The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 1 January - 22 January 2023
 "Melbourne during Midsumma-shining like the gorgeous jewel that she is". (Photo by PG) |
January 1stA new year and we all convince ourselves that this year must be better. I decided to look at 2022 another way and think about all the really great things that happened. Sometimes simply surviving a "tough" year is reason to celebrate. A lot more people had a more horrible year than we did , or maybe some of them moan about it more and don't appreciate what they have. Some have had it very tough , so for them lets hope it starts improving.I'm feeling a bit iffy and I have the good Dr to thank for that, think he has given me his cold, or flu or god knows what else he has caught in the Ukraine. Are Dr's not meant to help you not infect you. We do joke about that. Thankfully not Covid. January 2ndHOT, and now feeling rather shit. Wake up with a sore throat and tired. Maybe I just need to get sick and have that out of the way for 2023. Do nothing today. Read and sleep. Mark fusses which is nice, trying to avoid him getting this. Troy checks in and gives me a few immune boosters that will help.Shirl of Skyhooks would of turned 71 today. I'm sure even at that age he would of still been a larrikin. January 3rdI make the effort to go to the charity, but sent home just not good. Stupid of me but I felt a bit better when I woke up. By midday, faltering so manage to get home somehow.January 4thMarky gives me a get well present. He orders in the Bluray for Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" and I snuggle up on the couch and love it. So wonderful. What a great present. God I have a great husband/best friend.Troys Redoxen seems to help, still no sign of Covid so that is great. D calls so that was nice, croaky but he makes me laugh. January 5thSuns out and I sleep in till 10.00. Phone charity and have a sickie for the first time. I am back to meditation on the east Lawn and it seems to help. I look towards the blackberry bushes and a baby bunny is starring at me. Just watching me Zen out. Cute. Unless I am so delirious I am imagining him. Maybe?I see Amazon is chopping 18,000 jobs. Thats a lot. As the world heads into a recession. January 6thI woke up with the sun shining it's way into my room. I feel so much better, some energy. So out of bed, before Marky. A good sign, I have improved. The last week he has arisen before me. So wave goodbye and go and have a coffee and A PIE! Such a craving for one, and boy it tasted mighty. Chat to the girls and they missed me which was sweet. A young biker guy pulls into the parklet and sits with me a chats. Nice guy. D sends me a text and says i sound really good and you know i am. A bit of a cough but mostly back on deck.Home and in the office with Marky. A host of emails to do. Neil Youngs "Chrome Dreams II" playing in the office. I play Mark the Topp Twins "Flowergirls & Cowgirls" cd. We both have a chuckle over the lyrics in their "Country Music" song. "we can sing and rope and ride those bucking steers. We wear faded Levi's, we're just a bunch of queers. We sing country music, keeps us good and gay. There sure seems a lot of us are turning out that way". Indeed!!!! Such adorable New Zealand gals. I think I first met them during my days in the Split Enz office. Maybe it was Tim who suggested them to do some of the special guests supports at some of the shows. Apart from the fun side of the Topp Twins they are really mighty. "Flowergirls & Cowgirls" came out in 2005 and I've just rediscovered it again 18 years later. January 7thI make Chocolate Mousse and added our homegrown raspberry's and some blood orange gin fusion. OMG tasted like heaven.I start the mowing of Ailsa Craig. Still recovering from the Flu so only doing a segment at a time. Troy now has it, so yes somehow gave it back to him and he is on a flight to do more Dr work in Ukraine so I am guilting a bit. January 8thHot! Hot! Hot!I drive Kay home from Olinda, it's too hot for her to walk. I'm not use to some of the back roads and arrive back on the Tourist Road but I'm going the wrong way, I am hopeless this morning. Hessie would of turned 64 today. Our mate Spock from Boom Crash Opera sends me an email, we both say how much with miss Paulo. Sis and family are seeing Elton John tonight, in Newcastle , so a bit of a drive, they had the best time. The extreme right fuckwits storm Brazils national congress. What a bunch of losers. January 9thWe are loving the second season of Mosquito Coast-thank you Marky for this awesome present. We are finally making our way through our IQ box and start watching "Peacemaker" which we both find to be rather funny.Troy calls and he is isolated and sick. I thought he had fans on in the Ukraine, but no, just a blizzard. January 10thI head into the charity , feeling much better. Boss Carol is AWOL but we are a good team so everything