The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 1 May - 21 May 2023
 "Banshee gone one year already. We miss our girl". |
May 1stOh come on who stole part of my year? It can't be May already. People say i squash a lot into my day but it doesn't always feel that way. People also say when you say the year is going by too fast you are getting older. I don't feel old and I feel like I haven't done all that much this year. Maybe it's because the 11th is my birthday and as that gets closer it adds another candle onto the cake. At this rate by May 11th it will be a towering inferno!!!!!Sad to hear that Broderick Smith passed away. He was one of the few artists that performed at all 4 Sunbury music festivals. He was also very cool in The Dingoes. Anyway another one goes. Sad. I was about to head home when I spotted Miss T having her break, sitting in the May sunshine, so I joined her for a moment and a chin wag. As I was about to go, Kay turns up so i extended my departure and we have a laugh for another half hour. I think I spend half the year talking to friends. So today I have officially finished my PR time with Andy & Tim. I have a few radio reminders etc and I'll slip in a few mentions as fans appreciate be able to listen to the guys on air. It was really enjoyable. Plus I do like the "AT" album. "The Sea Holds The Memory" , I love the lyrics in that song. Afternoon, it's chopping some more wood for Winter and I decide to make a chocolate coconut cake. The air has that bit of a bite to it. Colder months ahead. We both fear we will run out of firewood , we've never bought any, nature has always provided. She will again this year. May 2ndIt's now cold in the morning, ice clings to the trees on the walk track as I head to the car. I'm a bit vague this morning, still haven't woken up.A good day at the charity but a few Covid scares. I move the three big metal recycle bins out by myself as the staff and volunteers all seem sidetracked. Thankfully the dashing driver Jake offers to help, so nice of him, a bit of a handsome dude. We share a few laughs. Somehow I manage to clear the backlog of stuff for the Book Cave. It felt like a really positive day -and a nice vibe from everyone. Watch the last episode of "Moonshine" with Marky. The ending is set up for another season, we shall see. We both head to the office for some late work. At midnight i decide we need some bad take away so off I go. Might as well fill the car with fuel too. The roads are empty. Little dragon tails of fog twist across the road in front of the Red Beast. A fox sneaks across the highway at the base of the mountain- I saw you Mr Fox, you think i didn't, but I did. May 3rdSo I'm having my chill out day coffee and an urgent text from Triple M radio, half the staff have Covid and the Homegrown DJ has lost his voice so I have to bump the Andy and Tim pre record on the head today and we can re-schedule. So I bolt to the office and let the guys know. A bit frustrating as it's good promo but at least only delayed.It feels like Winter today, I'm warming my hands up, and keeping the house and office snug. Pay boring bills but all done. Except one but it's ok for that to be a day or two late I guess. I do buy some tickets from a friend to support the Olinda Footy Club. He always gives me heaps of vegies so it is the least that i can do. I usually dont care much about watching Sport but I get the value of exercise so naturally I'll say Yes. The first three prizes are new cars, and most of the others are footy related which I wouldn't have a clue what to do with. It's Markys YouTube Wednesday and fans have been asking for some more Skyhooks. So Mark has created and work on 3 live tracks from the bands USA Tour in 1976. The audience reaction is pretty good. They were one of the first Aussie bands to go off and Tour overseas, and it's Skyhooks so rather unique. So if you want to hear a bunch of Aussie icons in America is 1976 have a listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVq9T2uyYDo I love it when our music fans get excited. Once again Paul at Noise 11 runs a piece. Noise have been so supportive. May 4thThe fog is all the way up to the house this morning. At 6.30 am I head outside and take a picture of Ailsa Craig. She has this golden glow about her, Sis says spooky but I say ancient and exotic. I head back in and snuggle back in my warm bed for 30 more minutes.I am at the charity insanely early as i thought about grabbing a few pieces I'd forgotten after the super shop. But the lights in the building are on and the security latch open. Someones home. It's my boss Carol, the guys are in early starting on the roof repairs. So I start at 8.00 am today. Apart from the roof banging it's quiet and i go for it. Get the Book Cave ready and a few other things. It's all systems go! It was a good day today, I had a nice vibe. The girls were fun, it was a weird "focus" though, it felt different today, not necessarily bad just like we were all