Tuesday 30 April 2019

FOR THOSE WHO LIKE TO FOLLOW MY DAY JOB: On The Track (of Unknown Animals) Ep. 102 (Mystery turtle, Loch Ness, Green activism etc)



Here we have the twenty-first episode of the relaunched webTV show by the Centre for Fortean Zoology, written and presented by Jon Downes and Charlotte Phillipson (who is away doing her exams), their families and other animals. This episode contains: • A parrot is singing • Parish notices • Charlotte and her GCSEs • Lee Walker • David Farrant • Prudence • "Sympathy for the Bulldog" • Worldwide climate protests • Extinction Rebellion • The extinction of the giant Yangtze softshell turtle • The giant turtle of Hoan Kiem • Mythology and hard science • Loch ness monster sightings • Lightning does strike twice at least on the Loch Ness webcam • Looking for a researcher • Junkie parrots • PRODUCT PLACEMENT - Jon's peculiar novel • Watcher of the skies...with comedy results • New and rediscovered: - New and rediscovered: New giant spitting cobra - New and rediscovered: New dwarf goby - New and rediscovered: New treefrog - New and rediscovered: New Chinese pit viper - New and rediscovered: New skink - New and rediscovered: Novataxal • Fair use • Coming next month • The Patreon campaign • Jon and Archie twat about on social media • The team says goodbye until next month _________________________________ Some useful contacts: CFZ Website www.cfz.org.uk CFZ Patreon https://www.patreon.com/CFZ CFZ Blog Network https://forteanzoology.blogspot.co.uk/ CFZ Publications http://cfzresources.com/publishing/ CFZtv https://www.youtube.com/user/cfztv CFZ Next Generation Initiative https://www.facebook.com/groups/29796...

ZEE BOX SETS LEAVE HOME

Compared to some bands with an equally long career, the story of Pink Floyd is a reasonably simple one. The classic line-ups between 1965 and 2014 - when they finally announced that they had called it a day - only actually included five people, one of whom (Syd Barrett) had exited stage left in March 1968. There were a number of interpersonal problems in the late 70s and early 80s, which lead to keyboard player, Richard “Rick” Wright, not being a proper member for several albums.

During his absence from the band, upon recovering from a fairly major crisis in his personal life, he formed a short lived side project, called Zee, together with a bloke called Dave Harris, who was best known as part of classic post-punk/new romantic band, Fashion. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you fused the sort of clever synth-pop that bands like The Human League were doing in the first half of the 1980s with the organic, cerebral, keyboard playing of one of the greatest soundscape architects of the progressive rock era? Well, you need wonder no more. The band only released one album – Identity – which came out in 1984, and which was – with ironic hindsight – a suitable date for such an iconoclastic set of tunes to be released.

The album has been unavailable for many years, which is a great pity, because I have always loved it. I always liked the concept of 1980s new romantic music, but felt that the results were somewhat lacking in emotion because of the conditions under which they recorded; when you add a big-hearted and eminently compassionate musician like Richard Wright to the mix, the results could be – and ultimately, were – utterly extraordinary. Now, eleven years after Wright’s death, those jolly nice fellows at Gonzo (which whom I am proud to be numbered) have re-released it in a number of exciting formats.

You don’t believe me? Well, as well as a purchase link that you can find here:

https://www.musicglue.com/zee-1/

Here are photographs of the first batch of boxsets leaving the production line:



And here are the first sales being dispatched:

Good’ere innit?

Watch this space...

Monday 29 April 2019

AL ATKINS INTERVIEW


Original JUDAS PRIEST singer Al Atkins spoke to MusicRealms about how the first version of the band came together 50 years ago. "The first lineup ...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
#
Anthology
CD - £9.99

Empire of Destruction
CD/DVD - £7.99

The Serpents Kiss
CD - £7.99

JON ANDERSON IN THE NEWS


Fans of Jon Anderson looking for a unique getaway this summer are in for treat. The Yes co-founder and its longtime vocalist and songwriter will be ...


"You know, as long as people play Yes music, I don't mind at all," Jon Anderson says. "It's an ongoing experience in life." (Photo: John Thys/AFP/Getty ...



Jon Anderson of the rock band Yes in July will spend three days at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock — and fans can join in the fun. Anderson July ...


After spending the last few years touring with his former Yes band mates Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman, the prog-rock group's founding frontman ...

Yes Interviews: 2011 - Italy - Jon Anderson Interview with LineaRock
Yes Interviews Date: 2011 Location: Italy Item: Jon Anderson Interview with LineaRock For all my Yes posts see here: ...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Survival And Other Stories
CD - £9.99

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Badfinger - Day After Day (1971 - HQ - Restored)



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Live in Sellersville, PA, 2010
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 Thom'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?

