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...




Wednesday, January 10, 2018

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN GOES WOOP ONCE AGAIN

The Gonzo Daily: Thursday
 
Wot??? The Thursday blogs arriving on Wednesday night? Can such a thing be?
 
Well yes. Graham, Charlotte and I will be out and about filming and doing stuff big-cat related tomorrow and Friday, and so I decided to get a bit ahead of myself. Good 'ere innit?
 
Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
 
 
And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
 
But for now, here is the news:
 
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:  Pink Faries - Do It
STEVE IGNORANT IN THE NEWS
FRANK ZAPPA NEWS
YES IN THE NEWS
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
 
Gonzo Weekly #265/6
THE RING IN THE NEW ISSUE
 
In this first issue of 2018 we take a look at the best albums of 2017, John B-G’s review of the year and hopes for this one, Graham’s review of the year for Hawkwind, Alan’s interview with Matthew Smith about Exist to Resist, and his rave review of Canadians the Slocan Ramblers, while John makes sense of the novel by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.
 
Hail Eris!
 
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney AND Strange Fruit, AND Friday Night Progressive AND 'cos it was a full moon last week, Canterbury Sans Frontieres. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, Roy Weard, C J Stone, Mr Biffo and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who have blown a fuse (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who are not good at household electrics, 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:
 
Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Bono, Steve Hackett, Procul Harum, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Nathan Strayer, Dave Christenson, Michael George Haynes (Michael Prophet), Richard Dobson, Ralph Carney, Kevin Bryant Mahogany, Jim Forrester, Leo "Bud" Welch, Reggie Joseph Osse (Combat Jack), Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr., Halvard Magne Kausland, Jordan Feldstein, John Ray Sechler (Curly Seckler) Melton "Eahsaan" Mustafa Sr., Pam Warren (Pam the Funkstress), Roe Erister "Rick" Hall, Tony Calder, Erica Garner-Snipes, Barbara Dickson, Jessica Lee Morgan, Rick Wakeman, Billion Dollar Babies, Tangerine Dream, Roger Waters, Gorillaz, Neil Young, British Sea Power, Peter Perrett, Gogol Bordello, Tricky, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Morrissey, Tim Bowness, Alan Dearling, Slocan Ramblers, Matthew Smith, Exist To Resist, John Brodie-Good, Kev Rowland, Richard Wileman, Secret World, Hollow Earth, Steelheart, Steve Hobbs, Sxuperion, Silhouette, Tankard, Threat Signal, Antisect, Trojan Horse, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Simon Wright, Hawkwind, Xtul, Martin Springett, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, Pink, Michael Jackson, Prince, Queen, David Bowie
 
And the last few issues are:
 
Issue 265-6 (The Who)
Issue 264 (John McLaughlin)
Issue 263 (The magic Band)
Issue 262 (DikMik)
Issue 261 (Leonard Cohen)
Issue 260 (Amsterdam Squat Festie)
Issue 259 (Out come thee Freaks)
Issue 258 (The Devil's Jukebox)
Issue 257 (Judge Smith)
Issue 255/6 (John Lennon)
Issue 254 (Mr Biffo)
Issue 253 (Dana Gillespie)
Issue 252 (Cropredy)
Issue 251 (Scott Walker)
Issue 250 (Jamms)
Issue 249 (Bill Bruford)
Issue 248 (The Selecter)
Issue 247 (Don Airey)
Issue 246 (Steve Hackett)
Issue 244-5 (Summer Special)
 
 
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 58 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?

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.

TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. 

There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. 

The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.

  • ARTICLE: In the footsteps of a man-eater: As a tig...
  • PHOTO: Tiger dies in hit-and-run mishap near Bazar...
  • VIDEO: Little girl gets shock of her life when she...

  • ARTICLE: Panama's Jaguars In Danger, Humans Major 

  • THYLACINES IN THE NEWS




    A study from the Australian National University has deepened the findings of an earlier paper that found climate change was the main cause of the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). The study, written by the ANU's Shimona Kealy and palaeontologist Robin Beck ...

    The last-known Tasmanian thylacine, which was the largest marsupial predator that survived into recent times, died in captivity in 1936. Today, after a comprehensive dated tree-of-life study of thylacines and other Australian tigers, which roamed the land millions of years ago, shows a dramatic climate ...

    Although the Tasmanian thylacine was also hunted to extinction, with the last known tiger dying in captivity in 1936, the genetic health and ... and Dr Robin Beck, from the University of Salford in the UK, identified a strong link between ancient climate cooling and thylacine decline, coupled with separate ...

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Thursday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1770 - The first shipment of rhubarb was sent to the United States from London. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Lost species of bee-mimicking moth rediscovered af...
  • 85 new species described by the California Academy...
  • The shrinking moose of Isle Royale
  • URI researcher: Spotted turtles in trouble in Rhod...
  • Rare and Endangered Turtles/Tortoises (From Turtle...
  • Girls will be boys: Sex reversal in dragon lizards...


  • 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).

    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.



    THYLACINES IN THE NEWS




    University of Melbourne thylacine expert Associate Professor Andrew Pask says Ms Kealy's theory makes sense. "There is a lot of evidence in the fossil record showing there were huge changes in the environment, massive climate shifts. And that fits really nicely with the fossil record data showing when ...

