Art Bell

[Dr. MD MD]

The world needs more pricks.

Probably true...just not more communist pricks. They're the worst! :

[ItsOver]

You must've calculated right with pud then. 

With The Pud, it's the broadside of a barn.  That should get Ms. Laura back here ASAP with some hugs and kisses. 

[bellNwhistle]

Keith, Heather and Art's wife had ample time to get ahold of those that they deemed important to inform- and two of those people organize and communicate for a living.


All in all, I would say that if his present wife and children living with him were informed, that should have been enough.  I wish the three of them well and feel nothing but sympathy for them.

Sadly,  three hours is more time than a lot of people get these days, with social media.  (Certainly a decent amount of time to get the word out to Art's adult children, before it got out to the rest of us).  My grandma died in May of 2016.  I found out about it from a cousin on Facebook, and my own mom found out from a text she got from someone who isn't even immediate family. 

[bellNwhistle]

Thanks, listening to it now.

@)--,---

[ItsOver]

https://mobile.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/04/14/arts/14reuters-people-artbell.html

Unfortunately, the article closes with a Noory remark and a tacky C2C plug.

[chefist]

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[SredniVashtar]

This was rolling around in my head for awhile.  Yes, the family should be allowed to inform those closest to the deceased. So- Heather told us 19 hours ago that she would not be doing MITD due to "something personal."  The sheriff told us 15 hours ago that Art died.  He died at home- so the ambulance did not take him to the hospital.  If she thought to jump on facebook to say she would not be hosting the moment Art took his last breath they had at least 4 hours to inform those closest to him.

Keith, Heather and Art's wife had ample time to get ahold of those that they deemed important to inform- and two of those people organize and communicate for a living.

No doubt the sheriffs office considered the implications of withholding news of his death from all other media and granting Keith an "exclusive."  I'm guessing after several hours of watching social media and not seeing any mention of this they got frustrated and issued their statement.

For now I'm going to pretend that I'm not a cynic and believe that those closest to him wished to profit in some manner even from his death.  Perhaps they really did just want time to process... But the sheriff did the right thing after giving them ample time to inform immediate family.

All in all, I would say that if his present wife and children living with him were informed, that should have been enough.  I wish the three of them well and feel nothing but sympathy for them.

Maybe they just felt they wanted to do it 'in house' before it went to the media. It doesn't make sense as a publicity gimmick because with things like that people need to know what has happened in advance so they can drum up interest.

[Morgus]

Art left us on Friday the 13th, and I can think of no other day that he would choose.  Linda Moulton Howe should be made a part of  any memorial shows that Coast has.  Art introduced me to this genre, and I will always have a fondness for that.  Condolences to his family.

Linda Howe should  have been one of the caller guests on c2c last night - she was on Art's Dreamland show every Sunday night for years.

[Morgus]

The c2cam website has finally put up an RIP Art Bell page now:
https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/r-i-p-art-bell-1945-2018/

[ItsTelly]

Disappointing obit in the NY Times...maybe that is their first take off wire reports.  Hopefully, they'll have more.

I'm really hoping Art Bell makes The Economist Obituary, the last page in every issue.  They are extremely well written.

Art Bell strikes me as someone they typically profile- someone who made an impact in an unusual way but also someone whose global influence was vastly under-rated: look at the proliferation of ghost, psychic, UFO, paranormal TV shows. They're all over the place now.  When Art started it back in '93, it was just him- alone- out in the high desert.  He's the one who started it all.  Loads of imitators making their career of copying him (mostly poorly); he was The Original, the Master who will never be equalled...

He made quite an impact when you think about it...

Telly

[Grifynne]

This was rolling around in my head for awhile.  Yes, the family should be allowed to inform those closest to the deceased. So- Heather told us 19 hours ago that she would not be doing MITD due to "something personal."  The sheriff told us 15 hours ago that Art died.  He died at home- so the ambulance did not take him to the hospital.  If she thought to jump on facebook to say she would not be hosting the moment Art took his last breath they had at least 4 hours to inform those closest to him.

Keith, Heather and Art's wife had ample time to get ahold of those that they deemed important to inform- and two of those people organize and communicate for a living.

No doubt the sheriffs office considered the implications of withholding news of his death from all other media and granting Keith an "exclusive." I'm guessing after several hours of watching social media and not seeing any mention of this they got frustrated and issued their statement.

For now I'm going to pretend that I'm not a cynic and believe that those closest to him wished to profit in some manner even from his death.  Perhaps they really did just want time to process... But the sheriff did the right thing after giving them ample time to inform immediate family.

All in all, I would say that if his present wife and children living with him were informed, that should have been enough.  I wish the three of them well and feel nothing but sympathy for them.

I feel like if your close family requires more than a few hours to get ahold of all the important people who need to know, then there is probably a communication problem amongst them. And I realize that not every situation is ideal and not every family is good at communicating, but that's more of an internal problem. Also, it's not the job of authorities to make sure a certain source gets an "exclusive." I still don't see any kind of tribute posted on the MITD website (unless they buried it), so I mean, how much time do they need?

