Art Bell

[GravitySucks]

It's was just as bad when she got the exclusive interview with him and everybody loved her for it.
<opinion>

FIFY

[munbeam666]

aldous--

I can appreciate you wanting to defend your friend.  Personally I found the posts about an inappropriate relationship between Art and Heather offensive, and as such I refused to comment on or perpetuate that line of discussion.   Further, I said from day one I thought "something" had happened that first night when Art interrupted his interview due to what became know as the "stalker".   The problem is the whole thing evolved into something of a three ring circus, with the bulk of the responsibility, at least to my mind, resting squarely on Art's shoulders.  He certainly did himself (and eventually Heather) no favors with his actions, the drama he has thrived on over his career came back to bite him in the ass.  Some of the posts here were over the top, but I think the bulk of them were honest comments by some very bright people.

Nobody asked, but I truly believe Art wanted out of this show.  The guests were abysmal, he constantly carped about sound quality, there were frequent streaming issues, and apparently he was getting grief on the domestic front.  He wanted a way out, he found/created that out, and the rest is history.  As for Heather, I wish her well.  I've never said a bad word about her, nor will I as I think she's working hard to make the best of a bad situation.

I agree with most of what you say, except I tend to believe the stalker story; it may have been used as an excuse to quit.

[shell88]

OOOps - the rubber room.

[malachi.martini]

I tend not to totally trust the judgement of someone who appears to spend a good part of his time shitfaced on mind-altering substances.

http://youtu.be/e3uOMCfopR8

[Inglorious Bitch]

Let's assume everything Art said was a lie. We have no show with Art.

Let's assume everything Art said was true. We still have no show with Art.

Let's assume, like almost all of us, some truth, some not quite true, and some not true at all. We still have no show with Art.

You are correct in your pragmatic assessment that regardless of what happened or how it happened, the net result is no Art. However, like with so many other things in life, this is a nuanced issue. It is like the difference between manslaughter and murder. Either way, there is still a corpse, but intent is what will determine the sentence from a judge.

The issue is not so much THAT Art left, but HOW he left. He gave his fans what seems to be a flimsy excuse for leaving when he seemingly had other options to exhaust before exiting stage left. I think that his fans would have given him a pass except that he already had "priors" as it were. Not only were there other quittenings, but even in his latest incarnation as MITD, he was already making noises about "announcements on Monday that some won't like" and that if he ever left again it would be to "spend more time with the family". Really? Because the 24 hours a day that he spends with his wife, who doesn't work outside the home is not enough? Presumably at 9pm his time, when he took the mic, both the daughter and wife went to bed so that they could be up early for the daughter's school the next morning. As soon as Art would wake up, there would be his wife. As soon as his daughter got home from school around 3-3:30, she would be greeted by dad. I wish I had seen my father that much growing up, but he worked a 40 hour workweek and sometimes more if he worked overtime. The only way that Art could have spent more time with his family is if he had watched them sleep.

If he wanted to retire again, that's fine. It would have been a major disappointment to us all, but if he had been man enough to make the announcement, then the blowback would have been considerably less. Instead he gives what seems to be simply excuses, which frankly is a slap in the face to many of his fans. I don't know about others, but I certainly don't like my intelligence insulted. Just be honest with people and things go better. Game playing never ends well. The veiled threats at MV, the snide remarks about this site on his FB page, the continuing to control things behind the scenes even though he refuses to come back, and the many other dick moves that he continues to pull are further gasoline on the conflagration which burns his reputation and goodwill more and more each day. He has made himself a joke in the industry and has squandered much of the goodwill his fans once had towards him. Just like many on this site say that Art does not owe us anything, his fans also do not owe him anything either. A fact that is lost on him. Without a fanbase, you are a non entity and Art has done nothing if not piss all over his, then wonder why they are upset.

