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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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Sunday, April 19, 2020

HOPPING HENS

The Gonzo Daily: Sunday
It is Sunday, and as the song goes it is meant to be a “day of rest and worship for all the family”. We, like most of the rest of the human race in the developed west, are still in lockdown, and apart from Graham and Corinna, the only people I have seen in the past 3 1/2 weeks are the postman and the district nurses. The only reason I see the postman is that I have the door open in my office, and the two of us exchange brief pleasantries and respect our social distance.
Yesterday was the big panglobal pop concert in aid of the health and social workers. I didn’t bother to watch it because I’ve never heard of 90% of the people on the bill, although this morning I discovered that the Rolling Stones had appeared. And so I watched them singing ‘You can’t always get what you want’ on the BBC News website, and despite the fact that Charlie was almost certainly miming to a drum track, I found the whole thing rather moving. A song about Mick Jagger collecting Marianne Faithfull’s methadone prescription, somehow seemed to summer these peculiar times rather well.
Do I sound cynical? Well, for once I am not being. At least I don’t think so.
One thing that may cheer you up is that there is a new episode of On The Track Xtra out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaLncpHx8UI&t=2s
The eagle-eyed amongst you will probably have noticed that the Gonzo Multimedia websites have changed and are in a process of flux, so there are no individual sales links at the moment. But check out www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk for a thing of wonder. The Gonzo Books site is now pretty well done, although there are still nine authors who need personal pages. You can find it ay www.gonzopublishers.com and then tell me what a clever fellow I am. It even has a haiku to explain why some links are not finished:
"These links do not work,
now but they will do so soon,
we apologise"
YER 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.
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 eleven 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 #385/6
THE SOCIAL DISTANCNG ISSUE
www.gonzoweekly.com
In this singularly non-standard issue for singularly non-standard times we meet Tony Henderson and his models of rock stars past and present, we hear about how Dave Brock from Hawkwind has shared his creative process across the aether, Jon muses on Morrissey, and again ask whether art is tainted by the moral behaviour of the artist, talk about the global pandemic which currently threatens the wellbeing of the human race (WE DO THAT QUITE A LOT), we see how someone living in a van who happened to be in Morocco at the start of lockdown is coping, and we give you a list of free stuff which artists are generously giving away to help boost global morale at this horrible time. And much more...
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive AND Canterbury sans Frontieres, AND Merrell Fankhauser, but no sign of Strange Fruit this week, there is a column from Kev Rowland, although C.J.Stone, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and Roy Weard, 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:
Morrissey, Sam Wilkinson. Kev Rowland, Alan Dearling, Adam Smith, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, The Merrell Fankhauser Show, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Bob Andy (ne Keith Anderson CD), Mirna Doris (née Annunziata Chiarelli), Delroy Washington, Bert Olav Holmquist, Martin MBE (born William Wylie MacPherson), Joe Logan Diffie, Alan Merrill (born Allan Preston Sachs), Paravai Muniyamma, Jan Howard (born Lula Grace Johnson), Louie “L.A.” Kouvaris, Wallace Roney, Clementino Rodrigues (better known by the nickname Riachão), Louise Ebrel, Rafael Berrio, Cristina Monet Zilkha (née Monet-Palaci), Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa, Ellis Louis Marsalis Jr., John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli, Adam Lyons Schlesinger, Patrick Francfort (aka Patrick Gibson), Alex Harvey (born Thomas Alexander Harvey), Helin Bölek, Karuranga Virgile (aka as DJ Miller), Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, Rick Wakeman, Gerry Beckley, The Waterson Family, The Fall, Richard Wright and Dave Harris - Zee, Chasing the Monsoon, Tony Henderson, Addyction, The Adarna, The Already Dead, Alexander Nakarada, Gunpowder Gray, Into the Cave, Mob Rules, Blight House, Carl Marshall, Geordie Jackson, Dark Matters, Hawkwind, Jonathan Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Thom the World Poet
..And the last few issues are:
Issue 385-6 (Tony Henderson)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-383-4.html
Issue 383-4 (London Remixed)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-383-4.html
">Issue 381-2 (Greta)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-381-2.html
Issue 379-80 (Andrew Weatherall)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-379-80.html
Issue 377-8 (The Future)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-377-8.html
Issue 375-6 (Big Sean)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-375-6.html
Issue 373-4 (End of the World)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-373-4.html
Issue 371-2 (New Year)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-371-2.html
Issue 369-70 (Christmas)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-369-70.html
Issue 367-8 (Register to Vote)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-367-8.html
Issue 365-6 (Rick Wakeman)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-365-6.html
Issue 363-4 (Focus)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-363-4.html
Issue 361-2 (Martin Springett)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-361-2.html
Issue 359-60 (Robert 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 and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention Archie and the Cats?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Sunday

ON THIS DAY IN - 1012 - Aelfheah was murdered by Danes who had been ravaging the south of England. Aelfhear became the 29th Archbishop of Canterbury in 1005.

And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • What is an endangered species? - via Herp Digest
  • They survived fire and toxic fumes. So what happen...
  • Wild grey seal caught ‘clapping’ on camera for the...

  • UK wildlife at risk due to regulatory gaps created...

  • 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)