The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 16 September - 29 September 2001
September 16th
It's one of those amazing Spring days in Melbourne, you feel totally alive and want to do as much as possible.Head down to Babble for some breakfast with Rosemaree, the Babble boys say that January is the month when they will do extensions and Babble will double in size and be open for dinner.
Michael (Babble boy 1) has been spending time at his brothers place and they have a large qty of goats, so I get to learn all the joys and horrors of our future purchase of two goats for Beenami. We are now going for short haired goats, as the long haired variety seem like a total nightmare to keep tangle free and clean.
Bongo Skyhook calls by in the afternoon and picks up his guitars and baby amp. Looks like he has been in a cat fight- 'new cat at home Bong". I decline to know- but he keeps saying he has fallen out of a tree!!!
I love Macy Grays quote: "Who would I like to take on in a fight? Well. I saw Mariah Careys video, I'd like to punch her"! Take a number Macy.....
Start editing BANG! book for Monday meeting with Spock.
September 17th
The Bardot girls make the final 5 in Australian Artist of the year-Aria awards. It's the only public vote and they are with some good company- Kylie, Powderfinger, Silverchair and Something for Kate. They were in it last year, so it looks like Bardot still have some staying power. No sign of Scandal'Us who have died in the arse totally. Still waiting on our Gold record for ASAP, that's four Gold hits in a row for the girls. Their next single is "I need somebody" and it's out October 22nd. Will that be #5.? It sounds kinda Kylie-ish, a good thing.Spock turns up and we cook him some dinner, and decide to head over to his home in the hills to finish up on the editing of BANG! Mark grabs the bottle of Yukon Jack as a last minute thought. We play late seventies band The Radiators 'feel the heat" cd in the car...classic Aussie rock and tinny casio type keyboard sounds from that period- "Fess" and "Gimmee head" still bring a smile to the dial.
Edit away till past midnight- have far too much text so take to it with a computerised cutter...slash and burn baby. We are close so I leave it with Mr Spock. A decent selection of photos and I dedicate this second book to Shirley Strachan. Cute shot of Hairball the cat in this one too. Neil will hate his photo I'm sure.
Drive through the pitch black night - fall asleep at 2.00.
September 18th
I can see Shirley having a huge chuckle now, as we get our charts in and The Skyhooks Collection re enters the national top 100 at #36, four spots AHEAD of Mariah Carey- LOVE IT! The question is, who will go Gold first Skyhooks or Mariah? The 'Hooks website is nearing it's 40,000th hit. keep in mind that it only had 20,000 a month ago. Nice shot from the memorial show on the main page, taken by Ric the phoptographer. He use to live next door to Eddie Rayner from the Enz. The Skyhooks website is located at: http://www.aswas.com/skyhooks/ Thanks all of the poeple who have checked it out and bumped up the counter.Robin & Trudi call by, and they have a present for us, a photo book from the holiday, some classic shots. The Afro wig in the desert shot is just bizarre, PG nude swim in Yosemite is interesting! Will have to send some to Deb soon for the photo "images" area of this site. They had a really great time but like us all at the moment, happy to be home in the safety of Australia's arms. We are all hungry so we head to La Camira. Am thinking that I should of called a few people- Rosemaree etc...and then she walks in with a mystery friend. I pretend I am the waiter and take them some water. It ends up being a relative taking her for her birthday (belated) dinner. We all have the same food- the waiter things we are just odd. Nice that we can still surprise people (:
September 19th
There is a message from Paul Hester- he is thinking of calling his upcoming solo cd "NUTS". I'm assuming he means the macadamia type but he does mention sacks etc so I am grossed out! We are catching up soon, he has such a good vibe. Some of the songs are great- I love "Marys a man".Go get 'em Kylie. Her new single "Can't get you out of my head" out sold Victoria Beckhams single by 8 to 1 on the opening day of sales in the UK. So old Posh doesn't have a hope in hell. Meanwhile in Australia it debuts at #1, and instantly double platinum- the girls still got it. I like the clip.
Our favorite big bloke- the much loved Ben Shapiro drops in, arms full with presents. The 1 litre bottle of Glayva will go down well (he knows us too well)....we get these 2 hand blown glass figures....very small wise old men....the twist is they are naked with huge glass cocks! I won't even ask where he found these- huge chuckles all round. We wish we were THAT proportioned. Mark lets him explore the taste sensation of Yukon Jack, and we roll a small joint and sit in the afternoon sun.
