Saturday 27 February 2016

GONZO WEEKLY #171

Gonzo Weekly #171
Keith Levene, PiL, The Clash, PFM, Ryley Walker and Danny Thompson, Goosebumps, Summer's End, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, and Yes fans had better look out!
 
The legendary Keith Levene is on the front cover, together with an interview with him inside.
Doug writes about PFM, John gets enthusiastic about Ryley Walker and Danny Thompson, while Jon gets all intense about the media fascination with the 1950s, and reviews a book about the Summer's End festival. Biffo goes to The Brits and Rosie goes to see Goosebumps. There are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury Sans Frontieres and Mack Maloney, the latest installment of the saga of Xtul, and columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, A J Smitrovich, Mr Biffo and the irrepressable Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons ouyside 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:
Lorde, David Bowie, Duncan Jones, Axl Rose, Slash, Richard Ashcroft, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, Marillion, Barbara Dickson, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, John James Chilton, James Hugh Loden, Frances Sokolov (Vi Subversa), Inner City Unit, Brand X, Gregg Kofi Brown, Nucleus, Captain Beefheart, Third Ear Band, The Selector, Genre Peak, Mick Farren and Jack Lancaster, Rick and Adam Wakeman,Keith Levene, Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), Ryley Walker and Danny Thompson, John Brodie-Good, Rosie Curtis, Roy Weard, A J Smitrovich, My Dad's LPs, Mr Biffo, Hawkwind, Xtul, The Who, Ritchie Valens, Phil Collins, The cure, Rolling Stones, Neil Nixon, The Boredoms, Grimner
 
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
Issue 170 (Wildman Fischer)
Issue 169 (Wildman Fischer)
Issue 168 (Wakeman/Bowie)
Issue 167 (Paul Kantner)
Issue 166 (Spirits Burning)
Issue 165 (David Bowie)
Issue 164 (Free Festivals)
Issue 163 (Lemmy)
Issue 161-2 (The Christmas Double Feature)
Issue 160 (Frank Zappa)
Issue 159 (Jon Anderson and Matt Malley)
Issue 158 (Billy Sherwood)
Issue 157 (Drones for Daevid)
Issue 156 (Rick and Emmie)
Issue 155 (Pink Fairies)
Issue 154 (Steve Ignorant)
Issue 153 (Martin Barre)
Issue 152 (4th Eden)
Issue 151 (Corky Laing)
Issue 150 (Roger Dean)
Issue 149 (Tony Palmer in Space)
Issue 148 (Wally Hope)
Issue 147 (Thom the World Poet cover)
Issue 146 (Bee and Flower cover)
Issue 145 (Dave Brock cover)
Issue 144 (Percy Jones cover)
Issue 143 (Billy Sherwood cover)
Issue 142 (Daevid Allen and Spirits Burning cover)
Issue 141 (Rick Wakeman cover)
Issue 140 (Jaki Windmill cover)
Issue 139 (Raz cover)
Issue 138 (Galahad cover)
Issue 137 (Chris Squire cover)
Issue 136 (Neil Nixon cover)
Issue 135 (FNP cover)
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.

Friday 26 February 2016

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling, yer Gonzo Grande Fromage, writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied within seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 

FLASH FLOODS AND ONION CREEK
MY FRIEND LOST EVERYTHING-
her musical instruments ,her writings
when the first flash flood swept through
Onion Creek/Wimberley- recurrent deluge/drought cycle
Water has always been an issue
Springs,creeks,rivers attract settlers
Floods float away homes and bodies
Drought makes more bone graves
You cannot trust living in a flood plain
Same is true in every land.Know your history
before you make a stand.Water and earth and fire-

they own this land...

