The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 17 April - 30 April 2023
 "I find Mr Froggy a new home at Kalorama & am so not going to kiss him". |
April 17thA couple of days with Sun, in the middle of all of this grey. So nice to sit outside and enjoy it.I phone Noel Crombie of Split Enz fame to wish him a happy 70th birthday. Noel still IS God! We all know that. God just turned 70, strange as I thought God would be a lot older. We are loving 'Warehouse 13', late bloomers when it comes to watching this show. But only because the cable channel that it is on is now free and part of our Foxtel package. We are loving the characters and the writing and as Mark pointed out one of the people from Buffy was involved with the production, so that could play a tiny part too. I pop one of my immune boosters, just some edge against all the Flu and bugs that are floating around Australia at the moment. Covid numbers are increasing in Australia. A big shout out to Deb who put the last F/16 diary up at lightening fast speed. Wonderful. She is so good to me and it is appreciated. [editor's note: I do what I can when I can, sorry it's sometimes really late!] I make this near perfect Lasagne for dinner. Marky comments on how wonderful it tasted. Every so often I do get it right. Beats the terrible lasagne I first made when we arrived in Melbourne, all those years ago. It was like brittle plastic, the famous "crunchy lasagne" as the old housemates still call it. April 18thI wake up early again and decide to get up. Two bunny's are on the East lawn and soon one of the black bunny's emerges. He transfixes me, I could watch him for hours.I grab some petrol on the way to the charity, the service station near us is active again. The guy behind the counter gives me a free cherry ripe chocolate bar. Nice. Oh those lovely pheromones of mine. I will convince strangers to give me free chocolate. I'm posting some cards at Montrose and some money blows onto my arm. This has happened before. At first I wondered if it was fake, thankfully not. A nice score. No line at Lachie's coffee van so we chat for a few minutes, I only see him twice a week and he makes a great early morning coffee. A happy dude, which is a good way to start the day. The last hour at charity dragged on for what seemed like forever. I started running out of stuff to do. So very sad to hear that the actress (Maxine) who played Bobby Mitchell in tv show Prisoner died, so young, just 58. Some of our Enz boys knew her. I stay up late with Marky, fool about, cuddle and order in, the money Gods paid for dinner. April 19thI do sleep in a tiny bit. After a shower I see that Marky is watching the black bunnys on the lawn. He is suckered by them too. So it's not just me.It's Marky's YouTube Wednesday and fans will be happy- as todays live footage is from Crowded House. I filmed this at their Wembley Arena Concert. Neil starts playing the Everly Bros at the end of "Don't Dream.." and Paul sneaks out into the huge audience to have a chat to a couple...so he basically takes over the show. Hessie back on the stage and a fine version of "Italian Plastic". So London 1992. You can enjoy it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU4yLGHmTFM I head off mountain to buy a few food items, and wing into Sexyland for a present for someone. I love their bizarre stuff, always makes me laugh. Like penis shaped bath bombs. I can see these penis shapes fizzling around in someones bath tub. Be scared, be very scared, my friends should be concerned what I will buy them for birthday presents now. We have a lovely dinner, expensive everything but worth it, our taste buds are happy. April 20thI wake up before the alarm (again) which is ok as I need to buy some fuel for the lawn mower. The mountain is Foxbound and I watch a baby Fox sneaking across the oval. I call in for a coffee from Lachie and sip it in the car park of the charity. Nice and calm. No pesky humans.Loads of books today and more keep arriving. Quite a few CDs and someone has gotten rid of their Green Day collection so these will be gobbled up fast. We get some flanny shirts in, all brand new, still sealed, so I buy one for this weekends book launch as it is sure to be cold. I just don't want to over dress , after all it is Eltham. Noise 11 give the Crowdies video a mention and a nice little article. Thanks Paul C. Really great. I chat to Andy White till 8.00 PM. Lots of laughter. We expect the Black Vinyl to be finished soon at the UK pressing plant, so that will be great having that final bit of stock. So if you still need to get the Andy & Tim CD or Vinyl, head to the Bandcamp page. This is probably your last chance. The vinyl especially is such a small run. April 21stAussie legend Barry Humphries re-admitted to hospital after his health worsened. He is 89, we sometimes forget that. Ongoing complications from a hip replacement. In true Barry humorous style: "Barry would like