I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO DAH MAN

And so once again friday is upon us, and it is the end of the working week for most people. For me? No-one has ever called me normal, so I am listening to the rather wonderful new 'Beach Boys' album, and trying to work out how best to work out a balanced diet for my new baby caecilians. In betweenst all that I have new and also rather wonderful postings for you all:

Merrell Fankhauser is one of the Gonzo artists with the most interesting career paths. He started off as a surf guitarist in the late fifties and then became a far out UFO believing tripmeister. Personally I like both sides of the man. Here is an interview with some smashing archive pics that you won't have seen before...http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/link-merrell-fankhauser-interview-with.html

As regular readers will no doubt be aware, I am really rather fond of The Mad Marquis! Michael Des Barres is a sizeable talent who has never quite got the acclaim that I feel that he deserves. But then he hasn't had
me on his team before, so watch this space..http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/link-return-of-glam-rock-icon-michael.html

Jon Anderson is an extraordinary artist, as his recent solo rennaisance shows. We are all very much looking forward to his next album which is - or so the rumous tell us - a sequel to his classic 'Olias of
Sunhillow'. He is currently on tour Stateside, and here is a eulogistic review..http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/link-wonderous-songs-wonderous-stories.html

Good Old Merrell Fankhauser; still at it. Some people get him, others don't, but both this reviewer and
yours truly are in the former category (after all I nearly got arrested whilst filming his new video the
other day)...http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/link-merrell-fankhauser-review_21.html

A real exclusive here - part two of the chat that I had the other afternoon with the lovely Helen
McCookerybook. She really is an extraordinary lady. Go out and buy her records now or you will have me to deal with...http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/exclusive-helen-mccookerybook-interview_21.html

Yesterday the Gonzo Daily passed a real milestone - we had our 20,000th visitor. Thank you everyone for your support... (BTW we had nearly 1,000 hits yesterday alone)http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/we-have-done-jolly-well.html

See you tomorrow...

HAUNTED SKIES: Sun (The) 8.5.67.

http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2012/06/sun-8567.html

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 2003 the largest hailstone ever recorded, with a circumference of over 47.5cm, fell in Nebraska in the United States of America.

And now the news:

• Forget planes, now it's snakes on a bus
• Dog herds tigers
• Man Rescued at Sea After Boat Hit by Whale
• Mammoth graveyard uncovered in Serbia
• Australia creates world's biggest marine park
• Where to see Glow worms in the UK
• Feral cats a problem for rare ground parrot
• Police called to expel bear from vandalizing high ...
• Squid ‘spermatophores’ get stuck in diner’s mouth
• Orca sighted just metres from Scottish coast
• Cat mutilations likely work of coyote: BCSPCA
• Lufkin man puts 'Bigfoot hair' up for sale

Now this is some serious hail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZr8jXo1Uso

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: "STRANGE SNAKES" INVADE A NAMIBIAN TOWN

Some of you may know that in August I`m speaking at the Weird Weekend on the Flying Snake of Namibia. The other day I came across a report from the Namibian (newspaper`s) web site, dated April 3rd 2012

Under the headline ` Strange Serpents` plague Tubuses, a town in Namibia. This is the story, by Adam Hartman:

Since December last year, Erongo`s Tubuses settlement, north of Usakos near the foot of the Erongo Mountains,(1) has apparently been plagued by hundreds of `large strange snakes`.

Speculation is rife, but one particular version has it that some residents claim that they saw a helicopter flying low over the area before the New Year- soon after which there was a sharp increase in the snake population. According to one resident, the snakes are not the usual kinds (like pythons, puff adders, whip snakes and mambas) found in the area. The `new` snakes were also larger and more dangerous. “Instead of staying in the bush, these snakes are coming into the houses as if the houses belong to them” said David Nuseb. One story has it that a toddler was apparently sitting on the couch watching television, when a large serpent entered the living room and made its way to the TV where it started `fighting` with the images on the screen. The child called his parents, the snake was cornered and killed Nuseb said.

There is agreement among the community that there is usually an increase of snakes after a good rainy season, like that of last year, but then the snakes apparently stay in the bush, away from people. Another member of the community, Isak Naweseb said that scores of them have been killed by people over the past few months, or by vehicles driving over them on the roads. “ Just this past weekend, when a relative of mine went to a funeral nearby, he said that he drove over three large snakes,” said Naweseb.(While he was speaking to the newspaper, another resident of the area, a certain Yvonne, sent a sms to this reporter`s mobile claiming that a snake was in the generator room at the water pump.)

Mobile images of some of the dead snakes were given to The Namibian. The images are of poor quality, but a comparison to the snakes kept at the Swakopmund Snake Park did not shed much light except – considering the colours – that some of those photographed could have been Angolan or Mozambican cobras and mambas. Some of the snakes are found in that area, while others not.One argument is that the snakes could have been washed down river from another region. “Sometimes large snakes are found in Swakopmund, especially after the Swakop River has flooded. The river brings the snakes downstream from the interior. Maybe this was what had happened, an official at the snake park explained.

The owner of the Snake Park, and author of books regarding reptiles of the Namib, Stuart Hebbert, said that nothing is “impossible” anymore, but there were definitely things that were “improbable”. The story of the helicopter is improbable. Helicopters are very expensive, and it would be much easier to transport snakes by car. And why would someone drop snakes from a helicopter? he asked. Hebbert said that he did not want to shrug off the community`s stories as fables, but admitted he was a sceptic.” I`ve heard many snake stories, and once a story gets off the ground it spreads like wildfire, and with that the snakes become more in number, bigger and more dangerous” , he said. He said that the idea of good rains bringing more rodents into the area, attracting more snakes, was more probable.(2)


1. Central Namibia.
2. The Namibian April 3rd 2012 http://www.namibian.com accessed June 11th 2012

SOMEONE ELSE'S TRAILCAM

INAPPROPRIATE CORNER: Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Yorkshire

Once again it was Richard Freeman who found this. I sometimes think that he has set himself the task of keeping 'Inappropriate Corner' filled with the most bizarre and..ummm...inappropriate things on the Internet.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159079/German-delegation-greeted-revellers-Nazi-uniforms-visit-twin-city-Bradford.html

Velcome to Britain, did ve mention ze war? How one village greeted their distinguished German guests

A delegation of German visitors on a visit to their British twin town were left shocked when they were greeted at a village wartime festival by revellers dressed in Nazi SS officer uniforms.

Members of the 30-strong party from Hamm were horrified to find the villagers donning swastikas and other Nazi regalia during Haworth’s latest 1940s-style celebration.

Some visitors to the event, which takes place each year in the small village near Bradford in West Yorkshire, were seen wearing uniforms of the SS - the Third Reich paramilitary organisation responsible for many of the atrocities against humanity in the Second World War.

'Disgrace': Re-enactors sport SS uniforms during last year's 1940s celebration in Haworth, West Yorkshire. German delegates visiting this year's event were shocked when they came face-to-face with similar outfits

'Offensive': Other visitors wearing Second World War uniforms at last year's event in Haworth. The reaction by the 30-strong German delegation this year has led organisers to ban the wearing of Nazi outfits at future events

Some were wearing the uniform of the 60th Panzer unit, whose outfits included a sinister death head skull.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159079/German-delegation-greeted-revellers-Nazi-uniforms-visit-twin-city-Bradford.html#ixzz1yQopx4Qq