The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject.
There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in.
The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.
What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology? Well, everything actually! In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out-of-place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in.
Last
night was a pleasant one. Martin and Marianne, two musician friends of mine came
over; wine was drunk and music was played and recorded, and a great time was had
by all. For various reasons, mostly to do with Prudence having taken over most
of the bed, and the flat roof of our bedroom making our bedroom horribly hot I
came downstairs and slept in my favourite armchair. So last night I truly did
'sleep with the fishes', (and two cats and a family of Japanese
newts).
The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#83) is here to
read or download at www.gonzoweekly.com. It has Stonehenge on
the front cover and features a previously unpublished account of the first
Stonehenge Festival from Wally Hope, Dead Fred's claim that 1974 WASN'T the
first 'Henge Festie. There are memories of Stonehenge Festivals between
1974-1984, an interview with James Lowe of the Electric Prunes, and Erik
Norlander's tribute to Bob Moog. There are also new shows from the peculiar
multiverse of Sub Reality Sandwich, from Friday Night Progressive, and from the
multi-talented Neil Nixon at Strange Fruit and a collection of more news,
reviews, views, interviews and Irish Stews (OK, no mutton and vegetable based
concoctions, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you
can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you
have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly
dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power
chaps, we have to share it!
To make sure that you don't miss your copy of
future issues make an old hippy a happy chappy and subscribe http://eepurl.com/r-VTD
* The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you
have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and
want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and
spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to
read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more
traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we
all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...
* The
Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about
artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has
other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly
newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this
link: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
* We should probably mention here, that some of our
posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of
interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other
people's websites. Honest guv!
* Jon Downes, the Editor of all these
ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 54 who - together with an
orange kitten named after a song by Frank Zappa puts it all together from a
converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he
shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted
by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly
mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we
mention the orange kitten?
Karl Shuker remembers the very first Nessie book, 80 years old this year, and also compiles a comprehensive LNM bibliography for his latest CFZ Press book.
On this
day in 1904 the actor Peter Lorre was born. Lorre's most famous films were
“Casablanca”, “Arsenic and Old Lace” and Fritz Lang's “M” which is one of the
greatest thrillers ever created.