Art Bell

[ItsOver]

I keep wanting to say stuff but I'm not sure what the temperature of this board is at the moment. Did we finally reach the breaking point? I notice activity for a snow ridden Saturday is way down. Have we reached the point where everyone is just sick of it?

If not now, it will taper off sometime.  It'll be interesting to see what direction BG will take next.  Any Art post, message, news, etc. will just fire things back up,  of course.

[Night Train]

Quote from: VoteQuimby on Today at 05:51:28 PM

I keep wanting to say stuff but I'm not sure what the temperature of this board is at the moment. Did we finally reach the breaking point? I notice activity for a snow ridden Saturday is way down. Have we reached the point where everyone is just sick of it?

I can't speak for everyone, but for me, sometime in the last couple days it finally sunk in - that fucker doesn't owe me.

[GravitySucks]

If not now, it will taper off sometime.  It'll be interesting to see what direction BG will take next.  Any Art post, message, news, etc. will just fire things back up,  of course.

MV should ban him for his own good. you are right, that will fire things up again.

[Jackstar]

sometime in the last couple days it finally sunk in

Now, you owe us.

[GuerrillaUnReal]

Yeah, I feel the same way. I didn't really care aside from commenting on some horrible decisions until Art threatened MV with a lawsuit and Heather making some poor decisions to go after bateman. But right now since everything is calm again, I feel bored with the whole thing as everything has been discussed to the point now we're trying to figure out crime conspiracy angles. I think we just keep coming up with wacky stuff since the official stuff is so difficult to believe or go with.

Truthfully though, I felt satisfied in knowing what happened awhile ago or at least to the point I no longer care.

[norland2424]

MV should ban him for his own good. you are right, that will fire things up again.

that doesn't stop him from making alt accounts lol

[Jackstar]

His trademark was quality radio and the new show is anything but that.

It's opinions like these that destroy your credibility.

[GravitySucks]

that doesn't stop him from making alt accounts lol

Just watch for random capitalization and create a bot to ban this LOL

[Jackstar]

I personally was satisfied when someone said Art is a hubrid long before he left the show. I have left it at that.

I'm leaning towards throwing "he's now a walk-in" on the table, but I am in favor of participating in holding up the charade.

[Jackstar]

holding up the charade.

[Robert]

many of Art's fans have officially hit critical fucking mass

Is that where we start to reproduce?  The fallback plan to grow the audience?

[pate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cDWPvhiPWg

I see your One Million Dollar Man, and raise you:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoLs0V8T5AA

(moderators, please delete this post if this joke has already been made, thanks!)

ediot: if this joke has already been made, I'd like to Call:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMJ-Yic1f4E

[ACE of CLUBS]

Wouldn't it be great if George Noory could be persuaded to take Art 'under his wing' ....... show Art how to be a successful night time host, how to make money being a successful night time host .....

Art has gone astray ....... wandering aimlessly, like the toddler with the 'loaded' diaper ..... crying ..... crying out for love, crying out for attention, crying out because he pooped his pants ...

George could fix all this ..... with a dozen years of un-interrupted night time talk show management, who could be the better mentor than George ?
George could save Art from the aroma of his fetid diaper, guide him into child-hood, teach him the difference between truth and un-truthfulness, and in a few years ... teach him how to be an adolescent ......

Step up to the plate George ....... show the 'Art child' your path to adulthood and success.

[Robert]

Man, you ever seen that stuff? I crammed some of it up my ass once, woke up, my pants unbuttoned...blood dripping everywhere, . That shit doesn't work I tell ya.

Ya gotta get the real stuff, made from actual saw blades & palmetto bugs.

[trostol]

just give it a few days..something will come up and stir the hornets nest

[Dateline]

Here's something to stir a pot, maybe this needs to be "Let's Make Fun of Dummies Thread" but I'll include it here.  This is a post from Art's Facebook page from a friend:

And one more one more thing. After reading thru some Bellgab, I had this epiphany. I think those Bellgab people liked you too much. They sort of worshipped you, obsessed about you, and pity the fools who dare to try to replace you because they be going down. Your return was the answer to their prayers, their dream come true. They raised the money to put your name in lights in Times Square. And no sooner were they basking in the night time glow of Art Bell on their external WiFi speaker, you pulled the plug. I think you broke their hearts. And, like a bitter breakup when the couple says things they can never take back and twist the knife a little deeper before it's done... love hurts.

