed my efforts. Gigs can be like that. A joy that Bill was the bands manager at the time - he's a good bloke. Grant Thomas was the other awesome Crowded House manager. So many gigs, so many memories. I remember that was MIM's first live concert, there she was dancing away with her AAA pass. Kind of neat that our niece's first concert was Crowded House I guess.November 24thWe catch up with Andy White at Montage, well kind of. He is running a bit late so we grab a coffee before they close and head to the open air art complex to plot & plan. Take a snap as it's good for promotion (thanks Marky). Work out a date to do a little bit of filming for You Tube. December 12th at the Brunswick Ballroom- lets hope people support this. Andys such a talent and a nice bloke, he should have more success in Australia.I get us into Butlers even though it's closing and show mark some of the French Spanish items that are available. He likes them too-we both have such good taste! The other Peter & Mark need a hand moving their caravan -just a bit of muscle work. All the axe and chainsawing at our place has added a few muscles to our arms, so we get the job done. November 25thMiss Banshee wakes me up nice and early- no surprise. I'm starting to think it will be this way for the rest of her life. I'm just allowing it, we love her so hard to be angry at the Fur ball even at 5.00 AM. The Charity today, and I worked my arse off, we managed to get a lot of tables, cupboards etc to people so that was good but bloody heavy. So much to do. The girls were awesome as always. I somehow managed to get all the books cleared from storage, create a special discount table for DVD's for Black Friday Sale and a lot of other stuff. Gorgeous Joan turned up with a lot of iris bulbs from her garden, A LOT, so I'm stoked, plenty to put in the garden this weekend.I get home to an email from Brian Nankervis who's having Andy introduce his new single & give the gig a plug. Hurrah. Brian is always so supportive. Lasagne for dinner, I emailed Dean, back and forth, so that's nice, he's just as busy as we are, probably more so. I'm dying for a phone chat, it will happen. I also hear that I am going to be hypnotised again next week. This time I'm more relaxed, I kind of know what to expect. In a few days I'm certain I will feel the opposite as it all come crashing back. This is my brave face! November 26thHappy Birthday to both Maz and Toija. Hopefully they got our cards. A wind storm (yes another) hits the mountain and the power is flickering on and off like broken Christmas tree lights. So the Fraudband is down, no phone calls from us.I see the Omicron Covid 19 variant is finally making news. It has mutations throughout the spike protein that might make it able to evade immune responses. Morrisons should be locking down our International border, as the vaccine for this will take 6-8 weeks and then another 100+ days to get it out. That is a long time for Omicron to take hold. None of this is really a surprise, it was really just a case of when. November 27thSo today I'm planting the iris along the fence line. They will fantastic. As expected Split Enz "Iris" is rattling around in my head. "Ooh, Iris The girl with the lovely name, I feel desirous. I got that girl to blame... Ooh Iris" (Neil Finn-Split Enz). So i decided to email Neil and ask him if he knew an Iris! he did indeed reply - "I never knew an Iris but have a met a couple since".November 28thA lovely day, the wind has finally stopped blowing the sun is out. We carry all our gear for filming to the car but call into the Mt D. 'Parklet'. I grab a coffee & pies from the Bakery and sit in this lovely location and eat them.Onto Ferntree Gully to Andys secret location which is his recording studio. Extra excited as we get to meet Amy. Andy's rescue goat, or visiting goat or the Madonna of goats. She is beautiful, such a happy critter, she loves us instantly. Mark is doing set up with the new camera and I leave it up to the boys to work out the new microphone system. They get it together. It's basically a little promo for Andy's gig at Brunswick Ballroom (Dec 12th). During the filming Andy drops some bloopers which gets me laughing, and I just can't stop. I have to leave the main studio room, and he drops another and I just burst out with laughing and just miss falling into the drum kit & cymbals. I'm not hysterical- that real belly laugh stuff including tears. Andy goes 'well you can all hear Peter Green laughing".. and yes that makes me laugh more-even though I'm not covering my mouth and nose. 10 minutes later I stop. I feel almost guilty but obviously I needed this huge laugh. They continue filming - only 3 takes- including my giggle fit. Andy spends the spare moments doing voice impersonations of the various Beatles. He needs to work on his Pete Best one-the rest are down right scary.......! Maybe he should of done this mini chat in Beatle voice form, seeing The Beatles are back in flavour again. We sit outside for awhile, Andy has a guitar and as soon as he plays Amy runs up-she is obviously a huge fan. What a star. We hang out for an extra hour and we get to see a very cool ALT piece of video that I'm certain we will release when the Altitude reissue happens in 2022. Don't want to wreck the surprise- it's so ALT fabulous. Drive home and boy it's actually hot today. Another fun day. Andy is a joy to work with and so enjoyable when playing live. After almost 2 years of no gigs due to Covid we are excited by the Brunswick Ballroom show. Hopefully seeing some of you at the show. Come up and say Hi, bring a camera or a phone and I'll take a snap of you with Mr White. Omicron is now giving the media something to talk about .... hoping NSW doesn't stuff it again