Tuesday 31 May 2016

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: My Lazy Goodheart - Kate Westbrook



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Cuff Clout 
CD - £7.99

Dave Bainbridge Interview - Celestial Fire - Solo Album



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The Veil Of Gossamer 
CD - £7.99

Daevid Allen wearing a very silly hat



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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..

Kevin Ayers interview 2008



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Kevin Ayers (16 August 1944 – 18 February 2013) was an English singer-songwriter and a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement. Ayers was a founding member of the pioneering ..


When Kevin Ayres died a few years ago many of us mourned.  John Peel wrote in his autobiography that 'Kevin Ayers' talent is so acute you could perform major eye surgery with it. ..

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?"

WHO DO YOU LOVE?
Authority in 2016 has an image problem
With Reagan as paterfamilias,we could believe his avuncular style
Carter was no peanut farmer-but it helped his "common man"image
Now a tax audited "billionaire"desires the highest office in the land
Well and good-we all have votes.We all have opinions.Access to social media.
Much will happen between now and November.Core of our dilemma is this-
that we still need one person to be our parental figure.We know we are fragile.
Most of us never wish to hold office.So we delegate-and find comfort
in someone who reflects our core beliefs.Anger at others who do not.
Our problem is the tyranny of minorities-one percent rich can buy office
while the poor beg for dollars.It does not always work-Bush had bucks
but no demographic.Cruz had a demographic but not enough  bucks.
Bernie has both but mass media has omitted his existence.
We will not run for Presidencies-yet wish to have our wishes honored
In the words of J R Ryan"I wish to run FROM office"
Our problem remains-SOMEONE still wishes this most dubious of delegations

Once you hand your power to another/one finds it gone /faster than Diebold!

Monday 30 May 2016

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Judge Smith: Weird Beard (featuring Lene Lovich)



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Zoot Suit
CD - £9.99

The Climber
CD - £9.99

Orfeas
CD - £9.99

Peter Hammill-Interview from "TimePeces" Dcumentary (1986)



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Live at the Paradiso Apr 2007
CD - £10.99

BARBARA DICKSON - TV INTERVIEW (October 2009)



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Morning Comes Quickly
CD - £7.99

Answer Me
CD - £7.99

Don van Vliet - News Center 4, San Francisco Interview



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Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..


Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..

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?"

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
AND THOSE WHO HAVE LEFT(have left
us with poetry circles small as frogs
in a widening circle of thoughts and themes
Gathering like clouds  in uncertain weather times
Knowing we are stronger together than apart
Carrying dreams when others open carry arms
Headlines scream FLOODS!while humidity rises
We alternate sunshine and tomatoes/Gardens
know what is planted will rise.Young know
with ferocious certainty what we intuit-
world is a hologram of projections
We are entangled in appearances
Response is ability/reaction no necessity
Every moment an open door-open mind-a window
of possibilities we may never have considered before
That is why we remember Memorial Day 2016
Meditate.More.

No virus found in this message

Sunday 29 May 2016

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Bahai Arabic Prayer - Tablet of Visitation

Being Sunday I always post sacred music. The name of the deity may change, or even the deity Him/Herself but the spirit remains the same

Frank Zappa TV Interview- Monday Conference Australia 1973 Robert Moore



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..

PLAYLIST: Strange Fruit #165

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).

Neil Nixon, the founder and co-presenter of the show has released a book about rare albums for Gonzo Multimedia.

The show is broadcast on Miskin Radio every Sunday from 10-00-midnight.

The Twiggs:  Beaming In
Ani Glas:  Ffol
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils:  Jackie Blue
Robyn Hitchcock:   It's A Mystic Trip
Firmament & The Elements   The Festival Of Frothy Muggament
Anchorsong:   Butterflies
Sidestepper:  Song for the Sinner
Jefferson Airplane:  Let’s Get Together
Captain Sensible   The 4 Marys Go Go Dance All Night At The Groovy Cellar
Bat for Lashes:  All Your Gold
John Hall:   Side B
Davy Graham:  Blue Raga
Max Romeo:  One Step Forward
The George Garabedian Players:  Spanish Flea
The Doors:   Shaman’s Blues
Charlotte Hatherley:  Wrong Notes
Hawkwind:   Lost in Science
Aziza Brahim:  El Cando de la arena
Christopher Lee:  The Seige
Christopher Lee:  Massacre of the Saxons
Memphis Minnie:  Frankie Jean (That Trottin’ Fool)
Irving Aaronson and his Commanders:  Wimmin’ Aaah!
The High Tide:  Electric Blue
The Cleaners from Venus:  Wivenhoe Bells
John Martyn:   Go Down Easy
Morton Valence:  Go to Sleep


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?"