gets done. Today was a nice day. I help a few flood victim families which felt good to do.January 11thCardinal Pell dies. Such an evil prick, good riddance. The world is a better place without him in it and I rarely say such things. Burn in Hell.I take Marky to lunch and we go grocery shopping, Jesus we fill up the shopping cart, trying not to be shocked at the price. Bongo Skyhook calls and it's a long, fun chat. We love Bob, he has always been good to us. We are back home and head with Marky for a hike at Olinda to try and find the little Koala population. They've moved again, and most locals don't even know they exist up here. A certain good looking chap buys me a present, tells me it's nothing but the act of buying me something is the thing I love the most. January 12thI seem to have money for one day and the rest of the week it has gone, such is life. As Gloria sang 'we will survive'. Not long to go. The reset button gets re-pushed.I'm considering writing artist Jasper Johns a letter, I think he is 92. It's to do with my next art project. I have his address in America. Great to see NSW and Victorian Premiers say No to a state funeral for arsehole Pell. January 13thLisa Marie Presley dies, she had a complicated life. I remember climbing on Elvis' plane with Marky which he named after his daughter. Cool plane too-loved the gold plated shower.I continue the mowing, the nature strips today. We have a banana daiquiri reward, with mango and ancient mint. Refreshing. January 14thHOT again, and Ailsa Craig is fairly cool.I do some pre production stuff for the next art work and a chunk of research on Jasper Johns & Robert Rauschenberg. I adore that they were lovers for 6 years, especially during a time when it was illegal to do so in America. January 15thCooler day and I am fried, delayed flu stuff? So I spend most of it in bed, not sick just playing catch up on sleep, too many late nights.Miss MIm sends me pictures of her bowling for the first time. Cute. January 16thDeano stuck looking after the holiday houses so looks like he may have to blow the Myer Bowl night out, so that sucks. I will not sulk. Good in one way as I know Laura wants to go and she is mates with Trudi so it will be just as much fun.January 17thToday it's super hot in Melbourne, way past 100. I am at the charity, I arrive early as I want to get things done before the heat wave hits as that giant tin barn certainly heats up. Lots of ice poles in the freezer to keep us cool.A chunk of good vinyl arrives today so i clean it and work it and put it out straight away. A young guy comes up to me and he is SO excited by his vinyl purchases, pretty much all of it. Says this is the only store that has good stuff, he keeps coming back. A bit of a sweetie and he had good taste so that was an added bonus. I love it when people who adore music get so excited over goldmine finds. Home to hear that Renee Geyer has died, so another one gone from the Australian Music Industry. We are watching The Vow (second season) it's addictive. Amazing they have so much original footage. HBO still does the best doco's. 8.30 PM -cool change arrives-wind and rain. Loving this witch weather. Nice to chat to Fen and Giles as always. I make Lynda Mc's hamburgers for dinner. January 18thI do make a homemade chocolate cake. So i sit with Marky eating it in our gorgeous kitchen. I'm also devouring Scherman & Daltons "Warhol" book, while Mark is reading Frys autobiography (Stephen Fry) we do love to read.January 19thDavid Crosby dies, he has been fighting a long illness, so this one not a real surprise. Who will be next?Conditions have been right in our garden and rhizomatous (Red Hot Pokers) have popped up. Only in the one spot so they are not out of control-they look great. Surrounded by Dahlia plants so they will add some extra colour, plus hummingbirds, bee's and butterflies love them. We make budget at the charity and one of the girls gives me a Police hat as a possible thing to wear at the Midsumma extravaganza (I make a $ donation). It's XS so I'll take it apart and make it fit. This is great. $1 well spent. The girls are in fine form today and the handsome bin guy helps me push the insanely heavy metal bins into the pick up area. See there are still gentlemen left in the world (GRIN). Nigel from the Enz calls and I think we are working on a video for one of his pieces of music. He is so excited that we said "Yes". January 20thI watched a speech by the Labor Opposition leader for NSW, Chris Minns. I was rather impressed and I'm not usually so by politicians. He is a bit handsome too, I think Mr Minns has a really good chance to be the NSW Premier in a month or so. Time for a change in NSW.I hear from my friend Kate who is at Paradise Beach, she's having an awesome time. A bit of "girl talk" between us. So that was funny. I bake some late night chocolate cookies for Marky. Yum. In a few days time on January 24th- Andy