slightly scatty. Maybe it was the endless clanging & banging on the roof repairs-mkaes one a bit nutty. But we get the job done and I'm home by 3.30. It's official, the media are calling the Kalorama disaster a "severe cyclogenesis storm event". Ohh-La-La. Another fine episode today for us with the Star Trek "Picard" final Season. Loved it, a good way to go out. Our Skyhooks USA 76 footage passes the 500 view mark, yes already. Lots of wonderful comments. One for the fans and those who are interested in Australian musical history. Check it out. May 5thI sleep in till 9.00, I must of needed it. I slept well, and can't remember any of my dreams.The ABC tonight, both of Anne Rices "made for TV" series commence. "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Mayfair Witches" (The Witching Hour). I love LOVE the books and know they can't possibly be that good but I'll give them a chance. I read the paper over my coffee. The Victorian Liberal party's worst enemy IS the Victorian Liberal Party. Currently ripping itself apart from within, they are an absolute joke. Come to think of it so are the Federal Liberals, Mr Potato Head Dutton is a dickhead, he doens't get that the public are well and truly over Oppositions that just attack for the sake of it. Why the hell are we paying these tools a wage from OUR taxes. Hoodoo Gurus CD is playing in the office while we work. They are another mighty Aussie band that we keep going back for their wonderful music. I lock in Andy & Tim for Friday Revue on the ABC (radio). Brian Nankervis & Jacinta Parsons show- June 2nd. (1.10 PM Australia). I think it's archived and people can probably listen overseas via the ABC radio web page. So "Mayfair Witches" was slow and as expected Episode One not as good as "Interview..". Mark sneaks out & gives me a bluray of the first season of "Interview with the Vampire" so a wonderful surprise. I thought Jacob Anderson was rather excellent as Louis de Point. Some may remember him as Grey Worm in Game of Thrones. He's a bit of a sexy bastard too. He plays the part perfectly. The Aussie actor as Lestat is great too. May 6thWe both spend the morning watching one of the Black Bunny's on the East Lawn. Just him by himself. The lone rabbit in two days. All the rest are snuggled up in the Bunny homes. Doing what rabbits do. They hate this cold.A grey day but I sit outside at Olinda and watch the humans wander by, like busy fire ants . I chill out today, I am an island of calm. The sun came out for 30 minutes, so nice but the grey soon returned. A lady says not long till Charles Coronation. "I can't wait" I say laconically. It means very little to us, however it is history so like so many others I will probably sneak a peak, not that one can avoid it I guess. I have a Ten list today. The ten clips on my YouTube page that are just under 1000 views. So i am going to spend the weekend giving them a push. I love the idea that everything on my page has had at least 1000 views, just me being obsessive I am sure. I had a look at the footage that i filmed of Crowdies Nick Seymour going through one of his marvellous art books. It's kind of very cool. So I decided to run the link here on my diary page. Certainly worth a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lkjm_Es5hk Every night I now have hot water with lemon, aussie honey and green tea. I'm getting my body ready for Winter. Going to try and avoid colds and the flu and yes shitty old Covid. Mark and myself still have managed not to have Covid. In the afternoon we get an email from 'The Others', our friends Peter & Mark who are travelling overseas and what a nightmare with cancelled flights,delays etc. Thankfully after 48 hours it stabilised and they now appear to be having a great time. Lovely to hear from them. May 7thI sneak out before Mark wakes up and help doing some set up at the oval for 45 mins for todays Chestnut Festival. All the money raised helps the local pre-school. Bloody hell it's cold, like 5 degrees. Back to my snug bed for an hour.I'm in our kitchen about to make lunch and I hear some music drifting up from the Chestnut festival. What is this band? ... so laid back and is that an original song? I am intrigued and I can hear the crowd cheering. So I'm at the oval and imagine my shock when the band onstage winning over this now quite decent crowd are in Grade 5! So 10 years old, 11 tops. Their set, seems to be all originals. They are called The Mountain Howlers! Great name. Aussie music is safe in their hands. This was wonderful. By far the best thing at the Chestnut Festival. A decent turn out for the Festival, i run into some locals and one of the ladies who did the Disaster Hub with me so that was nice. What a day though, grey and fog, sunshine, rain, and after that sleet and now some afternoon sun. I cook fish and moroccan rice for dinner. I stand the fish pieces up so they look like King Charles crown. Mark walks in and goes "Ohhhh you made me Stonehenge". Damn he is