He is off to America soon with the Midnight Oil boys- they are the only Aussie group not to cancel their USA tour, brave souls. Good to see Mr Yeti, he's a kind soul-we like him.
September 20th
Foggy grey day outside.Kind of how I am feeling inside.
September 21st
Remind Peggy to tape Enterprise, need something happy in our world.Take Pizza to Northcote, an emergency dash, the world is getting a good shaking this week- people are going crazy and relationships are crashing and burning. Hate it.
September 22nd
Do you get the feeling you are trapped in a weird nightmare and you are scared to take a single step because you know every step you take will somehow seem that it starts a disaster or mini drama. Well September 2001 will always be remembered in my head as a sad month, evil month. A month where the world is out of control. I can only hope that October will be better. It truly feels like I am tied to a chair in the eye of a hurricane. I just sit bound watching the world spin about me crashing apart. Somehow though (apart from mental scarring) Mark and myself are ok. Protected in a bubble of luck and Sue Storms invisible force field.!!!!!!!!September 23rd
Wake up and decide we need to go to the Forest House. have to escape to Beenami. Mark says rain (again) I say it will be ok. It turns out to be a fantastic day. We call into Bunnings- our fave hardware store and buy a huge pond. Mark digs up the ground and I work on the water system, so the goats now have a water source. Mark does a great job- he should do this for a living- these goats are going to be spoilt animals. We clean out the metal water container "shed" and that's where they will sleep- buy a big bale of chick-straw for it's floor. Mix concrete , insert the 10 foot posts into the ground and cement it. God damn professionals we are. I take a break and head down to the stone bench and it's so calm and peaceful. The air is full of wild hyacinths - all of them purple and one lone white one. make a decision to step back a bit from the mad stuff at the moment. Hell life is far too short and it seems like the days are speeding by. I can't just sit and watch them flicker past- need to embrace it all a bit more. Hmm maybe the strong scent of the Hyacinths has gone to my head?Take armloads of daffodils and hyacinths back to the city. Plant tomato bushes, onions and garlic in our fenced off vegie patch. Wombat proof it a bit, but they are a determined creature-so who knows if it will protect the plants from their munching attacks. Nice drive home, feel calm. Mark is very proud of his pond- it really is a work of art, the Warhol of ponds, the Hoover dam of ponds...the best pond at Beenami I can assure you.!!!!!!!!
September 24th
head into the city today, was going to visit Vali but have a lot of work to catch up on, so I bury myself in that. One of my pay checks arrive so I use it to pay off Amex, on time (just) I am a good Gryphon.(just). *grin*The city seems empty, even though there are people about- it's like their life energy has been turned down- the terrorist attacks have touched everyone- sadness, anger and fear. From that hope , and peace will hopefully blossom but it's probably a long way off.
Some mail orders came in for Hussy today- quite a few , maybe it was just the slow mail from the States. The first book keeps ticking over, I like people just getting the vibe and wanting a copy, feels good.
The lovely Jurate at Greville books says they have to pay me soon, they have sold 20 or 30 copies- which is outstanding for a small bookshop. She has a few more left so I tell her to wait till they have all sold. Buy a copy of New York in the Sixties. There are 4 books in the series- London, Paris and San Francisco (In the sixties). 130 pages, the best B/w photos, people and places. George Perry who worked for the Sunday Times (60's/70's) edits the book with some nice text. Find a book for Deb too, nice to mail off a surprise present (not a surprise anymore eh?). [editor's note: wow, thanks!!!]
September 25th
Help out a friend today- feel sad. That kind of week. In the middle Neil (Finn) calls, and I prattle on, auto pilot. He sounds great, working away as he does. Talk about future work areas, Amanda leaving the office (which is sad for me) the internet and life in general. I like it when he just calls, the first 5 seconds I always worry that something is wrong- but it's not, all fine in Finn land. I think how lucky I am to work with him, been a true joy. I do jump in and say it's time I got a pay rise- very brave of me. When was my last one, 1800.....no! You know us Vampyres always getting time frames mixed up..... so a pay rise, he seems totally fine with that.Alice at the office mails some more signed Neil photos for the Life kits, so that will cover the last of them, as well as some final signed Last to Know cds. Should get them soon.
Cosmo the rabbit is being all cute tonight, I was lying on the floor talking on the phone to Mum or Sis and this bundle of white fur hops over and rabbit kisses me. Nudges me with his head. What a character.
