Midnight In The Desert

[Ciardelo]

new show theme song,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyKN8OzzO8s

"Heather In the Hole"

[K_Dubb]

Listening for the second day to the archive.  Not enjoying it.

Paxson: "I'm not trying to make it complicated, I'm trying to make it simple."
HW: "Mmm and then some believe it is a God-ess, so there is that."

This is a Noory-esque level of bad engagement.  She swings and misses way too much to make the listen worth bumping my Audible subscription, or not resuming my other favorite podcasts.  The seductive affectation with upswung-lilt to her voice is just annoying as hell.

I want to like her, and I want to say nice things on the forum and feel a nice bond with my fellow Bellgabbers, but I honestly can't.  Heather does have moments of promise, and I hope she is able to grow these into something fantastic, but I'm not optimistic.

I hear a downswing -- starts high, ends low. 

Trying to be fair myself.  The goddess thing made me groan (nobody cares) but I remind myself Art has his hobby-horses too, I just got used to them.

That guy, if you can get past the fact that he sounds like a tired dried-up prune, shoots off one crazy firework after another.  Felt like they were fighting a little for control but when he was on with Art I thought the same thing.  He's a prickly old loon; would love to meet him at a bar.

Keep cranking them out like that and I will be satisfied.

[K_Dubb]

Plus, and for the love of God somebody please tell me… Wasn't this dumbass on the show like three or four weeks ago?

Yes but I was drunk so I don't mind

[ZomZom]

Plus, and for the love of God somebody please tell me… Wasn't this dumbass on the show like three or four weeks ago?

According to the Guests By Date page he was on 11/05.

[VtaGeezer]

Heather does have moments of promise, and I hope she is able to grow these into something fantastic, but I'm not optimistic.

How on earth can anyone expect a neophyte to slide into Art Bell's chair?  In previous quittings/retirements/sabbaticals, Art was replaced with a seasoned radio host, e.g. Hilly Rose, Rollye James.  Heather has some talent, but MITD as a first job behind the mic is simply a bridge to far. 

[paladin1991]

and...
you have proven yourself to be a dick
(is that your way of saying we belong together ?)

That's the best you got, huh? 

[VtaGeezer]

Wasn't this dumbass on the show like three or four weeks ago?

Yeah, he was, but Art kept him pretty close to the past life regression subject.  When I turned on MITD last night, he was so far into the New Age spiritualism weeds that I thought HW had changed guests. 

[Auslandia]

At about 43:45  it sounds like you got a fucking drive through window or something LOL

[SixWeekTenure(tm)]

I didn't listen live, but recorded it like with every MITD thus far, and I'm struggling to get through the severe vocal fry, upward inflection, and usually low energy that Heather has, coupled with the technical issues that continue. She's awkward on air, quite stilted, and the dull guest didn't help matters at all. Some of her comments suggest that she is grasping at anything to open the show, because she's unwilling to talk about herself, like the republican debate mention only to quickly admit that she doesn't follow politics (something we already knew after the test show when she was stumped by the Bush question) along with the San Francisco baseball bat story that should be left to the awful news segments. Her responses to Paxson are Noory-esque with the incessant huhs and wows, and ohs to keep the conversation going whenever there is a brief pause. There are enough mhms being thrown around while the guest is in the middle of answering a question to rival Richard C. Hoagland. I had to stop about ten minutes into the second hour, after the embarrassing John Lear reference that Paxson knew nothing about, and likely won't listen again until a booking is of interest. It frees up some time for another podcast, at least.

[TheSheriff]

Why is this thread even here and why did I just bump it agin by commenting?  It's because I must be gay.  Yes I'm gay and I like balls.

Those are my EXACT thoughts on the Falkie thread...

[onan]

Those are my EXACT thoughts on the Falkie thread...

Guilty, as charged.

[VtaGeezer]

...and likely won't listen again until a booking is of interest.

Good luck with that; they were rare while Art v5.0 was still in the chair.  I'm afraid MITD Hour 1 is going to be filler while I wait in hope for a decent topic on C2C in the following hour later.

[Corona Kitty]

"The Wind No Longer Blows, in the End it was Without Direction.''

