He Knows You Know you're a Freak

or....
Ten Ways You Know You're a Marillion fan.

The author, with Fish, New York City, June 2008

1. You've raised a pint with Fish, or alternately bought a beer for Steve Rothery (or any other member of the band).
   
   
2. Your Sunday brunch menu includes edgy eggs, queuing cumbers, and fresh bagels, (bought at the corner store) followed by white Russians.
   
   
3. You're planning a pilgrimage/vacation to the Chateau Marouatte in France, where H and the boys recorded Brave.
   
   
4. You use elaborate early Fish lyrics to describe everyday situations:
   "Sheathed within the Walkman wear the halo of distortion, aural contraceptive aborting pregnant conversations."
   "Singing psychedelic praises to the depths of a china bowl."
   
   
5. You can name each celebrity who has a song written about them on Afraid of Sunlight, but you're still not too sure about "Beautiful." (For the uninitiated, the list is O.J. Simpson, Jake LaMotta, Brian Wilson, Donald Campbell, Kurt Cobain, Phil Spector and Elvis Presley.)
   
   
6. Someone at a Marillion show calls you a "freak." Not only do you take it as a complement, you buy them a pint!
   
   
7. You wear your anorak out of season, preferably under the sun.
   
   
8. You have a stained white 1992 Holidays in Eden t-shirt and you won't let your girlfriend throw it out because it was autographed by Mark Kelly.
   
   
9. You know how to sing the "Geezabun" chant, and occasionally do so in the shower.
   
   
10. You still refer to H (singer Steve Hogarth) as "the new guy."