September 26th
Enterprise debuts on USA tv and kicks ratings butt. Massive. Good to see.Do some serious driving today, stock checks, and some shopping. Buy 20 litres of low sheen paint, get it specially mixed, for the kitchen and dining room. Now that its getting hotter, time to repaint a few areas. get too excited by the rechargeable cordless drill and decide I need one (it's a guy thing)...wont even talk about the chocolate cake from the David Jones food hall.
Having a coffee and I think about the refugee's trudging over the Khyber Pass. It would be snowing there now, in parts, so this will surely limit ground operations...It also means the 1.5 million refugee's fleeing Afghanistan are going to suffer (yet again). Already Pakistan hosts about 2 million Afghan refugee's. Quetta-which is around 3 hours drive from the border is running out of water-it's having its 4th year of major drought and a million people live there. The refugees survive by scavenging garbage and selling old bits of plastic and dried dung bricks. No sanitation or good water. At the border at Chaman 11,000 Afghans are forced up against the barbed wire with hope in their eyes. They are only the first wave, more will follow. Just makes me feel incredibly sad. Hopefully when the USA and allies attack the world won't forget about the refugee's, and each day that goes by more and more die. Very sad.
September 27th
Contact the Auckland florist and get some flowers to Amanda. They are one of those florists who use very cool flowers, not the standard old carnations and baby breath....all grown in NZ.Call up the company and get a block of isbn's for the BANG book and the next few. It's a worldwide bar code # for books...just one of the joys of self publishing. It's much easier now though I have to admit.
head out to JB Hifi at Ferntree Gully, but up some electrical stuff and leads etc for video work. We have all the gear in the office but I have the urge to fiddle with the hundreds (thousands) of hours of video I've filmed over the years...no idea what for...just want to.
Time for the Faves list.
Fave book- Matthew Reilly "Area 7". he penned the best seller "Ice Station". The other book that was a nice surprise was THOMPSON TWIN. It's an 80's memoir book, cost me 2 pounds on the UK tour. Written by Michael White who joined the Thompson Twins just prior to them becoming massive. A good read in a flashback sort of way.
Fave meal- Couscous with Spring Greens and Moroccan Spiced chicken.
Fave CD- Hedwig soundtrack and the Skyhooks Lost album (Collection).
Fave Video- Can't get you out of my head- Kylie, Blind Melons-No Rain
Fave Fashion accessory- Ryobi 12 V cordless driver drill-model HC12H. Just carry it to nightclubs, fashion shoots etc. Sexy.
Fave colour- Performer low sheen -Deep Gold.
Fave Tv show- BuffyFest.-Foxtel. Enterprise.
Fave DVD- Blood-The Last Vampire (Animated) and 12 Monkeys (Collectors Edition).
Creep(s) of the Month- people who take innocents life. All Terrorists.
Heroes- people who make the effort to help, that don't need tv exposure.
September 28th
DVD ReviewBlood the Last vampire.
This is one of the few animated dvd's that I love. The creators of the infamous "Ghost in the shell" have gone the extra yard and made a fascinating 45 minute feature.
As James Cameron pointed out, "digital imaging has entered a new era...". The subway scenes and fighter planes departing are some sort of cross pollination of animation and reality.
At the Yokota air force base in Japan, the US troops are ready to head to Vietnam. A young woman is in the military compound fighting an equally greater threat- Vampires. My only confusion lies with the girl herself...she is the last remaining "original"....I am trying to figure out if she is the last remaining original "vampire" or do they mean slayer?
Whatever...she kicks butt, has a cool sword, looks pissed off in every frame and carries both sadness and strength on her small shoulders. Great character and the animation & musical score is fantastic.
For those who enjoy their art in animated form- "BLOOD" is a winner. The one complaint 9from everyone) is that it's way too short. Still this is a breakthrough in digital filmmaking. A Manga classic out in Australia on Madman Entertainment.
September 29th
Was going to sleep in today but, a small fine beam of sunlight slipped through the heavy drapes of my room. Just woke me, so I rolled over and got on with the day.BuffyFest on today, as is the GrandFinal. The household votes for Buffy. Mark points out that Buffy's nose is perfect for doing lines of Cocaine, how does he know this- we don't ask.
Cosmo rejects the lovely green spinach leaves, pulling faces as we walk by the atrium- yes rabbits do pull faces.
Get a nice email from Larry and Misty- who are both working away on books. I finished "Burning Brightly" recently and loved it. They make a good team. Still my favorite author/illustrator.
Almost October, will be glad when September is peeled off the calendar...been a tough one for many people. Bygones I say.
Be kind to people. Peace.
Peter