At the end of April the obedient, soma-fed, number-crunchers of doom are raising the cost of UK postage as they continue to stealthily prepare to sell off the Post Office to the evil gnomes of greed. When that eventually happens we'll see some real price rises.

However as we always re-calculate the P&P, which then ends up being lower than the amount shown by the shopping cart for 7-8 orders out of 10, I don't think anything will need to change on the web-site. Perhaps the number of orders on which the P&P is reduced will diminish slightly, and maybe the few orders on which the postage needs to be raised will increase. We only ever charge the cost price + up to £1.00 max. for the packing material.

Love your local Post Office, and as with most things in this deeply spooked statistic-driven economy - use it or loose it.

'Dreaming The Magic of Your Maya' by Princess Flower and The Moon Rays is the first ever Gong related release. It was originally pressed as a tiny private pressing of less than 100 copies in 1968 and is about be re-issued for the first time ever in any format in a limited edition of 500 double LPs. With the heartening resurgence of vinyl releases over the past few years it had to happen eventually and thank goodness it has happened with the co-operation and blessing of the main guiding musicians, Loren Standlee and Ziska, and on a good trustworthy label known for it's high production values.

In 25 years lashed to the wheel of Planetgong I have only seen or even heard tell of 5 or 6 copies of the original LP, it is that rare. Whenever a copy in very good or excellent condition appears on the marketplace it sells for some serious money, between $1000 to $1500. If you would like to have what is destined to become a collectable in it's own right do not pass up this opportunity.

The history behind the original LP is on the Dreaming The Magic of Your Maya Bazaar pre-order page. Pre-ordering is a must on this one as I won't be carrying a large surplus stock.

With daevid revving to Gong around, Josh Pollock helping his partner incubate the new generation and Warren doing what Warren does, the fourth member of the University of Errors, Michael Clare, has joined a surf band called 'Men in Grey Suits' (well what you gonna do living in Hawaii?) He does seems rather happy though..."new surf band starting to make waves (pun) on the island, people who have seen us realize this it real. It is incredibly fun and we all get along, no massive egos, just a lot of smiles and determination to be as good as we can at it, what more can I ask?".

Their web-link, migsurfmusic.com, goes to the Soundcloud affair, Reverbnation for samples their fine take on the twang, thrum-m-m and go-go beat of Surf. I particularly like 'Pipeline' and Spy Vs Spy'.

In the manner of Dr Who Gong has gone through one of it's periodic 're-generations' and now takes the form of daevid allen, Gilli Smyth, Orlando Allen (drums), Fabio Golfetti (guitar), Dave Sturt (bass) and Ian East (sax'n'flute). This is the line-up that will be touring the UK and Europe this Autumn.

The November UK gigs are now confirmed and listed in the gig section, as are the European dates in France, The Netherlands and Germany. More gigs may be added over the few next weeks so keep checking to stay abreast of the developing situation.

Accomplished drummer/producer Orlando is of course Gilli and daevid's younger son. They have for years been keen to include him as member of Gong and see now as THE time. Fabio Golfetti, leading light of the Invisible Opera Company of Tibet (Brazil), is a very polished guitarist in smooth Gilmouresque prog mode and of course a glissando guitar practitioner of long standing. And many of you will have experienced the entertaining, expert musicianship of Ian East and Dave Sturt on respectively, wind instruments and bass, on the 2009-10 Gong tours and know that those chairs within the band are in more than capable hands.

Yes indeed things do change but Gong's mission statement remains rampantly and receptively what it always has been - that is, just whatever you perceive it to be...be-do..be-do..be-doo.

What will we get? What will you divine? A Colin Baker/Sylvester McCoy or a Patrick Troughton/William Hartnell? The choice as always is yours.

The portrait of Mr Allen mid-declaim above is by Kellie O'Dempsey painted for, "..a portrait competition featuring the graven images of many a local looney....sorry luminary (ahem)" in Bryon Bay. Didn't win I'm afraid.

The latest finished commission from Odd-stralia has arrived. Click on the image for the big pic and see what you make of it all, then why not read his most hi-penshipness' commentary on the drawing which can be opened in a seperate window.

I imagine with Gong duties waiting in the wings if you would like to commission a drawing from daevid you should begin the process sooner rather than later.

The pencils and pens have been hard at work in Australia and daevid has completed further commissions. So here is Debz, plus a few words from the artist himself on how the whole drawing process unfolded for him.

Why not have a look at the System 7 facebook page to find full info about their new Soundcloud page plus all things System 7. Great name Soundcloud, it reminds me of the Cloud in the Clangers which upon request rains down to grow trees covered in musical notes.

