The Corona Diaries

It's one of the characteristics of this time of day, especially true at this time of year. The sun is dropping toward the horizon, but in a very languid fashion as if it wants to hang around for as long as possible.Rafa is just about to edge the fifth set, but it's been a rollercoaster of a match. The tension has been building, the crowd is getting more and more animated and every point is like an entire match, wrapped up in time. The very essence of tennis.The man from the ministry has been and gone in a vehicle unknown. He seemed nice, maybe a little older than me, but very affable and he left happy with me and my boiler. Only yesterday I was boarding a plane, half the world away, but now I am back, watching the corn flies in the early evening haze and contemplating the diminishing level of my gin glass.Nothing to do. Nowhere to be. Bliss.And then the familiar ping of a WhatsApp notification.Oh bugger, I should be recording this weeks TCD - now where is my microphone?Love'n'line-callshTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

Not a lot to report this week, if you listened to Chapter 116 then you know what’s about to happen and you don’t need anything from me by way of explanation.However, and whilst I have your attention, both Ant and I are aware that Ronan Keating was never actually part of Westlife. So if you think you hear us say anything to the contrary, you are in fact mistaken.And it is a well known fact that Seagulls are very proud of their regional accents, and celebrate them most wholeheartedly.Love ‘n’laundromatsh

I hour, 17 minutes and 2 seconds. What were we thinking....To be honest there are three reasons why Chapter 116 of The Corona Diaries is over an hour and a quarter long;We clearly weren't thinking (we were just blathering)I tried to explain what's in my music room...Ant came up with a bonkers concept for conversation, that will probably take us the rest of the year to get through.So I am going to stop typing - so you can start listening - because you haven't got a moment to waste.Love, ghost trumpets, and ukulele-hangershTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

It's not every week that you get all five members of the beat-combo on the same episode of a podcast (in fact it is possible that we were popping the 'ol podcast cherry, collectively speaking). But then it isn't every week that we record the 250th episode of TCD!!It made for an eventful recording process, and indeed a game of two halves, as we huddled around a single microphone in my hotel room in Utrecht to try and make this semiquincentennial episode something a bit special. And do you know what? I think we might have managed it! Despite being “post-the-best-gig-in-living-memory” shattered, the boys brought their 'A' game to the table, and Ant (bless him) has put in an extra special effort to wrestle the edit into submission and sprinkle it with sparkles.It's been a special project for me, one that so many of you have embraced and carried on your shoulders, and for that I will always be truly grateful.Love'n'milestonesh

I had a rare old time in Poland last week, in fact it may well be the best h natural show I have played there. Despite a little apprehension on my part, it all went swimmingly, as you are about to hear as we discuss the gig and the set-list in some detail.Of course the next few weeks are going to blur a bit, what with the upcoming Marillion Weekend in Utrecht, and then the run of solo shows that (by tradition) draw the curtain across my musical year. All of which I am looking forward to.But that doesn't mean that in the midst of all this gigging activity, Ant and I don't have one last TCD trick up our sleeve before we sit expectantly around the fireplace waiting for the big fella. And we will let you ponder on that, as you listen to this week's ramble.Love’n’just the one chopstick.hTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

There are so many reasons why we don't do a video version of TCD (...sorry Lucy) but we got the sense that many of you didn't believe us.So as Ant was round at ours anyway, and as Vibes was on hand to assist with production duties, we decided to tiptoe out 'till our feet only just reached the floor.What that means is that you get a few mins of audio-only, before we will redirect you to the YT link so you can be hypnotised by the act of Christmas admin.Huge thanks to my boy, who has slaved over this...Sound'n'visionhChapter 248 in all it's gloryTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

It’s a full on chapter of TCD this week (….sorry Lucy) with all the bells and whistles that are now synonymous with our artform.Firstly we have a guest. The inimitable Lucy J. joins us, bringing with her that wonderful frisson, that you only get when a special personality has rocked up in your own backyard. And of course when Lucy J. is in the house, we get some insider goss, and this time it's all about Pompeii.Secondly we have the ad-hoc drop-in (in this case twice) both as a preamble, and a post-title introduction. The bit where you have to listen a bit more closely, just to stay with the convo, because we have changed tack without giving you fair warning.And finally there is the obligatory BLEEP, employed as a protection mechanism because I have invariably strayed into a cul-de-sac of rantiness, or indiscretion. Of course it's normally Ant who has manoeuvred me there, but just because he crosses them over I don't need to head them in.Enjoy.h xTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

