Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Easter Egg - Disaster Area's Lead Singer

Dead right (the firm has now split, and only Hotblack remains). Another one of the probabilities (2 to the power of 26 xxxx) was the firm's phone number. In fact all the probabilities were phone numbers (of the old style, 226 was the code for the Angel, Islington, N. London where Adams lived) were phone numbers of pubs etc.)

The realtors in question got a lot of grief about knicking "Stealing" their name from Hitchhikers, when in fact it was the other way round

They didn't steal the ship in the first book! It happened in"The restaurant at the end of the Universe", which was the second book.

Are you sure that Hotblack is the lead singer? I remember a reference to him touching the keyboard of his instrument, which I think was called an avatar, from memory.

yes, Hotblack was the lead singer of the band. There wouldn't have been a reference to HIM touching the keyboard because he was spending a year dead as a sentence for tax evasion. However, his psychic interpreter played it for him.

he was spending a year as a SENTENCE for tax evasion, he was spending a year dead for TAX REASONS, in otherwords, to *commit* tax evasion

Just to put all the things right into one comment. Yes, hitchhikers borrowed lots of names from people. Hotblack Desiato is mentioned in the second book, but in the first set of radio scripts (tape 3 I think) Hotblack does not play his instrument, the interpreter does, because he is dead for tax evasion purposes. In fact, only the bass player plays his instrument if I remember right, because the drummer was thinking he was a fish (or something)

It is actually the lead singer who wouldn't come out of the bathroom until it was proved to him that he wasn't a fish. Therefore Hotblack couldn't be the Lead Singer, he wrote songs on his ajuitar, whatever that is. There was also a bass player, and a drummer in the band.

Hotblack Desiato is not in fact mentioned in the radio series. In the radio series Zaphod, Ford et al steal a ship belonging to the admiral of a battlefleet, and Disater Area are not part of the story at all.

just to be clear on the realtor's names, the actual firm name is Hott, Black, and Desiato.

To continue the ongoing nitpicking, at no point does anyone touch any of the instruments. They play them by remote control from orbit to protect thier ears.

They would have to play some instuments. The instuments they played would send signals down to the ones on the ground.

You can see how some of the other characters came about at http://floor42/The_Hitchhiker_Trilogy/ Have fun.

Sorry lenny - last time I went past this estate agents they were Hotblack and not Hott, Black - see UK Yellow Pages - they're still called Hotblack Desiato in Camden too - http://search.yell.com/servlet/yell.search.Search?location=London&state=INI&submit.y=13&submit.x=27&businessType=&WHO=Hotblack&EVTSOURCE=&WHAT=&WHERE=London&screen=VAL&companyName=Hotblack&

I saw this one too, I was just about to submit it. It's probably the coolest egg I've seen in THHGTTG!

"Aboard the giant control ship, all was activity and bustle. Hotblack Desaito's limoship, a mere tadpole beside it, had arrived and docked, and the lamented gentleman was being transported down the high vaulted corridors to meet the medium who was going to interpret his psychic impulses onto the ajuitar keyboard." -The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy Pg. 250 Paragragh 6 begining on line 18

" A doctor, a logician and a marine biologist had also just arrived, flown in at phenomenal expense from Maximegalon to try to reason with the lead singer who had locked himself in the bathroom with a bottle of pills and was refusing to come out till it could be proved conclusively to him that he wasn't a fish. The bass player was busy machine-gunning his bedroom and the drummer was nowhere on board." -The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Pg. 250 Paragraph 7 Starting on line 23 I hope this clears up confusion as to the Identities and whereabouts of the band members at the time of the concert on Kakrafoon.

Actually, there is an LP called 'the restaurant at the end of the universe' which is basicly an extended version of the radio show episode, newly recorded. It is ofcourse masively more funny because DNA got the chance to edit the material based on feedback and having heard it himself. For some reason, they used another actress for trillian, I have no idea why. Back to the point, the LP (or the digital version you can download off popular mp3 exchange programs) is as far as I know the first extended entry about disaster area. This information was propably used in the book and later in the tv show. I also wonder if you are aware that there is actually a LP containing two songs about Marvin, called 'Marvin I love you'? (you might be able to get the mp3 if you're lucky)