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...

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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...




Sunday, July 31, 2016

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.





THE HOPPY HOPPY HEN

The Gonzo Daily - Sunday
And for no real reason Sunday's notifications are done in rhyme
I had a call from Beth last night
asking did we have space for a gull
that cannot fly and isn't right
and I thought that life would be dull
without a seabird (jolly good)
to make the garden stink of fish
So I replied "of course we would
to have a gull's my dearest wish!"
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
Gregg Brown Review
PLAYLIST: Strange Fruit #173
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Let All Mortal Flesh K...
THE GONZO WEEKLY #193
Gonzo Magazine #193
We interview Martin Birke of the mighty Genre Peak about their extraordinary new album, Doug goes to see Peter Gabriel and Sting, and Alan concludes his visit to the Edinburgh Blues and Jazz Festival, while Jon muses on The Eagles and Anton LaVay and looks at  the most scurrilous book about the Rolling Stones... What other magazine gives you all this for free?
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney, and Friday Night  Progressive. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a thrilling and slightly disturbing episode of Xtul. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons outside 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:
The Eagles, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dr Dre,Adam Lambert, The Who, Jack White, Ozzy Osbourne, Marillion, Rick Springfield, Don McClean, Joe Perry, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Samuel Clarke "Sandy" Pearlman, Lewis "Lewie" Steinberg, Roye Albrighton, Allan Curtis Barnes, Keith Gemmell, Rick Wakeman, Arthur Brown, The Beatles, The Golliwogs, James Young, Cymbalic Encounters, Richard Brautigan, Martin Birke, Genre Peak, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Alan Dearling, United Vibrations, Mop Mop Sound System, Reggae Got Soul, Lightnin’ Malcolm, Blues and Beyond, John Nemeth and Blue Dreamers, John Hunt, Chloe Louise Gray, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Richard Freeman, Batman, Hawkwind, Xtul, The Rolling Stones, Bono, Debbie Harry, Kylie Minogue, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, George Harrison, Neil Nixon, Walter Carlos
                                                                                  
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
Issue 192 (Rick Wakeman and Brian May)
Issue 191 (Karnataka)
Issue 190 (Erik Norlander)
Issue 189 (Rick Wakeman at the O2)
Issue 187/8 (Yer holiday special)
Issue 186 (Beatles)
Issue 185 (Judge Smith)
Issue 184 (Mick Abrahams)
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?

Gonzo Weekly #193

Gonzo Magazine #193
 
We interview Martin Birke of the mighty Genre Peak about their extraordinary new album, Doug goes to see Peter Gabriel and Sting, and Alan concludes his visit to the Edinburgh Blues and Jazz Festival, while Jon muses on The Eagles and Anton LaVay and looks at  the most scurrilous book about the Rolling Stones... What other magazine gives you all this for free?
 
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney, and Friday Night  Progressive. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a thrilling and slightly disturbing episode of Xtul. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons outside 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:
The Eagles, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dr Dre, Adam Lambert, The Who, Jack White, Ozzy Osbourne, Marillion, Rick Springfield, Don McClean, Joe Perry, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Samuel Clarke "Sandy" Pearlman, Lewis "Lewie" Steinberg, Roye Albrighton, Allan Curtis Barnes, Keith Gemmell, Rick Wakeman, Arthur Brown, The Beatles, The Golliwogs, James Young, Cymbalic Encounters, Richard Brautigan, Martin Birke, Genre Peak, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Alan Dearling, United Vibrations, Mop Mop Sound System, Reggae Got Soul, Lightnin’ Malcolm, Blues and Beyond, John Nemeth and Blue Dreamers, John Hunt, Chloe Louise Gray, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Richard Freeman, Batman, Hawkwind, Xtul, The Rolling Stones, Bono, Debbie Harry, Kylie Minogue, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, George Harrison, Neil Nixon, Walter Carlos
                                                                                  
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
 
Issue 192 (Rick Wakeman and Brian May)
Issue 191 (Karnataka)
Issue 190 (Erik Norlander)
Issue 189 (Rick Wakeman at the O2)
Issue 187/8 (Yer holiday special)
Issue 186 (Beatles)
Issue 185 (Judge Smith)
Issue 184 (Mick Abrahams)
 
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.

NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Sunday

ON THIS DAY IN - 1498 - Christopher Columbus, on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, arrived at the island of Trinidad. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • New species of beaked whale confirmed by DNA
  • Amazon Turtles Imperiled by Dams, Mercury Pollutio...
  • Karachi man bites and kills 100 snakes- Reptiles a...
  • Meet Luca: The common ancestor of all life on Eart...
  • Invasive garden 'super ants' take hold faster than...
  • Human 'super predator' more terrifying than bears,...
  • How honey bees 'telescope' their abdomens
  • Goodbye, Weasels! New Zealand to Wipe Out Its Inva...



  • 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)