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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Monday, July 25, 2016

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From CFZ-USA:

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.







THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS BUSY

The Gonzo Daily - Monday
 
Today upon waking up early, I decided to get up and have the house to myself for a few hours. Basically my plan was to drink coffee, wake up slowly and write the Weird Weekend press release. But it didn’t work out like that. The telephone rang, I had a whole string of messages come through on my iPad, and both Graham and Mother were up within minutes of my coming downstairs. Never mind. They made me the coffee, and I got the Press Release written.
 
I hope that I am wrong, but it is looking as if a mixture of apathy, happenstance, and the fact that nobody has any money due to the Government's austerity measures, will probably call time on the Weird Weekend after this year. I always said that I would do ten and this one will be the seventeenth, but I will still be disappointed of it has to end. Ticket sales are the slowest ever. I strongly suspect that it is because of the financial insecurity that so many people are feeling at the moment, but I hope that it will turn itself around in the next few weeks. This year's Weird Weekend featuring our very own Steve Ignorant, sponsored by our very own Erik Norlander, compèred by me and the return of  Nuneaton's Mr Entertainment, Barry Tadcaster with his pal Orang Pendek, and featuring a whole cornucopia of high strangeness and cerebral silliness. It would make me very happy if I could sell some more tickets..
 
find out all about the Weird Weekend
buy tickets to the Weird Weekend:
 
And now for the news................
 
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
Richard Brautigan-1983 Swiss T.V. (Interview/readi...
Captain Beefheart - Co De Kloet Interview (July 23...
Frank Zappa - Interview - 12/8/1984 - unknown (Off...
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: 10 String Symphony - "...
 
Gonzo Magazine #192
 
What happens when the keyboard player from Yes shares a stage with the guitarist from Queen?  Doug tells you all about it. Meanwhile, Alan is at the Edinburgh Blues and Jazz festival, our old mate Andy Roberts takes some acid (and Jon writes about it as well as asking whether the world of Narnia is sexist?) What other magazine gives you all this for free?
 
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney, Canterbury Sans Frontières, and Friday Night Progressive. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a thrilling and slightly disturbing episode of Xtul. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons outside zoos(OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have escaped from captivity, 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:
Steve Hillage, Keith Richards, The Beatles, Alan White, Bono, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Elton John, Queen, Boruch Alan Bermowitz (Alan Vega), Erik Petersen, Les Stocker, Bonnie Jean Brown, Rick Wakeman, Arthur Brown, The Golliwogs, James Young, Cymbalic Encounters, Richard Brautigan, Brian May, English Rock Ensemble, Alan Dearling, Ten String Symphony, Hillfolk Noir, Mr Sipp, Rad Trads, Jan Garbarek Group, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Hawkwind, Xtul, Andy Roberts, Roy Wood, The Eagles, Crosby, Still & Nash, The Monkees, Neil Nixon, The Cardboard Lung
                                                                                  
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
 
Issue 191 (Karnataka)
Issue 190 (Erik Norlander)
Issue 189 (Rick Wakeman at the O2)
Issue 187/8 (Yer holiday special)
Issue 186 (Beatles)
Issue 185 (Judge Smith)
Issue 184 (Mick Abrahams)
 
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 56 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two small 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 the infantile orange cat, and the adventurous kittens?

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



Big Foot Evidence: Discussion about rebellious Bigfoot. This is a video response to an article ...
This is a video response to an article written by Sharon Day that discusses the possibility that juvenile and young Bigfoot could be rebelling. These are ...

Strange Possible Bigfoot Vocalization Caught On Camera
Some bigfooters describe hearing a "huff" or a bark type call. Is this the call that "Colorado Bigfoot" was lucky enough to record? Have a listen.

Akron Beacon Journal
Cryptozoology. Bigfoot stories get hairy at library: Author, filmmaker search for truth about monsters. By Amanda Garrett Beacon Journal staff writer.

Western Oregon Fly Fishing With Bigfoot - Breakdown
This video of a man fly fishing with a Bigfoot supposedly coming out of the tree line behind him was posted in 2015. Youtuber Tri Driver takes a look at ...

These Bigfoot Locations Are Dangerous
Not all bigfoot stories are about warm and fuzzy gentle giants. Some bigfoot locations seem to get pretty dangerous. The Bigfoot Outlaws talk about ...

New “Bigfoot” video looks staged
A family in Oregon claim to have possibly filmed the legendary Bigfoot. The Dixon family was out for a walk near Wildhorse Lake taking so family video ...


NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Monday

ON THIS DAY IN - 1564 - Maximillian II became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • 2016 could be worst year on record for British but...
  • Flight of the bumble bee reveals plants' flair for...
  • Wind turbines killing tens of thousands of bats, i...
  • Rate of species decline 'no longer within safe lim...
  • This crazy monogamous fish changes sex 20 times pe...
  • Humans did wipe out real-life 'hobbits', say scien...
  • Great white shark recorded asleep for the first ti...


  • 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)

    Sunday, July 24, 2016

    RAINES EXPLAINS: Weird Weekend planning

    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.