The Gonzo Daily - Tuesday
I have just finished reading Tommy James'
autobiography. I have been aware of Tommy James and the Shondells for decades -
everyone knows 'Hanky Panky', 'I think we're alone now' and several others. But
it wasn't until I read the book and found out what a fascinating career this man
has had, that I sat down with my trusty Spotify account and found out what a
slew of great music I have been missing out on for all these years. I am
particularly impressed by the music that the man usually considered as the
"father of bubblegum music" made when he was allowed to let his hair down and
play games with form and style. Why these more psychedelic outings aren't spoken
of more often I have no idea.
On the home front, Tamara is currently changing the
substrate in the tortoises. I bought a bag of sterilised soil from a Garden
Centre that shall remain nameless. Much to her surprise, when she opened it she
found something that looked suspiciously like a bullet! It is, however, probably
the tip of a biro, but it most certainly shouldn't have been in
there.
Judge Smith, Peter Hammill, Edgar Allan Poe fans,
Wings fans, Carl "Blue" Wise fans, Hawkwind fans, Gong fans and all sorts of
other people, had better look out! The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#99) is
available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/.
It has Judge Smith on the cover, and features an
article by him about the latest performaance of his celebrated opera based on
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher". There is also an interview
with him about it. But there's more! We have an interview with Carl "Blue" Wise
about Denny Laine, Wings, Joey Molland, Badfinger and playing alongside some of
the sopul stars of Stax records (amongst other things). Doug Harr goes to see
King Crimson, and Jon asks whether repackaging and remixing and remastering
music is morally acceptable. The new album by Aphex Twin is critiqued and there
are exclusive words Hunter Ayling is backstage at Hawkwind's Hawkoktoberfest.
There are also new shows from the multi-talented Neil Nixon at Strange Fruit and
from M Destiny at Friday Night Progressive, and the massively talented Jaki and
Tim are back with their submarine and Maisie the cow. There is a new show from
Canterbury Sans Frontières, but sadly it will be the last for a while. There is
also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and doves making coos
(OK, no musical members of the Columbinidae, 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!!!
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
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!
* 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 infantile orange cat 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 infantile orange
cat?