Corky Laing - Drugs, Death & Felix Pappalard


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Don't Worry Ma
CD - £7.99

Thursday 25 February 2016

PLAYLIST: Strange Fruit 150 – Sloppy Seconds of Pleasure

Strange Fruit is a unique two-hour radio show exploring the world of underground, strange and generally neglected music. All shows are themed and all shows set out to give the most hardened of sound-hounds some new delight to sample. The show is also unique in providing homework for undergraduate students on North West Kent College’s Foundation Degree in Professional Writing (who dig up many of the odd facts featured in the links between tracks). The show is broadcast on Miskin Radio every Sunday from 10-00-midnight. Every other week the show is now presented by Jeremy Smith and as the two promotional pictures that he sent consisted as one of him covered in mud and the other of him covered in guinea pigs he is obviously mad as a bagful of cheese, which means he will fit in here just fine!

He writes: I’ve been a huge music fan ever since my parents bought me a transistor radio and I would listen to the sixties pirate music stations at nights under the covers. This love of live music has stayed with me to this day and I still love standing in a small club like the Borderline in London with some mates and watching a band with a pint in my hand. With the Strange Fruit radio show, I want to continue the trend of doing themed shows and playing the music I love.

Strange Fruit 150 – Sloppy Seconds of Pleasure
Inspired by seeing Walter Lure at the Jazz Café this Autumn, this show celebrates loud, sloppy rock'n'roll
Featured Album: The Waldos: Rent Party
Tracks
1 The Faces: Stay With me
2 Bermondsey Joyriders: Johnny Thunders was a Human Being
3 Rockpile: If Sugar was as Sweet as You
4 The Seeds: Pushin' Too Hard
5 The Blues Magoos: Tobacco Road
6 The Waldos: Love that Kills
7 The Waldos: Seven Day Weekend
8 Trash: Priorities
9 Trash: N-N-E-R-V-O-U-S
10 Les Grys Grys: Left Unseen
11 John Fogerty: Almost Saturday Night
12 Johnny Thunders: So Alone
13 Babyshambles: Pipedown
14 Johnny Moped: Darling Let's have Another Baby
15 The Saints: Messin' with the Kid
16 The Saints: One Way Street
17 Gram Parsons & the Fallen Angels: Streets of Baltimore
18 The Len Bright Combo: Young, Upwardly Mobile & Stupid
19 Archie and the Bunkers: Lady in RKO
20 The Rolling Stones: Respectable
21 The Velvet Underground: Foggy Notion
22 Brinsley Schwarz: Country Girl
23 The Waldos: Countdown Love
24 The Waldos: Busted
25 Flamin' Groovies: Teenage head
26 Pink Fairies: Waiting for the Lighning to Strike
27 The Stranglers: Down in the Sewer
28 Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers: Choo Choo Ch' Boogie
29 Ducks Deluxe: Here Comes the Night
30 The Paddingtons: 21
31 The Pogues: Dark Streets of London
32 The Clash: Career Opportunities
33 The Clash: Garageland


THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Felix Pappalardi - As the Years Go Passing By



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Don't Worry Ma
CD - £7.99

Ed Mann Joins Paul Green’s Rock Academy for Tribute to Frank Zappa

Ed Mann, Frank Zappa’s longtime drummer, will join forces with Paul Green’s Rock Academy for a special night of Zappa music at The Hollow in Albany on Saturday, March 5.



Paul Green, founder of School of Rock and inspiration for Jack Black’s character in the movie of the same name, has been teaching children to play rock music, including that of Frank Zappa, since 1998. His students have played Lollapalooza, Carnegie Hall, CBGB and Austin City Limits. They have worked alongside many Zappa collaborators including Ike Willis, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Denny Walley, Adrian Belew and Mike Keneally.


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Frank Zappa is considered to be one of the most influential rock musicians of the late twentieth century. Between the start of his career in the late fifties and his death in 1993 he recorded and rele..


In 1965, Ray Collins asked Zappa to take over as guitarist in local R&B band the Soul Giants, following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist. Zappa accepted, and soon assumed..


On September 19, 1985, Frank Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organizati..