TRUTHINESS
FAUX NEWS&ADVERTISING
Brainwashing us with false beliefs
that we cannot afford a life without oil,gas,plastics,growth..
while the true costs of carbon growth are never taxed
Once,all bottles were 100% recycled.Deposits ensured beer/milk bottles came back.
Now cans get minimal amounts,and become mountains of detritus.
What happened once can happen again.Plant based diet.No flying.Wean away from cars.
Think DEPRESSION when everything had to find multiple uses.Think string,sisal,hemp.
Think walking,cycling,scooters,skateboards.Think pedestrian precinct.
Feel the growth of forests and gardens absorbing carbon emissions
Germany closes down her coal mines.Applies renewable energy sources.
Japan makes all trash bags transparent.Shaming trash makers.
In our lifetime,we have seen smoking controlled,car safety belts universal..
In the interests of health,it is time to wean away from the past/to love our future
so much that our children's children will have a better world
than the mutant mess we make ,when we fail to think
outside of the box.


openculture.com

YES: Billy Sherwood interview






]

Yes Interviews: 9/9/11 - Billy Sherwood Sonic Elements Interview
Yes Interviews Date: 9/9/11 Item: Billy Sherwood Sonic Elements Interview For all my Yes posts see here: ...
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO


DVD - £10.99

BIGGAR LITTLE BARBARA


Barbara Dickson and Rab Noakes will headline Biggar Little Festival 2019 ... James Softley is delighted to have finally booked Barbara Dickson.

CURRENTLY AVAILALE FROM GONZO
Time And Tide 
CD - £7.99

In Good Company
2CD - £10.99

Live in Concert 1976/77
DVD - £10.99

7 Ages of Woman
CD - £9.99

Barbara Dickson in Blood Brothers
CD - £9.99

John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert
CD - £9.99

More Brecht Than Broadway
4CD Boxset - £49.99

Answer Me
CD - £7.99

Winter
CD - £9.99

Che Faro
DVD - £10.99

B4 74 - The Folkclub Tapes
2CD - £10.99

Full Circle
CD - £7.99

Into The Light
DVD - £10.99

LEONARD COHEN EN PASSANT


NEW YORK – Be prepared to fall in love with Leonard Cohen (19342016) at the monumental exhibit Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything at the ...


During a conversation with Leonard Cohen, with whom he had a thirty-year friendship, in the early summer of 2016, John MacKenna broached the ...


A TRIBUTE to legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is coming to Sudbury. The Songs of Leonard Cohen show is performed by Keith ...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO#
Bird on a Wire (Special Edition)
DVD - £9.99

Sunday 28 April 2019

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!" (NICEA) arr. Jeremy Bankson

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.

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 Thom'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?

WHITE HOLES WITHOUT EDGES
EVEN SPACE IS CROWDED WITH SPACE JUNK
Even time ends.Those waiting for the Resurrection
will have to wait with Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Ghosts of Ginsberg haunt second-hand bookstores,
not "looking for an angry fix"/more,puzzled and confused
why technology has left them sans Smartphones
and they cannot conjure up scooters,not Smartbikes
unless it is to toss them in trees or Town Lake
in a art exercise of impotent Luddism.We are WIRED.
Wal-Mart invests more in A.I cameras and facial recognition technology
than in their living,breathing,loyal employees.AMAZON threatens
more than a destroyed rainforest for packaging.More than drone delivery
which also comes with miniature heart seeking missiles.
More than AVENGERS ENDGAME killing off imaginary characters
while we wait for human beings to Unionize and Organize(again)
They will not.We buy our "mind-forged manacles"/plug in
to a Matrix  with our Hive Mind,aware of Greta,Brexit,
Yellow Jackets and Umbrella Movements edited headlines.
We are not the Future.But we are still here-

hearing,listening,waiting,watching,witnessing...

PLAYLIST: 02 -02-2018 – SHOW 287 – DJ Shadow

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 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.

02 -02-2018 – SHOW 287 – DJ Shadow

The Monkees: Star Collector
Warren Smith: A Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache
Unkle: Celestial Annihilation
DJ Shadow: Best Foot Forward/Building Steam with a Grain of Salt
The Wind in the Willows: There is But One Truth Daddy
The Durutti Column: Overlord Part One
Love Unlimited Orchestra: What a Groove
The Severed Limb: Hammer Horror Gunna be the Death of me
The Marine Girls: Don’t Come Back
Gwynfor Raymond: Sometimes There’s Blood
DJ Shadow: Changeling
Sun Ra: Sketch
Vegetables: Marry Me
The Shangri Las: I Can Never go Home Anymore
Zola Jesus: Doma
Lush: Ethereal
Sparks: Tits
Tyrannosaurus Rex: John Peel Jan 1970: Hot Rod Mama/Debora/Pavilions of the Sun/ Dove/ By The Light of the Magical Moon
The Jesus Abyss: Rendered Useless
DJ Shadow: Napalm Brain – Scatterbrain
Frank Black: The Farewell Bend

FRANK ZAPPA ROUNDUP


Frank Zappa is the latest star to make a live comeback after death, thanks to the power of holograms . The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa, put together ...

