The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 23 September - 6 October 2024
 Skyhooks-Living In The 70's. Iconic and just as amazing fifty years down the track. |
September 23rdMark and myself focus on archival work in the office today. It seems the more we dig the longer it takes, that's every area, photos, negs, poster even stage clothes. We continue to find more and more. It does our head in, but the music side of us gets so excited, each item no matter how small is gold.The tiniest positive for Crowded House with "Gravity Stairs". It moves up in Australia. Still a long way from the top 40. From #468 to number #424. We are talking 30 cds/LPs combined for sales last week.. Still it could have dropped out of the Top 500. It still seems very weird that we are talking about Crowded House selling units of 30! This is the band that has the biggest selling album by an Aussie band ever! Insane. September 24thMidnight goes missing for a few hours. It's one of the first warm days and evenings, I dare say that plays a part. A few hours later she walks up to the door like there is nothing wrong. Cats will do what cats will do. It's so hard to tell her off when that little furry face looks up at you full of love.We remember to call Giles for his birthday. We couldn't decide on his birthday card so sent him two. Present will be presented when we next catch up. The postage would have worked out to be more than the present, crazy it is that expensive to post stuff in Australia. The Skyhooks debut single "Living in the 70's" (B side- "You're A Broken Gin Bottle Baby") was released this week, 50 years ago. Debuting at #76 nationally and #37 in Melbourne. Eventually going Top 10 in Melbourne. Within 6 months they went from a cult Melbourne band to kings of the Australian music scene with the biggest selling album ever. They certainly changed our lives. September 25thInflation in Australia dropped from 3.5 pc to 2.7pc. Old doom and gloom Peter Dutton would hate that, he'll have nothing to whinge about the bald twat.Marky's Youtube Wednesday. Some more Crowded House from Wembley Arena in London. June 24th 1992. A mighty fine version of "There Goes God" from the Woodface album. Tim and Mark Hart are in the band too. Check it out here and thank you for supporting our Video Wednesdays. Fog and rain returns. I sit in front of the Olinda Bakery reading Bret Easton Ellis's "American Psycho" and wonder why all the tourists are keeping their distance. HA! Upon its release it was banned in the USA. Not banned in Australia though. I need to watch the 2000 film version with Christian Bale again. Homemade Pizza for dinner. September 26thGreat to see Royel Otis nominated for 8 ARIA awards. Currently on a sold out USA Tour. Fantastic to see this awesome group doing so well overseas. Three shows in Los Angeles. I watch some live footage of them playing to huge crowd at Nashville. It made me smile. Good work guys.Not long till the release of the new Paul Kelly album "Fever Longing Still". Out on November 1st. You can order the signed vinyl now via the Paul Kelly online store. I've love for this to hit number one, it's his 27th!!! album. Paul's a great bloke. September 27thI'm playing The Cures new video "alone" while sipping coffee. That Robert Smith voice suddenly arrives on a silver platter and makes me smile.My hairdresser people all have covid, so I grab the dye and make the grey go away. I'll cut it in a few days with some help from barber Marky. September 28thI start archiving a lot of stage passes, four boxes worth but I only manage to get one done. I'm sitting outside the bakery doing this in the sun, people slow down and stare, that ‘what the fuck is he doing" expression that I know so well. A spaghetti bundle of passes, like last years Christmas lights.Oh dear Tina Arena really sucked at the AFL grand final. They should get their money back. A great day for a Footy grand final I must say for those who love the game. September 29thSo many locals wanting a chat with me today. Talking about tyre pumps scanning photos, American politics, surfing, native plants and how bad Tina Arena was. Two hours later I final head home. It seemed everyone that lives up here sat down for a chat. Which is ok.BCO live at The Tivoli Sydney 1986 is out. 14 tracks and money goes to the Australian Road Crew Association. I do my bowel cancer test and mail it off. Great how these are free in this country. I love our government for dong such things for its citizens. I give the "March for Kamala" which the LGBT Hollywood are organising, a bit of a push. I love that a few dozen mates in LA saw my posts and went along. Sounds like a really good day. Let's hope America shows some common sense and rejects that scumbag Trump. Homemade Hamburgers and Lentil soup for dinner. Yum. September 30thI hear from the VEC and AEC around some council election work. Perfect in time for for Christmas presents. Plus close by which is great, IF I get the gig it will be late October. Good grief tomorrow is October, the year has picked up pace.October 1stLabor delivers yet another surplus budget. Something the Liberals failed to do in 9.5 years. A huge effort, all things considered.Not sure if I caught the flu bug off Jed or Carol the boss, someone's giving me this horrid "present". So I Covid test in the car park, just to be on the safe