Brand X 'STORIES UNTOLD' Robin Lumley Pt. 1



Published on Feb 10, 2016
Brand X 'STORIES UNTOLD' Robin Lumley Pt. 1
Cymbalic Encounters in association with Mark Murdock Production
Tim Pepper voice of Robin Lumley
*Permission granted by Robin Lumley

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Live in Rochester 1977
CD - £9.99

Live in Stockholm 1978
CD - £9.99

Live From Chicago 1978
CD - £9.99

Ronnie Scotts Live 1976
CD - £9.99

Live in San Francisco
CD - £9.99

The X Files - A 20 Year Retrospective
2CD - £10.99

Is There Anything About?
CD - £9.99

Live at the Roxy, LA 1979
CD - £9.99

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling, yer Gonzo Grande Fromage, writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied within seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 

LAST OF THE COLD FOOL MOON
LOLITA LOVES US
She offers me and Drew /Mexican food
Drew sees that he has a Turtle on his tshirt
Drew's totem is turtle/so he gives his turtle necklace to the young

He may be drunk and buying food
Something makes him stop and listen
He brings his food to the stage as oblation/smiles on

Right near the end,My Thai has run out of shrimp
Open stage reverts to Rolling Stone covers
The gentlest poet demurs from speech

Melanie Rose offers Chai.We do selfies
Poetry in February 2016 is read from an iphone
Food for thought in a South Austin Food Court.

Every Wednesday,we face the silence and say-

THIS IS YOUR STAGE!

WALKING WITH BARBARA

Hello Friends,

I am attempting to walk 14 miles with some others on the 5th March to raise money for Sports Relief. Here is a link to the giving page. If you can spare some loose change for us, I’d be most grateful. We’re walking in the lovely Pentland Hills from a place called Flotterstone. Can’t wait!

Love

BARBARAxxx



Wednesday 24 February 2016

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling, yer Gonzo Grande Fromage, writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied within seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 


LEARNING WITHIN/WITHOUT
"EDUCO" MEANS TO BRING OUT WHAT IS WITHIN
Inner-directed learning /as individual as life itself
We forget that rules and cages and curriculum
are only trigger points for effective learning
Steiner,Montessorri,Piaget-all have divergence
on what a Skinner Box mode need be
There are so many paths to the waterfall
Home learning  is teaching each "How to be free"

Yes, “Long Distance Runaround” from Fragile (1971): YESterdays


On the surface, Yes’ Long Distance Runaround” seems like a rather direct take on religious duplicity. However, as we all know nothing the world’s greatest progressive rock band does is direct.

This song, which served as the B-side to Yes’ No. 13 13 hit “Roundabout,” confounds with its three-and-a-half minute running time, too. It’s the shortest of the non-solo tracks on 1971’sFragile. “Long Distance Runaround” also is one of the most rollicking Jon Anderson compositions to have held a place Yes setlists.
Anderson, producer Eddy Offord and the band arrange the song with a plethora of progressive elements which only add to its stature in the Yes music canon. Based in b minor, “Long Distance Runaround” combines conventional rock 4/4 timing in the verses with polyrhythmic 5/8. Bill Bruford’s drum track by itself is a master class in music making.

Read on...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO:

Union
DVD - £10.99

Union (2CD)
2CD - £7.99

Rock Of The 70's
DVD - £7.99

The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £7.99

Rock of the 70s
DVD - £7.99

Rare New Frank Zappa Phi Zappa Krappa Poster


This is the ultra-rare original Frank Zappa "Phi Zappa Krappa" poster. It was produced by "The Visual Thing, Inc" from Beverly Hills California in 1969. Catalog number B250. It is the fullsize (25" x 38") poster. It is new and has never been hung or displayed. It has always been rolled not folded.



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM  FRANK ZAPPA AT GONZO


Frank Zappa is considered to be one of the most influential rock musicians of the late twentieth century. Between the start of his career in the late fifties and his death in 1993 he recorded and rele..




On September 19, 1985, Frank Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organizati..

