The Gonzo Daily: Friday/Saturday
Ten years ago today I woke earlier than usual with a tight knot in my
stomach. I knew that what was about to occur was something that I wanted to
happen, and so I had not even considered that I would be so scared on the
morning of the day in which it would come to pass. Chainsmoking I went
downstairs. There was half a canister of helium there left over from various
bits of balloon inflating that had been carried out the previous day, and
various CFZ luminaries were twatting about breathing it in and talking in
resultant squeaky voices.
This was more than I could deal with, so grabbing a cup of coffee liberally
dosed with milk from the Kentucky cow I went out into the garden to try and get
my head together. Then, finishing my coffee and yet another cigarette, I went
next door to see Marjorie Braund - a lady whom I had known since I was eleven,
and who had filled the role of surrogate mother for much of that time. She
talked parentally to me. Both my parents had died earlier in the decade
(Marjorie was to die two years later) and so I was grateful for her kindness and
love. Though, to be honest, I would probably have done exactly the same thing
even if they had still been alive.
I went back up to the house just in time for a notorious rock and roll dope
dealer to the stars to arrive brandishing a gift for us. In his wake came my
brother.
My brother is a vicar, as you probably are aware, and he had two important
duties to carry out that day. I went into the office, opened the safe and got
out a box about the area of a carton of two hundred Benson and Hedges, but
squatter and not as long. It was surprisingly heavy. I carried it gently out to
my car. It contained my Father's ashes. I won't go into details, but we
reverently poured them into a stream through which it would eventually flow into
the sea that he loved so well.
We drove back to the house to find it full of a wide variety of people.
Musicians, Criminals, Politicians, Artists, Cryptozoologists, UFO hunters and
others. They were all talking at once. So my Brother and I walked up to the
church. He went inside to do vicary things, and I sat on the wooden bench where
I was eventually joined by my Dad's best friend Royston Johns (who also died a
few years ago). We talked for a while, and then the church bells began to peal.
"I hope you'm ready biye" said Royston, patting me on the back.
I wasn't. But muttering a brief but sincere prayer, I got up and walked
steadfastly into the church, and as I faced the High Altar I crossed
myself.
By the time I came out of the church forty five minutes or so later,
Corinna and I were married!
The last ten years have sped by, and all sorts of things have happened. And
the only thing I regret about that day is that Corinna didn't let me have All
you Need is Love played as part of the ceremony. Thank you for marrying me my
dear. Thank you for giving me stepdaughters and granddaughters, and thank you
for keeping me safe and relatively sound. I love You.
But now, here is the news:
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Corky Laing plays Mou...
Frank Zappa on American culture
The Don Falcone interview with Terry Hawke
John Lennon Wife - Cynthia Lennon EXCLUSIVE 30 Min...
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
THE YO HO HO AND A BUCKET OF PROG ISSUE
n which Jon interviews Stu Nicholson from Galahad, Richard goes to the New
Forest folk festival, and sees Ric Sanders, Show of Hands and the Acoustic
Strawbs, we ask whether modern music is rubbish, Alan ties Jon to a Listening
Post, and all with a Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Prog.
Yup, and it’s all free!
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney, Strange Fruit, Canterbury Sans
Frontieres, and Friday Night Progressive. We also have columns from all sorts of
folk including Roy Weard, C J Stone, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible
Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and
numbats with the right to choose (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who
have become eligible to vote, 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:
Morrissey, Rolling Stones, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson,
Nile Rodgers, Chic, Brian May, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive,
Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Tamara Grigoryevna
Miansarova, Raymond Chikapa Enock Phiri, Joseph Fire Crow, Luigi Ferdinando
Tagliavini, Melvyn "Deacon" Jones, Fresh Kid Ice, Egil Kapstad, Nelsan Ellis,
Mary Hopkin, Ashton Gardner and Dyke, Stu Nicholson, Galahad, Alan Dearling,
Crass, Scott Walker, Cockney Rebel, Captain Beefheart, John Lennon, Yoko Ono,
Plastic Ono Band, Belle and Sebastian, The Polyphonic Spree, Gram Parsons, Roger
Waters, Alfredo Zitarrosa, Richard Foreman, New Forest Folk Festival, Kev
Rowland, Warner Drive, Wilderness Dream, Bloody Hammers, Phil Campbell & The
Bastard Sons, Dialeto, Dusan Jevtovic, Datura 4, Da Vinci, Gateway to Hell,
Intrcptr, Laces Out, Charlotte Phillipson, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Hawkwind, Xtul,
Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Prince, Slipknot, Neil Nixon, Dread Zeppelin
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
Issue 241 (Carol Hodge and Steve Ignorant)
Issue 240 (Midsummer Madness)
Issue 239 (Miss Peach)
Issue 238 (Hawkwind)
Issue 237 (Hawkwind)
Issue 236 (Manchester)
Issue 235 (Jon Anderson)
Issue 234 (Al Atkins)
Issue 233 (Richard Strange)
Issue 232 (Roy Weard)
Issue 231 (Allan Holdsworth)
Issue 230 (Curtis Womack)
Issue 229 (Larry Wallis)
Issue 228 (Space Pharoahs)
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 57 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile
orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown 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 Archie and the Cats?
