Art Bell Biographies

[Uncle Duke]

I think it's a safe bet we'll see a number of Art Bell biographies over the next few years.  Hopefully a few will be written by competent professionals, not just the woo woo hacks who have been the staple of C2C for so many years.  Someone like Kitty Kelley would certainly produce an interesting bio, or at least one that might finally explain some of the darker aspects of Bell's life.

[DanTSX]

I think it's a safe bet we'll see a number of Art Bell biographies over the next few years.  Hopefully a few will be written by competent professionals, not just the woo woo hacks who have been the staple of C2C for so many years.  Someone like Kitty Kelley would certainly produce an interesting bio, or at least one that might finally explain some of the darker aspects of Bell's life.

I’m sure Bill Burns has already started the first dollar store bound edition.  Hopefully he includes some of Art’s favorite recipies like scotch and cigarette smoke, pizza punch sauce, Ayrereyenes baked potato, cigararettes and coffee, and oxygen tank and nicorettet.

[SredniVashtar]

I think we might be overstating his importance in the wider world. I can't think of anyone who equalled him in his field, but there is a generation now who haven't heard of him, and another one who have probably forgotten him. Radio is pretty ephemeral and I don't see a big market for reading about people in the industry, outside of a few heavy hitters.

[HorrorReporter]

I honestly had a plan to write a book about him.. I needed some assistance on the formative years but had everything necessary to compile the previous 30. I just needed to score the ultimate interview: Him.
....Dreams.

[Uncle Duke]

I think we might be overstating his importance in the wider world. I can't think of anyone who equalled him in his field, but there is a generation now who haven't heard of him, and another one who have probably forgotten him. Radio is pretty ephemeral and I don't see a big market for reading about people in the industry, outside of a few heavy hitters.

I'm not confusing him with Napoleon or Churchill where biographies are concerned, but there will be a fair number of them written about Bell.  May be a niche market, but how many books have been written about Roswell?  In any event, I do hope at least one Bell bio tells his story, warts and all.  Will take some digging, and the willingness of friends/associates to be brutally honest,  but would make for a fascinating read.

[DanTSX]

Was Art of Talk not sufficient?

[Uncle Duke]

Was Art of Talk not sufficient?

That was an autobiography written over twenty years ago, and released even before his first retirement. Lots has happened since 1998.

[DanTSX]

I'm not confusing him with Napoleon or Churchill where biographies are concerned, but there will be a fair number of them written about Bell.  May be a niche market, but how many books have been written about Roswell?  In any event, I do hope at least one Bell bio tells his story, warts and all.  Will take some digging, and the willingness of friends/associates to be brutally honest,  but would make for a fascinating read.

I think that his death (and immediate aftermath)  is going to become a Cohen brothers film.


Even if it doesn’t, I’m willing to write the screenplay to portray it as such.

[Dr. MD MD]

I think that his death (and immediate aftermath)  is going to become a Cohen brothers film.


Even if it doesn’t, I’m willing to write the screenplay to portray it as such.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXojME_NC0U

[Hells Mole]

The press never got Art Bell or Coast to Coast right in my opinion.  They called him a conspiracy theorist, which I don't agree with, and they made C2C sound like it was all paranormal ridiculousness all the time.  Art Bell was an entertaining radio personality.  It was more just an open forum where people could talk about whatever.  A lot of times
the news was ahead of the more mainstream stuff.  Art wasn't a whack job, he clearly did not believe everything the guests or callers said.  Pretty skeptical really, but had an incredible talent for hosting a conversation and making it interesting.  We saw Art change his attitudes and opinions on various subjects over the years, sometimes due to compelling guests, sometimes due to claimed personal experiences, but he didn't have some kind of credo or manifesto he preached like Bill C or Alex J.

Mostly he was just an old school guy like all the guys I first met when I got into the BBS world in the early 80's.  A "hobbyist".   I never liked how the media portrayed him and his show as if he took it so much more serious and so much more looney than he did.  There were those people but they were guests and callers.

I hope any biographies anyone makes can really "get" it.  I have not a lot of faith since even all the mainstream reports of his passing are filled with all kinds of misconceptions, errors and falsehoods just like the good old days.

[grano salis]

The press never got Art Bell or Coast to Coast right in my opinion.  They called him a conspiracy theorist, which I don't agree with, and they made C2C sound like it was all paranormal ridiculousness all the time.  Art Bell was an entertaining radio personality.  It was more just an open forum where people could talk about whatever.  A lot of times
the news was ahead of the more mainstream stuff.  Art wasn't a whack job, he clearly did not believe everything the guests or callers said.  Pretty skeptical really, but had an incredible talent for hosting a conversation and making it interesting.  We saw Art change his attitudes and opinions on various subjects over the years, sometimes due to compelling guests, sometimes due to claimed personal experiences, but he didn't have some kind of credo or manifesto he preached like Bill C or Alex J.

Mostly he was just an old school guy like all the guys I first met when I got into the BBS world in the early 80's.  A "hobbyist".   I never liked how the media portrayed him and his show as if he took it so much more serious and so much more looney than he did.  There were those people but they were guests and callers.

I hope any biographies anyone makes can really "get" it.  I have not a lot of faith since even all the mainstream reports of his passing are filled with all kinds of misconceptions, errors and falsehoods just like the good old days.