And some of them are demented nasty azz pervs.

Neither motivation is healthy. Best to stay out of there.

[GravitySucks]

Here's something to stir a pot, maybe this needs to be "Let's Make Fun of Dummies Thread" but I'll include it here.  This is a post from Art's Facebook page from a friend:

And one more one more thing. After reading thru some Bellgab, I had this epiphany. I think those Bellgab people liked you too much. They sort of worshipped you, obsessed about you, and pity the fools who dare to try to replace you because they be going down. Your return was the answer to their prayers, their dream come true. They raised the money to put your name in lights in Times Square. And no sooner were they basking in the night time glow of Art Bell on their external WiFi speaker, you pulled the plug. I think you broke their hearts. And, like a bitter breakup when the couple says things they can never take back and twist the knife a little deeper before it's done... love hurts.

And some of them are demented nasty azz pervs.

Neither motivation is healthy. Best to stay out of there.

That was posted in the dummies thread already. Mary Lynn gets it.

[Dateline]

I'm behind in my reading in the Dummie's Thread post reading.  So many threads, so little time

[Night Train]

Here's something to stir a pot, maybe this needs to be "Let's Make Fun of Dummies Thread" but I'll include it here.  This is a post from Art's Facebook page from a friend:

And one more one more thing. After reading thru some Bellgab, I had this epiphany. I think those Bellgab people liked you too much. They sort of worshipped you, obsessed about you, and pity the fools who dare to try to replace you because they be going down. Your return was the answer to their prayers, their dream come true. They raised the money to put your name in lights in Times Square. And no sooner were they basking in the night time glow of Art Bell on their external WiFi speaker, you pulled the plug. I think you broke their hearts. And, like a bitter breakup when the couple says things they can never take back and twist the knife a little deeper before it's done... love hurts.

And some of them are demented nasty azz pervs.

Neither motivation is healthy. Best to stay out of there.

That crack about nasty azz pervs was really uncalled for.

[whoozit]

That crack about nasty azz pervs was really uncalled for.

I don't know Night Train.  I hop into my septic tank to get clean after reading some of the "speculative" posts here.  And please remember the post you object to was only speculation.

[Value Of Pi]

I'm behind in my reading in the Dummie's Thread post reading.  So many threads, so little time

What would Mrs. Crabapple say?

[Value Of Pi]

Class, you need to apply yourselves.

Yes, Mrs. Crabapple.

[pate]

That crack about nasty azz pervs was really uncalled for.

Yeah!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x48Hq9F4Q70

[PetePistolwhip]

Anyone else getting the popup ad for a website where you can search for young Asian women? Is that a shot at Art or just coincidence?

[aldousburbank]

Anyone who has spoken to heather and gotten to know her off air (Jaz, MV, Eddie dean, aldous, etc.) know that she wouldn't have an affair with someone who is 1. Her boss. 2. Her friend. And she doesn't think of him that way.

Ok, so saying it was my last post was premature...

But what Saucy Rossy is saying is true and I feel a responsibility to clarify my "insider knowledge" at the risk of being labeled as a white knight. (As if I care)

My wish to not participate here is not about me wanting to take my ball and go home because  some trolls made me mad. It is more a matter of my own sense of self respect, where and how I choose to spend my time- the difference between fun and not, interesting discourse versus unhealthy character assassination  When the public smearing descends into inferences of some kind of nefariously amorous relationship between Art and Heather, every shred of decency that I have in me says stay away from this place. I understand that throwing poop is an act that primates engage in and that online anonymity emboldens those lacking any sense of honor to hurl their fact-free feces with no responding consequences, but this is the sport of cowards. And so it is to these empty sacks of witless humanoids that I address this post. Knowing that Heather and Art have too much class to respond to such specious allegations themselves, I will do that myself since I played a part in, and have been a witness to much of what has transpired backstage in the past 6 months, and it seems like the only helpful and honest thing that I can offer my friend Heather, the genuine and decent people of the Bell family, and the readers of this forum.