Our very good friend is at it again, Craig McFarlane..KILTWALK 2012..Charity walk - and he plays the bagpipes the whole way! It's simple and secure to contribute via the Just Giving web-site. None of us in the Western world think we have any 'spare' cash, despite being akin to gilded, demi-gods on the material plane compared with most people past and present. So let's just add to our 'debt', but in a good way. Giving is always good. Viva the debt!

Taliesin, eldest son of Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth, has become a father for the third time with the arrival of wee Angus. Hearty congratulations to Tali, Noey and Angus' siblings Lucy and Oscar. I did briefly hope that Aloysius might be chosen as the new chap's middle name, but it was not to be.

From the almost 3 'A's to the 3 'S's. Regular sessions by Steffe Sharpstrings, Steve Cassidy and Subs are bearing some very interesting fruit - have a listen to SeNTienT - 'Fired Up Jam' at Steffe's Soundcloud page to hear what I mean - great stuff with some stunning guitar sonics. There are also a few other tracks posted, a sniffter of '77 era Here & Now, a brush of Visitation and a rumbeleation of Dub. Now if SeNTienT just had a few gigs...

Recently released in Australia on Flamedog Records is daevid's latest album, 'soundbites 4 tha reVelation 2012', a companion CD to the extremely limited book of the same name. The album is also available on download.

Flamedog Records is a recent and rapidly budding enterprise by Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth's son Orlando Allen and his business partner Maxwell Volume. As well as recording and issuing the work of new, young artists, musicians and DJs in Australia they also plan to release new and old titles by Daevid and Gilli - along with collectors items, e-books and art prints. Daevid's intriguing 'soundbites' CD is the first of of these releases. Gilli is also completing a new album with the working title of 'Paradise'.

Some people only seem to be fully 'complete' with an instrument in hand - Garcia and Hendrix spring to mind. Of all the musicians who have been in Gong you may think, as I did, only Didier Malherbe perhaps falls into that, blessed/cursed, category. When you meet him it looks as if he has nothing to produce music on him, however somewhere tucked about his person will be a tiny ocarina or some little wind instrument few know the name of let alone how to pronounce. And even when he is without such a item he could as easily get a inventive, quirky tune or rhythm out almost anything that comes to hand. But as with most things 'Bloomdidian' it's not as simple or as clichéd as that.

Bloom of course is complete without an instrument, actually (and I must thank Graham Clark for this term)it's a 'totem of aestheticism' that he is never without, this sometimes may be an instrument. The totem could be his little notebook wherein he collects newly heard words that please him with their meaning or with their phonetic, or one of his collection of spinning tops with which to beguile in an idle moment, or simply the hat on his head, always most carefully selected from his large, varied collection to suit a specific occasion or that particular day - there will always be something. I'm told that this kind of aesthetic principle is a very Parisian trait, and Didier is a Parisian. The result is that a highly engaging, entertaining and slightly dandified warm creativity dances through the man infusing any situation with which he chooses to engage. Luckily for us this has often been with an instrument in his hands, continued through many bands and is on many recordings.

On 22nd January M. Malherbe was 69 - one of his favourite numbers.

There is finally some UK distribution for Didier Malherbe's latest CD, a double, 'Nuit d'ombrelle', so that is now in stock. And to celebrate the man's 69th birthday a couple of the CDs he graces with his marvelous musical presence are now £6.90 on the Didier Malherbe Releases Menu. Perhaps, if there are any left, after next January 22nd they should be £7.00?

It was Le Grand Fromage's birthday on January 13th. Seems churlish not to celebrate his natal day in a similar way to Didier's. Daevid was 74... Daevid Allen Releases Menu.

Those of you of a mathematical bent will have calculated that some time in 2013 Daevid will be 75, Didier 70 and Gilli, well will be Gilli - quite a year for traditional anniversaries.

The 6th of February also saw the birthday of Tim Blake, his 60th I believe - so that's nice. If he'd been a year younger he could have joined with anniversarial conjunctions of 2013.

Three interviews with daevid of which I was previously unaware have been flagged up the past week:-
1977 - Deya - Archive interview in Spanish
2009 - Fuji Rock - You Tube film, backstage interview
2011 - MusicTimesTwo - Recent blog-site interview

Gong's 'How To Stay Alive' You Tube film attained half a million complete viewings at the end of January - a remarkable feat for a mythical Green planet and some time band of musical eccentrics.

