Hello and Happiness,

Just a quick "heads up" from the singer as we've noticed that our eWebs tend to get a little orientated too much in the "give us your money" area and not enough in the "we're alright - how are y'all?" area. Well we ARE alright. We've been busy since the beginning of '06 jamming in the studio and trying to write some new music with the intention of being ready to release our next album (14!) early next year.

The elves in the back room can be heard hammering, sawing and generally toiling on a mission to put together the next Convention at Center Parcs, Port Zeeland in Holland next February. Although it's a long way into the future, there's much preparation to do here. They also told me that it's selling out fast and some important updates have just been made to the website, so please check them out at www.marillionweekend.com

Perhaps we should start a new company called Racket Travel Agents. We seem to have gained the necessary expertise, so do call us if you need a skiing holiday in Verbier or want to cruise the Indian Ocean. I'll be ship's doctor and God help you.

In the studio, the band can be heard muttering in between loud busts of chaos as we attempt to distill music and words from the ether. Michael Hunter is now in the Producer's chair adding his inimitable Liverpudlian dimension to everything. The process has so far been painless and uplifting (I hate writing, so this is quite something for me to say). It's still too early to give you any fine detail as I haven't really got any to give. The boys in the band are feeling good about it though and, as it comes together, we'll try to make regular monthly reports to you.

Writing a song is like playing a movie backwards of a planet exploding. It starts with a lot of very fine particles a long, long way from each other which slowly (almost imperceptibly, in our case) get bigger and closer until, at the very last moment, are sucked at colossal speed into existing as a single solid living thing. Is this making sense to anyone except me? I often have this feeling and ask this question. If you don't understand me then there's obviously something wrong with you and you should see a psychiatrist as soon as possible.

In between all this I have been "moonlighting" at weekends playing "h natural" shows (just me and a piano). Big thanks to all who came to these and contributed to the magic (see the h guestbook at www.stevehogarth.com for the vibe). I still have another handful in the offing in Dublin (Apr 29), Warsaw (June 11) and Lille (June 17), so perhaps I might see you soon..

There's also a possibility of Marillion playing a single FREE festival in Poland in the summer. More news of that as soon as we have it..

Talk to you soon..

Love and handstands

h

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