- art bell

[waves]

I didn't listen live, but recorded it like with every MITD thus far, and I'm struggling to get through the severe vocal fry, upward inflection, and usually low energy that Heather has, coupled with the technical issues that continue. She's awkward on air, quite stilted, and the dull guest didn't help matters at all. Some of her comments suggest that she is grasping at anything to open the show, because she's unwilling to talk about herself, like the republican debate mention only to quickly admit that she doesn't follow politics (something we already knew after the test show when she was stumped by the Bush question) along with the San Francisco baseball bat story that should be left to the awful news segments. Her responses to Paxson are Noory-esque with the incessant huhs and wows, and ohs to keep the conversation going whenever there is a brief pause. There are enough mhms being thrown around while the guest is in the middle of answering a question to rival Richard C. Hoagland. I had to stop about ten minutes into the second hour, after the embarrassing John Lear reference that Paxson knew nothing about, and likely won't listen again until a booking is of interest. It frees up some time for another podcast, at least.

Thank you for some grounded observations, not emotionally driven blind defense of her.  You are absolutely right on all counts.  I don't get the excuse making and defiant ignoring of the obvious about her from people who are here in the first place from being so disgusted with the hopeless affectations and habitualness that Noory's 'mind' won't ever see and fix.

Even without prior on air experience, the annoying habits you listed are things anyone with real AWARENESS and talent gets on day one from having picked up on them and has the intelligence to catch themselves on the fly - it's not like all newbies arrive doing all these stupid things.  Therefore she's not going to 'quick' learn and erase these habits because it's the way her mind works, she still totally oblivious to a very long list of bad habits, and it's a very long process to self-analyze and reprogram deeply ingrained thinking/speaking habits.

The truth is also that there's a reason no mainstream successful talk show interviewer has ever had this much of an annoying backwoods drawl. 

It was a very, very bad mistake to put such a flawed amateur without even a mainstream potential/listenable radio voice in the still glaring spotlight of a star as the hope of saving network that so much work has gone into.  I don't get it.

To slightly change subject.... but was there an agenda all along?? I smelled a rat day one when Art thrust such an inept unknown into the spotlight out of the blue as his peer.  I'm not convinced there wasn't an unspoken agenda right off the bat that just got delayed because of the intense WTF backlash.

[trostol]

Why is this thread even here and why did I just bump it agin by commenting?  It's because I must be gay.  Yes I'm gay and I like balls.

lol post of the day so far!!!!!

[Rix Gins]

A fart?

[Philosopher]

She mispronounced a technical term.  Can we talk about it here or start a new thread?

There is a lot of mispronouncing.  That's why I suggested that she is not ready. 

[trostol]

I didn't listen live, but recorded it like with every MITD thus far, and I'm struggling to get through the severe vocal fry, upward inflection, and usually low energy that Heather has, coupled with the technical issues that continue. She's awkward on air, quite stilted, and the dull guest didn't help matters at all. Some of her comments suggest that she is grasping at anything to open the show, because she's unwilling to talk about herself, like the republican debate mention only to quickly admit that she doesn't follow politics (something we already knew after the test show when she was stumped by the Bush question) along with the San Francisco baseball bat story that should be left to the awful news segments. Her responses to Paxson are Noory-esque with the incessant huhs and wows, and ohs to keep the conversation going whenever there is a brief pause. There are enough mhms being thrown around while the guest is in the middle of answering a question to rival Richard C. Hoagland. I had to stop about ten minutes into the second hour, after the embarrassing John Lear reference that Paxson knew nothing about, and likely won't listen again until a booking is of interest. It frees up some time for another podcast, at least.

not sure its low energy..friday night i said she has a very laid back sound like Lisa Garr..maybe trying to make it sound too much like a conversation instead of an interview..difference with Heather and Lisa Garr is..Garr also sounds stoned out of her gourd

[ShayP]

Maybe the third time's the charm for this guy, being he was canceled the first two times due to Art's stalker.

Tonight's guest:

Wed Dec 16 â€" Alexandre Tannous â€" The Power of Sound on Consciousness
POSTED ON DECEMBER 16, 2015 IN GUESTS | 3374 VIEWS | LEAVE A RESPONSE
Website: SoundMeditation.com

Alexandre Tannous is as an ethnomusicologist, sound therapist and sound researcher. He has been investigating the therapeutic and esoteric properties of sound from three different perspectives â€" Western scientific, Eastern philosophical, and shamanic societal beliefs â€" to gain a deeper understanding of how, and to what extent, sound has been used to affect human consciousness. This search has led him to the intersection where art, science and spirituality meet: the wonders of sound!

His ethnomusicological approach entails a social scientific study of sound use in several traditional contextsâ€"religious, spiritual, holistic, and culturalâ€"for various purposes and occasions in entertainment, worship, meditation, and rituals of trance. Consequently, his approach in researching, understanding, experiencing, transmitting, and working with sound has always been a multidisciplinary one to get to the truth of how everything we hear affects our consciousness.