    THE LAST WEEK AT THE CFZ-USA BLOG

    CFZ-USA

    Ronan has been particularly unwell, poor chap. He wrote on New Year's Eve:

    You may have noticed that yesterday and today there have been no new articles on this blog. This is because I was rushed to hospital yesterday with a suspected heart attack. Happily, it turned about to be gallstones. When I say happily, I don't mean they are a barrel of laughs either, but they are not so serious.

    I hope to resume articles in the next day or two.

    Ye editor.


    However I spoke to him today, and his recuperative powers are not as great as he hoped, and he is still on the sick list, and under strict orders to rest...FROM ME

    I am sure you will all join with me in sending off oodles of healing vibes to the dear fellow.

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN GOES WOOOOP

    The Gonzo Daily: Wednesday
     
    Here begins three days of fraughtness. Today we film with Charlotte, and tomorrow and Friday, Charlotte, Graham and me, are off looking for evidence of big cats in local woodland together with a bunch of journalists and a film crew. Oh happy days.
     
    Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
     
     
    And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
     
    But for now, here is the news:
     
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:  Planet Gong & Daevid ...
    FAIRPORT CONVENTION NEWS
    RICK WAKEMAN IN THE NEWS
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    YES IN THE NEWS
     
    Gonzo Weekly #265/6
    THE RING IN THE NEW ISSUE
     
    In this first issue of 2018 we take a look at the best albums of 2017, John B-G’s review of the year and hopes for this one, Graham’s review of the year for Hawkwind, Alan’s interview with Matthew Smith about Exist to Resist, and his rave review of Canadians the Slocan Ramblers, while John makes sense of the novel by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.
     
    Hail Eris!
     
    And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney AND Strange Fruit, AND Friday Night Progressive AND 'cos it was a full moon last week, Canterbury Sans Frontieres. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, Roy Weard, C J Stone, Mr Biffo and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who have blown a fuse (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who are not good at household electrics, 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:
     
    Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Bono, Steve Hackett, Procul Harum, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Nathan Strayer, Dave Christenson, Michael George Haynes (Michael Prophet), Richard Dobson, Ralph Carney, Kevin Bryant Mahogany, Jim Forrester, Leo "Bud" Welch, Reggie Joseph Osse (Combat Jack), Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr., Halvard Magne Kausland, Jordan Feldstein, John Ray Sechler (Curly Seckler) Melton "Eahsaan" Mustafa Sr., Pam Warren (Pam the Funkstress), Roe Erister "Rick" Hall, Tony Calder, Erica Garner-Snipes, Barbara Dickson, Jessica Lee Morgan, Rick Wakeman, Billion Dollar Babies, Tangerine Dream, Roger Waters, Gorillaz, Neil Young, British Sea Power, Peter Perrett, Gogol Bordello, Tricky, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Morrissey, Tim Bowness, Alan Dearling, Slocan Ramblers, Matthew Smith, Exist To Resist, John Brodie-Good, Kev Rowland, Richard Wileman, Secret World, Hollow Earth, Steelheart, Steve Hobbs, Sxuperion, Silhouette, Tankard, Threat Signal, Antisect, Trojan Horse, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Simon Wright, Hawkwind, Xtul, Martin Springett, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, Pink, Michael Jackson, Prince, Queen, David Bowie
     
    And the last few issues are:
     
    Issue 265-6 (The Who)
    Issue 264 (John McLaughlin)
    Issue 263 (The magic Band)
    Issue 262 (DikMik)
    Issue 261 (Leonard Cohen)
    Issue 260 (Amsterdam Squat Festie)
    Issue 259 (Out come thee Freaks)
    Issue 258 (The Devil's Jukebox)
    Issue 257 (Judge Smith)
    Issue 255/6 (John Lennon)
    Issue 254 (Mr Biffo)
    Issue 253 (Dana Gillespie)
    Issue 252 (Cropredy)
    Issue 251 (Scott Walker)
    Issue 250 (Jamms)
    Issue 249 (Bill Bruford)
    Issue 248 (The Selecter)
    Issue 247 (Don Airey)
    Issue 246 (Steve Hackett)
    Issue 244-5 (Summer Special)
     
     
    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 58 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?

    TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

    The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. 

    There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. 

    The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.


  • VIDEO: Little girl gets shock of her life when she...
  • ARTICLE: Panama's Jaguars In Danger, Humans Major ...
  • NEWSLINK: Tiger lovers expect to see rise in numbe...


  • NEWSLINK: Rarest big cat in world dumbfounded when...


  • NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1840 - The penny post, whereby mail was delivered at a standard charge rather than paid for by the recipient, began in Britain. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Britain must designate its marine territories as '...
  • Tigers cling to survival in Sumatra's increasingly...
  • Turtles trapped in plastic forced to drag lethal c...
  • 'Oldest eye ever discovered’ in 530-million-year-o...
  • Sinister sound of Tyrannosaurus Rex heard for firs...
  • Skiers are putting these rare Canadian caribou on ...


  • 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).