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, June 05, 2020

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.

GOODNESS ME, WHAT IS TO BECOME OF THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN?

The Gonzo Daily: Friday/Saturday

https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk

And so we come to another day. I’m listening to a podcast, a YouTube video actually, with the two guys who ran The Word magazine chatting with Guy Pratt, the go to bass player for all the ex members of pink Floyd. And he’s just said that for him, these days in lockdown, are flying past. Well it’s the same for me. In between visit from the nurse, a shower prior to that visit, sitting for 45 minutes with my foot in a sterilised washing up bowl, having a bit cut-off my foot, talking to my wife in the hospital, talking to various people in the hospital about my wife, uploading and publishing the latest episode of On The Track, and conversing with the lovely Guinevere Palmer who is making my life immeasurably better by doing the macro curation for two of the CFZ blogs, about why some of the emails I sent her didn’t arrive. I realise that it is 3:30 and I still haven’t finished the blocks left alone doing what needs to be done for the magazine.

I never really knew what it meant, but keep on trucking!

https://baboon.wixsite.com/website-1

Like so much else in our uncertain world, you might have thought that the new Gonzo Web Radio website was never going to arrive. Well, there were times that I felt the same way. However, I’m happy to say that a beta version of it is now available for your perusal. It is even optimised to work on both computers and phones. Check it out at the address above, and let me know what you think in the comments.

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 there is also a new CFZ Publcations website at https://baboon.wixsite.com/website 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.

https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/gonzo-track-of-day-…
GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Beatles - Paperback Writer...
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/thom-world-poet-dai…
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/yes-billy-sherwood-…
YES: Billy Sherwood guests
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/coming-later-today.…
COMING LATER TODAY
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/for-those-of-you-in…
FOR THOSE OF YOU INTERESTED IN MY DAY JOB: On the ...
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/…/frank-zappa-en-pass…
FRANK ZAPPA EN PASSANT

THE GONZO PRIVACY POLICY
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/p/privacy-policy-this-…

And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
http://tinyurl.com/y7b9rlog
And, yes,
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/p/privacy-policy-this-pr…

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 #389/90
THE STILL UP AGAINST IT ISSUE
www.gonzoweekly.com

In yet another singularly non-standard issue for singularly non-standard times we find out what Ian Andersonb of Jethro Tull fame is doing for the homeless in LA during the pandemic, we muse on Andy T and Thatcher's legacy in Hong Kong, go aboard Spaceship Hawkwind to find out about the possibilities for a socially isolated Hawkfest, Alan collates covid-19 stories from around the world and Mad Iccy has a little chat with Back to the Planet keyboard player and long time Techno Producer Guy ’Geezer’ McAffer. And is there more? You can bet your arse there is...

And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive, AND Merrell Fankhauser, and Canterbury sans Frontieres, 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:

Hong Kong, Gordon Giltrap, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Liam Gallagher, Styx, Scorpions, Covid-19, Alan Dearling, Bev Short, Liz Hall-Downs, Kim Hall-Downs, Marcia Israilides, Playground Theory, Margaret Greenfields, Thom the World Poet, Alan W. Moore, Britt-Marie Lindgren, Richard Stellar, Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, The Merrell Fankhauser Radio Show, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Robert "Bootsie" Barnes, Frederick Thomas, Mike Huckaby, Philip Douglas Broadhurst MNZM, Raymond Robert Repp, Alan Abel, Alton "Big Al" Carson, Obediah Donnell "Obie" Jessie, Scott Taylor, Lynn Harrell, Steve William (known by his stage name Stezo), Robert Alan Lewis, Jonathan Kelly(born Jonathan Ledingham), Hamid Cheriet, Will Theunissen, Ranu Devi Adhikari, Tony Oladipo Allen, Martin Lovett OBE, Cady Groves, Richie Cole, Bob Lander (born Bo Starander), David Paul Greenfield, Landon "Sonny" Cox, Dionisius Prasetyo (popularly known as Didi Kempot), William Daniels (aka Kiing Shooter), Millicent Dolly May Small CD, Ciro Pessoa Mendes CorrĂȘa, Aldir Blanc Mendes, Florian Schneider-Esleben, Rick Wakeman, The Waterson Family, The Fall, Richard Wright and Dave Harris - Zee, Chasing the Monsoon, Icarus Ruoff, Back to the Planet, Guy ’Geezer’ McAffer, Somerset House, Mushrooms Exhibition, Kev Rowland, Addyction, The Ardana, The Already Dead, Alexander Nakarada, Gunpowder Gray, Into the Cave, Mob Rules, Blight House, Hawkwind

..And the last few issues are:

Issue 387-8 (A Guy called Gerald)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-387-8.html
Issue 385-6 (Tony Henderson)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-385-6.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

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?