Because I have had a long and fruitful history of associating with the most interesting people I can find,  I can honestly claim that I am a well seasoned and well calibrated judge of character. I have lived with cops and also have been locked up with murderers. Swept up around the ashram for years and also rolled with rock stars, psychedelic gurus, and all manner of hooligan. I've associated with the most free living and free loving feral humans I could find and also have had very deep relationships with celibates who I hold in the category of saints. I know a few things about the variety of human nature and did not just get on this pony ride. In this carnival midway of humanity it is possible with time, to gain an understanding of the personal qualities that you gravitate toward or are repelled from.

Heather and I chose to become friends through a process of getting to know each other initially through BellGab, via online correspondence. Based on my sense of what quality of person I appreciate and wish to associate with, over an extended period of time I invited Heather to participate in the reality of my personal and home life. My situation was and is not perfect, nor was or is hers, but we have managed to show up for each other's actual, non-virtual lives with mutual respect and little or no room for bs. As  a recently divorced guy you might say I was missing female companionship and yet (I know you're wondering) we've kept our relationship platonic. I say this to state a standard of our behavior together, friends not lovers. Consider it a character reference if you will, mostly for myself, since my folks were decent people who did not raise me to associate with degenerates or fools or to lie, even to strangers.

I am no eagle scout either but you see, Heather is an individual with real couth, not someone who presents herself as even vaguely sexually suggestive, inappropriate, or flirtatious. Honestly, I enjoy getting hit on by the ladies but our friendship IS our destination and we've had an easy time arriving here in spite of all our natural hormonally instinctive attractions being present and accounted for thank you very much. I believe that we've each developed a trusting sense of our respective boundaries over time, which I am grateful for, as it allows us to have the kind of friendship in which we can travel and spend time together without the added complicated dimension of intimacy, however potentially awesome it might/could be. FYI I'm only relating this "approaching embarrassing" info so that I can move on to the next paragraph with some context. There has been both genuine interest and disingenuous speculation from posters that I have held back from commenting on so here goes.

It was completely my inspiration, my urging, to suggest that Heather contact Art to request an interview. Not to detract from Heather in any way but she was not initially even able to entertain the idea as likely. I bugged her to make contact with Art several times because it was clear to me that she was highly respectful of the man's desire for privacy and would not assume to bother Art for an interview without my urging. Heather in fact objected to my suggestion several times but in my natural born state of hippie optimism ( yeah I know, all you pop-psychology Einsteins must be checking the boxes for magical thinking, wish fulfilling whatever) I assured her that since Art had heard her on the gabcast, he would remember her ability to articulately converse and would be likely to respond. Admittedly the interview was a long shot, but I also had a gut sense about the perfect matchup of her knowledge of his body of work and the timing of his upcoming release from the non-disclosure choke collar.  Also, Pahrump happens to lie in my annual summer adventure/migratory route so I invited her to join me in my travels as I was going anyway.

She was genuinely surprised that Art agreed to our proposal while I not so genuinely acted like I was not. But we went and Art and Airyn treated us as well as anybody ever could. Opening their home to us as new friends was an honest act of honest people, and I was immediately aware that we were in a home with lots of love and genuine affection. These are people that my mom and dad would have been comfortable being with. If you can sense wholesome, well it was like a sweet incense wafting with the fragrance of loving parents raising their child with the best of every impulse they've got. I know what that feels like and apparently some posters do not but you can trust me, it's not something you can fake. The rapport between husband and wife was one of mutual respect and equanimity with no whiff of false compliancy or facade or guile. Art and Airyn clearly are in love with each other and Asia is a very lucky young person to have them guiding her into this world.

