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, October 14, 2019

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS WAITING STILL

The Gonzo Daily: Monday/Tuesday
And so, let’s do Mondays blog. Here we are at the beginning of another week, Mother is still in hospital, Corinna is still poorly, Carl is sitting on the sofa in the sitting room studying for his Open University degree, and Graham is still in America.
As many of you will know, one of my greatest interests in Forteana are the weird links and coincidences that turn up again and again to those of us whose life pursuits take us into esoteric places. I thought that I had become immune to such things , but apparently not. This morning’s weird coincidence truly takes the biscuit. What would you say if I told you that there is a link between the histpory of British counterculture, anarchopunk band Crass, and the extirpated mammals of Hong Kong? A brace of subjects which anyone who knows me will be aware hold a deep fascination for me.
John Saeki is an acquaintance of mine who is currently researching the history of Tigers in Hong Kong, something which I have researched with Richard Muirhead over the years. This morning you sent me something that he had written on the subject, which you can read here:
It includes the following passage:
"A tiger cub was captured in the New Territories in 1928 and for a time lived at the house of Mr H. Green, the superintendent of the Botanical and Forestry Department. Somehow the unlucky feline ended up as a mascot on the British warship HMS Cumberland for a short time before dying on board."
If one reads Patrick Boniface's history of HMS Cumberland, it turns out that the Captain at the time was Arthur Lionel Snagge, CB (4 May 1878 - 1955) who was ... wait for it...
THE BROTHER OF JOHN SNAGGE WHO WAS GUARDIAN TO PHIL RUSSELL aka WALLY HOPE.
It truly doesn't get much weirder than that.
ER EDITOR SEZ: THE DIGITAL PRAYER FLAG
You guys have been doing massive amounts of praying for Corinna. I believe that the outpouring of good vibes transmitted electronically, being a little like a Tibetan prayer flag. Find out more:
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/p/a-prayer-flag-lung-…
Blessed be.
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/the-gonzo-track-of-…
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Gorecki - Symphony o...
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/thom-world-poet-dai…
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/joey-molland-in-new…
JOEY MOLLAND IN THE NEWS
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/frank-zappa-hot-rat…
FRANK ZAPPA: 'The Hot Rats Sessions' Box Set Due I...
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/rick-wakeman-calls-…
RICK WAKEMAN: Calls Yes 'Union' Album a 'Disgrace'...
CHECK OUT THE GONZO STORES:
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/…/a-notion-of-shopkeepers…
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 #359/60
THE CRIMSON ISSUE
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/
Richard says goodbye to the legendary Steve Hunter, Mad Iccy meets Kris Needs, Doug goes to see Oingo Boingo and The Tubes, Bart photographs Jon Anderson, John goes to San Francisco and he may or may not have had flowers in his hair, Alan has an addendum to OZORA, Jon listens to the newly refurbished Abbey Road, and mourns Steve Marriott, David goes to the Braddock Free Store, and Tony visits Downton Abbey.
Now THAT's what I call eclectic!
Hail Eris!
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive AND Strange Fruit AND Merrell Fankhauser, there is a column 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:
The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Keanu Reeves Paul Abdul, Genesis Revisited Band & Orchestra, Steve Hackett, Diana Ross, David Stash, The Free Store, Bart Lancia, Jon Anderson, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, The Merrell Fankhauser Show, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Gianni Lenoci, Jessye Norman, Michael James Ryan, Desmond "Dessie" O'Halloran, James Bromley Spicer, Karel Gott, Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, Bat McGrath, Omeofa "Mad Melon" Oghene, Richard Brunelle, Jim DeSalvo, Kimberley Dianne Shattuck, Brian Masters, Lawrence "Larry" E Junstrom, Glenmore Lloyd Brown, Ed Ackerson, Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker, Rick Wakeman, Gerry Beckley, The Waterson Family, The Fall, Richard Wright and Dave Harris-Zee, Chasing the Monsoon, Mad Iccy, Kris Needs, Doug Harr, Oingo Boingo, Pittsburgh Aviation Animal Rescue Team (PAART), O.Z.O.R.A. Festival, Alan Dearling, Richard Foreman, Robert Hunter, John Brodie-Good, Marty Balin, Ace of Cups, Jack Traylor, Jefferson Starship, Big Brother & The Holding Company, The Doobie Brothers, Kev Rowland, Greenrose Faire, Odin's Court, Twelfth Night, Tony Klinger, Downton Abbey, Jonathan Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Steve Marriott
And the last few issues are:
Issue 359-60 (Steve Hunter)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-359-60.html
Issue 357-8 (King Crimson)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-357-8.html
Issue 355-6 (Elfin Bow)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-355-6.html
Issue 353-4 (Melanie S Jane)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-353-4.html
Issue 351-2 (Royal Affair)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CE…/gonzo-351-2-fvxuatzgf.html
Issue 349-50 (Experimental Sonic Machines)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-349-50.htm
Issue 347-8 (Gary Duncan)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-347-8.html
Issue 345-6 (RDF)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-345-6.html
Issue 343-4 (Auburn)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-343-4.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 60 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.



CFZ CANADA UPDATES

The Centre for Fortean Zoology was founded in the UK in 1992 - nearly 20 years ago. Over the past two decades it has expanded to become a truly global organisation. We opened our American office in 2001, our Australian office in 2009, and in 2011 - we were proud to welcome CFZ Canada, curated by Robin Bellamy to the CFZ global family.

Don't Kill Our Sasquatch

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.



BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF





A North Carolina man says he found fresh tracks from what he thinks is a Bigfoot. Joe Scarborough, an electrician, was working last week at a home in ...

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Monday/Tuesday

ON THIS DAY IN -  1066 - The Battle of Hastings occurred in England. The Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II of England.
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Simple sea anemones not so simple after all
  • With flower preferences, bees have a big gap betwe...
  • US cities host more regionally unique species than...
  • White sharks flee feeding areas when orcas present...
  • Isle Royale winter study: 13 new wolves, 20 radio-...



  • 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)