FLESH OF THE FUTURE
ON THE BONES OF THE PAST
Seven layers of Troy.Seven Cities of Rome
Londonium underneath the Thames.
DIG!They will find computer parts,plastic..
Cockroaches,rats gnawing upon High Rise Art.
We Are All Futurists (in the Past!
Already,corpses turn up and coins
Marked with an age pre-Titanic
Stories that were once told to children
now are whispered under edict-global warnings!
Decapitation in Tower of London and French Revolution
Nothing new about Assassins(Suicide Bombers/Kamikazi)
Nothing new about Forgetting your History/Culture/Languages/Past Lives
Nothing new about demolishing trees to build treehouses
Putting out fires with oil and gasoline
Nothing new about Forgetting...
1001 Nights..

"The house of the Prophet’s first wife, Khadijah has made way for public toilets.
A Hilton hotel stands on the site of the house of Islam’s first caliph, Abu Bakr.
Famously, the Kaaba now stands in the shade of one of the world’s tallest buildings, the Mecca Royal Clock Tower"

Over 98% of the Kingdom's historical and religious sites have been destroyed since 1985, according to the U.K.-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation
time.com

Friday 27 May 2016

GONZO WEEKLY #184



Gonzo Magazine #184 
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/ 

Mick Abrahams, Blodwyn Pig, Jethro Tull. The Who, Quintessence, Raja Ram, Lev Grossman, Bruce Springsteen, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, and Yes fans had better look out! 

And once again we have another monumental groovefest for you all, starting with the Mick Abrahams Benefit at the borderline in pictures, Alan writes about Quintessence and Raja Ram, Doug goes to see The Who, Shosh goes to see Bruce Springsteen, Jon goes to the magickal land of Fillory and bitches about the government. Biffo in the meantime, goes on a ghost train. Bloody hell we’re great!

And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Canterbury Sans Frontières, Mack Maloney, 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 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: Pink Floyd, Stick Men, Prince, Tony Henderson, Pink Fairies, Carl Palmer, Keith Emerson, Corky Laing, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Nicholas "Nick" Menza, Herbert Tsangtse "Burt" Kwouk, OBE, The Beatles, Osibisa, Billy Cobham, Wayne Kramer at the Pink Fairies, Al Stewart, The RAZ Band, The Flying Burrito Bros, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Rick Wakeman, Mick Abrahams, The Who, Alan Dearling, Quintessence, Raja Ram, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Shoshannah McCarthy, Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Hawkwind, The Beatles, Bill Graham, Happy Mondays, Berry Gordy, Neil Nixon, The Butthole Surfers

Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:

Issue 183 (Daevid Allen)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo183.html
Issue 182 (Wally)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo182.html
Issue 181 (Beatles)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo181.html
Issue 180 (Beltane)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo180.html
Issue 179 (Gregg Kofi Brown)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo179.html
Issue 178 (Viv Stanshall)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo177.html
Issue 177 (David Gilmour)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo176.html
Issue 176 (Joey Molland and The Raz Band)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo176.html
Issue 175 (Larry Sanders)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo175.html
Issue 174 (Keith Emerson)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo174.html
Issue 173 (Pink Fairies action figures)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo173.html
Issue 172 (4th Eden)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo172.html
Issue 171 (Keith Levene)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo171.html
Issue 170 (Wildman Fischer)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo170.html
Issue 169 (Wildman Fischer)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo169.html
Issue 168 (Wakeman/Bowie)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo168.html
Issue 167 (Paul Kantner)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo167.html
Issue 166 (Spirits Burning)
http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo166.html

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:
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/

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.

And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
buy my novel:
http://tinyurl.com/gmo6axf
buy my single:
http://tinyurl.com/zoex4d4
buy tickets to the Weird Weekend:
http://tinyurl.com/jnkehwx
buy the CFZ 2016 Yearbook:
http://tinyurl.com/zkn3cju

Badfinger guitarist Joey Molland looks back on the making of 'Straight Up'




Joey Molland
Joey Molland
Image used with permission from Paul Davie

COMING THIS WEEKEND


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?"

AMERICA's FIRST SUPERSTAR PHOTOGRAPHER
HERE IS ALL YOU NEED TO DO-
Mix myth and celebrity  in iconic fashion
so folk will not know which is fraud
and which is fashion.Claim higher art
as a pretext for depicting animal lust.
Hollywood will love you best-in black and white
you sell sepia and silver.Images of witches
and of ritual.Classical inferences from
King Kong to Beauty and the Beast/
from Nosferatu to vampire horror flicks.
World is made of image/made for images
such as these-and those who sell will score

a reputation/forgotten,posthumous..