This is exactly why it pisses me off that it can be considered fair sport, genuinely speculative discourse, or anything other than rancid and disgusting to state or imply or cheer on the idea that something amorous or sexual was or has been involved in Heather and Art's working or personal relationship. I was there. I have been there with Heather since. I continue to be an active part of her life. (Happy to have had her as a guest for the holidays)  We tell each other our stuff and keep the communications straight up. The point being that I would not continue to associate with Heather were she anything other than what I personally know her to be, which is fair and eager to do the right thing. And I would not support her inserting herself into or influencing Art and Airyn's life in any other than an appropriate and constructive way. And if such was not the the case, I would be the first to inform you all publicly and wash my hands of the whole thing. To put it another way, your rancid grease splattering is pissing me off not just because it slanders and hurts my friends who are genuinely good people, but because it implicates me in some sort of obfuscated, ongoing love plot which I am not enough of a lowlife to even try to comprehend, much less entertain. Those of you who lack the decency or intellect or ethics to keep your minds out of the gutters should at least keep the gutters in your mind and not on the internet. Certainly not on a forum which I formerly enjoyed. Grow up. And I say this not because Heather needs defending but because some people are just idiots and I'm here stating the obvious.

Now that all that's out of the way let me summarize and add a few points:

Heather was introduced to Art by my instigation and she was never attempting to inject herself into Art's or his show's orbit.

Heather's and Art's interactions were nothing but mutually respectful and professional. My sense of their personal chemistry was and is one of mentorship on Art's part, and correspondingly that of potential student/apprentice on Heather's part. And I mean this in the most positive of ways. Apprenticeship is a thing you know, and the natural instinct to learn/teach/pass on a craft is in our cultural genes. There is no gain from folding, mutilating, or stapling this type of relationship into a banal ambition unless you are an unimaginative social imbecile lacking sufficient talent to have your own life.

Art impressed me as straightforward in the sense that he IS who you hear on the radio. He's had the cajones enough to share his private life through his public platform which is obviously something we've valued to the extent that we're all here moaning, bitching, and otherwise gnashing our teeth about it. Maybe he's rethinking this transparent aspect of his career but you can't then blame him for sharing while simultaneously piling on undeserved accusations. It's a ride. You may not appreciate how it's gone but figure it out- what pisses any of you all off is that you believe he hasn't been straight in the walking his talk or has been a quitter. But guess what? Met the guy, shook his hand, and Art is the rare kind of person who I'd trust with my kids. What more can I say? Impugning the character of a man who has entertained you as a reaction to being pissed at your daddy only reflects a lack of integrity of the troll's own personal bridge. Maligning and fictionalizing the guy's love life is beyond contempt and while or where that's happening I will not engage, other than to remind you that you're pissing in your own wind.

Regarding the freedom of speech excuse for defamation of character and garden variety cyber bullying- well sure, MV owns this board so you are free to pass gas as long as he finds it tolerable for whatever ostensible reasons of entertainment or monetization. But let's not confuse hurtful cyber slander with "freedom of speech" which more accurately pertains to the inalienable right to speak our minds free from governmental censorship, not some mistaken justification to wipe a dirty mind with a Jeffersonian hanky. It's like cloaking the need for a bath with a fine perfume. It only insults your intelligence but it won't mine as I'm not sufficiently ignorant enough to confuse the two. 

Sincerely,
ab

[DeltaBravo]

Ok, so saying it was my last post was premature...

But what Saucy Rossy is saying is true and I feel a responsibility to clarify my "insider knowledge" at the risk of being labeled as a white knight. (As if I care)

My wish to not participate here is not about me wanting to take my ball and go home because  some trolls made me mad. It is more a matter of my own sense of self respect, where and how I choose to spend my time- the difference between fun and not, interesting discourse versus unhealthy character assassination  When the public smearing descends into inferences of some kind of nefariously amorous relationship between Art and Heather, every shred of decency that I have in me says stay away from this place. I understand that throwing poop is an act that primates engage in and that online anonymity emboldens those lacking any sense of honor to hurl their fact-free feces with no responding consequences, but this is the sport of cowards. And so it is to these empty sacks of witless humanoids that I address this post. Knowing that Heather and Art have too much class to respond to such specious allegations themselves, I will do that myself since I played a part in, and have been a witness to much of what has transpired backstage in the past 6 months, and it seems like the only helpful and honest thing that I can offer my friend Heather, the genuine and decent people of the Bell family, and the readers of this forum.

