The Corona Diaries Steve Hogarth

Apologies for missing last week (though very soon you will know why) This one was a little tough in prospect but alright once we got going.
It sounds a bit different owing to Ant not being able to get his tech to work (post Spanish-holibobs) and having to use the USB mic instead of the flash one he normally uses.
Having said all that, in many ways it is an archetypal episode of TCD - bawdy seaside postcards, eccentric village-folk and me with one leg in a fantasy-world, and the other one standing on a box. She was used to that…
Love'n'oranges
h
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Well it's been a bit of a palaver this week, trying to get TCD (sorry, Lucy) ready for the outside world.
The recording seemed to go well, but when I was putting it together it became apparent that Ant had forgotten his trademark 'and we're back' after the diary reading, so I had to crowbar one in from a previous episode. Actually on that point, the first person who can correctly identify which of the previous 209 episodes it came from can have a bag of Starmix.
So I got around that little faux-pas, only for Ant to message me and break the news that the diary section which I recorded on Tuesday, has actually been used in a previous episode. So not only does that mean I have read and recorded it twice, it also means you will be getting a definite sense of deja vu.
After a high-level executive discussion, we have decided to leave it as is, because it's a good bit of diary and you’ve all had several sleeps since you heard it last. Hopefully you will enjoy the refresher.
Oh, and did I mention that Tim Sidwell was in attendance? No, well he was and as usual he was an absolute poppet and not a bit “Hollywood” except for occasionally calling us “darlings”. How wonderful!
Love'n'rama
h
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I am properly losing track of what I am reading every week in the diary section.
Even since we finished Volume II of The Invisible Man (1998-2014) I have been scrabbling around on my hands and knees (figuratively speaking of course) under the lid of my MacBook trying to locate odd bits of stuff to read out.
And because I keep stumbling on stuff, we have lost all sense of chronology in terms of what we have included and what can still be used. Which is why I sent Ant an email on Wednesday and asked him to look at a couple of pages to try and ascertain if we had used them already. I couldn't be sure, and as it turned out neither could he, but we both plumped for the 'travelling to Lille' extract as being the safer option - so that is what you are getting.
And as far as the rest of the episode is concerned, well it's just the other Mr.H being brilliant.
Nuff said.
Love'n'railcards
h
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We don't very often about the technical side of producing The Corona Diaries (see what I did there Lucy) mainly because we don't want to be seen to be blowing our collective trumpet, and partly because it isn't that interesting. But it is slightly relevant this week so here we go.
Most weeks, usually on a Tuesday, Ant sets up a Zoom call and we congregate - rarely on time, and never before ten - to ease ourselves into the process. In short order we hit the record button, and away we go, but because the audio quality on Zoom is a little sketchy we choose to capture our individual tracks on separate software at either end. Then either Ant or myself will take those tracks, along with the intro/outro beds and the piano noodles and build what will ultimately be the finished episode.
With me so far? Cracking!
Now one of the little tricks of the trade is that we both have to wear headphones or earphones, because if you monitor via headphones the sound of the zoom call would be rerecorded through the microphone and create a kind of echo. Seems obvious right, but the reason I am telling you is that we have a perfect example of that this week when our guest joined us and did that very thing...
So while you listen to #208 see if you can spot that little moment, because it is a little peek behind the “tech curtain”.
Mind you, it’s probably because his volume goes up to eleven.
Love'n'Leonard
h

It doesn’t really matter which of the many metaphors you choose, win or lose, the ups and the downs, the peaks or the troughs.
The fact is that when we started this run of AHBID themed episodes we kinda hoped by roping in members of the band we would be able to provide a broader collective on the making of that particular record.
Alas it hasn’t really worked out that way, so although we have managed to tease out a few nuggets so far, this particular aspiration is heading for the bucket. (N.B we do still have Rothers to go, but on current form it ain’t that promising…)
But with every near miss comes a full-on hit, and the one thing we didn’t expect was how each of these chapters have been imbued with the quirkiness of the particular invited guest.
And so it is with the arrival of The Count, as we delve into clicks, debate marmalade and grill Ant over some frankly bizarre behaviour around eggs.
h
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There is something about being in a room (or indeed on a Zoom call) with Trousers that is one of life's great pleasures.
Let me clarify that, because it is all about the capitalisation. Being in a room with trousers is a fairly mundane occurrence for many of us, but being in a room with Trousers is a joy.
The fact is, he is really funny. Mike Hunter thinks so, Ant thinks so, and I am sure after listening to #206 of TCD (sorry Lucy) you will think so as well. So as much as there are so really insights into the creation of Reprogram The Gene in todays pod, and believe me there are, if you are anything like me they will now be forever intertwined with tales of practical food containers and the purveyors thereof.
Life is better when you take the Pete way.
Love'n'knitwear
h
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The Invisible Man Volume 1: 1991-1997
The Invisible Man Volume2: 1998-2014
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