THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS NEARING THE END

The Gonzo Daily - Monday

http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/about.html

I realised over the weekend that despite all the crap that 2016 has thrown at us all, some nice things have happened, and I would loke to share one of them with you. In 1957 my late parents were living in Nigeria. During the War, my Father had learned to play guitar from a shipmate during the Battle of the Atlantic, and so for their tenth wedding anniversary, my Mother gave him a Hofner nylon stringed guitar that she had bought in a music shop in Lagos. Two years later I was born, and a few years after that the family moved to Hong Kong, eventually returning to Blighty in 1971. Three years after that, using the same guitar (with which in the interim he had used to accompany himself singing songs to my little brother and I when we were small) to give me my first guitar lessons.

I played it off and on for a few years, revelling in its classic tones, but when I left home finally in 1981 it stayed with my Dad. A quarter of a Century later I came back to the family home to nurse my Father through his final illness. After he died I came across his guitar in an obscure cupboard. It was covered in dust, one of the machine heads was broken and it had various other bits of damage.

A couple of years ago I made contact again with Martin Dowding, an old schoolfriend of mine, and in conversation one evening it turned out that he repaired guitars. It took a year or so for the penny to drop, but about six months ago I gave my Dad's battered and unplayable guitar to him, and asked him if there was anything he could do with it. Last Friday he brought it back, if not quite as good as new (it still bears the battlescars of having been lugged around the dying embers of the British Empire) completely repaired and in as playable a condition as it was back when I started to play on it back in 1974.

Some stories do have happy endings. Thank You Martin.

RAZ Canadian review

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2016/01/raz-canadian-review.html

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Edgar Broughton Band -...

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-gonzo-track-of-day-edgar-broughton.html

GRACE SLICK'S FAREWELL via Thom the World Poet

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2016/02/grace-slicks-farewell-via-thom-world.html

FRANK ZAPPA REVIEW

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2016/02/frank-zappa-review.html

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2016/02/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_1.html

Gonzo Weekly #167

www.gonzoweekly.com

Paul Kantner, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Erik Norlander, Daisy Flowers, Ambrosia, Suede, David Bowie, Villagers, Skunk Anansie, Nigel Kennedy, Black, Colin Vearncombe, George Harrison, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard,  Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, and Yes fans had better look out!

Paul Kantner who died on thursday is on the front cover together with a tribute to him inside. Jon interviews Erik Norlander, Doug interviews Ambrosia, John goes to see Nigel Kennedy, and Lee says goodbye to Colin Vearncombe. There are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, and Mack Moloney, the latest installment of the saga of Xtul, and columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, A J Smitrovich, Mr Biffo and the irrepressable Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons ouyside zoos(OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have escaped from captivity, 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:

David Bowie, Suede, Villagers, Skunk Anansie, P J Harvey, Pet Shop Boys, Elvis Presley, Handel, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Brian Wilson, Mick Jagger, Wild Man Fischer, Steve Ignorant, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Paul Kantner, Colin Vearncombe, James Stewart "Jimmy" Bain, Alex Wishart, The Pirates, Freddie King, Denny Laine, The Selecter, Galahad, Rick Wakeman, Erik Norlander, Ambrosia, Nigel Kennedy, John Brodie-Good, Black, Lee Walker, Roy Weard, A J Smitrovich, My Dad's LPs, Mr Biffo, Yes, Jon Anderson, Billy Sherwood, Chris Squire, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin, Hawkwind, Xtul, George Harrison, Beatles, ABBA, The Monkees, Neil Nixon, Marc Bolan and T. Rex, Bucovina

Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:

Issue 166 (Spirits Burning)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo166.html

Issue 165 (David Bowie)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo165.html

Issue 164 (Free Festivals)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo164.html

Issue 163 (Lemmy)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo163.html

Issue 161-2 (The Christmas Double Feature)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-161-21-yer-festive-double-issue.html

Issue 160 (Frank Zappa)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo160.html

Issue 159 (Jon Anderson and Matt Malley)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo159.html

Issue 158 (Billy Sherwood)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo158.html

Issue 157 (Drones for Daevid)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo157.html

Issue 156 (Rick and Emmie)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo156.html

Issue 155 (Pink Fairies)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo155.html

Issue 154 (Steve Ignorant)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo154.html

Issue 153 (Martin Barre)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo153.html

Issue 152 (4th Eden)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo152.html

Issue 151 (Corky Laing)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo151.html

Issue 150 (Roger Dean)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo150.html

Issue 149 (Tony Palmer in Space)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo149.html

Issue 148 (Wally Hope)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo148.html

Issue 147 (Thom the World Poet cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo147.html

Issue 146 (Bee and Flower cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo146.html

Issue 145 (Dave Brock cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo145.html

Issue 144 (Percy Jones cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo144.html

Issue 143 (Billy Sherwood cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo143.html

Issue 142 (Daevid Allen and Spirits Burning cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo142.html

Issue 141 (Rick Wakeman cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo141.html

Issue 140 (Jaki Windmill cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo140.html

Issue 139 (Raz cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo139.html

Issue 138 (Galahad cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo138.html

Issue 137 (Chris Squire cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo137.html

Issue 136 (Neil Nixon cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo136.html

Issue 135 (FNP cover)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo135.html

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!

You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:

http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/

SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.

* 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.co.uk

* 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 56 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two small kittens, one totally coincidentally named after one of the Manson Family, purely because she squeaks, puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish. 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, and the adventurous kittens?