right it looks far more like Stonehenge. "Of course I did I fib"..... like what would I make Stonehenge I think to myself. That's the cool thing when you occasionally work in Art areas- you can put everything down to "just Peter being arty" and no one blinks an eye. Ha! "Interview with the Vampire" just gets better and better, I am surprised just how much I am loving it. Oh that Lestat, he's a wicked gorgeous man isn't he. A late night for us, the passion burning hot, any excuse to keep warm. It dropped to 2 tonight. Not even Winter yet. We still haven't lit our fires. The only wood is..ok lets not go there, way too rude. HA! May 8thFoggy again, and thick across the entire mountain. The other Miss T makes me an extra large coffee, just to warm my hands up. So sweet of her. She has the best eyelashes. I have a slight case of the Kalorama sniffles. As do the rest of the crew at the bakery. Baby it's cold outside.I buy a 6 pack of their super soft rolls with sesame seeds, lunch, dinner and one for the charity tomorrow. On the way home I call into the Arboretum. I find a huge tree with a dry area under it and manage a 30 minute meditation. Yes I'm still managing to meditate pretty much every day. I move into a calm zone rather quickly now. All the distractions go into a mute mode. Just me and the tree , that's perfect. Simplicity. I wrap up my sisters husbands birthday present, so many birthdays in May. Like 20 in a row. My grandfather would of turned 118 yesterday. We all miss him so much. I love all the skills the passed on, from growing vegetables, to using and maintaining an axe, the music side of him & his marvellous sense of humour. So thinking of Pop this week. I am happy that 6 more clips on my YouTube channel passed the 1000 views mark last night, that is so great. I imagine a day when all 700 clips on the channel have been viewed at least 1000 times, that would be sensational. Nice that so many are enjoying what we put up. It's my birthday in 3 days, another year around the sun. I feel pretty good about my age, I'm fairly healthy, mostly very happy. Life is fabulous, I am lucky. As long as there are "projects" it is a reason to wake up excited every day those and Mark and seeing what brilliant things there are to discover in this grand old world. May 9thHappy Birthday to our friend Doug, one of the many May birthdays. The Montrose Post Office does well from card sales from yours truly this time of year.I'm a bit early at the charity today so I sit in the car park & sip on Lachies "kick start me up in the morning" Coffee. Raining outside so the workers are not doing the roof today, so a bit more peace. No crashing & banging. Just wild kids on the three piano's that we have for sale. At lunch time a fabulous surprise from the boss & the girls as they throw a little Birthday Party for Gale & myself. A bit speechless but we felt special. I found a bag of party poppers (the streamer type not the gay disco nose sniffing type) so streamers all over the kitchen. I get home just before the heavens open up again and sleet hits the mountain. I make homemade Pizza for dinner and close all the doors to the kitchen so the Windsor oven keeps that room so nicer & warm. A nice night on the couch with Marky watching our favourite shows. Meanwhile the owls are back outside, I can hear them calling out. Wooo are you Woo Woo Woo Woo! May 10thI grab the mail from the post office, more birthday cards from Jace, Alison C, Mum, Sis, MIM and my Uncle Des. The last a surprise & some cash in the card so that is always welcome. Also my buddy 'Belle in France sends me a great gift, made by the people at Cult Bravery. She always remembers my birthday, really sweet.I call into Olinda Bakery for a coffee from Miss T and the girls walk out with a huge french vanilla slice with a candle and sing "Happy Birthday"- they know I won't be in tomorrow. I am speechless- rare I know. It's of course Marks "YouTube Wednesday" and todays is a bit special. It's never before seen footage of Split Enz 2006. Like the photo shoot we did on the morning of the Press Conference, the Press Conference and the band playing "Shark Attack" - it's kind of cool. I think a lot of you will really love this one. Before I forget thanks for liking, enjoying, commenting on all the previous "You Tube Wednesday" clips , it's inspiring to have such support and love for what is done and of course this would not be possible without Mark and the hundreds of hours he puts in on these. The Alchemist polishing some of my archival turds and making them gold. So here is the link to the latest one that is going up now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UGroJPtm_I May 11thI wake up and get this perfect birthday present from Marky and the sweetest card ever. I am so fortunate, my partner, my life bond my best friend. It's so perfect.I call in for coffee & Lachie (Bless him) gives me a free birthday coffee. It is really nice and hot as it's bloody cold outside. A