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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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...




Monday, November 13, 2017

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS OK

The Gonzo Daily: Monday/Tuesday
 
A couple of weird rites of passage to write about today. This morning, for the first time, I fell and was unable to get up under my own steam, needing help from Corinna and Graham. Being basically helpless scared the living crap out of me, and I am still quite shaken several hours later. It is all part of growing older and more crippled, but it is a particularly unpleasant thing to deal with as I know perfectly well that this is highly unlikely to be the last time this happens.
 
The other thing took place on Friday when Richard telephoned to tell me that an old friend of Graham's and mine had died suddenly. Neither Graham or I had seen her in over fifteen years, and we weren't particularly close, but we had both known her for a very long time (I first met her in 1982) and it is sobering when a part of one's past passes. Our thoughts and prayers are with Kiryi's family and loved ones at this time.
 
Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
 
 
But now, here is the news:
 
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Kevin Ayers - Stranger...
LEONARD COHEN NEWS
HAWKWIND NEWS
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART vs NONA HENDRYX
IAIN MATTHEWS NEWS
 
Gonzo Weekly #260
THE PORT OF HAMSTER JAM ISSUE
 
Alan visits a festival in an Amsterdam squat, John goes to see Steely Dan, Davey goes to see the Hawklords, Jon muses on Alexandra David-Neel and Led Zeppelin, and Neil waxes lyrical on some groovy psychedelic ephemera! And there is more alright.
 
Hail Eris!
 
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney, Strange Harvest, Friday Night Progressive and Canterbury Sans Frontieres. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna, although  Roy Weard, C J Stone, Mr Biffo, are taking a week off. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and long nosed potoroos who have done lots of poos (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have been at the laxatives, 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:
 
Dame Alexandra David-Néel, Led Zeppelin, Ringo Starr, Leonard Cohen, Elton John, Yes, Paul McCartney, Bono, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Robert De Cormier, Pentti Glan, Richard Francis "Dick" Gordon Jr., Robert Knight, Dudley George Simpson, Paul John Buckmaster, Gilbert Rouget, Barbara Dickson, Jessica Lee Morgan, Rick Wakeman, Billion Dollar Babies, Tangerine Dream, Alan Dearling, ADM Festival, Hikury Beach, De Hardheid, John Brodie-Good, Steely Dan, Neil Arnold, Six Feet Under, The Ravelles, The Vampires, Ace of Cups, McPhee, Fifty Foot Hose, Mellow Candle, Analogy, Julian's Treatment, Made in Germany, Kev Rowland, Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band, Show of Hands, Steeleye Span, Sxuperion, Syn Ze Sase Ri, Davey Curtis, Hawklords, Hawkwind, Martin Springett, KLF, The Isley Brothers, Elvis, Beatles, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Nixon, Esquerita
 
Issue 258 (The Devil's Jukebox)
Issue 257 (Judge Smith)
Issue 255/6 (John Lennon)
Issue 254 (Mr Biffo)
Issue 253 (Dana Gillespie)
Issue 252 (Cropredy)
Issue 251 (Scott Walker)
Issue 250 (Jamms)
Issue 249 (Bill Bruford)
Issue 248 (The Selecter)
Issue 247 (Don Airey)
Issue 246 (Steve Hackett)
Issue 244-5 (Summer Special)
Issue 243 (Galahad)
Issue 242 (Steve Miller Band)
Issue 241 (Carol Hodge and Steve Ignorant)
Issue 240 (Midsummer Madness)
Issue 239 (Miss Peach)
Issue 238 (Hawkwind)
Issue 237 (Hawkwind)
Issue 236 (Manchester)
Issue 235 (Jon Anderson)
Issue 234 (Al Atkins)
Issue 233 (Richard Strange)
Issue 232 (Roy Weard)
Issue 231 (Allan Holdsworth)
Issue 230 (Curtis Womack)
Issue 229 (Larry Wallis)
Issue 228 (Space Pharoahs)
 
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 an old hippy of 58 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown kittens, 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 bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention Archie and the Cats?

TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

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.

  • NEWSLINK: Big cat remains on M25 Hertfordshire sli...
  • NEWSLINK: Cougar suspected of snatching pets from ...
  • AZGFD treats orphaned 8-week-old mountain lion cub...
  • ARTICLE: Big cats in Britain—urban myth or scienti...
  • PHOTO: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff posts video of ...


  • 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




    World Bigfoot Radio: Surrounded by Sasquatch
    World Bigfoot Radio: Surrounded by Sasquatch. Duke writes “Sunny shares the details of her harrowing 3 day summer 2017 adventure in northern ...

    Annual Honobia Bigfoot Festival & Conference
    Come Join In The Fun With Other Bigfoot Enthusiasts From Across The Globe. Speakers, Bigfoot Excursions, Bigfoot Vendors and Fun For The Entire ...

    Bigfoot Sightings Of 2017
    Here's some recent bigfoot stories that made the news.

    Watch This Video If You Think Bigfoot Is A Hoax
    Watch This Video If You Think Bigfoot Is A Hoax. ThinkerThunker is back, and this time he thinks he can prove that bigfoot is real and not just a bunch ...

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Monday/Tuesday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1805 - Johann George Lehner, a Viennese butcher, invented a recipe and called it the "frankfurter." 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Mystery of octopuses found crawling along Welsh be...
  • The lynx effect: search for one-year-old Lillith c...
  • Scientific evaluation of rhino diets improves zoo
  • 'Wing prints' may identify individual bats as effe...


  • 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).