to thank everybody for the support and good wishes he's received but would like more and more..". Brilliant. It seems like a bit of a worry though, that family are flying in, maybe he is far more ill than the media are making out?A quick catch up with friend Pip at the Arboretum and a fine gift -a very cool Grevillea shrub. "Woolly Bear Hero"- part of the sale goes to the "Free the Bears Fund". I guess they mean 4 legged Bears not very hairy chested leather men? I have just the place for this. Andy and Tim work for most of the afternoon for little old me. A few media request coming in, Triple M etc so that is great. I'm allowing myself a chill out zone too- so am going to head to the oval and pick a huge bucket of pine cones for our Winter fires. I should get Mark to come along with a massive bucket too as we are going to use them this Winter, I just know it. The more we have the less wood we need. I put Andy & Tim's "The Happiness Index" clip back into Rage to try and get play. Seems insane that they have not played it yet. I make an effort and mow the nature strip(s) as I think more rain is on the way. I'm going to work the fence line over the next week. Maybe plant a few new shrubs but after Winter now, we've left it a bit too late. The yard is looking good, in parts. April 22ndWorld Record Store day. I love that PM Albanese ventured into Red Eye Records in Sydney to buy some cool vinyl. Great Albo walked out with a purple vinyl copy of Tim Finn and Andy White's "AT" album under his arm, or I could be making that bit up. Sorry Mr Prime Minister. Andy White takes some of his new vinyl into Inner West Vinyl at Yarraville and the guy at the store is a big fan so that's really cool.I manage to find a Barry Humphries really early release on vinyl and it's an omen. Barry passes away today. We are all a bit shocked. Which means Dame Edna will certainly become a recluse and we shall never see her again. A sad day for Australia. Humphries had such a smart wit, what a loss. I love the fresh information about Suede on Noise 11 page. Excited by the anniversary release of the debut album. One of my favourite albums especially that brilliant debut release. I'm a bit shocked that 40 people died from Covid in Victoria last week. We still haven't had it and plan to keep it that way. April 23rdI wake up way too early again. I head off for a coffee and get some bread and supplies.Mark and myself drive to Eltham and I think I have lost my "maps" app on the bloody phone and I leave the Navman at home, so I wing it. We end up going via Warrandyte, Research and several others places. We ask a lady hiking along the road and she tells us we are indeed on the right road. Amazing. We wonder if she is an old Reuben Tice groupie heading towards the reunion show? We should of offered her a lift. So we arrive at Eltham library pretty much on time. Today our ex Skyhooks lead singer Tony Williams is having his book launch. No it's not about Skyhooks but his previous band Reuben Tice. They were kind of Kings of this area in the early seventies. Tony was one of the lead singers and Greg from Skyhooks played bass in the band for a short while. So today as an extra bonus, Reuben Tice are reforming. We are thrilled as we've never seen them play, we were way too young and still at Wollongong. No sign of Tony but we chat to the other guys, all good blokes and probably wondering who the fuck we are. When we walked in a familiar face behind the counter goes "OMG Peter". It was my long term friend Crystal. So amazing, everywhere we go we run into someone, and she's really cool. Nice to see a familiar face too,she is such a lovely lady. Tony arrives and I've agreed to do the bar, well WE do the bar, Marky helps, bless him. Basically red and white wine and water. I do create a donation tin as it seems fine for people to drop some coins in seeing Tonys bought all of this booze. Around 150 people turn up. Mark jokes that we are the youngest, he's not far wrong. We do meet this younger bloke Oliver, so a special shout out to him. The audience are great, they love this band and were probably all teenagers from the local area and attended many Research Super Shows by The Tice back in the day. The band play well, I grab Jamie the drummers list of songs, most wont be played, but it's a cool souvenir. He plays a Cajon, this Peruvian instrument. I nearly bought Neil one in Cusco last time we were in Peru. It turns out to be a really good day, Tony is singing well and the crowd are having a ball. We keep our 'bar' open till the last punter departs. One bottle of wine remains and that is it. Lots of books and Reuben Tice Tshirts sell. Tony appreciates our efforts and he's such a good bloke, we are both happy to do this. A 4 CD set will come out next month- live and studio tracks, never before released. We are the last to depart and we walk some gear to Tonys car. Wave goodbye and promise to catch up soon. On the way