DAEVID ALLEN NEWS

Daevid Allen's Final Album To Be Released

Noise11 - ‎Feb 7, 2016‎
Daevid Allen, the co-founder of the groups Soft Machine and Gong, will have his final album released this Friday, February 12. ELEVENSES is the second album by the Daevid Allen Weird Quartet which also includes Don Falcone of Spirits Burning, Michael ...

Final Album by Soft Machine and Gong Founder Daevid Allen to Be Released

VVN Music - ‎Feb 7, 2016‎
Daevid Allen, the co-founder of the groups Soft Machine and Gong, will have his final album released this Friday, February 12. ELEVENSES is the second album by the Daevid Allen Weird Quartet which also includes Don Falcone of Spirits Burning, Michael ...

Daevid Allen's Final Album Release Announced

antiMUSIC.com - ‎Feb 7, 2016‎
On Friday Daevid Allen's Final Album Release Announced was a top story. Here is the recap: (TeamRock Radio) Late Gong and Soft Machine icon Daevid Allen's final album Elevenses is to be released later this month. He died in March last year aged 77 ...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Australian beatnik Daevid Allen was a founder member of Britain's earliest psychedelic band, Soft Machine.He departed from the band after the release of their first classic single Love Makes Sweet Mus..


Australian poet and musician Daevid Allen, born in 1938, moved to Europe in 1960, inspired by the writings of the ‘Beat Generation.’ After a year or so in Paris he arrived in the UK in 196..


Whichever way you look at it, Daevid Allen is one of the most interesting and enigmatic characters in modern music. An Australian, he was working in a Melbourne book shop when he discovered the writin..

Tuesday 23 February 2016

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Lana Lane - Someone to Believe



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
El Dorado Hotel
CD - £9.99

Daevid Allen Weird Quartet – Elevenses (2016)

In March of 2015, the life of The Soft Machine co-founder and Gong founder Daevid Allen came to a end. The man The Daily Telegraph called “the court jester of hippie rock” had then just completed one more record and earlier this month Elevenses dropped, a parting gift of quirky music by one of the last of the original psychedelic rockers that will likely never again be done with the astonishing depth, breadth and wit that came naturally to Allen.

Even at near the end of his seventy-seven years, Allen’s music carries a childlike wonderment and humor amid complex arrangements that often suggests where his much-lauded contemporary Syd Barrett could have achieved had he kept it together. Whereas Barrett’s absurdity was his torment, Allen reveled in his in a happy-go-lucky character he lived to its fullest as an artist and a person, the two of which were inseparable.
Elevenses is credited to the “Daevid Allen Weird Quartet,” who recorded as “Weird Biscuit Teatime” for its prior set of recordings DJDDAY from a decade earlier. But putting ‘weird’ in a band name that also includes the words ‘Daevid Allen’ seem redundant, and the music will sure seem that way to many. Whatever the Allen-led group might be called, it also boasted Don Falcone (Sprits Burning), Michael Clare (Allen’s University of Errors), Trey Sabatelli (The Tubes) and Paul Sears (The Muffins)

Read on...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Australian beatnik Daevid Allen was a founder member of Britain's earliest psychedelic band, Soft Machine.He departed from the band after the release of their first classic single Love Makes Sweet Mus..


Australian poet and musician Daevid Allen, born in 1938, moved to Europe in 1960, inspired by the writings of the ‘Beat Generation.’ After a year or so in Paris he arrived in the UK in 196..


Whichever way you look at it, Daevid Allen is one of the most interesting and enigmatic characters in modern music. An Australian, he was working in a Melbourne book shop when he discovered the writin..

Drummers Corky Laing, Kofi Baker Rock Bay Street Theater February 26

Two masters of the drum kit, Corky Laing and Kofi Baker, will take to the Bay Street Theater stage in Sag Harbor on Friday for an evening billed as “The Ultimate Classic Rock Experience.”

Mr. Laing is a member of rock band Mountain, and Mr. Baker is the son of Cream drummer Ginger Baker. Both men promise to play Mountain and Cream songs the way they were played in the ’60s and ’70s—the way they were meant to be played.