Because I have had a long and fruitful history of associating with the most interesting people I can find,  I can honestly claim that I am a well seasoned and well calibrated judge of character. I have lived with cops and also have been locked up with murderers. Swept up around the ashram for years and also rolled with rock stars, psychedelic gurus, and all manner of hooligan. I've associated with the most free living and free loving feral humans I could find and also have had very deep relationships with celibates who I hold in the category of saints. I know a few things about the variety of human nature and did not just get on this pony ride. In this carnival midway of humanity it is possible with time, to gain an understanding of the personal qualities that you gravitate toward or are repelled from.

Heather and I chose to become friends through a process of getting to know each other initially through BellGab, via online correspondence. Based on my sense of what quality of person I appreciate and wish to associate with, over an extended period of time I invited Heather to participate in the reality of my personal and home life. My situation was and is not perfect, nor was or is hers, but we have managed to show up for each other's actual, non-virtual lives with mutual respect and little or no room for bs. As  a recently divorced guy you might say I was missing female companionship and yet (I know you're wondering) we've kept our relationship platonic. I say this to state a standard of our behavior together, friends not lovers. Consider it a character reference if you will, mostly for myself, since my folks were decent people who did not raise me to associate with degenerates or fools or to lie, even to strangers.

I am no eagle scout either but you see, Heather is an individual with real couth, not someone who presents herself as even vaguely sexually suggestive, inappropriate, or flirtatious. Honestly, I enjoy getting hit on by the ladies but our friendship IS our destination and we've had an easy time arriving here in spite of all our natural hormonally instinctive attractions being present and accounted for thank you very much. I believe that we've each developed a trusting sense of our respective boundaries over time, which I am grateful for, as it allows us to have the kind of friendship in which we can travel and spend time together without the added complicated dimension of intimacy, however potentially awesome it might/could be. FYI I'm only relating this "approaching embarrassing" info so that I can move on to the next paragraph with some context. There has been both genuine interest and disingenuous speculation from posters that I have held back from commenting on so here goes.

It was completely my inspiration, my urging, to suggest that Heather contact Art to request an interview. Not to detract from Heather in any way but she was not initially even able to entertain the idea as likely. I bugged her to make contact with Art several times because it was clear to me that she was highly respectful of the man's desire for privacy and would not assume to bother Art for an interview without my urging. Heather in fact objected to my suggestion several times but in my natural born state of hippie optimism ( yeah I know, all you pop-psychology Einsteins must be checking the boxes for magical thinking, wish fulfilling whatever) I assured her that since Art had heard her on the gabcast, he would remember her ability to articulately converse and would be likely to respond. Admittedly the interview was a long shot, but I also had a gut sense about the perfect matchup of her knowledge of his body of work and the timing of his upcoming release from the non-disclosure choke collar.  Also, Pahrump happens to lie in my annual summer adventure/migratory route so I invited her to join me in my travels as I was going anyway.

She was genuinely surprised that Art agreed to our proposal while I not so genuinely acted like I was not. But we went and Art and Airyn treated us as well as anybody ever could. Opening their home to us as new friends was an honest act of honest people, and I was immediately aware that we were in a home with lots of love and genuine affection. These are people that my mom and dad would have been comfortable being with. If you can sense wholesome, well it was like a sweet incense wafting with the fragrance of loving parents raising their child with the best of every impulse they've got. I know what that feels like and apparently some posters do not but you can trust me, it's not something you can fake. The rapport between husband and wife was one of mutual respect and equanimity with no whiff of false compliancy or facade or guile. Art and Airyn clearly are in love with each other and Asia is a very lucky young person to have them guiding her into this world.

