About the Bigfoot Times newsletter
Steven Streufert, the owner of Bigfoot Books in Willow Creek, California and the writer of www.bigfootbooksblog.blogspot.com has granted permission to reproduce this blog entry in full.
Enjoy,
Daniel Perezeditor/publisher: Bigfoot Times
Reading the BIGFOOT TIMES, plus News: MONSTER QUEST R.I.P., BIGFOOT AUTOPSY, Rock Slide on Hwy. 96, BIGFOOT DAYS 2010
READING THE BIGFOOT TIMES: What a Difference a Critical Viewpoint Makes!
"You did the best, most significant interview with Al Hodgson, ever, to this point"
Coincidentally, just as we'd begun to write this blog entry involving his newsletter, we received a call from Daniel Perez, editor and writer of the best periodical publication on Bigfoot, the BIGFOOT TIMES. He brightened our day with the quote above. A dogged and persistently critical-minded investigator of this phenomenon since he was 10 years old, Daniel practically qualifies as a member of the Bigfooting "old guard," even though he is only in his 40s. His only currently-operating rivals in terms of historical scholarship in The Field are Loren Coleman and Christopher Murphy. He has spent not only his entire adult life seriously pursuing this mystery, but also a good part of his childhood and youth. Though he is not averse to field research, Perez really shines when it comes to Bibliography, History, and his Historiographical meta-view of the field of study as a whole and its place within human culture.
Images: Perez speaking at the 2007 PGF 40th Anniversary Celebration, Photographed by Steven Streufert. The cover of the Bigfoot Times that featured not only the Bigfoot Books shop sign, but also yours truly with the gang at the Celebration. CLICK TO ENLARGE ALL IMAGES.
Last month, suffering a dearth of new Bigfoot material to read, we finally broke down and bought the entire print run of the BIGFOOT TIMES. We just couldn't bear the wait anymore for each month's new issue. We had to have it all. It cost a pretty penny, but we can tell you that it was well worth it. In the saved cost of gas, phone calls, time spent interviewing witnesses and attending conferences, and paying for room and board on the road, this publication's full run has probably saved us a hundred times its cost. We devoured it all at once, reading numerous issues a day, in less than a month.
Comprehensively covering some twelve years now of the activities of the world of Bigfooting, the newsletter is a veritable Cryptozoological time machine. Not only does it cover in-depth and with a cutting edge all the events, discoveries and disappointments, the Bigfoot Wars between the advocates and the skeptics and the believers amongst themselves, but it also offers the true jewel of Perez' sense of the history of the field. He not only knows that history, but he checks his facts. He doesn't just dig up rumors and word-of-mouth gossip and theory-trading, but actually makes phone calls to the primary sources, or digs them up out of the massive archives in his home. Not only does he know personally most of the investigators in the field, past and present, but he is not afraid to call one of them a fool when it is due. One has to earn Daniel's praise. He may annoy some Bigfoot researchers with his critical gadfly behavior, but ultimately that is for the best--it keeps us all on our toes and within reason. Some may call it muchraking; but we will call it truth-seeking. They killed Socrates for such things, but look at the impact that man had on the formation of true Philosophy in the West.
Images: Perez' masterwork, BIGFOOT AT BLUFF CREEK. You may order one through Bigfoot Books:bigfootbooks@gmail.com. Below, the MK Davis Bigfooter of the Year issue--only two years later he would be called a "discredited researcher" in the publication's pages.
Perez combines all the wit and skeptical incision of a Rene Dahinden and the logical aplomb of a John Green with the investigative journalism of an early, pre-sellout Geraldo Rivera (the guy used to be serious!). It seems to us that he is the true heir to the "Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery." No other voice in Bigfooting compares at this time, though many do a good job in their own right and areas of focus. One gets the feeling from Daniel of the excitement of the chase, but also benefits from the bullshit detector of one who has seen it all, good and bad and abysmal, and yet still preserves enthusiasm. For one who has been looking into the field at this depth for some three decades not to have burned out is extraordinary in and of itself. It is one thing to just collect all of the stories and sugarcoat them to support a belief in Bigfoot or publish some regurgitation of a book; it is another thing altogether to drill down to the heart of the matter in all cases, to never accept evidence at mere face value, and to carry on despite finding repeatedly that a lot of the hoped-for proof turns out to be silly hoaxing and tall tales. Well, we all must carry on. And surely we shall, to the end. If anything gets past the gauntlet of Daniel's critical eye you can be sure that it is GOOD evidence. No BS hurling grandstander, media trickster or footprint-faking con man gets past him, either; at least, not for long. He knows an ape suit when he sees one; and in the Patterson-Gimlin film, his specialty, he sees a real, living Creature.