Too many people gave Art the benefit of the doubt, had faith in him and worked for 2 years for his comeback. All for what? A fistful of nothing? To be frank, I think most of us were expecting him to quit within 3 months. But we kept holding our breath and thinking happy thoughts. If anyone said anything about his quitting again, that person would be shouted down by his other fans. It was almost as if no one said the word "quit", it would not occur to him to do so again.

As far as Heather, she seems like a lovely person, but what angers a lot of his fans is that Art put someone in the seat who seemingly had no experience in radio, when there were SO many other seasoned hosts already with shows on the Darkmatterdigitalnetwork. I understand that those behind the scenes who know Heather IRL bluster when anyone takes a shot at her, as they should. I don't like hearing my friends insulted, either. However, only a handful of people know her. That's part of the problem. To the other thousands, if not millions of Art listeners and fans, she is just a disembodied voice. A disembodied voice with no experience who did not put in her dues like everyone else in the radio industry. And people are giving her the metaphorical stank eye because of it.

Maybe Art thought that he was doing her a favor, but all he did was hand her over to the wolves and he continues to hide behind her as she gets more and more vitriol hurled her way. When DMDN goes under, who will hire her? Maybe if she hadn't been baptized in fire, she would have had the same shot that others in radio/podcasting have. But now, she is associated with the whole Art Bell debacle and that diminishes her stock in the eyes of many. The good news is, since no one knows anything about her, she could resurface as Mary Jones next week somewhere else and no one would be none the wiser.

To be impartial, think of your workplace. Now think of how long you have been there and how hard you work. Now imagine that there is a new hire with no experience in the field who is hired and becomes your supervisor. Would that bother you, or would you think that's alright, she must be a nice person and therefore deserves the promotion? That's how a lot of people are looking at her. To be fair, she gets less abuse here than at other forums because she is from this forum, and very few here have said anything truly negative about her, lest they be torn limb form limb by the whiteknights. I know that there was a 4chan invasion recently, but I don't think many took those posters seriously because of their obvious agenda. I have yet to see any of the old guard here really say anything truly bad about her. People are entitled to their opinion of how she does on her/Art's show.

As far as the intimations of improper interactions between her and Art, that is how it seems to many people who wonder how she could have gotten her gig so easily when she just met him and has no experience. I would like to think that she and Art are above this type of behavior. For that matter, I would like to think that all people on the planet are above that type of behavior. But we don't live in a perfect world, and people will always speculate and gossip when things seem hinky and little to no explanations are given that make any sense.

I keep thinking that I am over this, but then someone comes and pulls the scab and the cut reopens. If it is not Art coming out of the woodwork to keep this thread going, then it is someone else "from the inside" who comes to instigate.

[Night Train]

Thanks for the clarity.  Though I am certain that there are those who don't want to see.

Clarity?  LMFAO.

The guy used a bunch of flowery language precisely to disguise his lack of clarity. 

But one thing's clear to anyone who's not brain dead - dude had the hots for Redacted/Heather.  He invited her to meet IRL, certain he was gonna get some.  But after she saw him in person, Heather made it quite clear she wasn't interested in having sex with him.  So he decided to make a virtue of necessity, and had an epiphany that because Heather is such an angel, celibacy with her is ten thousand times better than being in a sexual relationship with her.

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.

"I invited Heather to participate in the reality of my personal and home life."  Yeah, that's some real "clarity", right there. 

No, if he wanted clarity, he would've written it this way.  "I asked Heather to move in with me."

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.

Clarity?  Nope.  Here's the clear version:

I'd just gotten divorced, and I was horny as hell, and so I couldn't wait to shack up with Heather.    But she had zero interest in having sex with me, and said "Let's just be friends."  I agreed, in hopes that one day she would change her mind, and I let her stay despite the fact that she wasn't putting out.

"We've" kept the relationship platonic?  Ha!  No, she kept it platonic.

I say this to state a standard of our behavior together, friends not lovers.

Of course, a platonic relationship wasn't my original intention, but hey, I made the best of it, and decided that since Heather is such a saint, I actually liked living in a perpetual state of blue balled bliss.

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.

