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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Friday, July 06, 2012

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:

HAUNTED SKIES: Update


I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN


Graham, Prudence and I are alone in the house today. My two lovely stepdaughters turned up late last night and they have whisked their mother and grandmother out for a day shopping. The house is startlingly quiet without them:

Today begins with another photograph of me making a silly face and brandishing items from my postbag. I am very much looking forward to watching these DVDs but I am afraid that it will probably be not until next week when all my family visitors have departed...
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/my-postbag-3-dvds.html

Did you ever wonder how Michael Des Barres spent his 4th July? I know I did. Now we have the answer and a slew of massively entertaining pictures to verify it. A little birdie tells me that there might be some music from the rehearsals from the show in the next few days..
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/how-did-michael-des-barres-spend-his.html

It is basically off-topic I know, but I don't think there will be many readers of the Gonzo Daily who won't be interested to know that Roger Waters is planning his first proper studio album in 20 years. And it also looks like he has not turned his back on playing live so it is good news all round.
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/off-topic-news-roger-waters-new-album.html

'The reviews in Spain are pretty good again', as Professor Higgins might have said if he had been talking about this translated review of the new Rick Wakeman live album. This whole concept could (and probably should) be inflated into a concept-album called 'Progmalion', and I demand to play bass on it if it ever happens.
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/link-spanish-review-of-new-rick-wakeman.html

It is nice to see that I am not the only person massively impressed with the two lavish CD/DVD sets from Erik Norlander's Galactic Collective project. Herewith - a link to a very in depth and complimentary brace of reviews..
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/erik-norlander-reviews.html

Chris Thompson is one of the most talented vocalists in rock music, and the new DVD/CD set from Gonzo captures him at the peak of his game, doing songs both from his stint as lead singer with Manfred Mann's Earth Band, but also from his years as a solo performer. This review likes him almost as much as we do..
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/link-chris-thompson-review.html

And that is, once again, just about it for today. We shall be back tomorrow, and being sunday it will all be in rhyme..

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/


On this day in 1928 sliced bread was sold for the first time it was soon after proclaimed by the league of nations as “THE BEST THING EVER!” beating mere trifles like telephones, printing presses, electric light and a kitten dressed up as the Duke of Wellington smoking a pipe in the final vote (from which the French abstained in protest of the fact that snails were not included as one of the voting options in the final round).

And now the news:

Because the kitten was clearly robbed here's a cute video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ-y0p0QycY

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: A "CINNAMON" BLACKBIRD

About 3 weeks ago my friend and fellow Fortean Bob Skinner passed on the following story of a cinnamon coloured black bird in 1898.

A “ Cinnamon” Blackbird. – One of the most interesting creatures presented to the Zoological Society for a long time past is a beautiful and strangely coloured blackbird, just given by Mr. A.J. Lawford-Jones, of the Post Office Savings Bank. “The bird”, says Mr. Jones, “is of course, the ordinary English blackbird (Turdus merula), but is an exceedingly rare variation in colour. It is of the albino type, and has the pink eye of the albino, but is much rarer than the white blackbird of which we here so much. “ The colour is practically self-cinnamon, the breast being cream spotted with brown. The bird was taken not long after it had left the nest, on the Wigmore Estate, Holmwood, Dorking, having been entangled in the nets put to protect the cherry-trees. Kept in Mr Jones`s aviary it has moulted its body-feathers, and has reproduced them in in identical colours The little creature, which is a cock,is now in the large western aviary at the Zoological Gardens, the giver believing that with birds of its own or cognate family it would be better off than in his smaller indoor aviaries. Bird-lovers will be very grateful to Mr Jones for the opportunity of observing this rare specimen, which, as he remarks, he has “by caging saved from the trap or gun of that class of lunatic that makes a practice of potting everything which is rare, or which its limited experience has failed to notice. “ It is hoped that a hen of a similar character may be found, in order to preserve the variety. (1)

1. Nature Notes: the Selbourne Society`s Magazine vol. 9 No. 102 pp 117 8 June 1898

AN ENTOMBED NEWT,MACCLESFIELD, 2002

A taxi driver told me about an entombed newt, somewhere in Macclesfield
silent and struggling in a dusty brick`s cavity,
reluctant to meet the air and a thousand yards from water, a centimetre or two from despair.
Its home, rapidly receding –
Snatched up by a blackbird seconds after its historic appearance.


© Richard Muirhead

WW2012: Jonathan McGowan added to the bill

There has been a change to this year's Weird Weekend lineup. Unfortunately Neil Arnold has been forced to cancel for personal reasons. He has been replaced by the irrepressible Jonathan McGowan who will be talking about Big Cat research. There will be more details of his talk very soon..

In the meantime, if you have not yet boiught your ticket, why not? Go to The Weird Weekend Website immediately...

LINK: Chasing the Beast to its Lair: The Wild Man in Myth and Culture

Throughout the United States, they have been called Oh-Mah, Skookum, and Sasquatch, while in Asia names like Yeti and Yeren are common. Australia has the Yowie, and Maylay cultures have their spectral visitations of Monkey Men and Orang Pendak. In modern times, the creatures best known as Bigfoot in the Western World may represent a variety of different things: for some, they are the stuff of folklore and legend, while for others, they may represent a holdover from our past… perhaps even a relic hominid species.

Speculation over the existence of Bigfoot in modern times has led to heated debate regarding the nature of the alleged creatures. Folklorists believe largely that they are merely carryovers from Native legends, while those who associate themselves with cryptozoology, the study of animals that may exist beyond the scientific classification of known species, argue that there must be a very real, physical animal underlying the reports. And yet, there seems to be a less tangible area someplace in between, where the lines are blurred between Bigfoot, and the more subtle Wild Man of myth and culture.

Read on...