This is exactly why it pisses me off that it can be considered fair sport, genuinely speculative discourse, or anything other than rancid and disgusting to state or imply or cheer on the idea that something amorous or sexual was or has been involved in Heather and Art's working or personal relationship. I was there. I have been there with Heather since. I continue to be an active part of her life. (Happy to have had her as a guest for the holidays)  We tell each other our stuff and keep the communications straight up. The point being that I would not continue to associate with Heather were she anything other than what I personally know her to be, which is fair and eager to do the right thing. And I would not support her inserting herself into or influencing Art and Airyn's life in any other than an appropriate and constructive way. And if such was not the the case, I would be the first to inform you all publicly and wash my hands of the whole thing. To put it another way, your rancid grease splattering is pissing me off not just because it slanders and hurts my friends who are genuinely good people, but because it implicates me in some sort of obfuscated, ongoing love plot which I am not enough of a lowlife to even try to comprehend, much less entertain. Those of you who lack the decency or intellect or ethics to keep your minds out of the gutters should at least keep the gutters in your mind and not on the internet. Certainly not on a forum which I formerly enjoyed. Grow up. And I say this not because Heather needs defending but because some people are just idiots and I'm here stating the obvious.

Now that all that's out of the way let me summarize and add a few points:

Heather was introduced to Art by my instigation and she was never attempting to inject herself into Art's or his show's orbit.

Heather's and Art's interactions were nothing but mutually respectful and professional. My sense of their personal chemistry was and is one of mentorship on Art's part, and correspondingly that of potential student/apprentice on Heather's part. And I mean this in the most positive of ways. Apprenticeship is a thing you know, and the natural instinct to learn/teach/pass on a craft is in our cultural genes. There is no gain from folding, mutilating, or stapling this type of relationship into a banal ambition unless you are an unimaginative social imbecile lacking sufficient talent to have your own life.

Art impressed me as straightforward in the sense that he IS who you hear on the radio. He's had the cajones enough to share his private life through his public platform which is obviously something we've valued to the extent that we're all here moaning, bitching, and otherwise gnashing our teeth about it. Maybe he's rethinking this transparent aspect of his career but you can't then blame him for sharing while simultaneously piling on undeserved accusations. It's a ride. You may not appreciate how it's gone but figure it out- what pisses any of you all off is that you believe he hasn't been straight in the walking his talk or has been a quitter. But guess what? Met the guy, shook his hand, and Art is the rare kind of person who I'd trust with my kids. What more can I say? Impugning the character of a man who has entertained you as a reaction to being pissed at your daddy only reflects a lack of integrity of the troll's own personal bridge. Maligning and fictionalizing the guy's love life is beyond contempt and while or where that's happening I will not engage, other than to remind you that you're pissing in your own wind.

Regarding the freedom of speech excuse for defamation of character and garden variety cyber bullying- well sure, MV owns this board so you are free to pass gas as long as he finds it tolerable for whatever ostensible reasons of entertainment or monetization. But let's not confuse hurtful cyber slander with "freedom of speech" which more accurately pertains to the inalienable right to speak our minds free from governmental censorship, not some mistaken justification to wipe a dirty mind with a Jeffersonian hanky. It's like cloaking the need for a bath with a fine perfume. It only insults your intelligence but it won't mine as I'm not sufficiently ignorant enough to confuse the two. 

Sincerely,
ab

Too long. Didn't read it.

[GravitySucks]

Thank you Aldous

[GuerrillaUnReal]

Too long. Didn't read it.

I read a lot of it. He's saying they're not smashing uglies, it's his fault they were introduced and that Heather is a glorious misunderstood person.

[Coffeeman]

Ok, so saying it was my last post was premature...