car drives past with a small snowman on the roof. I have decided to work today as some of the charity ladies and their family have Covid so we are short staffed. In early as the work men are here too continuing the roof repairs (it's a BIG roof!). Lots of "Happy Birthdays" at work , which is pretty cool. Ben from the mountain comes on down, I meant to ask him about his tattoos and if he has any in areas that i can't see but I forget or did I chicken out? The roof repair goes a bit pear shaped and the corridors fill up with this fine dust. We are all coughing, some of the girls worry that it is smoke and a fire so i go and check it out. My phone is dinging, beeping, ringing all day, Holy Birthday Saturation Batman. It's nice but i feel like I am drowning from attention. I never know what to say or write. We are sent home early as the dust situation feels like it's a bit out of control. I spend a wonderful birthday evening with Marky, today was perfect, it really was, thanks everyone. May 12thThe birds are singing outside my bedroom window, and it feels no different turning 21! Did someone say denial?I look out the kitchen windows & one of the black Bunnys is right up near the steps, trimming the grass. What a handsome dude. I have my "To Do" list and clear most of it today. Me and my lists, it's the only way I stay on top of things. The secret of my success. A bad day to be in the Liberal Party. In Tasmania , the Lib government is thrown into minority as two defect! In Victoria, Opposition Liberal leader Mr Persutto struggles during a press conference after the Lib Party turns on one of it's own, and Federally Peter Dutton is so bloody boring with his budget "Reply' half of the country falls asleep. As someone said in the letters area, maybe the Libs should all drink the political cool aid and start again from scratch! After coffee I chat to Dana the Organic shop owner at Olinda. He has a plant area next door and next week I'll buy 2 of his apple trees to go in our garden. A Golden Delicious (green) and a Gala (red). he has a cool plant area set up next to his shop. I work in the office with Mark all afternoon, he is endlessly transferring footage. I'm endlessly promoting it! It all seems to be loved, and the viewing numbers are very healthy. I get a call from Andy (White) a few more fiddly bits which I'm happy to work on for the Andy & Tim project. The black vinyl is taking so long to repress, hopefully not too long now. I'm starting to wonder if that will be the collectors item not the purple. Crazy how long it takes for records to be made. A strange headache for about 20 minutes in a spot where I never have a headache, possibly I jerked my neck at some oddball angle. It goes, no pain pills or anything. Strange eh? Should I be worried? Nah. May 13thThe sunshine returns, it certainly is a beautiful day. I sip my coffee outside the bakery and soak in those rays. very few locals but dozens of bike riders.I drive home and give the car a bit of a wash. I try to keep the Red Beast clean. I'm back in the office for a few hours. Mark editing away on his computer. He's building up the footage for future "You Tube Wednesdays". Our Skyhooks USA 1976 will hit 1000 views by tomorrow night if all goes well. Thanks everyone. The support around this has been fantastic and it's nice to know such projects are loved. May 14thHappy Mothers Day. We are so fortunate that our Mum is still here, 85 years young. Today we think of all the Mums no longer earthbound but still in our hearts as well. Mothers day is probably a very tough time for a lot of people, we forget such things. My sister has some sort of high tea for her, including giant balloons and she sets a mighty table. I boringly send her a voucher as ther eis so little that Mum needs.Our Skyhooks USA 1976 does indeed hit 1000 views with a little help from our mates. Thanks everyone. I chat to our old mate Mary and a few other people today. A nice surprise call from Fenella and Giles , so love from England for us. That was nice. May 15thI start to rescheduling radio Triple M for Andy & Tim. I'd say a pre record so next week. Happy to have this signed off on, tick my "done" media list.Another lovely sunny day outside, we've had three in a row, such perfect weather. I'm wearing a t-shirt and so good to feel the sun on my skin. You know it will be grey and wet in a few days so I am enjoying this while I can. I head to the oval with Marky and we fill up a huge container with Pine Cones for our Winter fire. Most are dry and the few wet ones will dry out in the garage over the next week. I just want to make sure we have enough wood and cones to get us through what I expect will be avery cold Winter. The boss calls and I have tomorrow off as they are still doing roof work at the charity and the dust is a hazard, so they are being careful. May 16thI sleep in which was kind of nice. Today is mostly spent in the office. I hear from the radio station so locking some more PR in