side. But no all ok, still no Covid. XEC a Covid 19 variant has now turned up in Australia. It's a re-combinant variant. A bit of a nasty one I hear. I certainly don't want that. Jeds taken some snaps at good old Ripponlea for possible use on his album cover. Such a beautiful location. The UK became the first G7 nation to end coal power with the last coal fired power station Ratcliffe-on-soar closing. Italy rids itself of coal fired next year then France and Canada and Germany around 2030. Australia now has 5.3 million homes with roof top solar-amazing. Coal still lingers in this country. A few crash at work from the flu, some go home, I hang in all day like the little tropper that I am. Feel crap though. No doubt my body will do it's thing and hopefully get rid of it quickly. October 2ndMurder was 6 views short of 10,000. So frustrating, so I went to the bakery for an end of day coffee. The girls pulled their phones out and we were still 2 views short. It made me laugh. I drove to the Olinda chemist to grab a new hot water bottle and some specialised flu mix. One off my regular long term diary readers, Marge Campbell, spots me and comes up. We chat and she says she loves the MURDER video. I tell her that we are 2 short and she pulls out her phone & we watch it click over 10,000 views. I expected bells to ring! But no, but we did cheer. So Mark and myself should thank everyone, the puppeteers, Deb and Joan for the amazing help with the mini stage costumes, always Marky for his incredible efforts, Split Enz for "getting it" and all of those music fans who watched it (several times) shared it and kept the vibe going. We truly are gobsmacked and delighted. Thank you.October 3rdA sunny day. Still slightly flu-ish but I can feel my body winning this. So I do go into the charity. A few more staff members sick. Lots of customers coughing so it certainly is spreading.I see that there are 110,000 Americans that live in Australia that are eligible to vote, maybe they will win the election for Harris. Sorry Donald but you SUCK. I bought a Birthday cake for Tamsin at the charity but she bolted so we all celebrated Nicoles birthday a few days early. A birthday rehearsal I guess, which is ok as we all end up with cake twice. October 4thMark and myself head off to Olinda we are catching up with our friends Laura and Kevin for brunch. We are bit early so swing into the bakery and Tayla makes us both a really nice coffee. Onwards to Olinda cafe and so nice to see Laura and Kevin. Time flies by, and we realise we have been at the table for awhile. Just great to see them. A lot of locals come up and say hello which is nice.October 5thI work in the yard a bit, mow some of it and burn off while I am mowing. The weathers about to turn and rain on the way so get this done, well some of it. The burn pile is gone so I'm happy about that.I watch them putting up "Halloween on the Green" sign for the upcoming event. I think it must be the 5th time they've had this. Monies raised help the local schools etc. I say to myself I should really call them and volunteer , a bit of an effort around this community event, I should do more for the community. I think my esp is working overtime, my mate Ros calls and asks if I can do the band stage at the event. Look after the acts etc. So I say Yes and entice Mark into being my PA and helping on the day too. It's important to make that effort around the local community. Plus I LOVE Halloween as you all now. Well Halloween On The Green (which Mark now calls "Halloween with Peter Green"… Ho!Ho!) will be on October 27th, a few days before. This is so it's a Sunday so people off mountain can come on up . It's on at Ferny Creek Reserve in Sassafras. 11am-5pm so nice and safe for those worried about driving off the edge of the mountain. People make such an effort around costumes . It's brilliant day and usually a few thousand show up. Come along and please come up and say Hello. I was tempted to go as a Voodoo King but I think work wise, good ol' Wilfred the dog may well be more practical. Tickets are VERY cheap and you can pre book on line via the website. October 6thThe NRL Grand Final is on between Melbourne Storm and Penrith. What a game. Penrith were just too good but both sides played so well. It was relentless, the defence incredible. Those blokes are so fit. 10 more laps of Kalorama oval for me.I make some orange chocolate mousse for us, the laps of Kally oval can wait another day! HA! Yes I am a slack tart. Our Skyhooks "Living In The 70's" album turns 50 years old in a few days (11th). Our favourite album and it's certainly stood the test of time. It still holds the record 50 years later for being #1 in Melbourne for SIX MONTHS. Yes #1 for half a year, that record still has not been beaten, not even Taylor Swift can bump it off. At the time Daddy Cool had the biggest selling Aussie album with 40,000 units. Living In The 70s sold 400,000 units. It received 20+ Gold record awards and the very first song Triple J (well 2JJ at the time) played was Skyhooks "You Just Like me Cos I'm Good In Bed". We are putting up 2 videos. The first a demo version of "Living in the 70's" which has not been released. The second a track from the album of Skyhooks rehearsing at lead singer Shirls house in 1974. Check out the "Living In The 70's " demo here. Long Live The Mighty Skyhooks xPG |