One thing that really makes the TIMES stand out is the commitment over time shown by the author/editor. It is one thing to put things together into a time-bound book or one-off article, but it is another to publish on-the-record, monthly, over a considerable time. Thus, the BIGFOOT TIMES leaves behind a chronological paper trail of events as they happened and are still happening. There is no going back and editing. One can thereby see the evolution of the field and its ideas, members, groups and tactics along the way. We see, for instance, the rise and fall of MK Davis; the movement of Tom Biscardi from being a slightly odd carney-type investigator to an outright pariah; the excitement and then the disappointment over such evidence as the Sonoma video and various blobsquatches; the persistent and increasingly psychotic presence of E.B., Jon-Erik Beckjord, and his eventual demise both professional and physical.
Images: Courtesy of Bigfoot Times. Mr. Perez in his usual baseball cap.
All along the way Perez is a great tour guide and teacher; and he is full of sardonic wit without being snide. His fascination leads him on, but he doesn't just go barrelling over the cliff like much of the Bigfoot herd. He looks before he leaps. He knows better, and he knows the track record of all involved, the credibility factors and the patterns that make up movements in the research. If you weren't there for all of those years of Bigfooting, and would like to absorb that history not as after-the-fact, but as History-as-it-happened, then this newsletter is HIGHLY recommended. (We also seriously recommend SUBSCRIBING to keep up with current issues--no web site out there does things quite like BIGFOOT TIMES does.) Books can condense and consolidate information, DVDs can catch a glimpse of a moment, web sites can show the flashes in the pan; but a dedicated publication like this can teach you the meaning of what it really is to be a committed investigator over time, through all the crazy ups and downs. With a guy like Perez at the helm this ship can sail through the night of unreason toward the simple recognition of the reality of giant anthropoids currently denied and mocked by the status quo of our society. And it will be a fun ride along the way, we guarantee it. Taken as a whole, the BIGFOOT TIMES easily equals the best of the Bigfoot books, among which we place it in the top five, right next toGreen, Sanderson, Meldrum, and Murphy. Don't miss out.
Above you may view the contact information for Daniel and his Center for Bigfoot Studies. Subscriptions and back issue orders may be made by snail mail at the address above, email, over the internet, or by phone as above. Just keep in mind, he's a busy guy who works as a full-time electrician. I've always found him to be incredibly prompt and responsive with all order inquiries.
Subscriptions run "USA = $15, Canada = $16, Rest of World = $19," and we assure you it is well worth it. Back issues are $1.50 each, but Daniel might be encouraged to make you a deal like he did with us for a bulk purchase. The BIGFOOT TIMES is a four-page 8.5 by 11-inch illustrated newsletter sent by postal mail; but it isn't just about the paper, it's the CONTENT that counts. And what it contains, really, is priceless, if one is a serious Bigfoot researcher.
Interested in viewing the incredible breadth of topics, regions and reviews covered in the BIGFOOT TIMES? Download the massive 57-page BIGFOOT TIMES INDEX HERE. It comes in printable PDF document format. It is current through December 2009 at this point, and is maintained by George M. Eberhart.
Image: Perez, Willow Creek, 2007, by Steven Streufert.
Go to Squatchopedia, the Bigfoot Wiki, for more info and a nice download link to a FREE SAMPLE ISSUE of the BIGFOOT TIMES.
NOTE: Daniel Perez published a newsletter back in the eighties calledBigfooTimes. Back issues of these are also available, though we can't comment yet as we haven't gotten a hold of those yet.
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posted by Daniel Perez @ 6:30 PM