You and Duke are on to something.  Aldous and the General talked about Art's aloof and mysterious side on MVs Podcast last night.  We don't know much about Art's parents...brothers and sisters?  His Vietnam War experience, the "Madame Butterfly" abandoned family in Okinawa.   John Lear as the catalyst of the paranormal shows of the late 80s and early 90s--their eventual "falling out".  The current media doesn't know how to handle his legacy--indicating that he had some influence on conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones.  there are millions who know better.  Art had his flaws for sure, but it makes him more, not less interesting.

[Hells Mole]

You and Duke are on to something.  Aldous and the General talked about Art's aloof and mysterious side on MVs Podcast last night.  We don't know much about Art's parents...brothers and sisters?  His Vietnam War experience, the "Madame Butterfly" abandoned family in Okinawa.   John Lear as the catalyst of the paranormal shows of the late 80s and early 90s--their eventual "falling out".  The current media doesn't know how to handle his legacy--indicating that he had some influence on conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones.  there are millions who know better.  Art had his flaws for sure, but it makes him more, not less interesting.

The media doesn't know how to handle his legacy because they never knew how to handle the phenomenon that he championed.  At the point that his renown and influence became impossible to ignore they predominantly referenced him mockingly.  He must have been some kind of threat to something or someone because there was eventually a very real attempt to destroy him over the Hale-Bopp nonsense.

Big media does not like an independent thinker nor any venue that provides an alternate perspective of the world's reality so it's no surprise that they only begrudgingly covered Art's Coast to Coast, and when doing so did it with
a condescending smirk.

Conflating Art Bell with Alex Jones is clearly meant to besmirch Art and his legacy, so clearly even his archival material is still regarded as a threat to someone or something.

[grano salis]

The media doesn't know how to handle his legacy because they never knew how to handle the phenomenon that he championed.  At the point that his renown and influence became impossible to ignore they predominantly referenced him mockingly.  He must have been some kind of threat to something or someone because there was eventually a very real attempt to destroy him over the Hale-Bopp nonsense.

Big media does not like an independent thinker nor any venue that provides an alternate perspective of the world's reality so it's no surprise that they only begrudgingly covered Art's Coast to Coast, and when doing so did it with
a condescending smirk.

Conflating Art Bell with Alex Jones is clearly meant to besmirch Art and his legacy, so clearly even his archival material is still regarded as a threat to someone or something.

So when are you and Duke going to get started?

[Kolchak]

I think we might be overstating his importance in the wider world.

My roommate is an Art fan. We're both in the film industry. After the death announcement, he suggested that a lot of biographies would be coming out, and I shared your sentiment. I'm 28 years old, and whenever I mention Art Bell none of my peers have any clue what I'm talking about. I think the public has largely forgotten.

But, as a screenwriter, I did pitch him a logline about a paranormal radio producer in the vein of Art who gets in over his head - who is thrust into a real paranormal situation he's not fully equipped to deal with. He liked it, so I may write it. We'll see.

[albrecht]

My roommate is an Art fan. We're both in the film industry. After the death announcement, he suggested that a lot of biographies would be coming out, and I shared your sentiment. I'm 28 years old, and whenever I mention Art Bell none of my peers have any clue what I'm talking about. I think the public has largely forgotten.

But, as a screenwriter, I did pitch him a logline about a paranormal radio producer in the vein of Art who gets in over his head - who is thrust into a real paranormal situation he's not fully equipped to deal with. He liked it, so I may write it. We'll see.

Depending on story, hype, marketing, who is doing it, etc old stories/people can, suddenly, become popular. For that reason. Lots of cold case and history suddenly becomes 'trendy' so you never know.
ps: Iiked Bill and like Alex (because hometown boy goes big and I think his leveraging of 'free' platforms for money was prescient regardless of views) but Art never liked them, in fact there was sorta feud (albeit mostly two-sided) between them. Obits that claim links of support or collaboration are totally "fake news" and a shame.

[Kolchak]

Believe me, If I write a film with a character based on Art (short or feature), Bellgab will be the first to hear about it.

[GravitySucks]

Believe me, If I write a film with a character based on Art (short or feature), Bellgab will be the first to hear about it.

You best get Lonevoice’s approval on any early drafts.

[Kolchak]

I do have a horror-comedy feature script that's been finished for a few years now. We're actively trying to raise funds for it.

I included several references to Art in context to the plot. The game plan was to have Art record segments to be played in the background of scenes as if he was still broadcasting in the universe of the film. That will never happen now.

[Rix Gins]

Believe me, If I write a film with a character based on Art (short or feature), Bellgab will be the first to hear about it.

Write a number of BellGabers into the story and then slowly kill them all off, until only Art remains.

[Kolchak]

See, it would never be ART. You can't write Art.

There was a movie a few years ago called "The Banshee Chapter" that had a character somewhat inspired by Art. You could tell.

If this hypothetical comes to fruition (we have a few short films down the pike first), I can't not include an allusion to Bellgab.

[Rix Gins]

See, it would never be ART. You can't write Art.

There was a movie a few years ago called "The Banshee Chapter" that had a character somewhat inspired by Art. You could tell.

If this hypothetical comes to fruition (we have a few short films down the pike first), I can't not include an allusion to Bellgab.

I see what you mean.  I guess Art Bellfountain wouldn't fly.

[Kolchak]

By all means, I encourage people to check out The Banshee Chapter. Not a great movie, but perfectly acceptable B-movie fun. Still streaming on Netflix, if I'm not mistaken.