THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN SAYS GOODBYE TO POPPY

The Gonzo Daily - Friday/Saturday

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

 

And so a weird and unsettling week lurches, eventually (I hope) to its climax. Late this afternoon my darling elder stepdaughter Shoshannah took a break from her studies to go to the shop for a chocolate sortie. A few minutes later she returned, and she found Poppy McGregor, aka The Brown Cat, a few months short of her seventeenth birthday in obvious pain. It appears that she had been hit by a car.

 

Shosh, who, as I know that many of you are aware, is a vet (which for our chums across the pond means that she works as an animal doctor, not that she saw military service in Vietnam) and saw immediately that there was nothing that could be done, so she and Corinna took her to the vet in Stratton to be put to sleep.

 

The is a line in my favourite book A Stranger in a Strange Land by catlover Robert Heinlein in which the main protagonist (Michael Valentine Smith) asked the secondary protagonist (Jubal Harshaw) about the biological reason for grief. I had been planning to write about this following Prince’s death yesterday. I had been planning to muse on why the death of a bloke half a world away, who I had never met, with whom I had never communicated, and whom - I am sure - didn’t know that I exist, mattered to me. Then today came the death of a small brown furry “person”who tolerated my presence on occasion, but sometimes hissed at me and once or twice even bit me. And my heart is very heavy, my world will never be the same again, and I am no further answering the Man from Mars’ question.

 

Who shall tell the lady's grief

When her Cat was past relief?

Who shall number the hot tears

Shed o'er her, beloved for years?

Who shall say the dark dismay

Which her dying caused that day?

 

Come, ye Muses, one and all,

Come obedient to my call.

Come and mourn, with tuneful breath,

Each one for a separate death;

And while you in numbers sigh,

I will sing her elegy.

 

                  Christina Rossetti

 

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Sunshine Day - OSIBIS...

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/the-gonzo-track-of-day-sunshine-day.html

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_22.html

Wild Man Fischer An Evening With Wild Man Fischer

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/wild-man-fischer-evening-with-wild-man.html

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Prince

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/those-we-have-lost-prince.html

COMING THIS WEEKEND

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/coming-this-weekend_22.html

 

And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:

 

buy my novel:

http://tinyurl.com/gmo6axf

buy my single:

http://tinyurl.com/zoex4d4

buy tickets to the Weird Weekend:

http://tinyurl.com/jnkehwx

 

Gonzo Magazine #178

http://www.gonzoweekly.com/

 

Viv Stanshall, Mike Livesley, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, Fred Frith, Armando Gallo, French-Frith-Kaiser-Thompson, Ra ra riot, Arthur Brown, C S Lewis, Alfredo Zitarrosa, Astor Piazzolla, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, and Yes fans had better look out!

 

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End is on the front cover, there is an interview with Mike Livesley who is the mastermind of the latest revival inside, together with Alan's notstalgic look at the original mastermind, Viv Stanshall. Doug raves about Ra Ra Riot, whilst John goes to see Arthur Brown. Jon goes all South American whilst Alan muses on French-Frith-Kaiser-Thompson, and interviews the legendary Fred Frith. We send legendary rock and roll photojournalist Armando Gallo to a desert island,  review a book about C S Lewis, and there are radio shows from Strange Fruit and Mack Maloney, as well as the return of Friday Night Progressive, the latest installment of the saga of Xtul, and columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna who this week has Elvis in her sights (uh huh huh). 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:

Alfredo Zitarrosa, Astor Piazzolla, The Who, Ringo Starr, Bruce Springsteen, Alan Dearling, Tony Hawk, Led Zeppelin, John Ellis, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Robbie Brennan, Anthony Schmaltz "Tony" Conrad, Earl Solomon Burroughs (Jack Hammer), Captain Beefheart, Brand X, Osibisa, Pink Fairies, Gram Parson's The International Submarine Band, Gib Guilbeau, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Sons of Fred, Percy Jones, Norman Wisdom featuring Rick Wakeman, Viv Stanshall, Michael Livesley, Ra Ra Riot, French Frith Kaiser Thompson, Roy Weard, John Brodie-Good, Arthur Brown, Mr Biffo, Armando Gallo, Hawkwind, Xtul, Walter Hooper, C S Lewis, George Michael, Sex Pistols, Beethoven, Johnny Rotten, Neil Nixon, Paul Buchanan, Folkstone

 

                                                                                    

Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:

 

Issue 177 (David Gilmour)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo176.html

Issue 176 (Joey Molland and The Raz Band)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo176.html

Issue 175 (Larry Sanders)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo175.html

Issue 174 (Keith Emerson)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo174.html

Issue 173 (Pink Fairies action figures)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo173.html

Issue 172 (4th Eden)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo172.html

Issue 171 (Keith Levene)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo171.html

Issue 170 (Wildman Fischer)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo170.html

Issue 169 (Wildman Fischer)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo169.html

Issue 168 (Wakeman/Bowie)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo168.html

Issue 167 (Paul Kantner)

http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo167.html

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/…/gonzo-161-21-yer-festive-double-…

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

 

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?