The concert is the first in what Bay Street Theater managing director Gary Hygom hopes will become an ongoing series focused on drumming, featuring Mr. Laing and guests, that blends music and interviews with audience Q&A.

Since relocating from Toronto to Greenport a few years ago, Mr. Laing has played several shows at Bay Street Theater, in various formats. He envisions The Ultimate Class Rock Experience as a drum seminar. But rather than a technical seminar on how to play drums, the subject will be the mind of the drummer, and the seminar will answer the question “Why do we play drums?”

“Every drummer has his own reason—there is a causality,” he said. “In my case, it’s because I am a showoff.” He grew up in a family with five kids; he had one sister and triplet brothers. He played drums to get attention.

He said he told his father, “When I grow up, I want to play drums.” His father told him, “You’re going to have to choose—one or the other.”

Read on...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Playing God
CD - £9.99

STEVE HACKETT TO HOST CULTURAL EVENING

Steve Hackett is to discuss his 40-year career at an event in Leicester next month.

In Conversation With Steve Hackett will be staged at the city’s Sue Townsend Theatre on March 4 as part of this year’s De Montford University’s Cultural Exchanges Festival.

The former Genesis man will take part in a one-on-one interview with local film-maker and academic Paul Gosling of Crooked Hand Productions. The pair have collaborated in the past, most recently on the video for the guitarist’s track Love Song To A Vampire from his 2015 Wolflight album.


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Spectral Mornings
DVD - £7.99

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Heavy Drinkers by The Parish Music Box - Live At Darvel Music Festival



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Paradise is Pocket-Sized
CD - £9.99

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling, yer Gonzo Grande Fromage, writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied within seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 

UPDATING CLICHES
TROPHES&MODES HAVE CHANGED
What with robo-intelligences,AI and clones
Now you can deliver poison tipped umbrellas via drones!
Sarin in subways/Fukushima sushi-
There are a million ways to die!
Try EXTREME SPORTS,O new Hitchcocks
Special effects still require stunt persons
whether it be Bond or Bourne=mayhem aplenty!
Assassins have gone from ninja to nano-
Bacteria warfare,ecoli ,salmonella
Countries in chaos make more  mass graves!
Writers need to update their cliches!

Monday 22 February 2016

John Hannam Meets Rick Wakeman



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:



Richard Christopher 'Rick' Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboard player and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes. He is also known for hi..


Richard Christopher 'Rick' Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboard player and composer best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock ..

Kevin Ayers 2008 Interview Les Illes Escollides Documentary



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
What More Can I Say
CD - £9.99

Frank Zappa: Shut Up ’N Learn His Guitar Techniques

By no stretch of the imagination could Frank Zappa be considered your average, everyday guitar hero.

Sure, he possessed a capacity for blinding speed and could zoom around the fretboard with abandon. But it was his unique approach to guitar solos in general that made him such an iconoclast.

Brimming with sophisticated motifs and convoluted rhythms, Zappa’s extended excursions are more akin to symphonies than they are to guitar solos. In retrospect, it was only Frank Zappa’s incomparable talent as a composer/bandleader/music visionary that overshadowed his guitar-playing prowess.


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM  FRANK ZAPPA AT GONZO


Frank Zappa is considered to be one of the most influential rock musicians of the late twentieth century. Between the start of his career in the late fifties and his death in 1993 he recorded and rele..




On September 19, 1985, Frank Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organizati..
...BECAUSE SOME OF US THINK THAT THIS STUFF IS IMPORTANT
What happens when you mix what is - arguably - the world's most interesting record company, with an anarchist manic-depressive rock music historian polymath, and a method of dissemination which means that a daily rock-music magazine can be almost instantaneous?

Most of this blog is related in some way to the music, books and films produced by Gonzo Multimedia, but the editor has a grasshopper mind and so also writes about all sorts of cultural issues which interest him, and which he hopes will interest you as well.