Here's the link to December's 125 page issue of French language music magazine 'Vapeur Mauve 12' - Steve Hillage, a stylish, well designed downloadable pdf affair (22.3MB). In it you will find an illustrated 12 page overview of, interview with and discography of Steve.

Also still available to download is 'Vapeur Mauve 5' - Gong from 2009. All good stuff as are the other issues on the 'Vapeur Mauve' web-site, but you'll have to brush up your French to absorb their take on Capt. Beefheart, Can, Steve Hackett, the Flamin' Groovies, etc. - boy haven't the French always loved the Flamin' Groovies.

Music from 'Flying Teapot' appears on the soundtrack of a new independent film, 'The Black Balloon'. The film, "a children's film turned Sci-Fi urban fable", by two New York brothers, Josh and Benny Safdie, has just won the Jury Prize in the USA Short Fictional Film category at the 2012 Sunrise Film Festival 2012.

The music comes from Tim Blake's, 'Octave Doctors and the Crystal Machine' and Daevid Allen and Christian Trisch's 'Zero the Hero and the Witches Spell'.

The gist of the story: "While trying to move forty kids six blocks in New York City alone, a stressed man accidentally loses a bouquet of a hundred balloons. In that bouquet, a lone black balloon scurries free with the rest of them. It dies and comes back to life, returning to the city cruising for a companion. On the beat, it learns that humans are complicated creatures with extreme highs and lows, but full of life nonetheless."

'The Black Balloon' trailer.

If 'The Black Balloon' is anything like as good as Albert Lamorisse's wonderful 1956 film, 'Le Ballon Rouge', which it seems to be partly a homage to, it will be a very fine film indeed - and from what I have seen it certainly looks the business.

Steve and Miquette have a free download of their live set from Boom Festival 2010 available on the System 7 Facebook page. A perfect blast of a hot Summer's day in Portugal to warm up our wet Wintery times.

Talking of Winter...the stoical British approach says there is no such thing as bad weather - there is just wearing the wrong clothes. An incredibly exclusive solution to keeping warm are the 20 Japanese System 7 'Up' thick fleecy sweatshirts that I have just collected from our secret 'clothes-mules', SH and MG, who carried them all the way from Japan.

As with the 'UP' t-shirts they were made as promotional items in Japan and are high quality that should last years.

Extremely limited hardback book.

We are now to single figures with just 5 copies of the limited edition of seventy-three left - there will be no further printings of this book. Twenty-one books were sent to daevid in Australia, seven copies were in the gift of Tin Man (see below), silver angel of the entire project, and one copy has been placed in the Planetgong archives. If you order a copy you can choose from list of the numbers remaining.

muse, a-mused and b-mused
click for big pic

The book's physical specs.: 129mm x 198mm, pp.80 (i–x, 1–70), digital web printed on Munken Premium Cream 80gsm. Casebound with Wibalin Amethyst over 2500 mic boards. Tipped in colour portrait, loose gold ribbon marker. Letterpress printed Hahnemühle Bugra Butten 130gsm wrapper, presented in purple and white candystripe bag with edition plate on front. It is a hand numbered edition of 73 copies.

A companion CD, 'soundbites 4 tha reVelation 2012', has been released in Australia. Hopefully stocked on Planetgong soon.

Any of you keeping notes over the past 20 odd years will be more than aware of the work of the late Lady June, poet, artist, party-giver and landlady to Canterbury bands and beyond. June only recorded 3 albums, 'Lingustic Leprosy, 'Hit & Myth', and her mythic final album, 'Rebela', created in conjunction with Mark Hewins. Now thanks to Mark, here is the title track, 'Rebela', posted on Soundcloud. I must admit I miss the occasional, impassioned, rather curmudgeonly, off the wall phone calls I used to receive from June.

Rich Goodhart has produced an excellent companion book to the 'Shaman Mirror Medicine Tree' album, which featured daevid allen guesting. It is available directly at richgoodhart.com.

Steve and Miquette recently played some System 7 dates with Japanese band Rovo in Japan. Each band played a set, then they played together. To promote the tour, and just coz they fancied it, they all collaborated on a Japan only EP, a download of which is available here - Rovo / System 7 EP.

Rovo/System 7
click for big pic

And then there is also this piece of chilled psytrance gorgeousness to enjoy - System 7 - Song for the Phoenix [MASTERPIECE].

I was delighted to receive some postcards of this rather beautiful version of the Gong Mandala created by long time Gong friend, artist Jo Thilwind. Click on the Mandala to see the range on offer. She is selling them but they don't seem feature on her website, www.dreamspaceart.com. You could contact her via it to find out more, and I think she also has a Facebook page.