The Gonzo Daily - Friday/Saturday
And so it is Friday once again, and once agaion I am feeling indignant.
No, I am feeling angry. I am angry about the way we as a society treat our
disabled and elderly. When people are no longer of direct use as consumers they
become a commodity—a commodity to be traded by Granny Farmers, and all the
other parasites who are feeding on the decaying corpse of a Welfare State that
was once the envy of the world.
Why? Because of something that was set into motion 74 years ago.
The 1942 report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, known commonly as
the Beveridge Report, was an influential document in the founding of the welfare
state in the United Kingdom, published in November 1942. It was chaired by the
Liberal economist William Beveridge, who identified five "Giant Evils" in
society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease, and went on to propose
widespread reform to the system of social welfare to address these.
The Report came in the midst of war, and promised a reward for the
sacrifices undertaken by everyone. Highly popular with the public, the report
formed the basis for the post-war reforms known as the Welfare State, which
include the expansion of National Insurance and the creation of the National
Health Service.
And it was all for nothing. I used to work in the health service, and I
have friends who do so still, and I have friends and family who work in similar
jobs in the private sector. And I have nothing but respect for these people who
continue to bring a good service against insurmountable odds. But the people in
charge, who have reduces the lives of the old and the ill to mere dots on a
balance sheet? I have nothing but contempt for them, and if this country ever
sheds the shackles of apathy long enough to rise up against the tyrants (which I
truly think is never going to happen), I hope these bastards are first against
the wall.
“Freedom from Want and Fear?” You are having a laugh aren’t you?
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Sneaky Pete Kleinow -
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
Interview with Barbara Dickson & Rab Noakes @
COMING THIS WEEKEND
Inside Zappa documentary 'Eat That Question'
Gonzo Magazine #176
Badfinger, Joey Molland, The Raz Band, Happy the Man, Live Music, Daevid
Allen, Gong, Greil Marcus, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden
Lion, Hawkwind, and Yes fans had better look out!
Joey Molland, the last man standing of Badfinger is on the front cover,
with an interview with him about his work with The Raz Band inside. Doug gets
all lyrical about Happy the Man, John asks worrying questions about the future
of live music, Alan talks about his experiences with Daevid Allen the poet,
while we review a book by Greil Marcus and Biffo is uncertain about Crowd
Funding. There are radio shows from Strange Fruit and Mack Maloney, the latest
installment of the saga of Xtul, and columns from all sorts of folk including
Roy Weard, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible 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:
Motorhead, Pet Shop Boys, Brian Wilson, Rolling Stones, Noel Gallagher,
Barry Gibb, Paul McCartney, Tony Hawk, John Ellis, Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney's
Mystery Hour, Ronald Balfour "Ronnie" Corbett, CBE, Andrew Laurence (Andy
"Thunderclap") Newman, David Nathaniel Baker Jr., Roger Marcel Cicero Ciceu,
Captain Beefheart, Brand X, Osibisa, Pink Fairies, Gram Parsons'- The
International Submarine Band, Gib Guilbeau, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Sons of Fred,
Percy Jones, Norman Wisdom featuring Rick Wakeman, Joey Molland, The Raz Band,
Happy the Man, Roy Weard, John Brodie-Good, Daevid Allen, Alan Dearling, Mr
Biffo, Hawkwind, Xtul, Greil Marcus, The Beatles, Billy Fury, Jimmy Page,
Michael Jackson, Cameron Mitchell, Bob Marley, The Who, Neil Nixon, Garth
Brooks, Niburta
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
Issue 174 (Keith Emerson)
Issue 173 (Pink Fairies action figures)
Issue 172 (4th Eden)
Issue 171 (Keith Levene)
Issue 170 (Wildman Fischer)
Issue 169 (Wildman Fischer)
Issue 168 (Wakeman/Bowie)
Issue 167 (Paul Kantner)
Issue 166 (Spirits Burning)
Issue 165 (David Bowie)
Issue 164 (Free Festivals)
Issue 163 (Lemmy)
Issue 161-2 (The Christmas Double Feature)
Issue 160 (Frank Zappa)
Issue 159 (Jon Anderson and Matt Malley)
Issue 158 (Billy Sherwood)
Issue 157 (Drones for Daevid)
Issue 156 (Rick and Emmie)
Issue 155 (Pink Fairies)
Issue 154 (Steve Ignorant)
Issue 153 (Martin Barre)
Issue 152 (4th Eden)
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:
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?
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