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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Wednesday, January 02, 2019

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 GETS ON WITH IT

The Gonzo Daily: Wednesday/Thursday
YER EDITOR SEZ:
Back to normal, whatever normal is. And as I do ever year, I feel mildly invigorated and ready for the year ahead. I doubt whether it will last, but one does one's best. All sorts of things have been happening, both good and bad, but mostly behind the scenes, and so I must keep my own counsel for a while.
Corinna is still in intermittent discomfort, but the pain is now being pretty well managed by her new medication regimen. There will hopefully be no more developments until she has her next lot of tests in February. We would both like to thank the people all around the world who have sent us their good wishes, and included her in your prayers. I am convinced that it is this torrent of good vibes that has been the major contributory factor to the aetiology of her illness so far.
Blessed be.
ALL TODAY'S GONZO NEWS WOT'S FIT TO PRINT:
Dave Bainbridge Interview
No Regrets: Dalai Lama's Advice for Living & Dying...
Mad Daevid Allen Interview 1975
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: PINK FAIRIES - Taking ...
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
OTHER IMPORTANT STUFF FROM THE GONZOVERSE:
For those of you who are interested in such things, the Gonzo Privacy Policy is here:
And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
And, yes,
CHECK OUT THE GONZO STORES:
UK
US
AND OTHER STUFF FEATURING VARIOUS GONZO CONTRIBUTORS:
Our webTV show:
And if you fancy supporting it on Patreon:
And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore may seem to be in order:
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?
I do have good news to impart: Lars Thomas' book about the mystery land animals of Scandinavia and the Baltic States has been uploaded, and over at Gonzo the first volume of Kev Rowland's The Progressive Underground is also imminent. And at Fortean Fiction, my latest novel - 'Zen and Xenophobia' - vaguely a sequel to 2015's 'The Song of Panne' - is now available.
! would warn you that if you are of a nervous disposition, or easily offended, you will find parts of my novel both offensive and upsetting. There is sex, violence, drug abuse, occultism, pornography, firearms, politics, religion, and not a little sociology. But there is also love, kindness, faith, and redemption. And it's a cracking good yarn. Or I think so, at any rate. All I would say on the subject before bidding you farewell is Caveat Lector. And I'm not gonna explain what that means, because because if you don't know what that means then you probably shouldn't be reading the book in the first place.
AND THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE GONZO MAGAZINE:
Gonzo Weekly #307/08
THE CHRISTMAS ISSUE
And so we reach another year and the members of the Editorial team go all Bag Productions on you. Alan started the "War is Over" ball rolling and Jon runs with it. Richard looks at Extinction Rebellion, and Carl wonders what moral lessons we can learn from The Walking Dead, Jon writes about The Residents, and Graham looks back on the last year on Spaceship Hawkwind.
And - as always - there's lots of other stuff as well.
#Hail Eris!
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney, AND Friday Night Progressive, AND there are columns from Kev Rowland, and C J Stone, and Mr Biffo and Neil Nixon, and Roy Weard although the irrepressible Corinna is on hiatus.  There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and rock wallabies who've blown a fuse (OK, nothing to do with the relatively small macropods who are having electrical problems, 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:
John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, Brian May, New Order, Portugal. The Man, Robbie Williams, Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Friday Night Progressive, Jerry Donald Chesnut, Arthur Maia, Joe Osborne, Nancy Sue Wilson, Roger, John "Ace" Cannon, Perry Morris Robinson, Lucas Starr, Fred Wieland, The Fall, Tony Palmer, The Chad Mitchell Trio, Deviants IXVI, Mick Farren, Rick Springfield, Jack White, Gorillaz, Suede, Chaos Chaos, Penelope Trapps, Marianne Faithfull, Tay Davies, The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Bobby Beausoleil, Alan Dearling, Richard Foreman, Extinction Rebellion, Kev Rowland, Scientist, Sense of Fear, Shadygrove, Peel, Stepfather Fred, Stone Broken, Subsignal, Tax the Heat, Carl Marshall, Geordie Jackson, The Walking Dead, Digitiser, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Chris Stone, Hawkwind, The Coldharbour Diaries, Jonathan Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Charles Bobuck, Hardy Fox, The Residents, Neil Nixon, Diamanda Galas
And the last few issues are:
Issue 317-18 (Christmas)
Issue 315-16 (Steve Miller)
Issue 313-14 (Hawkwind)
Issue 311-12 (Extinction Rebellion)
Issue 309-10 (Steve Hillage)
Issue 307-8 (Michael Moorcock)
Issue 305-6 (Maartin Allcock)
Issue 303-4 (kOZFEST)
Issue 301-2 (Ringo Starr)
Issue 299-300 (Aretha Franklin)
Issue 298 (Alan in Hungary)
Issue 297 (Shir Ordo)
Issue 295-6 (Robert Berry)
Issue 294 (Bow Wow Wow)
Issue 293 (Stonehenge)
Issue 292 (Rolling Stones)
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 (Strangelove)
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 59 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?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday/Thursday

ON THIS DAY IN -  1492 - The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Rats and pigeons 'replace iconic species'
  • Two Gravid Giant Squeaker Frogs Found - via Herp D...
  • Sea Turtle Conservancy: Research: Florida In-Water...
  • Saving the last West African giraffes in Niger
  • Hundreds of apparently 'flash-frozen' turtles wash...

  • 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)