Correction - she's not someone who was ever vaguely sexually suggestive, inappropriate, or flirtatious with him.  That's because she didn't find him attractive.  If she had, she would've definitely been sexually suggestive and flirtatious, as all women are when they're attracted to a man.  (This part's even more hilarious considering that noble, sainted Heather used to make a living talking dirty to men.)

Honestly, I enjoy getting hit on by the ladies but our friendship IS our destination

Of course, it wasn't the destination I originally had in mind, but here we are, and she's just not into me, so whaddya gonna do?

and we've had an easy time arriving here in spite of all our my natural hormonally instinctive attractions being present and accounted for thank you very much.

So, let me get this straight?  They've both supposedly got the hots for each other, but they refuse to sully such a beautiful friendship by having sex?  Yeah, right.  No, he's got the hots for Heather, but she has zero interest in him.  But he wants to make one thing clear, at least - he can still get it up, "thank you very much."  And she didn't shoot him down, oh, heck no!  They were both feeling "natural hormonally instinctive attractions" for each other, constantly, but they simply made a mutual decision not to have sex in order to keep their relationship on a higher level.  Honest!

Bullshit.  When two people who are both single have  "natural hormonally instinctive attractions" for each other, they have sex.  He was attracted, she wasn't.

I believe that we've each developed a trusting sense of our respective boundaries over time,

Translation: "She always kept her bedroom door locked."

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,

Uh-huh.  Why let sex ruin a beautiful relationship between a man and woman, amirite guys?

however potentially awesome it might/could be.

Right.  "They" made  a "mutual" decision to ignore their "mutual" raging attraction to each other in order to avoid having an "awesome" sexual relationship.  Yeah, that's real believable.  :

That last, pathetic sentence about the awesome sex he thinks he could've had pretty much says it all. Clearly, he wanted Heather.  He wanted her bad.  But she had zero interest in having sex with him.

FIFY, paladin.  There's your clarity.

[Value Of Pi]

Nobody likes to hear affectation in someone's voice, but it's a natural defense mechanism.  Some people have it all the time, but I think for most of us it only comes out strongly when we're uncertain, like when we're speaking to strangers we don't trust.  It's like a shield to keep people at arm's length.

The problem here is, she's been under constant attack from day one.  How is anyone supposed to drop their guard under the hostile conditions she faces every night?  I'd like to hear how she sounds when she's relaxed and enjoying a good conversation with a close friend, because it's probably markedly different than what we're hearing on the air.  But I don't know how that's going to happen while a bunch of assholes are willing to spend an hour dialing into the show just to say "you suck."

I think the affectation is mostly built into her speaking voice and her inflections. I heard her on an old Gabcast, where she seemed more relaxed and conversational, and it was there too. The affectation/phonyness affect increases on MITD, where she's trying to sound like a radio talk show host. Hard or impossible for her to overcome this, IMO.

[Catsmile]

I'll just leave this here:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5LGVCi3tco

[pyewacket]

Wow Night Train- it's that smell-that reality smell... and yes, one day this will all be over...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPXVGQnJm0w

[Value Of Pi]

OK, first of all, you always come across as a good guy, and I am sure you're sincere in what you have written, but you are all over the road here. It's just a prejudice of mine, admittedly, but I tend not to totally trust the judgement of someone who appears to spend a good part of his time shitfaced on mind-altering substances.

Yes, damn those anonymous poop-flinging cowards. They are almost as bad as anonymous radio hosts who get people fired from their jobs. Be careful when you start denouncing faceless online people, because you stray into hypocrisy.

How can the sack be empty if it contains a witless humanoid? It's stuff like this that makes me avoid the peyote breakfast burrito in the mornings.

Charles Manson could boast a similar resume. I have never met anyone who hasn't claimed to be a great judge of character, just like nobody thinks they are a shitty driver. Everyone who says they are a fine judge of character is always wrong. Except for me!

