BellGab.com Archive

I've heard Sparks interviewed by Art Bell and on the Paracast.  His story seems particularly lame to me, and I don't quite get what makes him seem like an interesting guest to others.  There's nothing in his story that makes me willing to suspend disbelief, and he's not whacky enough to enjoy the whack factor in the story.  When I saw Sparks listed as a guest, I really wondered how Art was going to make him interesting.

I tend to agree with the earlier poster who suggested callers ask detailed questions.  It could be interesting to see how Sparks comes up with justifications for his beliefs, if he's actually delusional, or dodges requests for evidence, if he's just fronting.  On the other hand, I feel confident that Art will give us a good show no matter what.

Didn't he just throw in the old intro music as a bumper?

I had heard about the old art bell newsgroup when I was on usenet, wasn't interested.  Many years later had my own experiences with seriously delusional people IRL and elsewhere, and also had the tech to find and download old art bell mp3s.  Then found the shoutcast stream.   Didn't care at all about UFOs which everyone seemed to love; it was just good story telling.  Classic stories like Mel's hole, Lazar, Adair, Lear, the alien in the freezer: did people really think this stuff was for real?  The very idea that they could fascinated me.  Also the stories were just so good.  Between good story telling on the radio (move over PBS!) and happily oblivious transgressions of the boundaries of what seems to be versus what actually is real, Art Bell's Dark Matter is a dream come true.

I saw Art's comeback on Fortean Times or Ghost Theory or some other such site.  Internet listening is ideal for me.  I may even end up paying the 16 dollar per month Sirius subscription fee, if I can find at least one other program that can justify the outlay.

Aliens are extraterrestrials who don't have our DNA, i.e., to be distinguished from extraterrestrials per se.  I LOVE it!

I think Steven King, as someone said, would be a really good guest for Art to interview.  Not so much about writing as the psychological aspects of telling horror stories.

Someone from NIDS - what, if anything, has NIDS been up to?  Or interview Bigelow about his space hotel.

Lately I've been reading about Santeria.  If Art could find someone willing to talk about that religion, I bet that would be interesting.

I'm not too interested in listening to more LMH, Ed Dames, etc. except as nostalgic vignettes.  On the other hand, I seem to be able to listen to Richard C. Hoagland reruns for hours on end, so I'm not sure my opinion's worth anything.