Famous for Sixteen Minutes: Archive

The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 20 January - 2 February 2025

"Yes we are still Living in our 70's, fifty years later…."

January 20th

We are pretty much making it a week all about Skyhooks. Every day a live video relating to each song on the LITS album goes up. We are glad "Motorcycle Bitch" is the last on the track listing as it wasn't played all that much and will be the hardest to find. But you know us, we always succeed. We will make it happen.

I bake some bread for lunch, and it's not too bad, it has that crispy crust. Great for toasties.

I have been avoiding watching the news since Donald Chump won the election. It kind of works, , rarely ever get to see him on our screens so that's a win. He could choke on his own ego and I wouldn't know, no News and my world still continues to turn.

January 21st

I'm at work and my boss has a health scare , we call the paramedics who arrive within 12 minutes. Nicole and myself so calm and focused and pretty much do everything right. Sad when you see this happening. We all continue our work during the day, a few staff members are rattled. We try to maintain some sort of calm.

I give our plumber friend Al a call and lock in Saturday for his visit to repair a leaking pipe. He's a good bloke and I know we can trust him. Good Plumbers are hard to find.

January 22nd

Marks been spending a lot of time working on "HESSIE" , the little Paul video. He's in the office till very late. He works so hard on these things. The reward is that music fans love all of the videos. The "HESSIE" clip will be out in time of the (sad) 20th anniversary of Paul's death. We celebrate how brilliant he was.

So Marky's Youtube Video today is indeed Skyhooks. We find something for the final track on "Living In The 70's". Unheard of by the public, "Motorcycle Bitch" from rehearsal at Shirls parents house. Way back in March 1974. Shirley had only been Skyhooks lead singer for 4 weeks, so a young band, that will soon become massive in this country to the point of changing the music industry itself. Even if you are oblivious to Skyhooks, it's worth checking this one out for the rawness.

January 23rd

I arrive early at the charity with my coffee in hand. Someone has done a midnight drop off, pillows and other stuff. However I did laugh, there is also a mannequin, maybe a medical one. He has a pyjama top on but his pants are down. I call him Ralf and I smile as I see that Ralf really is fully equipped. The poor dear sitting there, legs wide with it all hanging out, in front of the giant Salvo sign. So I give him some dignity and cover his cock and balls with a very big pillow. Yes it's going to be one of those sort of days. I have a smile on my face.

January 24th

A nice chat to Al today, his work car is in for a service so he is driving his very cool VW (1977 era) van. It's sunburnt orange and has all of those original features like a Kombi, pop out oven etc. I love it, hope in and pose for some snaps. Every time I see these I have flashbacks to long Summers on the NSW coast by the beach at Moruya. I may well of made out in such a Kombi all of those years back. I don't always kiss & tell. All a blue, I can't even recall what sex the other person was.

Our friend Adrian is sick so I call her at the hospital and drop in a card.

Our Skyhooks "Living In The 70's" charts are in early. So good. #11 on the vinyl top 100 chart. #6 on the Oz artist chart.

I call some of the ‘Hook boys, we are all a bit shocked how well it has done.

I call Bongo last, as I was up for a chat and it shows how quickly the world can change. He's in hospital, went in for some blood clots and turns out he has some aggressive form of Leukemia. I hold back the tears, it's so horrid. We talk for awhile and he asks me to look after the press side. Anything he wants, we love this bloke. He is like brother to us. No sleep tonight, just sad. So many arseholes in the world, why can't they get Leukemia & not Bobby.

January 25th

Not much sleep for Mark or myself, both of us so saddened and worried about this Leukemia scare. I climb out of bed when the sun rises and need my one coffee (you all knew I was going to say that). Midnight gives me the "why do you wake up so early) look. I sneak into the office and manage to get all the security system turned off without waking Mark or having our security people pounce on me. I just need a clipboard and paper to pen a Press Release for Bongo. I want it simple but with humanity and throw it out to the media.

I sit with my coffee and it's peaceful at the bakery. The few people leave me alone. They can see I have my head down, working away. Shaping the Presser. It doesn't take too long & I shoot Bob off a text as I want him to write a few lines so it connects with people.

So my day is taken up around this, getting things ready for tomorrow.

January 26th

Another sleepless night, my body will crash this afternoon. I send the ARIA people the Living in the 70's album cover as they had it blank next to the chart set, it looked ugly , the cover art looks so brilliant. How often will we get these seventies icons in the top 10… probably never again so yeah, it's fixed & cover up.

I head to Olinda and buy rolls, and Bob sends his few lines which I drop in. I send to Mark and he tidies it all up and converts to two PDF's. We all decide to start sending this out tomorrow. Glad Bob trusts me. He should after all of this time.

I celebrate Australia every day of the year, I don't need to wave a ‘Made in China" plastic flag on one day of the year to feel patriot, I'd be fine if they changed the date. Just my thoughts on it. Best country in the world. Every Australian should love this beautiful place.

January 27th

Weird day, super hot, rain, windy and even hotter later on.

I hear from my boss, well technically ex Boss which is nice. I will miss Carol a lot.

At midday I start sending the Press Release out into the world. I send it to Paul at Noise 11 first and he is so shocked. I guess we all are. He runs with it super fast and really nice words. He's always done the right thing by us.