It's all got a bit of a 'rockumentary' kind of a vibe this time, as I take you behind the curtain at the ProgStock festival in Noo JoizeeRecorded from my hotel room overlooking Manhattan, on the morning after the night before, and with me not altogether compos mentis. So in amongst the normal TCD bants, we talked about the gig a bit, as well as the details of a fab few days grooving around NY & NJ.Thanks for the invite, and to everybody that helped in terms of getting me on (and off) stage, and at the right places at the right time. As it turned out the journey back only became eventful after we had touched down in the UK, but I will have to tell you about that on a future pod. The gold stops us...Love'n'souwestershWhat is a Nor'easterTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

Listening back to this weeks chat, and it is fairly obvious that if you have never been to Cornwall, or holidayed in the UK for that matter, then a lot of the references might seem a bit bewildering. I am not sure it is possible to explain in a succinct enough fashion for the purpose of these notes so lets try a few images...This is a fairly typical example of static caravans on a UK holiday parkThis is a good example of the kind of 'scenic road' I was talking about, but the one that we traversed had higher hedges, dark overhanging trees and two ruts of a road surface.The Looe river hitting the sea, with the beach where the Kernowfornia stage was situatedThe East Looe and West Looe River CatapultThe Sardine Factory websiteAs you were.h xTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

There are certain things in life that are absolutes.For a start - the fastest way to find a stray piece of lego is to walk across the floor in stockinged feet, and you will find it in an instant (and with more than a modicum of extreme pain). Toast always falls butter side down, and if it is a pair of sunglasses or a laptop charger I am going to misplace it.The TCD absolute (...sorry Lucy), is that however innocuous the topic might seem at first glance, Ant and I seem effortlessly to get a podcast episode out of it. Take this week, to be honest I had slight misgivings that going through a list of countries where the beat-combo had only ever performed twice would not really be worthy of discussion. But I was mistaken, because as soon as the red light came on then we were off and running, my often unreliable neurons began firing and I was throwing out random memories like a man possessed. Love'n'sharp giraffeshTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

I happened to listen to the opening credits today, and this week's chapter is certainly a bit random, and a bit irreverent.What it really needs to accompany it is one of those maps that you get on travel programs, that indicate the route taken as the story unfolds. You know the kind of thing I mean, I have the one from Antiques Road Trip in mind but numerous other examples are available.You start with a static visual of the area in question (in our case North Yorkshire and the East Coast) and then you get a little car-style icon that plots a course from the beginning of the story (in this case Scarborough) around the interim stops (Filingdales, Egton Bridge, Egton, Glaisdale, Staithes) and ending up at the journeys end, which for me was Steve R's childhood home of Whitby.Of course I don't have the go-to-skills to conjure one of those maps up, but how nice would it have been. Anyhow you get the idea.Love'n'streetfightinghTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

Let’s start with the plaudits. High fives, if not big tens are due to John Sturm and Seamus Colgan for being the purple folk who said that we needed more chat about the Europeans.Tim Glasswell deserves the freedom of Luton for all the work he has put into the Rainbow Room website, which is dedicated to all things How We Live and Europeans.And next we move to whatever the opposite of plaudits is…(??!!). And that goes to Ant for not sending me something over to read for the middle of the chapter, choosing instead to clear off to Catalonia for his holibobs.You do get an approximation of my favourite live review of the Euros, maybe Tim G will offer up something inspired that I can read for a future episode.Love’n’vans full of hatshTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

It’s a case of life imitating art this week.It’s a minor bloody miracle you are actually listening to this at all because Ant had one of those head in hand moments whilst trying to download the episode from the Zoom recorder, and managed instead to format the SD card and delete everything we had .Fortunately he managed to rescue one half of the recording using some whizzy software that was able to partially rebuild what had been on the card (you can indeed do anything with computers these days) which at least gave us what had been captured on my microphone.The life imitating art bit is that, after having started the chat with an explanation of how an audio compressor works and when to use it, we then had to employ it quite extensively so you could hear us both at roughly the same level. It did indeed make the loud thing (me) quieter and the quiet thing (Ant) louder. Of course (as I will explain) it meant that the village gossip, and the wind, also came to the fore, as we were recording this episode LIVE in my garden.So apologies for the slightly variable levels and overall quality, but we wanted to be able to share the chat because we enjoyed recording it and it just wouldn’t have been the same if we had revisited it.Oh and it cuts off a little abruptly at the end, seems the goodbyes were lost in the recovery process.Love’n’presidential spreadhTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