for Tim & Andy.Cold outside so I make a red lentil spicy vegie soup which is more like dahl, but really tasty. Mark loves it and he usually hates soup. A friend mails us Cold Chisel's Bondi Lifesaver official release. Two cd set. Our favourite music venue from when we were growing up. Located on Ebley street Bondi Junction. A Mall now occupies the spot where the Lifesaver used to be. "Khe Sanh" what a great song, and a total flop as a single. #41. It deserved to do better. May 17thBanshee one year gone. Marky finds some footage from the first day that we found her and she came to live with us. She didn't even have a name. Such cute footage & she has a little squeak of a voice. It only goes for 1 minute and you can watch it here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QsTfzyco-w We miss her terribly, but still too early to get another cat. It will happen when it is meant to do so. I call into the organic shop and buy a Golden Delicious apple tree and plant it in Banshee's honour. May 18thMarkys You Tube Wednesday is doing really well. Last night we put up some Crowded House gold. The band at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne on March 26th 1992. They road-test "Distant Sun", 18 months before released and only the 5th time they had played it. The cool part is that it has the original lyrics, but you can spot the potential. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa2-A79QCmIMarks getting a bit of a following, a lot of the women think he is extra cute and not just super talented. Should I be worried. HA! It was cold this morning, Lachie is next to his coffee van all rugged up. Ice on the car and ice on the road, I watched the small car in front of me on the mountain, slide to the side of the road. The Red Beast as sturdy as ever, she gets me from A to B safely. The charity was good today, everyone in fine form. Some nice people come in, a few just want to chat. Baby it's cold outside! I help another family who have absolutely nothing to their name. Tough times for many, I count our blessings. I make chicken enchilada's for dinner. We stay warm in the lounge room and watch sci fi "Ark". May 19thSo many May birthdays, I know I've missed heaps. I am hopeless. My sisters husbands birthday today, so Happy Birthday to yet another MarkA foggy day and it stays that way all day. The fog does not lift. I dig around in the wardrobes and find my chunky Canadian jacket with faux fur hood. It is nice and snug. I catch up with Charlie & Alison at the Olinda bakery so that was fun. We are going to have find time for dinner soon, it's been too long. I'm sitting outside with Caz and we are just talking absolute crap and she asks me what is the most important thing around friendship. It took me awhile to answer. For me it's two things "Loyalty" and "Honesty". By far! I am so saddened that Andy Rourke from The Smiths has died. Only 59. I read it on my friend Josephine Ramo's facebook page and went "Oh No". It was a really lovely post, beautiful quotes from Johnny Marr. It happens in three's eh? Who is next? May 20thCold morning, the rain lashing the side of the house at some strange angle. I grab some coats out of the cupboard, am willing to fight this weather for a coffee. I sit outside the bakery and talk to a "walker"-this lady who hikes from Mt Evelyn to Olinda every saturday, an older woman but I bet this keeps her fit, it's a decent hike.Home, and while there is a break in the weather we trim some of the growth appearing on the new fence area. Just attempt to control it a bit. The green bin is now full. I have a mini argument with Mark when he cracks and shouts at me. I can't even recall when he did this last. I exit stage left , and just want to be alone. Feeling slightly injured, just need my own space. This never happens and will no doubt all go back to normal by tomorrow. I'm a bit flattened by it. I sneak to the office while he is in the shower and just work the night away. I am amazed at how many other night owls are in line, if nothing else they are keeping me company while I sulk. May 21stA cold night so I slept in the spare room with the electric blankets on. Normally i don't feel the cold but did tonight. Not much sleep.Mark climbs in and says sorry and we are all ok. We never really 'fight', just a hiccup on the radar of life baby. All is well. The making up is always a good thing is it not? I'm going through archives trying to find things for Marks You Tube stuff and discover a handful of the infamous live CDs , the pressed ones. So few done, some only 100 pressed. So I put these few out to fans , and yes $20! (they go for up to $150 on ebay maybe more). All gone to good homes in 45 seconds. Amazing. I've forgotten how crazy it gets. Great that we make some fans day feel like Christmas morning. I like that. I send Sharon Finn a Happy Birthday message, I'm assuming she is away on the tour. Those endless May birthdays. That's it from me. Stay happy everyone. Love Peter |