But what Saucy Rossy is saying is true and I feel a responsibility to clarify my "insider knowledge" at the risk of being labeled as a white knight. (As if I care)

My wish to not participate here is not about me wanting to take my ball and go home because  some trolls made me mad. It is more a matter of my own sense of self respect, where and how I choose to spend my time- the difference between fun and not, interesting discourse versus unhealthy character assassination  When the public smearing descends into inferences of some kind of nefariously amorous relationship between Art and Heather, every shred of decency that I have in me says stay away from this place. I understand that throwing poop is an act that primates engage in and that online anonymity emboldens those lacking any sense of honor to hurl their fact-free feces with no responding consequences, but this is the sport of cowards. And so it is to these empty sacks of witless humanoids that I address this post. Knowing that Heather and Art have too much class to respond to such specious allegations themselves, I will do that myself since I played a part in, and have been a witness to much of what has transpired backstage in the past 6 months, and it seems like the only helpful and honest thing that I can offer my friend Heather, the genuine and decent people of the Bell family, and the readers of this forum.

Because I have had a long and fruitful history of associating with the most interesting people I can find,  I can honestly claim that I am a well seasoned and well calibrated judge of character. I have lived with cops and also have been locked up with murderers. Swept up around the ashram for years and also rolled with rock stars, psychedelic gurus, and all manner of hooligan. I've associated with the most free living and free loving feral humans I could find and also have had very deep relationships with celibates who I hold in the category of saints. I know a few things about the variety of human nature and did not just get on this pony ride. In this carnival midway of humanity it is possible with time, to gain an understanding of the personal qualities that you gravitate toward or are repelled from.

Heather and I chose to become friends through a process of getting to know each other initially through BellGab, via online correspondence. Based on my sense of what quality of person I appreciate and wish to associate with, over an extended period of time I invited Heather to participate in the reality of my personal and home life. My situation was and is not perfect, nor was or is hers, but we have managed to show up for each other's actual, non-virtual lives with mutual respect and little or no room for bs. As  a recently divorced guy you might say I was missing female companionship and yet (I know you're wondering) we've kept our relationship platonic. I say this to state a standard of our behavior together, friends not lovers. Consider it a character reference if you will, mostly for myself, since my folks were decent people who did not raise me to associate with degenerates or fools or to lie, even to strangers.

I am no eagle scout either but you see, Heather is an individual with real couth, not someone who presents herself as even vaguely sexually suggestive, inappropriate, or flirtatious. Honestly, I enjoy getting hit on by the ladies but our friendship IS our destination and we've had an easy time arriving here in spite of all our natural hormonally instinctive attractions being present and accounted for thank you very much. I believe that we've each developed a trusting sense of our respective boundaries over time, which I am grateful for, as it allows us to have the kind of friendship in which we can travel and spend time together without the added complicated dimension of intimacy, however potentially awesome it might/could be. FYI I'm only relating this "approaching embarrassing" info so that I can move on to the next paragraph with some context. There has been both genuine interest and disingenuous speculation from posters that I have held back from commenting on so here goes.

It was completely my inspiration, my urging, to suggest that Heather contact Art to request an interview. Not to detract from Heather in any way but she was not initially even able to entertain the idea as likely. I bugged her to make contact with Art several times because it was clear to me that she was highly respectful of the man's desire for privacy and would not assume to bother Art for an interview without my urging. Heather in fact objected to my suggestion several times but in my natural born state of hippie optimism ( yeah I know, all you pop-psychology Einsteins must be checking the boxes for magical thinking, wish fulfilling whatever) I assured her that since Art had heard her on the gabcast, he would remember her ability to articulately converse and would be likely to respond. Admittedly the interview was a long shot, but I also had a gut sense about the perfect matchup of her knowledge of his body of work and the timing of his upcoming release from the non-disclosure choke collar.  Also, Pahrump happens to lie in my annual summer adventure/migratory route so I invited her to join me in my travels as I was going anyway.

She was genuinely surprised that Art agreed to our proposal while I not so genuinely acted like I was not. But we went and Art and Airyn treated us as well as anybody ever could. Opening their home to us as new friends was an honest act of honest people, and I was immediately aware that we were in a home with lots of love and genuine affection. These are people that my mom and dad would have been comfortable being with. If you can sense wholesome, well it was like a sweet incense wafting with the fragrance of loving parents raising their child with the best of every impulse they've got. I know what that feels like and apparently some posters do not but you can trust me, it's not something you can fake. The rapport between husband and wife was one of mutual respect and equanimity with no whiff of false compliancy or facade or guile. Art and Airyn clearly are in love with each other and Asia is a very lucky young person to have them guiding her into this world.