It's early here, but I feel I need a drink after reading this bit. OK, you hung out with some stinky hippies who shake it all over the place, and some frigid types who like to dress up their sexual hangups as some kind of spiritual calling. Which proves what, other than to boast what a seasoned badass you are?

Hang on! Just a minute ago you told us that you had shared spit with some of the worst types of gunge imaginable, the next you are telling us that you are some kind of moral boy scout, who wouldn't be seen dead talking to a person unless they were formally introduced and thoroughly vetted first.

I lasted one day in the Scouts before they threw me out, bad boy! Or I didn't like it and went sobbing to my parents, take your pick. Nobody says 'couth' either. That's like saying you are 'gruntled'. It's either 'disgruntled' or 'uncouth'. If Heather is all you claim her to be then she sounds a crashing bore. I've met Sunday School teachers with more moxie.

That sounds straight out of the plot synopsis for 'When Aldous Met Heather'. I expect it will have the same ending as the other version. OK, she's a seraph, we get it, just ask Bateman. At least you are approaching this in a spirit of total impartiality.

The things we say when fucked up out of our gourd, huh?

I'm glad I didn't write this.

OK, so you're a kind of ethical Jedi who can sniff out impropriety from thousands of miles away. You can tell that no funny business goes on because you are attached like a limpet to her day and night. And nobody ever tells lies where men and women are concerned. Check. I was going to say that you even accompany her to the bathroom, but she's so angelic she probably doesn't need to bother.
Here's a Scrabble question. You have the letters P A H R U M P on your rack, and you try to think of a four letter word that describes a man who effects a similar kind of 'introduction'. Clue: you'll need to find an 'I' somewhere first.

Rubbish. You take on a apprenticeship so that you can learn and get a decent job from the knowledge you learned. There is nothing 'banal' or unpleasantly ambitious about that, just smart. Otherwise what's the bloody point? The trouble is, this 'apprenticeship' wasn't done in a very clever way. Instead of finding her a place to acquire skills and learn from her mistakes, he dumps her straight into a job that she is unqualified for and, frankly, not very good at. Are you going to hire an electrician to do a job who never learned in a proper, structured way, but expects to learn as he goes? 'Oh yes, this guy is getting better by the day, he only burned down three houses last week, so just give him a chance!' Bollocks.

I'm not Force-sensitive like you, so I can't tell much about someone by rubbing palms together. I guess you're right. They used to say the same shit about Jimmy Saville, and what did those idiots know?

Let's not forget that this 'hurtful cyber slander' is being directed at a ghost. We know nothing about her, other than that she's not awfully good on the air. It's on the same level as accusing me of molesting guinea pigs: it may be true (they are such sluts sometimes), but my RL reputation will not be affected, and neither will Heather's. It's interesting that most of Heather's support comes from men; women have another view, and your rather dewy-eyed advocacy doesn't really add much here, because you all come across as too besotted to have a valid opinion. Why don't you compare notes with Bateman to see if you still have this unspotted opinion of her?

Nobody can say what's going on, I imagine, and it's hardly likely to be something that one would boast about to someone anyway, would it? But, most people who weren't born yesterday tend to look at situations like this and draw conclusions. It may be horrendously unjust, but a lot of the blame rests on them for handling the situation so badly.

My goodness, you are in fine form today. Many revealing insights and much amusing commentary. My favorite line and nomination for top right corner: "Charles Manson could boast a similar resume."

[Value Of Pi]

It is commendable of you to speak out on behalf of  your friend.  You must realize that many of us do not know these people as do you.  Please realize, also, that a person can be different things to different people. 

I don't care whether or not Heather and Art have an amorous relationship.  I have worked for too many major corporations in which that seemed to be the best way for a woman to get ahead and many took advantage of it.  They were all 'nice' girls, too - just wanting to get ahead.

I have also worked with a guy who was among the most personable and knowledgeable that you'd want to meet, but I knew him well enough not to trust him around my hypothetical children. 

People who 'play the game' the most successfully are those who most would least suspect. 

