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...




Friday, June 29, 2018

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 IS RUNNING

The Gonzo Daily: Friday/Saturday
 
The new Gorilla album is out today. Reading an interview with Senor Albarn, he says that on Humanz he kind of forgot to put any of himself into it, which is roughly what I thought at the time, although the album has grown on me massively. This album is sort of a polar opposite. It is nearly all Damon with only a couple of guests, and is pretty well devoid of the signature hiphop. I like it a lot, and am sure that it will grow on me further, but I think that if you added the two albums together and then cut the resulting collection in half, you might possibly have the greatest albums that Gorillaz have ever produced.
 
Just sayin’
 
And for those of you who are interested in such things, the Gonzo Privacy Policy is here:
 
 
And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here: http://tinyurl.com/y7b9rlog And, yes,
 
 
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:
 
And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore seems to be in order: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
 
buy my novel:
buy the record by the main protagonist of the novel who isn't me in an elephant mask, honest:
buy my single:
 
But for now, here is the news:
 
ERIC BURDON NEWS
YES FEATURING ARW IN THE NEWS
COMING THIS WEEKEND
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:  Shostakovich: Symphon...
 
 
Gonzo Weekly #292
THE NO TERN UNSTONED ISSUE
 
In this hearty Rocking and a rolling issue, Doug goes to see the Rolling Stones, Alan goes to an Alternative Punk do at the Hope & Anchor, Jon discovers the music of Bernie Christie and discovers that the spirit of Willard Price lives on beyond the grave. Plus Graham looks at Hawkwind and Roy remembers touring with Kevin Ayers and Ollie Halsall, and some collectible tat from the lovely Corinna. Who could ask for more?
 
#Hail Eris!
 
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, BUT Friday Night Progressive is on hiatus this week, there are columns from all sorts of folk including Kev Rowlands AND the irrepressible Corinna, as well as Neil Nixon, and Roy Weard, and C J Stone, and Mr Biffo. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and tree kangaroos who've left piles of poos (OK, nothing to do with medium sizes arboreal macropods who are no longer constipated, 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:
 
Bernie Christie, Paul McCartney, Cher, Bruce Springsteen, PiL, Dr. Dre, Richard Freeman, Strange Fruit,  Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Puan, Efren Echeverria, Josef Bansi Quinteros, Billy Sammeth, Travon Da Shawn Frank Smart, Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, Rebecca Parris, Nick Knox, Matthew Tyler Murphy, Santos Blanco, Hanabiko "Koko”,  Lowrell Simon, Eliza Carthy,  Kate Rusby, Rick Wakeman, Paice, Ashton & Lord, The Mitchell Trio, Doug Harr, Rolling Stones, Alan Dearling, Hope and Anchor Pub, Ambition Demolition,  The Glorias, Surgery without Research, The Satellites, Kev Rowland, Demonical, Don Broco, Dukes of the Orient, Dusan Jevtovic, Foul Body Autopsy, Greystone Canyon, Gwar, Thunder, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, CJ Stone, Hawkwind, Martin Springett, Anthony McGowan, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Michael Jackson, Neil Nixon, Funkadelic, Gorillaz
 
And the last few issues are:
 
Issue 291 (Alien Weaponry)
Issue 290 (Frank Zappa)
Issue 289 (Misty in Roots)
Issue 288 (Paula Frazer)
Issue 287 (Boss Goodman)
Issue 286 (Monty Python)
Issue 285 (ELP)
Issue 284 (Straqngelove)
Issue 283 (Record Store Day)
Issue 282 (Neil Finn and Fleetwood Mac)
Issue 281 (Carl Palmer)
Issue 280 (Steve Andrews)
 
 
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?

NESSIENEWS (Caveat Lector)




Loch Ness monster hunt using environmental DNA to (hopefully)
Reported sightings of the Loch Ness monster go back to the Dark Ages, but now our Super Natural History team is using the 21st-century technology ...

Skin and scale fragments taken from Loch Ness
No traces of the Loch Ness Monster have been found by an international research team testing samples of water from the famous loch. Microscopic ...

But the international research team says it did not encounter the Loch Ness Monster while testing samples of water from the famous loch.


NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Friday/Saturday

ON THIS DAY IN -  1880 - France annexed Tahiti. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Improved ape genome assemblies provide new insight...
  • 'Monstrous' new Russian saber-tooth fossils clarif...
  • Mixed signals from poisonous moths
  • No, This Tiny Beast Is Not Half-Mammal, Half-Repti...
  • A Giant Blue Whale Just Turned Up In the Red Sea

  • Toxic toad invasion puts Madagascar's predators at...

  • 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)