[skidder]

I think she has been put in an invidious position and is doing OK for a rank amateur.  She gave the time traveller tit too much credit though.

[Philosopher]

I think she has been put in an invidious position and is doing OK for a rank amateur.  She gave the time traveller tit too much credit though.

A "time travelling tit"?  Sounds like a lost Dr. Who episode.

[VENUS FIREBALL XL5]

Oh she does not suck ...  I really enjoy her vibe...I believe she has great wit, style, & and very talented...

[Inglorious Bitch]

A "time travelling tit"?  Sounds like a lost Dr. Who episode.

Or the name of a porn movie.

[whytide]

vocal fry

There are a lot of very sharp people on this forum. Anyone have an answer or theory on why this "vocal fry" has become common among women? It bothers me, too.

[Juan Cena]

Good luck with that; they were rare while Art v5.0 was still in the chair.  I'm afraid MITD Hour 1 is going to be filler while I wait in hope for a decent topic on C2C in the following hour later.

Well if Heather would just try to get some of the guests I suggested to her, she'd do okay.

[ItsOver]

There are a lot of very sharp people on this forum. Anyone have an answer or theory on why this "vocal fry" has become common among women? It bothers me, too.

I found these statements from the referenced NYT article interesting. 

"Starting in America with the Valley Girls of the 1980s (after immigrating from Australia, evidently), uptalk became common among young women across the country by the 1990s."

"Vocal fry, also known as creaky voice, has a long history with English speakers. Dr. Crystal, the British linguist, cited it as far back as 1964 as a way for British men to denote their superior social standing."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/science/young-women-often-trendsetters-in-vocal-patterns.html?_r=0

[ItsOver]

Three problems this show will have with booking

First the show is late at night.

Second Heather is an unknown.

Third when a guest gets invited on the show the first thing they do is Google the show where they find



and see guests being absolutely destroyed and all that SEO going all over Google. These are fringe people trying to make a buck. A couple pages on Google devoted to how much a guest sucks because people are mad right now on the various boards out there would be discouraging to those who take their business seriously.

So I would be dismayed by bookings for the next few weeks. It's a really lousy situation.

With the current situation, Noory must look like an attractive option for the typical MITD guest.  Ack.

[Auslandia]

There are a lot of very sharp people on this forum. Anyone have an answer or theory on why this "vocal fry" has become common among women? It bothers me, too.

I'm gonna have to agree here. At first I honestly thought she was sort of taking on Art's persona. if you listen closely some of her inflection is similar to what he does. But it doesn't sound as good because her voice isn't as rich as his and she can't get away with the borderline cheesy reactions to things like he can because… Well he is Art lol.  And the mmmhmmms  well the guest is talking is sort of irritating

So now that I've typed all that it really doesn't matter. I mean let's be honest nobody here is going to be excited about anybody but art. That's the whole reason we are here. It's not fair to Heather to make that comparison.  All the criticism could be boiled down to… "Maybe if you could just stop being yourself and transform into Art we would like you better."  And that is a fucking ridiculous request to make. I hate that she has been put into this position because it's really not fair and in the long run will probably be more detrimental to her career on the air if she wants one as well as her psyche from all of the criticism. 

[K_Dubb]

There are a lot of very sharp people on this forum. Anyone have an answer or theory on why this "vocal fry" has become common among women? It bothers me, too.

Well the simple answer is that they're emulating people they admire.

If I had to guess at a linguistic one, I'd say it's a versatile tool that can convey a whole range of tones from boredom to disdain to pathos.  Maybe its roots are in the dramatic ennui affected by heroin culture.

In terms of modern linguistic trends it's infinitely preferable to the Oprah-bellow which never fails to set my teeth on edge.

I never really picked up on any vocal fry with Heather, just Amy, and she's toned it down a lot.  If Heather's given enough time and she gets comfortable her delivery will smooth out, or we'll get used to it.  Not a big deal.

[Auslandia]

 Now that I'm listening a little more closely I think I'm actually right… Yes I'm patting myself on the back LOL .

She sort of imitating Art. I don't think it's on purpose but perhaps it's the only reference point she has subconsciously. Listen to the way she segues commercial breaks or some of the way she sets up her questions… It's very Art. When the guest says something that she's particularly surprised about she says "oh "just like Art does. 

I think this is what is irritating people.