And I totally understand that they may be upset right now, but don't start calling out the sheriff's office for doing their job and informing the community after giving you hours to get your affairs in order. That starts to make it seem like your more upset about not getting first dibs (especially when the sheriff's office states that the family never told them not to release in the first place).

But what's done is done, and love him or hate him, Art Bell had a powerful influence on a genre that has grown immensely over the years. His absence will be noticed for a long time to come. And I feel really bad for his kids, especially his new son who will grow up having no personal memories of his father.

[ItsOver]

The c2cam website has finally put up an RIP Art Bell page now:
https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/r-i-p-art-bell-1945-2018/

Nice.

[ItsOver]

Linda Howe should  have been one of the caller guests on c2c last night - she was on Art's Dreamland show every Sunday night for years.

It would have been nice but she should show up this week on C2C.

[Morgus]

It would have been nice but she should show up this week on C2C.

I'm sure Linda will talk a lot about Art Bell next week on her weekly Wed live youtube videocast as well as her Thur night KGRA show too.

[nooryisawesome]

It would have been nice but she should show up this week on C2C.

She posted to her website www.earthfiles.com

[Morgus]

Whitley Striber's website has a posting with more details:

Art Bell Has Died
Friday, April 13, 2018

A message from Whitley Strieber: At 10:30 on the morning of Friday, April 13, Art Bell died. He passed away peacefully in his sleep, and there is at this time no known cause of death. The family had hoped to delay an announcement of his death, but the story was released by the Nye County Sheriff's Office against their wishes.

Art was beloved of many millions of listeners and fans. He revolutionized late night radio with his famed show, Coast to Coast AM, which remains a popular feature on stations around the country, hosted by George Noory. He was also a dear friend of mine. We were born just three days apart in 1945 and over our 30 years of friendship we shared many wonderful hours together on the air and as friends in our private lives.

Read the original source: http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/art-bell-has-died#ixzz5CgUMZIpY

[Morgus]

So there must have been 8-10 hours from Art's passing until the news announcement from the Nye County sheriff?

[ItsOver]

Art in his prime was just such a great escape. The usual daily drudgery, politics, petty usual stuff would fill a typical day, but the dark of the night would come and you'd hear the music start and that magnificent voice and the joy ride into another realm was on, baby.

[HorrorRetro]

I haven't visited BG for quite some time, but when I read the news on my way to work this morning, this was the only place I wanted to visit. I knew everyone would have fond remembrances. So much has changed for me over the past two years, but listening to the old shows always got me through.

RIP AB

[Sean92008]

Maybe they wanted a slower news day...  All anybody is hearing is the bombing of Syria...

Nah.

They wanted Heather to draw a big audience...

[TheSheriff]

This is such sad news, I always knew this day would come but it still doesn't make it any easier RIP Art, thanks for the ride 

[Bradsmith313]

And a very young wife from another country with whom he had a short relationship before marriage...

Then, he had that Heather Wade character living on his property or something like that...

At one point, he was reported to be worth over 10 million dollars...

Aren't you just the insufferable prick today . . . . .

[flimflam384]

Back in the 90's one of my nighttime hobbies was building/running a MUD (kind of an old text-based predecessor to MMO's like World of Warcraft) and listening to the show as I played, he inspired me to do little 'events' where some grey aliens would land, abduct players, et cetera. I'd reward the players based on their reactions so it wasn't a waste of their game time, and it was a lot of fun. Long night drives were always much more interesting with his voice, his callers, the stories they'd tell...

Nothing has really quite filled that void since.  I've tried Noory, and still try Clyde Lewis off and on... MITD showed promise for a while, but Art needed his life and his family for his last days. Nothing wrong with that.

[Chocolate coated jackboot]

Thanks Art

[Rix Gins]

She posted to her website www.earthfiles.com

Linda must have forgot that there is a young Alexander.

[21st Century Man]

Wasn't expecting this especially with the birth of his boy so recently.  I'm in shock.  He died last night, Right?  Friday the 13th. Hope Airyn and the kids are doing well. Guess we will see what the autopsy report says,

[Lord Grantham]

Just found out via posts from a couple of Facebook friends who I would have never taken for classic Coast to Coast fans.

[ShayP]

Art in his prime was just such a great escape. The usual daily drudgery, politics, petty usual stuff would fill a typical day, but the dark of the night would come and you'd hear the music start and that magnificent voice and the joy ride into another realm was on, baby.

YES!     We could put everything aside, put our attention to something that was different.  Something that entertained and peaked curiosity, so we could just escape into it.  A road trip with Art on the radio was one of my favorite things. 

[KMKMKM]

Such terrible news.  Thanks for the memories, Art.

[AppealPlay]

Whitley Striber's website has a posting with more details:

Art was sleeping at 10:30AM?  Huh.  Maybe he wasn't feeling well.