... Center (PMRC) — a group led by the wives of Washington politicians — and a few musicians, including Frank Zappa, Dee Snider, and John Denver.

An anticipated Sunday-evening performance of “The Bizarre World of Frank Zappa,” bumped from the Palace following water problems, has been ...

One artist whom the practice makes complete sense for, though, is Frank Zappa. A few years before he died, he wrote in his autobiography that he ...
A month after Woodstock, on Sept. 19, 1969, Jim Tarbell opened The Ludlow Garage in Clifton with a Grand Funk Railroad concert. The Ludlow ...
More than 30 years ago, Frank Zappa foresaw the day when musicians would use holograms to let the artist's image be out on tour — or even ...

Frank Zappa would have surely approved of his own; he was genuinely fascinated by holograms until the end of his life. In his 1989 memoir The Real ...
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
The Real Porn Wars
Book - £12.99

Friday 26 April 2019

Gonzo Weekly #335/36

Gonzo Weekly #335/36
THE DEAR PRUDENCE ISSUE
 
In a bittersweet issue we meet Raz of the eponymous RAZ band, to talk about their ground-breaking new album with Joey Molland late of Badfinger, Graham explains how Dave Brock has got involved with U.S Presidential politics, and also goes to the Hawkwind Summer Sundae, Alan gets the Blues in Scotland, Richard joins the Extinction Rebellion whilst Jon muses upon them and other peculiar subjects including Daisy et al Imminentizing the Eschaton, Dean remembers Wally Hope, Kev remembers Bernie Tormé and an interview he did some years ago,  Carl looks at cult Spaghetti Westerns, whilst we all say goodbye to Prudence.
 
Hail Eris!
 
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive AND Strange Fruit AND Canterbury Sans Frontieres. AND there is a column from Kev Rowland, BUT Neil Nixon, Mr Biffo, C J Stone, and Roy Weard,and the irrepressible Corinna are on hiatus.  There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who are walking in twos (OK, nothing to do with tiny marsupials who are paired up, 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:
 
Prudence, Julian Assange, John Lennon, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Woodstock 50, Camel, Pink Floyd, Prince, Olivia  McCarthy, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Earl Thomas Conley, Paul Martin Raymond,  Dina (born Ondina Maria Farias Veloso), Jörg Demus, Kent Levaughn Harris, Leslie David Reed OBE, Johnny 'Hutch' Hutchinson (also known as Johnny Hutch), Joe Terry (born Joe Terranova), Ed Tigner, Jr., (better known as Eddie Tigner), Amar Pal, Dave Samuels, Dick Rivers (born Hervé Forneri), Pink Fairies, Rick Wakeman, Comic Strip Presents, Iona, Essra Mohawk, The RAZ Band, Joey Molland, Michael Rescigno, Kev Rowland, Bernie Tormé, Alan Dearling, Scottish Blues Weekend, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, Big Jon Atkinson, Øyvind Stølefjell, Kyla Brox, New Blues Session, Nicole Smit, Gus Munro, Thomas Lucas, The Jensen Interceptors, Sandy Tweeddale, Tim Elliott,  Allan Jones, Toby Mottershead, Rollin' Joe Dalton, Richard Foreman, XR, Dean Phillips, Wally Dean, Voices, Wiegedood, Winterfylleth, Within the Giant's Reach, '77, Fistula/Hemdale, World Demise, Age of Taurus, Amanda Somerville's Trillium, Carl Marshall, Geordie Jackson, Spaghetti Westerns, Tony Klinger, Graham Inglis, Hawkwind, Jon Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Daisy Campbell, John Higgs
 
And the last few issues are:
 
Issue 331-32 (Scott Walker)
Issue 329-30 (Charlie X)
Issue 327-28 (Hawkwind)
Issue 325-26 (Gonzo)
Issue 323-24 (Irvine Welsh)
Issue 321-22 (Discordianism)
Issue 319-20 (Brix Smith)
Issue 317-18 (Christmas)
Issue 315-16 (Steve Miller)
Issue 313-14 (Hawkwind)
Issue 311-12 (Extinction Rebellion)
Issue 309-10 (Steve Hillage)
Issue 307-8 (Michael Moorcock)
Issue 305-6 (Maartin Allcock)
Issue 303-4 (kOZFEST)
Issue 301-2 (Ringo Starr)
Issue 299-300 (Aretha Franklin)
Issue 298 (Alan in Hungary)
Issue 297 (Shir Ordo)
Issue 295-6 (Robert Berry)
Issue 294 (Bow Wow Wow)
Issue 293 (Stonehenge)
Issue 292 (Rolling Stones)
Issue 291 (Alien Weaponry)
Issue 290 (Frank Zappa)
Issue 289 (Misty in Roots)
Issue 288 (Paula Frazer)
Issue 287 (Boss Goodman)
Issue 286 (Monty Python)
Issue 285 (ELP)
Issue 284 (Strangelove)
Issue 283 (Record Store Day)
Issue 282 (Neil Finn and Fleetwood Mac)
Issue 281 (Carl Palmer)
Issue 280 (Steve Andrews)
 
