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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Monday, July 22, 2019

LAKE AND SEA MONSTER NEWS

The hunt for Lake and Sea Monsters is probably the most iconic branch of Cryptozoology. Following our successful Mystery Cat and BHM Study Groups, we feel that these sightings should also be archived and published in a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. Curated by Sally Watts and Richard Muirhead.






CRYPTOLINK: 'More investigation' needed to confirm Coast yowie sightings

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 
"As far as I understand, there is no good zoological evidence to suggest a large bipedal mammal, similar to that described in mythology of bigfoot in ...

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 GONZO BLOG DOO DAH MAN HIDES


The Gonzo Daily: Monday/Tuesday
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/

A curiously backsy'vore weekend (as they say in North Devon). Graham worked all weekend so he is mostly off duty, but tyhe new hen house took far longer to construct (a day and a half longer) so the new girls were clucking angrily while Graham was putting the roof on. There was a little scuffle between Henny Penny and the four new arrivals, so there has been a hastily jury rigged segregation barrier. Poultry apartheid is now in progress until they get used to each other (which I suspect will not take long).

In Harrow Biffo et al apparently presented a magnificent Digitiser Live, and Corinna and I are avidly watching the bits that surface online. MEMO TO THE BIFFSTER: If you don't release the official video of the show in some format or other, I will set Wally the Comedy Rhinoceros on you.

YER EDITOR SEZ: THE DIGITAL PRAYER FLAG
You guys recently did massive amounts of praying for Corinna, and she now appears to be cancer free. I am convinced that these two things are related, with the outpouring of good vibes transmitted electronically, being a little like a Tibetan prayer flag. Having used it once to such good effect - I want to try it on a larger scale. I am still trying to work out the details, so watch this space.

Find out more:
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/p/a-prayer-flag-lung-ta-is-colourful.html

Blessed be.

ALL TODAY'S GONZO NEWS WOT'S FIT TO PRINT:

https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/geoff-downes-profile.html
GEOFF DOWNES PROFILE
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/fairport-convention-turns-big-four-oh.html
FAIRPORT CONVENTION: turns the big four oh with ec...
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/captain-beefheart-track-review-frownland.html
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART:   Track Review 'Frownland'
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-gonzo-track-of-day-waterboys.html
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:  The Waterboys - Fishe...
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_22.html
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem


THE GONZO PRIVACY POLICY
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/p/privacy-policy-this-privacy-policy.html

And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
http://tinyurl.com/y7b9rlog
And, yes,
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/p/privacy-policy-this-privacy-policy.html

CHECK OUT THE GONZO STORES:

UK
http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/
US
http://www.gonzomultimedia.com

AND OTHER STUFF FEATURING VARIOUS GONZO CONTRIBUTORS:

Our webTV show:
https://www.facebook.com/OnTheTrack/posts/632561497117057
And if you fancy supporting it on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/CFZ

And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore may seem to be in order:
https://gonzotesting.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-notion-of-shopkeepers.html
Meanwhile I continue to pretend that I am a popstar, because now I have sold eight whole copies of my new album Coldharbour. If I continue at this rate I will get a silver disc sometime at the beginning of the next millenium. Coldharbour, by the way, can be found here: https://jondownes1.bandcamp.com/releases

I think it is really rather good, but then again I would say that wouldn't I?

AND THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE GONZO MAGAZINE:

Gonzo Weekly #347/8
THE HAPPY TRAILS ISSUE
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/

In this week's phantasmagorical issue John and Thom say goodbye to Gary Duncan of Quicksilver Messenger Service, we have Doug on U2, Jon meets Timm Bierry, Alan meets Dean James and the Black Dogs, Jon and Charlotte go to Geekfest, Mad Iccy goes to see The Stray Cats, we have a lukewarm appreciation of the Elton John biopic, and great reviews of Greta Thunberg's and Extinction Rebellion's new books. And plenty more...

Groovy eh?

Hail Eris!

And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive AND Strange Fruit AND Canterbury Sans Frontieres, there is a columns from Kev Rowland, but Mr Biffo, C J Stone, and Roy Weard, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna are on hiatus.  There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and antichinuses who have lost their shoes (OK, nothing to do with tiny marsupials who are searching for their footwear, 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:

Geekfest, Beatles, 'Yesterday', Danny Boyle, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, Neil Young, Ve Macrinnon, Greta Thunberg, Yes, Damon Albarn, Stevie Wonder, Stray Cats, Richard Freeman, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr., Paolo Vinaccia, Vivian Perlis, Costa Cordalis, João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira (known as João Gilberto), Thommy Gustaf Fredrik Kennet Gustafson, Yannis Spathas, Dick Richards (born Dick Boccelli), Jeremy Eugene Lawson, James "Jim" Henke, Russell Smith, Jonathan Clegg OBE, OIS, Pat Kelly, Robert Elwood Bly, Alan Rogan, Leon Redbone, The Fall, The Fall's Mark E Smith and Ed Blaney, John Denver with the Mitchell Trio, Man, Justin Hayward, Nico, Michael Bruce, Timm Biery, Doug Harr, U2, Alan Dearling, Dean James and the Black Dogs, John Brodie-Good, Gary Duncan, Kev Rowland, Mortuous, Node, Overkill, Phideaux, Praying Mantis, Tony Klinger,
Geopolitics, Digitiser, Mr. Biffo, Jonathan Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Thom the World Poet, Extinction Rebellion, Sir Elton John, Rocketman



And the last few issues are:

Issue 343-4 (Auburn)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-341-2.html
Issue 341-42 (America)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-341-2.html
Issue 339-40 (Kev Rowland)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-339-40.html
Issue 337-38 (Zee)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-337-8.html
Issue 335-36 (Raz)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-335-6.html
Issue 333-34 (Nepal)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-333-4.html
Issue 331-32 (Scott Walker)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-331-2.html



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:
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/

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 59 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, three other cats, 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 elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention Archie and the Cats?

BIG CAT ROUND UP

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.

CARL WRITES: Rewilding the Lynx - how might this affect cryptozoology?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Monday/Tuesday

ON THIS DAY IN -  1587 - A second English colony was established on Roanoke Island off North Carolina. The colony vanished under mysterious circumstances. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Spain alarmed by French bear's attacks on sheep
  • Climate change threatens 26 native species in Grea...
  • Climate change has long-term impact on species ada...
  • Minke whale washed up on Barra beach

  • Heavy metals and harmful chemicals 'poison Europe'...

  • 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)