It’s a gentle and meandering affair for this chapter of TCD (…sorry Lucy) which is podcast code for not really planned, and certainly not thought through.Saying that, the vibe is about right for a chat that takes place at the seaside and touches on fence repair, cricket and Susie Dent.The thing I can’t forget is to mention the chaps in the boat, who are called Adam, David, Jack and Sam and you can find out more about them by clicking here. The link that Vibes sent me is from Insta and covers them going over the Titanic.All of this will become clear as you listen to the pod. Oh.. and as you watch the clip, any resemblance to Ant and I rowing around Peasholm Park is purely serendipitous.Love'n sweating in a hedge…hTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

For this week's episode of TCD (...sorry Lucy) we have been remembering Luis.So much of what Luis did had a touch of the mystical about it, he sprinkled musical magic wherever he went, and helped music transcend with just the shake of his tambourine. Of course that goes a long way to explaining his career, and the legacy he leaves behind, but it doesn't explain the multiple ways he has touched the lives of me and the rest of the marillion family. That was down to something else, the magic of the human being that was Luis Jardim.It was a joy to have him contribute in the studio and a joy to have him on the road with us. It was also a joy to have him join us for TCD back in October 2022 and if you want to listen back to that episode then click the link below.Chapter 129. Tightening it up when it's a little loose, and softening it when it's a little stiffObrigado meu amigohTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

Of the things that fly-in-and out of this week’s TCD (….sorry Lucy) Gene Wilder was already lodged well and truly at the front of the ol’ synapses. Having finished my evening in Berlin with him (and Anthony having a similar soft-spot), perhaps it wasn’t too much of a surprise that he found his way into the chat.Combining the letters D, M and T with the number 8 however, wouldn’t have even been a fleeting blip on the radar feed of my brainiacles* before we started. So how that made an appearance was down to kismet, the power of TCD, and a downward slide into nerdishness (which we will henceforth try to keep to a minimum). The rest of the conversation was bubbling under the surface somewhere, jostling with the other accumulated randomness, and waiting to happen.Love, and do tell The Edge to turn that soldering iron off. Oh, his poor mother’s carpet..h*A word I am proud to introduce to the world, and encourage you to employ whenever you feel it might elevate the conversation.Fostex DMT8Hohner PianetTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

Well it feels like quite a while since we were here last… how have you been?What with the Leicester Weekend, and then dashing off on holiday I can't really remember where we had got up to, not that it really matters because this week was always going to be a bit of a catch-up and reset as far as TCD goes (...sorry Lucy).What I can tell you is that Lionel Plain, who is one of the Purple folk, came up with an inspired idea for the middle of the pod this week - which was welcome because it meant we only had to flounder around at the beginning and the end! Anyway, wonderful boating weather!See you in Oslo xh TCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

There is a school of thought that TCD (...sorry Lucy) is just like listening to two blokes chatting in a pub, and there is indeed a lot in that observation that has merit.It would certainly go a long way to explain the slightly juvenile humour, the occasional grumpy chunter and the fact we often giggle uncontrollably and sound a bit pissed.And, as is the case with most good pub conversations, every once in a while we actually find ourselves having a relatively serious discussion. Today is one of those days.Love'n'proper silencehTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

There is a paradox at the heart of this weeks episode of The Corona Diaries (see what I did there…) and it is this.Getting Lucy Jordache on the zoom call was easy, she was more than up for a repeat appearance on the pod. Getting her to actually talk about herself and her life, was a darn sight more tricky. But we are nothing if not determined (creatives code for just bloody nosey) and between the two of us we were able to get to know a bit more about one of the significant dollops of glue that holds Marillion in place.Oh and if that wasn’t enough you also get an update on a PZ T-Shirt pre-order.Love’n’political skeletons,hTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite

We have hit a bit of a milestone, and it is sort of crept up on us. Would you believe it has been five years (and a few days) since we announced the upcoming launch of The Corona Diaries, and pretty much five years to the day that the first chapter (This Strange Podcast) was offered up for your consumption.And haven't we been through some crazy stuff; in fact haven't we helped each other through some crazy stuff. We are bound together by a heady mix of the half-remembered and the humorous, by the grief and the giggles, by the warm purple glow of our own accidental cult.So here is (quite literally) to the next chapter, and the next and even to the one after that. TCD (...sorry Lucy) is a journey that still feels like it has a few good miles left in it, and who would we be to argue with that.Love'n'kismeth & AntTCD Merch StoreBecome Purple and support the showThe Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014FacebookInstagramWebsite