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...

Search This Blog

WATCH OUR WEEKLY WEBtv SHOW

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON
Click on this logo to find out more about helping CFZtv and getting some smashing rewards...

SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER



Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Friday, May 21, 2021

Gonzo Weekly #443/4

Gonzo Weekly #443/4
THE CHICKEN SUIT 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 Discordianism, New World Ordure, Del Bartle founder of The Sid Presley Experience, Wounded Buffalo Beats, Anarchy in Hebden Bridge and oodles 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:
Issue 443-4 (Rubber chicken)
Issue 441-2 (Rick Wakeman)
Issue 441-2 (Rick Wakeman)
Issue 441-2 (Rick Wakeman)
Issue 441-2 (Rick Wakeman)
Issue 439-40 (Prince Phillip)
Issue 437-8 (Yes)
Issue 435-36 (Hawkwind)
Issue 433-34 (Freda Payne)
Issue 431-32 (Kosheen)
Issue 429-30 (Ocean Aid)
Issue 427-8 (2021 ia Bosch)
Issue 425-6 (Paul McCartney)
Issue 423-4 (KLF)
Issue 421-22 (Christmas)
Issue 419-20 (John Lennon)
Issue 417-8 (gIG)
Issue 415-16 (Phideaux)
Issue 413-14 (Rick Wakeman)
Issue 411-12 (Extinction Rebellion)
Issue 409-10 (Covid)
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. 

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 on the main blog.


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

AND SO THIS PARTICULAR BOUT OF TIME TRAVEL IS DONE AND DUASTED FOR THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

 The Gonzo Daily: Friday

I was not feeling at all well yesterday, for no particular reason. Indeed, that’s a bit of an understatement. I was feeling very miserable and sorry for myself; something that you probably guessed when I quoted large chunks of John Keats instead of writing anything of my own in yesterday’s blog. We are still having the devil’s own job trying to tie down a Plumber to actually make a time to come and replace my bloody boiler. We have agreed a price. We have the money, and we have been without hot water for about five months. Luckily the shower has a separate heating source, and we have an electric kettle for washing up. But it is a pain in the arse.
Many years ago our old friend Charles Paxton gave a lecture to the Weird Weekend suggesting that some classic sea serpent sightings are actually of a whale lying on his back with his penis in the air. Somehow, the mass media have gotten a hold of the story and they claim that the mystery of the Loch Ness monster has finally been solved and that it is a Whale’s stiffy. Whilst we agree with Charles that this is an eminently likely scenario for some sea serpent sightings, there is one real problem with using this explanation for the Loch Ness monster: there are no whales in Loch Ness, and as the River Ness is relatively shallow, there are unlikely to be any whales in Loch Ness any time soon.
So, the British media are suggesting that there are a number of disembodied pink and ginger pricks haunting the country’s waterways? I am saying nothing.
The next episode of On the Track is scheduleD for tomorrow afternoon and features an exclusive interview with legendary Apple Records star Brute Force In which explains why he produces allegiance to the planet, we revisit the conundrum of whether the Asiatic cheetah has survived outside its last known bastion in the middle of Iran, and we examine claims that it is still to be found in Bangladesh, and we look at the recent discovery of the Corsican wildcat - a creature that Bernard Heuvelmans predicted back in the day. And Hennis goes to the Polling Station. So, if you want to attend a visual entertainment consisting of hard science and a smattering of weird shit, interspersed with us dicking about in an increasingly surreal manner, check the latest episode out:
My book ‘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. You can find out more and buy it signed from the link below:
C’mon, make a curmudgeonly old bugger happy.
AND HERE'S TODAY'S NEWS
Mary Hopkin Radio Tees Interview Part One
Sleeve design legend Kosh: the man who made the Ab...
COMING THIS WEEKEND
GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Hawkwind - Master of the U...
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
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 #441/2
THE RICK-Y-UKEY 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 Paul McCartney, the sound of the Westway, the ‘Summer of Our Discontent’, Motman and Micall Parknsun, Rick Wakeman, Alan’s New Music, Fake News 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?

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 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 - 1471 - King Henry VI was killed in the tower of London. Edward IV took the throne.

And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • BBC: Cat jumps five storeys to safety from burning...
  • BBC: Beverley bullocks: Escaped cattle seen grazin...

  • 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)