The Gonzo Daily - Friday/Saturday
Golly what a long strange trip it's been. This week
I mean.
Everything was going as normal until Tuesday
evening. Monday had been fairly productive and straightforward, and on Tuesday
Jessica and I had spent a long, complicated day correcting proofs and were
feeling really rather pleased with ourselves. Helen, Jessica's mum, who has been
housekeeper here since my parent's day came in to see us in the office. She was
being very affectionate, and obviously wanted something. "Would we be able to
adopt another kitten?" She asked in a voice like honey and treacle mixed up into
a potion by someone invented by Enid Blyton.
"Christ, not another cat", I began, and then
noticed a smug look on Helen's face. She obviously knew something I didn't. Then
the pin dropped. "Corinna has already said yes, hasn't she?" I said, realising
that I would have to cooperate with the inevitable. Helen nodded, and she,
Jessica and Corinna went to collect said kitten from one of Helen's many
relatives in Hartland.
Not altogether to my surprise, when they returned
several hours later Jessica was also clutching a kitten. I did my best to sound
stern and resolute and insist that this little one (with whom I immediately fell
in love would be our last. After all, I said, we now have four cats (Poppy
McGregor, Lilith Tinkerbell, Captain "Peanut" Frunobulax the Magnificent, and
the kitten), and that is enough for anybody. However, Helen's household now has
ten cats, and much though I love her, I am not sure that she is that good an
influence on my beloved wife.
The kitten has the temporary name of 'Squeaky'
(more because of the noise she makes all day long than because of the Manson
Family connotation).
But then things got weirder. Wednesday morning
dawned bright and sunny, or at least I suspect it did, because after a late
night up with Squeaky I overslept by a few hours. I hate oversleeping and coming
down late, So I was not in the best of moods when I did eventually come
downstairs. When I hobbled into the office, the kitten poking out of the front
of my shirt as if I had somehow become a marsupial overnight (being a father
figure rather than a mother figure, shouldn't that be a 'Pa-Supial'?) I found to
my horror that the hard drive containing all the Gonzo, Wyrd and Music files had
gone tits up. Some of it was backed up, but equally some of it
wasn't.
There are some jolly useful people at a Data
Recovery form in Barnstaple who have the drive now, and I am reliably informed
that it looks probable that I shall get some if not all of my missing files
back, but the whole process is taking longer than usual which is why I have not
been operational for the last few days. However, I have always been proud of the
fact that The Gonzo Weekly, like the Pony Express always gets through and like
the Windmill Theatre we never close. So there is a magazine this week, even
though it is somewhat more truncated than usual.
And guess what?
Despite all the crap that has happened, I still
haven't had a cigarette!
I have to admit that I am feeling rather proud of
myself.
David Peel, John Lennon, Gryphon, Lester Bangs,
Malachite, Britannia Potts, Roy Weard, Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion,
Hawkwind, Jon Anderson, and Yes fans had better look out!
The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#130) is
available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/. It
has David Peel on the front cover together with the intriguing story of how the
FBI got him and John Lennon confused inside. There is a look at Gryphon live by
Doug, Jon examines a new collection of Lester Bangs' writings, and talks about a
very weird weekend, whilst the legendary Roy Weard continues his regular column.
We send Nigel Hewlett-Beech to a desert island, There is a peek at some rare Yes
memorabilia, and a look at the story of Silver Machine, Neil Nixon reports on an
even stranger album than usual, Wyrd meets Britannia Potts, Xtul gets even more
peculiar, and there are radio shows from Strange Fruit and from M Destiny at
Friday Night Progressive. There is also a collection of more news, reviews,
views, interviews and pademelons trying to choose (OK, nothing to do with small
marsupials having difficulty in making choices, 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!!!
This issue features:
Liam Gallagher, Yoko Ono,
Ringo Starr, Kurt Cobain, Slash, Malcolm Young, AC/DC, Weird Weekend, Kim
Kardashian, Bear Grylls, Steve Ignorant, Slice of Life, Steve Hackett, Elvis
Presley, Eliza Carthy, Tim Eriksen, Galahad, Strange Fruit, Friday Night
Progressive, B B King, Mick Abrahams & Sharon Watson, Tommy James, Hugh
Hopper, Third Ear Band, WMWS, David Peel, Strawberry Alarm CLock, Eliza Carthy
& Jim Moray, Magic Michael, David Peel, John Lennon, Jerry Rubin, Abbie
Hoffman, Jon Wiener, Gryphon, Roy Weard, Hawkwind, Nigel Hewlett-Beech,
Malachite, Yes, Steve Howe, Palos Verdes, Alan White, Rick Wakeman, Lester
Bangs, Xtul, Neil Nixon, And the Native Hipsters,Rolling Stones, Paganini,
Grateful Dead, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Dalriada
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/…/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit…
* 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 55 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?
The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. 
