Sunday, April 11, 2021

HOPPING HENS

 The Gonzo Daily: Sunday

Years ago when we still joined in the village’s Open Gardens weekend and we had a wide selection of exotic animals in the conservatory and the museum I got into conversation with an elderly man who shared Corinna’s and my interest in shorebirds. We have been going down to Fremington Quay for many years to watch redshanks and greenshanks and the ilk, but he told me that there was another way to drive down so one could reach the saltmarshes of the Taw Estuary by car. Corinna and I spent many happy though frustrating hours trying to find it, but no no avail.
Since Corinna’s death Carl and I have tried to find it on many occasions. And yesterday, finally, we found it. We had to take our battered old car down crappy dirt tracks semi patched with hardcore, none of which did the CFZmobile any favours, and finally we found ourselves, like Stout Cortez on Darien, looking down an even crappier track that led down to the river.
Yesterday we saw another episode of On the Track, featuring the Fortean Film Festival, giant turtles in Vietnam, and an update on our various investigations in Essex. I also attempt to sing a song by The Clash accompanied by a glockenspiel. You couldn’t make this shit up.
I would like to say thank you to everybody who has bought my new book. For those who are unaware, ‘Wild Colonial Boy’ is the story of my early life in Hong Kong, and how I first became interested in Natural History, and more specifically cryptozoology, and there are several very little known cryptozoological mysteries discussed therein. It is very much like a darker analog of Gerald Durrell’s memoirs of his childhood in Greece, and I would’ve called it “My Family and other Sociopaths” if it wasn’t for the fact that I didn’t want to be sued either by Durrell’s estate, or my family. I sincerely hope that none of them are reading this blog post. You can find out more and buy it signed from the link below:
C’mon, make an elderly hippy and his little dog a happy (occasionally sappy) chappy and a waggy yappy (seldom snappy, occasionally crappy)…
And if you want to attend a visual entertainment consisting of hard science interspersed with us dicking about in an increasingly surreal manner, check out the latest episode of On the Track…
AND TODAY'S NEWS...
GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Beautiful singing in a Pol...
Leonard Cohen stuff
PLAYLIST: 18-10-2020 – SHOW 380 – Tim Buckley
Vietnamese Mystery Turtles; Fortean Film Festival;...
Gonzo Weekly #437/8
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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 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 #437/8
THE YES IN CASE ISSUE
This magazine continues to go off on strange tangents that I never expect, but I am very happy to see it do so. What is in this week? Ooooh lots of things. Such as Yes, Pete Loveday, Covid dystopias, Mick Swagger, ambient music, Captain Beefheart,
and more....
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive, AND Merrell Fankhauser, and the Real Music Club, AND Strange Fruit, and Mr Biffo, there is a column from Kev Rowland, and C.J Stone, but Mr Biffo, Tony Klinger and Neil Nixon, are on hiatus. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and dibblers who have got the blues (OK, nothing to do with tiny marsupials who are listening to the new Bob Dylan album, 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!!!
..And the last few issues are:
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 a recently widowed old hippy of 61 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 a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention Archie and the Cats?

Vietnamese Mystery Turtles; Fortean Film Festival; Updates on Essex mysteries (OTT #123​)


This episode features: - Giant Turtles of Vietnam - An update on the mystery deaths in Essex - An update on the hunt for the Mngwa artist - An interview with the team behind the Fortean film festival - Graham gives Jon a lecture on cultural sensitivity and copyright - Jon sings something that vaguely resembles The Clash Also, please remember to like, comment and subscribe if you enjoy this video because it will massively help out channel and help bring you more content.

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Sunday

ON THIS DAY IN - 1512 - The forces of the Holy League were heavily defeated by the French at the Battle of Ravenna.

And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • BBC: Leeds student builds bin bag dispenser to tac...
  • BBC: Horsey seal with plastic ring on neck for yea...

  • 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)