and wreck our Christmas travel plans as 2 cases have already been found at Sydney. November 29th"Another Sunny Day" - good timing with the single Andy, as today in Melbourne it really is. Sunny and perfect. I go to buy some bread, I was awake too late to bake, but the Olinda bakery is great. They make me a coffee too and I sit in the 'Parklet' again and get some work done. Peter #2 goes to grab a coffee and we hang out for 10 minutes which is nice.Home again and I like hearing the "click, click, click" of Mark editing away in his part of the office. Strangely reassuring. He is so good, and he manages to get all of this footage done in record time. I head to the house & cold press some more wheatgrass for us. Astounding as it is the 4th lot of growth from one batch of seeds. Rarely do you have 4 crop loads of grass. We both seem to be rather healthy-maybe it plays a part. 3.30 PM and Mark finishes the edit. It's great, he has managed to rescue some of the Amy the goat footage - outside with Andy playing , right in the middle of a fun 3 minute promo. So now it's uploading. I'm going to email it to some friends along with some Christmas greetings. I think they'll enjoy it. By 3.45 it's up on You Tube. I do get abuzz watching the views climb. 1, 5, 10, 21, 24, 28, 31 etc. It is exciting. When you work on something and it gets a response , it's always nice. Plus it goes for under 3 minutes so an easy thing to view. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_0G43KVtAA I head back to the office after dinner, mostly to do some Emails. The fraudband running slow they are a bit banked up so i take a few calls from mates- Warwick and Caz and check on a dear buddy who had his Moderna today. As you get older you realise how precious your real mates are and make an extra effort around them if you can. November 30thI did hear that Crowdies are doing a handful of Australian shows in April. I believe it is four...but that will grow. I guess they will be announced soon. That's a short tour? It only feels slightly weird not working on these gigs. I guess anything could happen. I'd probably miss Mark Hart way too much. But you know, Neils band, so good on them for doing what they want to do. The new album really needs some live shows to help it sell. It was in and out of the charts in the blink of an eye , the general public mostly unaware of it. Crowdies have so many beloved songs, that the set will be packed full of crowd pleaser moments i'm sure and you can bet the Myer Bowl will have many sing a long moment. Lets hope Omicron doesn't blow out the shows.It's a super hot afternoon at the charity. It feels like mid-Summer. I strip my singlet off and add some fans around the work areas- it helps a bit. It's that dry heat where volunteers feel miserable, so i slip across the road and buy a big ice cold watermelon and we all stop and devour it. Everyones mood changes, laughter and relief. My work is done. A buddy sends me a picture of him in his new suit , rather dashing. It's a good cut, I must get the name of his tailor. December 1stSummer has arrived.Sad to hear that famed Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil has died. Loved his "MY NAME IS GULPILIL" documentary. So many movies so many amazing parts. What a talent. RIP. Our very first Christmas card arrived today, so a shout out to Liz L in QLD- thank you-it made us smile. So I guess the Christmas Countdown is off and running now. I take the car over to my mechanic at Monbulk, for it's check up around a road worthy. After that a bus off mountain for the hypnotising session #2. This one is less brutal but longer and more intense. Equally as odd as the first. But I've learned how to observe more. It's all fascinating. They take me out to lunch which is really sweet. I think I'm one of their prize "subjects". Bus back to Olinda- buy some bread and pick up my christmas items from Butlers. Two of the people I looked after at the Emergency hub /.Free Supermarket see me and offer me a lift home-which is so nice. It's true-if you look after your community they look after you in return. December 2ndI spend lunch wrapping Christmas presents and writing out a few cards. I'm filling a rather large box , which I intend to mail home on Friday. I don't trust the NSW state government around Omicron-at least this way the presents will arrive home, even if we don't.Mark manages to get a bluray of The Beatles LET IT BE movie/doco and we watch a chunk of it tonight- it looks so awesome on that large TV screen. Beautiful and Paul McCartney just shines- he looks handsome too. I like the bearded Paul look. He is one of the few men that looks really attractive with a beard. December 3rdI mail out a few Christmas cards, just a handful so far. Good to get some done. The tree will go up this weekend, and a few decorations. It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas. We head to Montrose and see Gerry and the giant box of presents for Wollongong has been mailed and on time, which is fantastic as I don't have to take them with me on the plane. It's nice to have my car back, a few days without it now seems strange. We go to Woolworths and get some groceries and decide after our shopping that it should be date night. There is this field with a little forest of trees behind Woolworths. So we grab some Pizza's from JJ's and go to the field, sit on a hill, eat Pizza and watch the sun set. Date night is back and it feels good.My friend now has his Facebook page up. "Deans Disaster Relief". He's a bit of a hero, turning up at disasters and helping out so many, all on his own bat and self funded. So if any of you are on facebook, please go and give his page a "like". It's just starting so not a lot of content but it's a good