White & Tim Finn's first single ( "My Regeneration") will be out. So find a download of it on line and enjoy some fine music from these two cool chaps! If I get the spotify link I'll put it at the end of this fortnights diary (yes below). January 21stA beautiful Melbourne day so hopefully the perfect night for 68 drag queens and gay comedians to strut their stuff at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. The tennis is also on so Melbourne is going to be packed, add to that, Melbourne restaurants and music venues are bouncing back big time. We wonder if parking will be a nightmare and are hoping we can find a spot at our secret free parking area.So we depart at 4.00 and the traffic isn't too insane. Punt road is crazy and we pull into the secret place and Mark says "no chance" and he is wrong, I find one empty spot straight away. We walk to the flower clock where we are meeting Laura and Trudi. We are way too early so cross St Kilda Road and go visit the Aussie Music Vault. It's free and has lovely air con. Nice to see Hessies Crowded House coat on display and always a bit weird to see your name saying "thanks". Some new displays which is good to see, as my biggest bitch about the museum was the snails pace to change things. Still some corrections on a few items but we ignore those mistakes. Well I do..eh Mr Leo, Marky. We go back to the flower clock. It's kind of infamous around us. The meeting place for fans of many of the bands that we worked for, and we'd walk them all down to the BBQ area by the Yarra. Split Enz, The Sharp, Crowded House and Uncanny Xmen fans. Always excited especially when band members turned up to say hello. We spot Trudi in her floral outfit and flower tiara, and great to see her. She helps to add our facial diamonds. Marky looks so cute with his. A bit of eyeliner around my eyes and my Police cap on. Laura arrives in a funky black & silver number and we are off to the Bowl. The security check is a breeze and the staff extra nice. We are in the seated area in front of the stage, I assumed it was the second batch of seats but wrong, we are SECOND ROW centre. Amazing seats, front row is so outdated. HA. I head up with Trudi for some drinks and the crowd is sooo happy. So many looks and the ages of the audience are varied. Very cool and no bullshit, no fights. Too hard to say what was the best drag queen, the two sets just fabulous. Tina del Twist so funny, fake drunk and comes out and says "It's great to be back in Auckland". Jordan Roskopoulos steals my heart with an outstanding version of "Origin of Love" from Hedwig. The few chords at the start, I just went "OMG...OMG" so fantastic. Next "Creep" and another magnificent version-it makes laura cry in joy. The Miss Candee tribute was magical and she would of loved it. We were out by 11.30 PM. All of us laughing and knowing we just witnessed something special. A huge thank you to the Victorian State Government too for sponsoring Midsumma. Waved goodbye to the girls and we walked back to the car. We crossed a train bridge, no people just us and I looked up and Melbourne city was shining, breathtaking. I took a quick snap on my phone (urgh) but it worked, it captures the magic and is the image you see on this diary update. A nice drive home, we call in for some junk food and sat together in an empty car park laughing. Home by 1.00 am and snuggled up in bed. Our community was brilliant tonight, full of love and laughter - in the words of Miss Candee "It just keeps on getting better". January 22ndMiss Hairball, our other gorgeous kitty, gone 22 years today. Like Banshee we miss her so much.I manage a coffee at the Olinda bakery, tastes great. I ran out of nail polish removal so wear my funky shiny glittering purple, plus some of the eyeliner certainly hanging about. I almost looked sexy drug fucked (compared to horrid drug fucked I guess). But no drugs just happy. Miss Bunny hops into the bakery and sits with me. "Oh love your nail polish" her first comment. The bakery girls, all such wonderful fag hags want to know about the night. They are fun. I return the remaining box of Tahlia's eyelashes. She is gorgeous. D calls and we talk for 2 hours, more laughter. He asks me to pick some dates for Paradise Beach, so I excitedly do. So adorable and he knows it is the best break for me. Plus I want to hang with my other besty...and yeah get in some surfing. I appreciate it this so much. I see Machu Picchu and the Inca trail are closed due to the Peru protests. I wonder how many poor people this will cause grief for as they rely on the tourist trade. I pick loads of blue hydranges for the house-they are striking. So that's it for the moment, hope you are all happy. Remember to check out Andy White & Tim Finn's single "My Regeneration". Available now. Here's the spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/3LyGVLFScFG0ov36R5Ubcd?si=32b9078addbd4aab Love Life! PG xx |