The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 29 August - 11 September 2022
 ""The Angels ... Forever" now up on YouTube. Check it out ..." |
August 29thHappy Birthday to my awesome Sister Jennifer, glad you loved all the cool presents. The best day ever when you were born and this 11 year old PG suddenly had a rocking Sister!Sadly on my Sisters birthday, that also means it's another Anniversary for our Skyhooks lead singer- Shirl. Gone 21 years now, crazy, it flies by. A vocalist and front man like no other. We receive lots of phone calls, emails and texts today. We hear from Shirls family so that is nice. August 30thI get a call from Dr Troy with a favour to grab some medical supplies for overseas so I make some time. He does exceptional work, an honour to know him. I write it in my work schedule for later night. He sounds good considering he is in Afghanistan.Deano tells me he will be in the city, so I think, maybe we can have dinner. It doesn't eventuate, sometimes other things just take over. Bloody hell it's cold zooming about in the car, wish Marky was next to me cuddling me and keeping me warm. Oh I do have a heater that's right. DOH. I grab some lotto tickets and a card for our buddy Laura as her birthday is coming up. Hope I can get them to her before they depart for the UK. It's a real average morning and again I am up early and heading to the charity. Quite a few sickies, today, boss, 2nd in charge both awol. I get a bit of abuse thrown at me, and nearly told the person to go fuck themselves, she seems to forget I am a volunteer. I just don't like rude people and not willing to sit back and take their early morning shit. I let it ride, but it does cause some mind fuck stuff all day. So happy to get home. Thankfully it's rare & I usually enjoy my time at that place. I shake it off. August 31stI have a coffee at the bakery and do some work while sitting inside at their table. The Pakistan flood situation is terrible, so many deaths. I know Dean and the DDR are focusing on it, I have also made calls and connected with the Sabeel-E-Mustafa Foundation and a wonderful lady called Rukhshandra in Sydney. A Melbourne depot opens next week and she's calling me around it so will hopefully do my best to work in that area. Mark is so brilliant, he says 'how can I help' so he is coming along too. A tag team effort. That does my heart good. Kate at Pinchapoo (Pinch a Shampoo) drops me an email and she has reached out to the same Foundation that I am dealing with. IPresident of the Australian-based Pakistani organisation, Sabeel-E-Mustafa Foundation, Rukhshanda Zama is appealing to the Australian community to donate used clothes, blankets, bed sheets, tarps and tents. https://m.facebook.com/SabeelEMustafaFoundation/photos/a.189715675818780/638898964233780/?type=3&source=48 The sun is shining and i swap tables and sit out the front of the bakery. A really sweet guy called Lee Roy comes up and chats. He's one of the many clearing dangerous trees up here after our brutal disaster storm. Nice bloke. Home and it's too good to be inside, plus we are starved for sunshine. So I sit on the East Lawn. I decide to wear a Hawaiian shirt. I eat the chocolate mousse I made for Dean- my bad. Gawd it tastes great, so glad we didn't link up, god that sounds horrid, ok so glad to steal his desert is what I meant. I'll sell anyone out for my chocolate mousse. Marky says this batch is the best, he always says that. September 1stSpring has sprung. Maria is back while Carol away so charity is good again. The nice vibe returns, I do love it here with the gang. The girls are protective and make me laugh.I have somehow become their shopping boy and go across to the supermarket with 5 separate grocery orders. The girls are so good to me, so this is never a hassle. I didn't know Maria wanted a dozen containers of milk though, so it weighed a lot carrying everything back. I am the Salvo's pack-mule! I give Laura a quick call and wish her a Happy Birthday, they leave in a few days for the UK, so safe trip you two. I mail off Laura's card & present, and somehow get stuck in a domestic with some neighbours down the road, thankfully i was walking past or one might of knifed another. All the excitement happens here at Kally! I was calm, defused it before the Police or body bags were called in. September 2ndNow one third of Pakistan is submerged by catastrophic flooding. Many people are finding it hard to get to high ground. Indus and Kabul rivers are still rising. In southern Sindh providence, remote houses are made of mud and now melting in the floods. 1400 dead. terrible.I have the day off so enjoy some exercise, a bit of boxing. My favourite album to have as background music during boxing and kick boxing is Hoodoo Guru's "Blue Cave". 