Professional Fraternities (The Three Alchemists), William Mortensen, 1925/1926. Courtesy Stephen Romano Gallery
image: http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/2a/64/2a64180f-9dbc-42e6-b68a-96b58952cde7/5-off-for-the-sabbot-1.jpg__1072x0_q85_upscale.jpg
Off for the Sabbot, circa 1927 (William Mortensen)

The Photographer Who Ansel Adams Called the Anti-Christ

William Mortensen’s grotesque, retouched photos of celebrities were a far cry from the realism favored by the photography elite

smithsonian.com
In 1937, the photographer Edward Weston wrote Ansel Adams a letter noting that he had recently "got a beautiful negative of a fresh corpse." Adams wrote back expressing his enthusiasm, saying, "It was swell to hear from you—and I look forward to the picture of the corpse. My only regret is that the identity of said corpse is not our Laguna Beach colleague." The "colleague" Adams referred to was William Mortensen, one of the most popular and otherwise respected photographers of the 1930s, whose artistic techniques and grotesque, erotic subject matter saw him banished from "official" histories of the art form. For Adams, Mortensen was enemy number one; he was known to describe him as "the anti-Christ."
Born in Park City, Utah, in 1897, Mortensen studied painting in New York City before World War I, then moved to Hollywood in the 1920s, where he worked with filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille and shot portraits of celebrities Rudolph Valentino, Fay Wray, Peter Lorre, Jean Harlow and others, often in historical costume. He also created more abstract portraits of anonymous models, interpreting historical or mythological characters such as Circe, Machiavelli and Cesar Borgia, and shot images of witchcraft, monsters, torture and Satanic rituals, rarely shying away from nudity or blood. Despite his outlandish themes, between the 1930s and 1950s his images were widely shown both in America and abroad, published in magazines including Vanity Fair, and collected by the Royal Photographic Society in London. He wrote a series of bestselling instructional books and a weekly photography column in the Los Angeles Times, and ran the Mortensen School of Photography in Laguna Beach, where some 3,000 students passed through the doors. The artist and photography scholar Larry Lytle, who has done extensive research on Mortensen, calls him "photography's first superstar."
Yet Mortensen has been left out of most retrospectives and books devoted to the history of photography until relatively recently. In the late 1970s and 1980s, his work was rediscovered by the photo critic A. D. Coleman, and the collector, curator, and writer Deborah Irmas. Their work has helped bring Mortensen back to popular attention, an effort that seems to culminate this fall with gallery exhibits in New York, Los Angeles and Seattle, as well as the release of a major book on Mortensen. American Grotesque: The Life and Art of William Mortensen (Feral House) features previously unpublished images alongside essays by Lytle, the writer and musician Michael Moynihan, and A.D. Colemen. Feral House has also republished Mortensen’s instructional book The Command to Look, in which he analyzes his process and technique, offering tips about how to arrange compositions and create maximum impact.
image: http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//embedly/embedly_image_54ac2d52132b0ac490b7ab397007a42b2eaa4bc5.jpg.300x0_q85_upscale.jpg
Preview thumbnail for video 'American Grotesque: The Life and Art of William Mortensen

American Grotesque: The Life and Art of William Mortensen

American Grotesque is a lavish retrospective of grotesque, occult, and erotic images by the forgotten Hollywood photographer William Mortensen (1897–1965).

Captain Beefheart on Dr Demento 12/3/78 (full interview)



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..


Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Melting Euphoria - Venusian Skyline



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
From The Madness We Began
CD - £7.99

Thursday 26 May 2016

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 / Bernstein · New York Philharmonic Orchestra



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Testimony
CD - £7.99

Testimony - The Story Of Shostakovich
DVD - £7.99

David Peel On The Lower East Side



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Anthology
CD - £9.99

Captain Beefheart - Paul Moyer KABC-TV Eyewitness Interview (HQ)



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..


Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..

Frank Zappa - Interview - 12/8/1984 - unknown (Official)

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..

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?"

BIRD OF A WILDE BOY
Born Edwardian,post Marlon Brando
Reincarnated as Johnny Depp(now even he is divorced
from Reality(he has his own Island)
And he likes Native Americans (even plays Tonto-
a Hollywood fantasy that "never grows up"
Cultural continuity begins as a play(of consciousness
Every Childe's Fable is a Cautionary Tale
which is why young love Lemony Snicket
and vampires and zombies and Dark Legends
Grimm's Fairy Tales  have literary antecedents.
Now TV tales over where Hammer Horror left off-
Vincent Price as Hook,any young boy as Peter Pan.
Even Disney could not wash the loneliness
from red blood sword duels and fear of dreams of death.

"For most of us,there is no second chance.."

Wednesday 25 May 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?"

THE GREAT TRANCE FORMATION
Everywhere-change is in the air
Right Wing/Left Wing(you need both wings to fly with)
and Karl Polanyi morphs into Bernie Sanders
If college was once free-why not again?
If living wages can be legalized like marijuana(so be it!
If Native Americans and Blacks and homeless
can be treated as equals with positive affirmations-GREAT!
Thoughts like this presage a New New Deal
To be open to change is to welcome change agents
Policies dusted off post-Depression days are revived again
Young come alive again-freed from endless student debt
Even Possibility becomes a Theory.Polanyi would be proud

Crowds gather,one by one,when they hear Pied Piper sounds..
...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.