back to our car we help a guy up the hill in his wheelchair. Crystal comes along and helps him the rest of the way-he says what good young people we are. Love it. April 24thSo much coverage over Barry Humphries death, multiple pages in all the papers. Some brilliant photos of Dame Edna. Edna had such great legs eh? Still feel sad about this, just happy we went to a lot of his stage shows.It's still sunny here but rain all up the East coast of Australia. Mum tells me that Wollongong just got a drenching. Coffee at the bakery and I'm sitting outside in the sun. So people are now leaving their dogs with me while they go inside. The first is Ronnie the dog, who has very sad dog eyes. He snuggles up to me. Two other locals who don't know each other arrive and now I have their dogs-Pepe and Blue. The dogs like each other. They certainly like me as Pepe tries to hump my leg. A lady turns up and her dog is Molly and Molly is so pretty and has wonderful ears. My friend Kay turns up and she has her sons dog Archie with her. Archie makes me laugh, he has such a freaky face but kind of unique and cute. I sit with Kay in the sun and a group of us are chatting- nice- love that community vibe. Peters dog minding business is now open for business! Woofta! (: We finally get to burn the giant pile in our yard-hurrah, all gone. April 25thAnzac day-Kalorama.I wake up, no alarm needed, I get changed and grab the flowers and head to the shrine, up the road at Five Ways. I'm the only one, no other flowers yet. So I wait and have some silence and kind thoughts to the diggers and all those who serve. The gum trees look beautiful this morning as the sun starts to rise. It really is a lovely place to live so I also give thanks to that. I head off home and climb back into my comfortable bed for a few more hours sleep. I hear from Andy and we will meet up at Olinda, as he has the usb with some sound on it from the Merri Creek Tavern and Mark might have a song or two from it for You Tube. Our friend Peter turns up, they leave tomorrow for Canada so i've made up two travel gift packs for them. Our friend Miss Bunny & Graham also come and sit. We all comment how lovely it is in the Parklet. Miss T brings me my coffee, I am feeling loved and a bit spoilt. Home and I decide to do a bit of yard work on this fine day. Mark is editing away in the office, so I make him some lunch. Gawd I love him. Even after all these years, somehow I love him even more-is that even possible? The evening is spent in the office. I'm giving the Crowded House live at Wembley "Italian Plastic" clip a push, a mere 20 views from hitting 1000. Twenty people it doesn't seem much but it can take forever. Tomorrow is "Markys You Tube Wednesday" and I like the idea that we have a thousand people each week watching what he puts up. Mark makes such a massive effort , so i want these clips to be loved & they are. Thanks to the Frenz it just hit 1000, so we can sleep well tonight. We still have the best fan base ever. Bless them all. Frenz to the rescue. I know they all love "Markys YouTube Wednesday" he's become a bit of a legend. April 26thI'm having my morning coffee at the usual haunt & spot a cool piece in Noise 11 on the Reuben Tice book launch. I'm happy for Tony Williams as they included the purchase link for the book. The words Peter Green appear in it too often (HA). It's always like it is someone else not me when I read press related articles. Anyway here it is, rather fascinating for some. The Tice a bit of a petri dish for Skyhooks in many ways.https://www.noise11.com/news/pre-skyhooks-band-reuben-tice-played-a-sneaky-show-in-melbourne-20230425 Today is just glorious , when it's nice my thoughts of running away to Magnetic Island disappear, they will return when the weather is colder I am certain of that. Grey and cold make me want to rush to the golden beach at Radical Bay on Magnetic. I see The Others at the Olinda bakery so say goodbye to Peter & Mark as they head off to catch their flight to Canada. You exotic creatures. Today is "Markys You Tube Wednesday" and like all of you I never know what he has ready to go up. This ones cool (he just told me). It's footage I filmed at the rehearsal studio in Los Angeles. July 5th 2004. Neil & Tim Finn (Finn Bros) rehearsing for the USA tour. The song is "Suffer Never". So wonderful to see these two amazing musicians in action. Big thank you to Marky, especially around the sound on this one. So please check it out or give it another play, please support these little YouTube clips. You can enjoy it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPwab3qVvw8 I spend a few hours working in the office tonight, the familiar Xavier Rudd with "Jan Juc Moon" keeps me company. I know I keep saying it but I love that album. April 27thAn odd stomach bug in the early hours of the morning, so popped a probiotic and that helped. I decided not to go to the charity today and maybe catch up