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 TRACK OF THE DAY: Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no.2 op.18 - Anna Fedorova - Complete Live Concert - HD



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
His Letters
DVD - £10.99

The Harvest of Sorrow
DVD - £7.99

YAY TO ZEE

One of the most intriguing pop music partnerships of the eighties makes it’s return – RICK WRIGHT, one of the founder members of PINK FLOYD and who played keyboards on their multi-million selling albums joined forces with DAVE (formerly DEE) HARRIS, best known to music fans as the former singer and guitarist with electro-funk band Fashion. The two, collectively known as ZEE's version of their album, IDENTITY is to be released this year. The album which was recorded at WRIGHT’s home studio and Utopia Studios in North London in 82 / 83, utilises the Fairlight Computer, which has the ability to recreate the sound of any musical instrument. The new partnership was born out of a Greek holiday that Rick Wright had in 1981. It was there that he met Raf Ravenscroft the well-known saxophonist session musician whose playing graced Gerry Rafferty’s huge hit “Baker Street”. “Raf was interested in forming a band, and we got talking in the way musicians do.” RICK said, “When we got back to England we met again, along with several other musicians, including DAVE HARRIS. We had some rehearsal time at a studio in Battersea but we weren’t getting anywhere, mainly because no one had any material.” At that time DAVE HARRIS has just left FASHION – “I supposed you could put it down to the usual ‘musical differences’ – and was looking for fresh ideas. “My decision to leave Fashion was good for both the band and myself, but I really needed to work with someone so that we could bounce ideas of each other” DAVE says. “It became more and more obvious that RICK and I would work well together, and eventually that is what happened”.
The other guys who had been initially involved understood that too, and in the end it was RICK and myself writing together. RICK and DAVE started working on the ‘Identity’ album as far back as September 1982, initially at RICK’s small studio in the country, before moving on to Utopia six months later to do the overdubs.
Unfortunately certain legal problems had to be ironed out first – and then there was also the question of mastering the Fairlight: “We spent hours and hours just experimenting with it at first” RICK recalled. “The great thing about the Fairlight is that every time you go back to it you learn something else. We had to get control over it though because it would have been very easy just to have ended up making funny noises. We spent several weeks sequencing and scripting everything but it was all worth it in the end.” He added “For me it is exciting working with DAVE because there were things that he was doing that I had not done before and vice versa. I think that ZEE has given us musical opportunities that quite frankly neither of us were able to explore in our previous groups.”
DAVE HARRIS says “when we started recording it, we didn’t have any pre-conceived ideas of how it should be done, and we certainly didn’t try to create a sound. The whole thing just evolved quite naturally”. “There will probably be a lot of PINK FLOYD fans interested in what RICK had been doing, and equally I’m sure that a lot of Fashion’s followers will want to know what I’ve been up to".
Finally Zee is getting the deluxe treatment so many other seminal back catalogue releases have had done.

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 Thom'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?

PRIORITIES
CHILDREN?OR A CATHEDRAL?
Stones?or a rainforest?
Endangered species?or global warming?
Political causes?or cultural literacy?
Opera in a desert.Symphonies in an asylum.
What is most needed rarely finds a home.
Homeless Yellow Jackets.Little Greta Peace Prize.
Energies are needed-to restore Earth as Gardens.
Robots do not care.Billionaires disperse.
Notre Dame will never be as it once was
We will never be who we once were
It matters.Spirit over matter.
Human beings over church buildings.
Peace.Power.Prosperity.

Thursday 25 April 2019

Game Of Faith by Auburn


Game Of Faith is the Summer 2019 album by UK band Auburn who has been captivating audiences around the world with their unique blend of Americana, blues and roots music. This band is fronted by female vocalist Liz Lenten, along with Thomm Jutz on guitars, Mark Fain on bass, Lynn Williams on drums and Britt Savage on harmony vocals.  This fourteen track album features such songs as the title track Game Of FaithI Don’t’ Love HimHappy NowhereSpoke In The Wheel and much more.  I was impressed with Liz’s vocal style, the harmonies, and great instrumental backup.  This album was well written, recorded, produced and performed.  To learn more about this band, go to their website http://www.auburn.org.uk

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Mixed Feelings
CD - £9.99

Nashville
CD - £9.99

Indian Summer
CD - £9.99
...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.