'Down on me', the ultimate box the hell out of the bag track. "All I know" makes me into a hopeless romantic. I decide to just chill out all day. I use the last of the potatoes that Deans brother gave us to make chips. Snuggle up on the couch eating them while finishing Courtney Acts book. A fun read. Later on I make a killer Midori Margarita. It seems like ages since I last had a drink, wow tasted fabulous. I cover my glass in micro christmas lights, so a very exotic Margarita indeed. My Sheepbook crowd love the snap. I think some people think every day is a day off for me, but come on it's a lot of hard work to be me. (HA!). Pass that eyeliner. I do remember to contact Spock for his Birthday. Another year older for our Boom Crash Opera buddy. He's a good bloke. We took a chance and watched the latest "Scream" (2022) movie and you know, what a surprise it was great. Marky makes me cry, so rare I cry but in happiness, a happy sob. I am lucky. September 3rdI wake up with broken thoughts rolling around in my head, things to do. I am determined to get a few crossed off the list today.Off for my coffee and run into Peter, he made the mistake of flying Jetstar recently too, or in his case not flying. What is it with Jetstars delays and bad attitude. I sit sipping my coffee watching the world wander on by. I like to watch. I remember to call Laura & Kevin to wish them well on their holiday as they depart today. Mop and clean the bathrooms, toilet, hallways and everything else. I make some fresh bread, so that nice smell in the kitchen. I am a man with a mission, getting boring stuff done today. I'm in the office checking on You Tube numbers and emails. I send Mark (Hart) an email and have Kate Bush (Red Shoes) album playing. It puts me in a good "write the diary" mode. Kate lets me drift with her music and voice, that's a good space for my writing or whatever this Blog is. I have 2 eggs left, do I bake a chocolate cake or use them with bacon for tomorrows breakfast. We all know the cake will win out. I am a weak man. September 4thFathers Day. Dad's been gone awhile now, Fathers Day doesn't rattle me anymore. I do think of Marks step dad Allen's 2 kids, losing their father so recently is always sad. For all the Dads, Happy Fathers day.A lovely Spring day and the Kookaburras are visiting. One a loner still baby bird fluffy. He kept watching me, trying to figure out what i was and why I am feeding him. I avoided naming him, but only just. Trying to keep them wild, well kind of. Sometimes someone saying the right words just rocks my world. It really is that simple some times isn't it. A lovely email from Mark hart and Miss Camille. So wonderful to hear from them. September 5thI bake 2 loaves of bread today. They are not massive but delicious, that crusty crust on top, perfect for garlic bread.Happy Birthday to Skyhooks guitarist Bob Spencer, he was also in The Angels for awhile and currently touring the world with Rose Tattoo. I have run out of spuds so dig up the vegie patch and guess what, for the first time ever no large potatoes. Maybe it's like a pirate treasure map and I'm digging in the wrong spot? It's cold outside, I give up. Mark is so warm, I snuggle up in bed and absorb all his warmth while he sleeps. September 6thWe are watching the rather excellent "House of the Dragon", yes the prequel to Game of Thrones. I'm amazed how actor Paddy Considine, playing King Visery Targaryen looks a hell of a lot like an older version of our Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour. The fans agree.I'm awake early, grab a morning coffee from Lachie and head to the charity. The boss is back after being sick and holidays so it's nice to see her. Maria though was amazing in her absence. I manage to get everything done by 3.00 and secure (aka I paid for them) some sheets blankets for the Pakistan relief effort. Yes I paid for them myself but that's ok, not very expensive but close to brand new. I do smell like "old lady stockings" from climbing around in the bed linen pile. I get home, still smelly and my mate Fen calls, she thankfully lets me off the hook to have a shower. Thanks Fen. I go to bed at 2.00 but wake up at 5.09 am and a bit confused where I am. I had this dream, or an awakening future event. Fuck knows but it left me feeling really odd. I was surrounded by hundreds of smouldering trees, and the ground covered in black ash, a massive fire had gone through. The area was unfamiliar to me-so NOT Kalorama. Loads of burnt rocks and on the right a huge valley with a tiny river running through it. Giant canyon walls but all black. I knew Mark was ok and not anywhere near me but fearful for Dean. I somehow knew he was in this fire zone. I'm wearing some sort of fire overalls but they are black and all the hairs on my arms burnt. I'm covered in black ash especially my face. I just keep walking, stumbling, coughing. I see Dean down in the valley and he looks confused and at one stage falls to his knees. I keep heading towards him and tripping over. I finally get to him, embrace and he has the saddest eyes. I realise he is much older, like 60? I have tears and he wipes the tear black off my face and says " Where the fuck are we, this is a dream right"? I wake up, really confused, like I was in some future area, coughing from