on some sleep in my warm bed while the rain and grey sky and wind thrash the house outside.Nice to see The Finn Brothers "Suffer Never" already have 600 views. That is very cool. In the afternoon I curl up on Marks couch and start reading Clive Cusslers book "Atlantis Found". I LOVE the start, so detailed and does my head in a bit. I think I have become a Cussler fan. I continue to lock in some press bits and pieces for Andy and Tim late afternoon plus a bit of archiving. I find the master copy of Tim's "Made My Day" video clip in one of the archive boxes. Out of the blue Tim emails so I tell him i have a present for him (the video). Hopefully a decent transfer will be done and fans can enjoy it online. I hear from Brian Nankervis which is always nice & looking good to get Andy & Tim on his show. I should wait till it's in stone at our end I guess. But the "Friday Revue" has always been generous around both Tim and Andy. Mark spoils me with a Bluray for the final season of "Picard". The Sci Fi geek in me is very happy, the first episode is excellent. Such a cool present. April 28thSo our Finn Brother video hits 700 views within 24hrs. That's pretty decent. Remember to check it out.I work in the office for 4 hours get a lot done. I hear from a lot of musicians today. Not sure why but it feels like half the people I've worked with have been in contact. A bit weird but nice to hear from everybody. I mailed Sis a Bluray of "Cleopatra" the movie. She still loves Egypt so thought she'd enjoy this classic. Homemade Pizza for dinner. I almost burn it as Enzman Noel Crombie calls and a really decent chat with him. Mark said he'd help him with some editing, which is really nice of Marky. Maybe this year we will work on a video clip with Noel , I'd like to tick that one off my bucket list, if I actually had a bucket list. Sometimes every day feels like a bucket list. I know Noel has been working on some musical creations for a long time now. Chat to Wendy for awhile , so that was nice. We will catch up soon, maybe for my birthday on May 11th. April 29thSunshine is bursting into my bedroom. I wake up smiling, this is nice. I go and have a coffee and sit outside. It's nice and warm, I remove my jumper, lovely feeling the suns rays on my skin. I consider some sun block.I work in the office till 2.00 PM. Just lots of bits and pieces, and signing off on a few things for when my PR moment finishes for Andy & Tim. They both seem really happy with my work-so that is great. Another good 4 star review comes in from the UK, so I share that with our social media areas. I have a break from the office and go chop some firewood. Sometimes some good old solid back breaking work is good for the soul. I was planning on the one big log to split but hung on in there and chopped a surprisingly decent amount of fire wood. Back in the office in the evening, some Andy & Tim stuff plus I gave Marks Finn Bros YouTube link a bit of a push. Up to 900 views now. Into the vegie garden at dusk and picked herbs and other eatable stuff to go in a really nice casserole. We spend the night watching cable and the fantastic 3rd season of Star Trek "Picard". I notice a big temperature drop at midnight up here in the national park. My bed is now Winter ready so it is nice and snug. A weird Dean dream last night where he is stuck in a canyon with a bushfire approaching and I do help him without a second thought. So I guess I am a good person at heart. Imagine if you let someone burn in your dreams, that would not be a good thing. His last words before i woke up "You do know how much I miss you". Again i just walk away. Weird shit that goes on in my head, one too many Tim Tams before bed. Since i "unliked" myself from the Deans Disaster Relief Facebook page I haven't really bothered to even look at it. I'm still finding my footing around Disaster stuff, and still finding way more effective ways to help those in need. Which is really positive. As i told my friend the other night I am still raw around D not even an apology, so you just go "move on" and I am trying to do exactly that. April 30thSunshine again streaks through my window so up at a reasonable hour. No Bunnys out this morning, strange as it is such a lovely morning.I chat to Mick and the lads at the bakery and I buy some raffle tickets from them for the Olinda Footy Club. Mostly because it is Mick and he's such a lovely decent bloke. Plus young Stevie used to play for them so I've put some tickets under his name while he is off surfing. I don't even know what the prizes are. I check on Mr Frog and there he is in the fountain, looking up at me. He is enjoying this sunshine. Last night I heard a bunch of the frogs singing before I went to bed, I hope Mr Frog was one of them and he has some new friends. So that's it for another diary. I hope you are all happy and enjoying life. Can you believe that May has just arrived, almost mid year! Take care Love Peter |