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF


Regular readers will know that in recent years we have migrated the two specialist Study Groups – Mystery Cats (curated by Carl Marshall and Olivia McCarthy) and Lake and Sea Monsters (curated by Sally Watts and Richard Muirhead) – to their own standalone blogs, although when there are postings, notifications of them can be found here on the main blog.

Now, we are doing the same for the BHM Study Group, curated by Glen Vaudrey and Nathan Jackson


CFZ Members Newsletter #56

Dear Friends,

For those of you not in the know, at the beginning of each month we send out a newsletter to all members of the CFZ. The most recent (which went out on Monday) included articles on OTT, changes at the CFZ, Coronavirus stuff, out of place Coypu, Biffo remembers the CFZ Guyana expedition, , Out of place Wolf, out of place butterfly, CFZ Yearbook 2020, the way forward,  a strange creature,  Patreon, Richard Muirhead's new book, my new novel and record, Notes and Queries etc.

The infrastructure of the Centre for Fortean Zoology has changed rapidly over the last few years and truthfully doesn’t look like its going to stop changing anytime soon.

The newsletter costs a quid a month (or the equivalent in your currency) and is delivered straight into your inbox by a plethora of tiny invisible elves, or email if you prefer it that way.

You can sign up for it here: http://tinyurl.com/jtsq7ew

If you want to view a sample issue click here: http://tinyurl.com/pw7rw9l

World Environment Day 2020

World Environment Day 2020

Watch our new film 'Journey Home'

Tomorrow, Friday 5th June, is World Environment Day, so we wanted to share with you our latest short film, Journey Home, which portrays the power we all have to both destroy and heal our planet.

Watch now

Discover why our CEO Dr Lesley Dickie doesn't want the world to go back to 'normal' and her hopes for the future of the environment.

Read more

Durrell's work recovering wildlife, reviving ecosystems and reconnecting people to nature has never been more vital. Together we can make a difference.

Donate to give wildlife a future

On the Track (of Unknown Animals) #114 (Postbag, o-o-p roe deer, mystery boa, COVID-19 and animals)



Here we have the 33rd episode of the relaunched webTV show by the Centre for Fortean Zoology, written and presented by Jon Downes and Charlotte Phillipson, their families and other animals. And it is a special non-standard episode, but we are living in special, non-standard times! In the new look OTT; we will try to keep the montly episodes to half an hour, but in between the scheduled episodes will be others - OTTXtra. So hold on, its gonna be a bumpy ride. And so far the bumpy ride seems to be a success: viewing figures are noticeably up, and the reactions we are getting seem very positive. This episode contains: • Jon and Charlotte chat remotely • Corinna at the NDDH • An explanation • Introducing Shoshannah • COVID-19 and animals • An expedition to Belize • Mystery dward boa constrictor • Symbiosis with ospreys • An out of place roe deer • predictable hippy humour • How to help us • Changes at OTT • The team says goodbye until next month _________________________________ Links for this episode: Find out more about WWN https://tinyurl.com/rchokh9 Buy the Yearbook (c'mon, please) https://tinyurl.com/vtppmrv _________________________________ Some useful contacts: CFZ Website www.cfz.org.uk CFZ Patreon https://www.patreon.com/CFZ OTT on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OnTheTrack/ Jon on Twitter @cfzjon CFZ Blog Network https://forteanzoology.blogspot.co.uk/ CFZ Publications http://cfzresources.com/publishing/ CFZtv https://www.youtube.com/user/cfztv CFZ Next Generation Initiative https://www.facebook.com/groups/29796...

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.

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Friday


ON THIS DAY IN - 1595 - Henry IV's army defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Fontaine-Francaise.

And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Eastern monarch butterfly population plunges below...
  • We've just discovered two new shark species
  • Female toads seek a good man—even if he's another ...
  • State MPs dismayed at NSW Forestry logging unburnt...

  • 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)