I'm talking to my Mum on the phone in the afternoon and she goes "hang on" and I hear the volume go up on the TV. WIN 4 have it on the news. Mum sounds so sad, she says she knows that Bob is like brother to us. She is right. By now I have some sort of emotional force field up, so ready for when people need to talk about this. It sounds cold, but otherwise I will crumble and fall into million pieces. If I need a howl I'll grab Marky in the kitchen (always in the kitchen) and let it out. My phone rings and 2 radio stations are calling. It kind of continues like that. Perth Now newspaper, Channel 7 News etc.

I just email Bob a list, he doesn't need to know , he has far more important things to think about. A few people, want to send helpful stories and yes a few Bible bashers, I head them all off at the past. I'd like to think its all done from the goodness of their hearts but he doesn't need this now either.

January 28th

The charity is today so that is kind of an escape from the Press. I hear from Richard Wilkins from the TODAY show and he says some kind words on TV. He's so use to me sending Enz or Crowded House stories, so me sending him the Bongo Skyhook Press release must of been odd. About 1.6 million Aussies watch the Today show in the morning.

Only slightly odd that Carol isn't at work, all the staff chat and we vow to be amazing for our friend Bec who is the new manager. It is a long day, we drown again in donations. I work back an extra 30 minutes ands skip some of my lunch. Deb is another no show as she is minding her grandson but they turn up for a visit and he buys Alien V's Predator from my DVD area. Cool!

Bob sends me an email and a text which is nice. He sounds so worn out. If he had a kidney problem I'd happily, surrender one of mine, so I feel useless around an aggressive form of Leukimia.

January 29th

I know I should take the opportunity to sleep in but every Wednesday I go volunteer packing boxes for the Philanthropic Collectives Free Food Program. Apart from all the good things that it does, the vibe from the other volunteers is wonderful. If you get a few spare seconds while you are on Facebook, please go to the Philanthropic Collective FB page and just give it a "like". It had 899 followers and I thought it would be good to see the page have 1000. So that's my mission for February-get it to 1000 likes- so hope you can help. It takes no time to click the LIKE button, and you'd be doing me the favour. Thanks dear diary readers.

It's nice to do something "normal" like pack boxes full of food for people. Adds a certain calm into this crazy week.

I work in the office for nearly 12 hours around Bongo and replies etc. Neil Young comes on my computer screen with a live version of Powderfingerf and the world seems a bit better, a song can do that. He gives me a call which is really nice. We will do whatever we can to help him.

I see that Crowded House LIVE version of Tall Trees (from Woodface) is a mere 100 views from hitting our target. This is one from Markys Youtube Wednesday and boy that Neil Finn is playing some wild guitar.

January 30th

I sleep in a tiny bit, and rush into the bathroom, do the Wonder Woman turn in the shower, a quick turn under the water, a Flash shave and straight down the Bat pole to the red beast and zoom off. I arrive at charity on time.

A long day, the new boss Bec and everyone seems mostly happy. We seem to have some abundance of yummy food today. No idea why, it just happened that way. Big thanks to Jackie.

I need something cool for super bargain books for my Book Cave so work on changing this metal storage bin with crushed velvet fabrics. Deb and Nicole so great with the help. Things wouldn't happen without them. People comment as soon as it is put in the book cave. It's just for some el cheap books. Bargains at 50c each.

I make some mango chicken for dinner tonight. It turns out pretty good. Yum. Midnight scores some smaller fresh bits of chicken.

January 31st

So odd that January is already over. I force myself to sleep in a bit today, the kitty cat hears Marky and she is off wanting some more food. I'm awake now so I might as well get up. Midnight dictates our life.

I forget my wallet, left it in the office. Thankfully a free coffee on my card and enough coinage for a sausage roll. I am 15c short… I'm the only one making big deal about owing money. People really must think I am super strange. (I am, just ask Mark and Midnight). LOL. I run into Deb from the disaster hub at the oval, and it is great to see her. We chat for awhile which is really nice.

I work in the garden a bit, talk to a couple of rockstars that have phoned , some social media stuff in the office and make some Lasagne for dinner. A simple day not very complicated.

February 1st

I've decided to try and get this Skyhooks Countdown video to 1000 views. No that isn't me dancing with them, for some reason people seem to think it is. We just need 82 more views. Surely that can not be very hard with the number of people who read the diary, but it is. So if you want to be extra nice to old Uncle Peety (sorry Paul) just take minute and click on the link and give us the final few views needed. We will love you for it.

Some advance election stuff today, it seems to take up every minute of the day . It still hasn't been officially announced, I don't even think the writ has been served. Oh well IF (because work is never guaranteed till they lock in the date) IF I work at it, it should be enough to cover our house rates for another year. Maybe even enough left over for a cup of coffee. I hope it's on May 10th.

Home late and make Lasagne.

February 2nd

It's very quiet from the Crowded House family, I have helped out with a few things around Split Enz, which is always fine to do. More on that down the track. Some things are just too early to talk about.

We are excited tonight as Season 3 of The Newsreader returns to ABC TV (and ABC iView). Great show, excellent cast. Anna Torv is brilliant and of course Sam Reid…yes good old Lestat from "Interview with the Vampire" is in it. Let's hope Sam's character Dale finally has it off with Tim (played by the rather good looking Chai Hansen).

Lots of driving today , and out early before the weather starts heating up. We have something like three or four days in a row where the temperature is nearly at 38 (100 F). It is Summer after all but despite Ailsa Craig being so wonderfully cool most of the time, even it is pushed to its limited with four hot days. Still it could be worse. We are thinking of our friends at Townsville and Magnetic Island who have had between 350 and 500 MM of rain! Four Townsville suburbs evacuated.

All the best to you. Love Life, it's way too short. !

xPeter.