one to support and a simple "like" is an easy way to do that. Thanks dear diary readers. https://www.facebook.com/Deans-Disaster-Relief-106069081897874 Mark spoils me with a bluray of the entire final season of Lost In Space, which just aired in America 2 days ago. I could happily stay up all night and watch every episode. What a cool present-thanks Marky. December 4thI go to Montage with my laptop, some breakfast and a coffee and I get a lot of work done. So many people outside in the sun, I hide inside as it's the only way that i won't get distracted.I chat to one of the new owners of The Deli, hopefully it will now become a positive place. The recent Covid 'events' have certainly left a stain on the place with the community. Nice to get an email from Karen & Jill who are coming along to Andys gig at Brunswick Ballroom on Dec 12th. Will be great to catch up with them and a few other mates. December 5thA lovely day here at Kalorama. I left the office and started up the East Lawn and spotted a handsome Echidna. When we had the fences rebuilt, one condition was , for echidna's etc to have easy access to the property. It appears to be working. They usually go into defense mode quickly, but after a few minutes Mr Echidna would let me scratch his head. So cute, we love our amazing Aussie animals.December 6thEastlands for us today- some Christmas shopping. A wonderful surprise as we run into some mates- lovely Nicole and her Mum plus Alice who worked with the incredible Lillie at the oval feeding the masses during the disaster. Big thank you Alice for looking after us at David Jones- we are very spoilt.Get to enjoy a good coffee and lemon tart at one of our regular food places at the shopping centre. Every place asked to see our Covid vaccination certificate, which I'm totally fine about. December 7thI'm awake very early for the charity. This time of year so many people need a helping hand, so if I can help others, that really IS a Christmas present. It certainly doesn't feel like Summer as the Red Beast drives through endless fog banks heading "off mountain".Deans Disaster Relief Facebook page, now 55 "likes". I spend 3 hours working on it tonight. I'm a tad worn out, but he appreciates it. December 8thI drive to Ferntree Gully and catch up with Andy White in a supermarket car park. It looks like we are doing a drug deal- very funny. He pulls out his phone and takes a few photos of us posing in front of the Holden Rodeo. I grab some extra posters for his gig. I call into a shop and buy the masks for our family Christmas Photo. We love looking like freaks. It comes naturally.A solo drive for myself to Sydney road very late at night. I put up all the Andy White posters, let it never be said that I don't commit to a project. The venue don't have a publicist so they've done very little around the show, so that's crappy. I have nearly finished putting these up, so few live shows which is good because Andy's posters stand out. I decide to take a photo and a couple are heading my way , so i ask the guy if he could take the photo. They have just been to the venue, he asks why I'm putting up posters. I say that the venue has done a lousy job of promoting the gig. he laughs-THEY ARE THE OWNERS! I love it, nice couple and I say well that doesn't change the fact. I think they admire my honesty. Home by midnight and 2 hours chatting to a good mate on the phone. A late night. December 9thNick Seymour hits the fine old age of 63 today. I drop him a line. He'll be boarding his flight soon...which means Andy White will be boarding his-maybe they can wave at each other as the planes fly by each other.Andy on the good old ABC tonight, a good rave and the new song gets played so all very positive. December certainly has been an Andy month for us. December 10thToday was weird, just strange shit all day. I tried running with it but it seemed to get crazier and crazier. A few good mates I am sure I drove nuts, but they are good mates so they will forgive me. Nice when people call to check on us, some people who you think are really close too caught up in their own drama's so they don't. Mark goes "fuck 'em" , I just tend to ignore it all these days.December 11thSo sad, Ann Rice dies today. So many of her books I just adore, thankfully I was into her really early, not a Rice Come Lately (RCL) , as so many people are. I do have First Editions of the first 3 Ann Rice vampire books-I cherish them Terrible news.December 12thWe wake up to the very sad news that Mike Nesmith has passed away too. So only one of The Monkee's remains- Micky Dolenz. I was very lucky to meet Mike when I was a teenager-at Wollongong. He was playing Wollongong Town Hall and we ran into outside and did a small interview for our 10,000 Voltz fanzine. Went into soundcheck and the gig. He signed a shirt (a real shirt not a T-shirt) and I still have the signed piece in the archives. he was kind and generous but at the time I recall he rarely smiled. A sad day. RIP.I email Dean 8 pages of comments around Deans Disaster Relief from my FB page. I think I blew his mind. So good to read so many positive comments. They like what he does. Now over FOUR HUNDRED "likes" Go Deano! Our old house mate Leanne calls & Mark and myself talk to her for hours- really really lovely. She is fun, maybe we will catch up with her on at the Myer Bowl for the Crowdies. Any White was terrific at the Artist Bar section of the Brunswick Ballroom tonight. Good to see Jill, Karen Fran, Nicole and Lara, Tony, Caz and Pip, Laura and Kevin and a host of others. A wonderful night- we all had so much fun. Got home just after midnight so not too bad. Have a fabulous Christmas and thank you all for continually returning to the F/16 diary in 2021. Love ya! PG |