smoke. Possibly the smoke might be from Kalorama as they are burning fallen tree piles tonight. I find it hard to get back to sleep, this event dream disturbed me. September 7thThe dream thing confused and kind of frightened me all morning. I forced myself back to sleep and dreamt of a little new cat and we called her shadow. Usually one dream wipes out another but not in this case, maybe my fire one wasn't a dream? It hides in my head all day and throws me off my game.I pay bills, lots of bills but all done. I do have to deal with Telstra and that is exhausting, they fuck up many times and finally get it right. Their staff just would not listen, I did want to scream but remained calm. Thankfully the sun is out and today is beautiful, it neutralises Telstra's annoying endless B.S. I head to the bakery for a coffee and they make me a sandwich for lunch. They have really nice custard tarts too. I grab Marky and we go to the supermarket late afternoon, and decide to buy a Pizza from the place next door, sit in the car and eat it and have a bit of a cuddle. Thanks Woolworths for the 10% off with my shopping. Saved $25.00 . Dean sends me a text that he had a fire disaster dream, I hadn't told him about mine. His text just makes it worse. I tell Mark and he says just how weird it is, "you know you two are linked don't you"? Either that or we eat the same odd stuff before we go to bed. I mail my cousin a card for his upcoming birthday. Usually when I am off mountain I buy a chunk of birthday cards so we have them handy for the year. If I'm desperate I'll go to Butlers as they have rather cool cards. Yes I still like posting birthday cards, so few people do. We watch "The Bridge Over The River Kwai". Set in 1942/3 . There is a scene where the POW's are marching and singing "God Save The King". I say to Marky, we'll all be singing "King" soon. Mark says "Nah , the Royals all live past 100...". Little did we know it would only be a few days later........ September 8thUp early so into the charity, Lachlan is on the way with his magic coffee. It helps.My Boss wants to move my area so that shits me. Apparently i distract the girls. So sulking all day, happy that the day is over. Mark laughs that I sulk, I do it so well apparently. I arrive home and Marky is working on our little project on The Angels. It will be like our Cheap Trick one, just a collection of photos, paraphernalia and a tiny bit of my camera footage from when they were support for Bowie on his first Australian tour. We have some cool photos that we took as teenagers and some other fun stuff. Music fans will love it, it will be rough as hell but we kind of like that too, well I do. Mark just found my old autograph book and we are laughing at some of the autographs in it. Think i should take it to coffee tomorrow and get Andy White to write something in it, we'll have a giggle over that. I head to the office late at night and take a few cds with me. The Angels "Face to Face", A best of Neil Young and The Smiths "The Queen Is Dead". The last one was a bit prophetic..... Catching up with Andy White tomorrow, an update on the Andy + Tim Finn project. Still months away but need to be focused and prepared for the PR side. He told me that the ALT band camp order page is now down to the final few bits of stock. Just FOUR double vinyl Altitude albums and TWO of the reissue Altitude CDs with bonus tracks. That's it, when these go no more stock. You know so many people will leave this to the last minute and they run out, it happens every time. So if you don't have ALTITUDE deluxe edition (extra tracks etc) in your collection, Andy White, Liam O'Maonlai and Tim Finn (ALT) suggest you quickly go to their band camp page and grab a copy: https://altandyliamtim.bandcamp.com/album/altitude-2022-reissue September 9thI'm awake early and the news that the Queen is Dead. 96. It feels strange, we all expected it but she meant a lot to so many. I care very little about the monarchy but for those who support such things it would be shattering. For those who don't there is still respect. For me, her efforts around the War years were incredible, the glue that held England together. The next 12 months will be interesting. How strange to have new Coins minted with a King on the reverse side, we are all so use to seeing Elizabeth. The ABC news is playing a fine tribute, the footage of a young Elizabeth is really nice, a normal happy kid, well as normal as one can be, being born into royalty.While the world is mourning the Queen, we are thinking of Marks Mum, it would of been her birthday today. What an exceptional lady she was. I decide to cook a special dinner for Marky to make him feel a bit better. So lightly battered fish, Morroccan rice, grated zucchini and pepitas in a light butter and some fresh red baby sorrel from our garden. Plus a homemade apple pie with Kalorama berries in the centre and fresh cream. Dean is impressed with the presentation and is thinking of driviing all the way from the Paradise beach house just to score this tasty food