WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

Search This Blog

WATCH OUR WEEKLY WEBtv SHOW

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON
Click on this logo to find out more about helping CFZtv and getting some smashing rewards...

SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER



Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Wednesday, February 03, 2016

THE GONZO BLOCK DOO-DAH MAN SEASONED WITH A PINCH OF QUETIAPINE

The Gonzo Daily - Tuesday
One of the best things about having a mildly failing memory is that lots of things come as a nice surprise. I had a lovely letter with some poems from my friend Karen Gensheimer this morning. She had told me she was sending some, but I had forgotten completely, which got my day off to a very pleasant start. She is a remarkably good poet, and I am very fond of her.
I was in both the Daily Mail and The Sun yesterday, commenting on recent photographs of what some are claiming are footprints of a yeti.
"Jon Downes, director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, said the slope is so steep that only an animal like a mountain goat would have been able to negotiate it. He said: ‘I think that the chances of these prints being from anything more interesting are negligible and it is certainly not a bipedal higher primate. The centre of gravity for such an animal would mean it just wouldn’t be able to venture up a mountain like that.’"
The story has been picked up by all sorts of people http://tinyurl.com/zh3t3pm but the best thing, as far as I am concerned, is: FOR ONCE I WASN'T MISQUOTED, OR QUOTED OUT OF CONTEXT TO MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A COMPLETE WEIRDO. I am a complete weirdo, of course, but I don't need Her Majesty's Press to point out the fact!
Happy Days...
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Jazz, Rock, Fusion wit..
Eric Burdon & The Animals Announce First Aus Shows...
Laurel and Hardy dance to Yes
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
Zappa live DVD Belgium review translated
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)
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)
Issue 151 (Corky Laing)
Issue 150 (Roger Dean)
Issue 149 (Tony Palmer in Space)
Issue 148 (Wally Hope)
Issue 147 (Thom the World Poet cover)
Issue 146 (Bee and Flower cover)
Issue 145 (Dave Brock cover)
Issue 144 (Percy Jones cover)
Issue 143 (Billy Sherwood cover)
Issue 142 (Daevid Allen and Spirits Burning cover)
Issue 141 (Rick Wakeman cover)
Issue 140 (Jaki Windmill cover)
Issue 139 (Raz cover)
Issue 138 (Galahad cover)
Issue 137 (Chris Squire cover)
Issue 136 (Neil Nixon cover)
Issue 135 (FNP cover)
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?

THE CRYPTODANE:Macaques and other mysteries

A few days ago, a barbary macaque which up until then had lived quite contendedly in Blåvand Zoo (Blåvand is the westernmost town in Denmark in case you should wonder), suddenly decided, that enough is enough and scarpered. This was in many ways an ill-considered move by said itchy-footed monkey. First and foremost because it has been teeth-chatteringly cold in Denmark lately, with nighttime temperatures hovering around the -15°C  mark and lots of snow, which almost certainly will translate into a miserable time for said macaque.

Secondly and thirdly because the zoo was not keen on losing one of their animals, and nobody was particularly keen on having a teeth-wise heavily armed monkey on the loose – barbary macaques are known for their crankiness. The animal was spotted a couple of times in the general area, shortly after its escape, but all has turned quiet now, and there is only the occational glimpse of the thing. It is probably sheltering in a stable or a barn somewhere, waiting for things to get better, and possible for the chance to scare the living daylights out of the owner of the place.

Read on...

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



The “Bigfoot in Ohio?” Event
By Lindsey O'Brien, The News-Herald Alan Megargle and Jesse Morgan read off Bigfoot sighting testimonies to an over 100-person audience at the ..

Strange Bigfoot Statues Found In Mexico (Video)
In 1944, strange statues were discovered at an archaeological site in Acambaro, Mexico of biped ape like creatures, some of them holding men, ...

Bigfoot speech and Vocalizations Recorded on camera
Big foot is known to have easy-to-spot body size and till date no confirmed video or photo... And now you tell me someone captured its voice?

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

What has Corinna's column of Fortean bird news got to do with cryptozoology?

Well, everything, actually!

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out-of-place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in.

HE'S SO POSITIVE...IT'S THE GONZO BLOG WASSNAME

The Gonzo Daily - Wednesday
 
I had several emails and a letter yesterday asking me about my new(ish) novel, The Song of Panne. It is, by the way if you will forgive my shameless self promotion available here: http://tinyurl.com/hxsloed or from http://tinyurl.com/hv2vtzl if you want me to autograph it.
 
I was actually quite surprised by this, because I didn't think that anyone apart from Steve Rider had read it. However, all of these communications (four I believe, in total) wanted to know whether my tale is true or not. I had exactly the same happen when Nick Redfern published his book back in 2002. But 'Three Men Seeking Monsters' was about me, him and Richard Freeman drinking our way around the UK in a Scooby Doo style bus and was vaguely believable. This is a book about a psychotic elephant-headed God in a wheelchair, living with a band of Mansonlike runaway girls in a redoubt in the deep woods on the Devon/Cornwall border. It is nastier than Nick's book with more sex, violence and benefit fraud.
 
But is it true? Even Pontius Pilate asked "What is truth?"
 
All the characters are either real people, or based on real people. Most of what I said happened did happen. A few bits I completely made up. Do you honestly think I am going to spoil the fun by revealing which?
 
The Publisher's blurb reads: "A tired, crippled man in late middle age gets an unexpected visitor from his less then salubrious past. With him is something out of the pages of Greek mythology. The author finds himself deep in an arcane tangle of lies, half-truths and impossibilities. Against his better judgement, he has no option but to act. If this is a story, it's a bloody good one. If this is truth then the world you know is about to change forever."
 
Make me happy, buy the book. It is only seven quid...
 
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Patrick Moraz - "Child...
RICK WAKEMAN COVERS BOWIE CLASSICS
Zappa Lost Broadcast DVD US review
WILD MAN FISCHER
 
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)
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)
Issue 151 (Corky Laing)
Issue 150 (Roger Dean)
Issue 149 (Tony Palmer in Space)
Issue 148 (Wally Hope)
Issue 147 (Thom the World Poet cover)
Issue 146 (Bee and Flower cover)
Issue 145 (Dave Brock cover)
Issue 144 (Percy Jones cover)
Issue 143 (Billy Sherwood cover)
Issue 142 (Daevid Allen and Spirits Burning cover)
Issue 141 (Rick Wakeman cover)
Issue 140 (Jaki Windmill cover)
Issue 139 (Raz cover)
Issue 138 (Galahad cover)
Issue 137 (Chris Squire cover)
Issue 136 (Neil Nixon cover)
Issue 135 (FNP cover)
 
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?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

ON THIS DAY IN 1815 - The world's first commercial cheese factory was established in Switzerland. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Spider Shows Off His Big Paddle to Woo Mates
  • Harvest mice return to village where species was f...

  • Degraded habitat alters frog microbiomes – via Her...
  • Freshwater turtle (Mauremys rivulata) crosses the ...
  • 11th Duke of Bedford blamed for unstoppable gr


  • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day)