This is exactly why it pisses me off that it can be considered fair sport, genuinely speculative discourse, or anything other than rancid and disgusting to state or imply or cheer on the idea that something amorous or sexual was or has been involved in Heather and Art's working or personal relationship. I was there. I have been there with Heather since. I continue to be an active part of her life. (Happy to have had her as a guest for the holidays)  We tell each other our stuff and keep the communications straight up. The point being that I would not continue to associate with Heather were she anything other than what I personally know her to be, which is fair and eager to do the right thing. And I would not support her inserting herself into or influencing Art and Airyn's life in any other than an appropriate and constructive way. And if such was not the the case, I would be the first to inform you all publicly and wash my hands of the whole thing. To put it another way, your rancid grease splattering is pissing me off not just because it slanders and hurts my friends who are genuinely good people, but because it implicates me in some sort of obfuscated, ongoing love plot which I am not enough of a lowlife to even try to comprehend, much less entertain. Those of you who lack the decency or intellect or ethics to keep your minds out of the gutters should at least keep the gutters in your mind and not on the internet. Certainly not on a forum which I formerly enjoyed. Grow up. And I say this not because Heather needs defending but because some people are just idiots and I'm here stating the obvious.

Now that all that's out of the way let me summarize and add a few points:

Heather was introduced to Art by my instigation and she was never attempting to inject herself into Art's or his show's orbit.

Heather's and Art's interactions were nothing but mutually respectful and professional. My sense of their personal chemistry was and is one of mentorship on Art's part, and correspondingly that of potential student/apprentice on Heather's part. And I mean this in the most positive of ways. Apprenticeship is a thing you know, and the natural instinct to learn/teach/pass on a craft is in our cultural genes. There is no gain from folding, mutilating, or stapling this type of relationship into a banal ambition unless you are an unimaginative social imbecile lacking sufficient talent to have your own life.

Art impressed me as straightforward in the sense that he IS who you hear on the radio. He's had the cajones enough to share his private life through his public platform which is obviously something we've valued to the extent that we're all here moaning, bitching, and otherwise gnashing our teeth about it. Maybe he's rethinking this transparent aspect of his career but you can't then blame him for sharing while simultaneously piling on undeserved accusations. It's a ride. You may not appreciate how it's gone but figure it out- what pisses any of you all off is that you believe he hasn't been straight in the walking his talk or has been a quitter. But guess what? Met the guy, shook his hand, and Art is the rare kind of person who I'd trust with my kids. What more can I say? Impugning the character of a man who has entertained you as a reaction to being pissed at your daddy only reflects a lack of integrity of the troll's own personal bridge. Maligning and fictionalizing the guy's love life is beyond contempt and while or where that's happening I will not engage, other than to remind you that you're pissing in your own wind.

Regarding the freedom of speech excuse for defamation of character and garden variety cyber bullying- well sure, MV owns this board so you are free to pass gas as long as he finds it tolerable for whatever ostensible reasons of entertainment or monetization. But let's not confuse hurtful cyber slander with "freedom of speech" which more accurately pertains to the inalienable right to speak our minds free from governmental censorship, not some mistaken justification to wipe a dirty mind with a Jeffersonian hanky. It's like cloaking the need for a bath with a fine perfume. It only insults your intelligence but it won't mine as I'm not sufficiently ignorant enough to confuse the two. 

Sincerely,
ab

Long white knight screed, but I think Tyler said it best.

[pate]

Sincerely,
ab

Good on you, Aldous.  I especially liked your sign-off "ab" which I decoded as "a brother".

You spoke of "craft" somewhere in that message.  I thought of witchery and such, well to not get further into it, and to keep a light heart, if given a choice to represent myself I am torn between two cards.  I wouldn't read too much into the following graphics, unless it happens to lead to a Dune reference, Not Sure...