love -fest! I know he is joking but it sounds good. I put the apple cores out on the decking as the local Cockatoos love them. I sit among them and watch them eat- they devour the entire apple core and seeds. We watch another Twin Towers documentary , a good one, showing how the Towers came about and how they came crumbling down. Fascinating footage. The Anniversary is only days away. September 10thA grey old day, this weather has set in and I stand on the decking watching the fog twirl around Ailsa Craig. No birds this morning, they are all warm and snug in their tree top houses.I'm in the office for a short time but decide to spend the day in the Art Room. Even though it is cold I'll keep the door open and play some music. I'm heating the last of the apple pie so that can go with me , a nice warm treat on such a miserable day. The TV is full of stuff on the Queen, we now tune out, just too much. Two nasty crows attack a Kookaburra on the decking, I manage to give them both a good soaking with my waterblaster. Later on a lone Galah is walking around on our decking. I think the strong winds have knocked him off course as we get so few up here. So I invite Mr Galah to stay, feed him and tell it's safe here. We bird talk for about 30 minutes. He is a chatty fella. I can't get a word in, now that is rare. Mark works in the office all day and part of the evening on The Angels ...Forever- little You Tube creation that we are putting together, I was upstairs dreaming of Flying Saucers. OK Mark is putting it together. I love that we create things for the fans. I check out my You Tube page, & a few of the older videos that we posted. The Split Enz "clip" that Mark created for "Maybe" has had nearly 37,000 views which is rather amazing from word of mouth. I love that clip, the Enz are so fabulously freaky in it. Worth checking out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWyhjpxDyiw September 11th9/11 attacks and we seem to get even more documentary's of "never seen before" footage and information each year. 21 years now, so strange. I remember we came back from Shirleys Skyhooks wake at the Palais Theatre and saw that first tiny bit of footage on CNN. Everyone that came back with us was glued to the screen.The sky is grey but Winter is slowly letting go of us. SLOWLY. I sit and have a coffee at the Olinda Parklet. I send Deano a snap just says COFFEE! Wakes him up. I do feel guilty, as I hate people waking us, so many assume we keep standard hours but some nights we still go to bed at 3.00 am. Nice to see Peter, we are so fortunate to have sone great friends up here. I rarely but a lotto ticket but a tiny one for last night, I won $35.00 so doubled my money, thank you Gambling Gods! Are there such things? On the way home I see Barry with his sheepdog Claire out for a walk, so I U-turn and say hello. I head home with him so i can catch up with his wife Adrian. Nice to sit and chat, they've both lived up here for about 50 years. Claire the dog is obsessed with me and tries to sit on my lap, now she is a BIG sheepdog! Glad when she decides sleeping at the base of my feet is a better option. I head home but grab some herbs from their garden first-thanks guys. Opposite the CFA the State government has kept it's promised and cleaning up the mountain from our storm disaster. The huge debris piles are now gone, loads of bonfires burning a few nights back. They've done a great job and it has been a mammoth job, still so much to do. At least a lot of this has been removed from Summer and bushfire fuel. I see that the new boundary changes may well cost the Victorian Liberals a seat. Polwarth may well go to Labor as they have a strong candidate in the form of Hutch Hussein. Richard Riordan has been rather lame so great if the Libs lose Polwarth in November. Lets be real, Matthew Guy will never be Premier , he is shit house, no one would be foolish enough to vote for him. It must be bad for the LNP if Guy is the best they can offer. Schnitzel and cheese on homemade bread for lunch. Nice. We hang out in the office, I'm still attempting to wade through EVERYTHING. It's hard going, I stop /start all the time, lose the vibe, find the vibe, ignore the vibe. It will happen, there is just so much musical history. I want to get it done, mainly so it is out of the way. Plus I am always amazed at what cool things I find, or a few things I have forgotten about. Mark spends more hours on our "The Angels .... Forever" creation for You Tube. He somehow always makes a diamond from the musical coal that i give him. As I type this it just went live on You Tube and that always gives me a buzz. 30 views already, so Woo Woo, you know if it only got 30 views I'd still be stoked as I love it. I know he does all this time consuming stuff for me, and also for you the music fan. So if you have a few spare seconds check it out via the link below. We miss you Doc Neeson, you died way way too soon. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dbA7tW1Ve4 That's it for another diary, Oz Rock Rules! xxxPG |