What Art and Heather have going for them is their own business.  My main thing, which I share with others here, is that I would be happy if Art were getting therapy to try to understand this peculiar pattern he has of committing and then quitting.

On the subject of "nice girls" just trying to get ahead (I resist having fun with a wordplay there), I've observed this as well, and the most critical group is always other women who don't believe in getting ahead in that way.

Sredni made the observation that Heather's supporters tend to be men, and her critics women. This proves nothing about her actual behavior or what's really going on, however women do have better instincts than men on this subject.

[Value Of Pi]

You are correct in your pragmatic assessment that regardless of what happened or how it happened, the net result is no Art. However, like with so many other things in life, this is a nuanced issue. It is like the difference between manslaughter and murder. Either way, there is still a corpse, but intent is what will determine the sentence from a judge.

The issue is not so much THAT Art left, but HOW he left. He gave his fans what seems to be a flimsy excuse for leaving when he seemingly had other options to exhaust before exiting stage left. I think that his fans would have given him a pass except that he already had "priors" as it were. Not only were there other quittenings, but even in his latest incarnation as MITD, he was already making noises about "announcements on Monday that some won't like" and that if he ever left again it would be to "spend more time with the family". Really? Because the 24 hours a day that he spends with his wife, who doesn't work outside the home is not enough? Presumably at 9pm his time, when he took the mic, both the daughter and wife went to bed so that they could be up early for the daughter's school the next morning. As soon as Art would wake up, there would be his wife. As soon as his daughter got home from school around 3-3:30, she would be greeted by dad. I wish I had seen my father that much growing up, but he worked a 40 hour workweek and sometimes more if he worked overtime. The only way that Art could have spent more time with his family is if he had watched them sleep.

If he wanted to retire again, that's fine. It would have been a major disappointment to us all, but if he had been man enough to make the announcement, then the blowback would have been considerably less. Instead he gives what seems to be simply excuses, which frankly is a slap in the face to many of his fans. I don't know about others, but I certainly don't like my intelligence insulted. Just be honest with people and things go better. Game playing never ends well. The veiled threats at MV, the snide remarks about this site on his FB page, the continuing to control things behind the scenes even though he refuses to come back, and the many other dick moves that he continues to pull are further gasoline on the conflagration which burns his reputation and goodwill more and more each day. He has made himself a joke in the industry and has squandered much of the goodwill his fans once had towards him. Just like many on this site say that Art does not owe us anything, his fans also do not owe him anything either. A fact that is lost on him. Without a fanbase, you are a non entity and Art has done nothing if not piss all over his, then wonder why they are upset.

Too many people gave Art the benefit of the doubt, had faith in him and worked for 2 years for his comeback. All for what? A fistful of nothing? To be frank, I think most of us were expecting him to quit within 3 months. But we kept holding our breath and thinking happy thoughts. If anyone said anything about his quitting again, that person would be shouted down by his other fans. It was almost as if no one said the word "quit", it would not occur to him to do so again.

As far as Heather, she seems like a lovely person, but what angers a lot of his fans is that Art put someone in the seat who seemingly had no experience in radio, when there were SO many other seasoned hosts already with shows on the Darkmatterdigitalnetwork. I understand that those behind the scenes who know Heather IRL bluster when anyone takes a shot at her, as they should. I don't like hearing my friends insulted, either. However, only a handful of people know her. That's part of the problem. To the other thousands, if not millions of Art listeners and fans, she is just a disembodied voice. A disembodied voice with no experience who did not put in her dues like everyone else in the radio industry. And people are giving her the metaphorical stank eye because of it.

Maybe Art thought that he was doing her a favor, but all he did was hand her over to the wolves and he continues to hide behind her as she gets more and more vitriol hurled her way. When DMDN goes under, who will hire her? Maybe if she hadn't been baptized in fire, she would have had the same shot that others in radio/podcasting have. But now, she is associated with the whole Art Bell debacle and that diminishes her stock in the eyes of many. The good news is, since no one knows anything about her, she could resurface as Mary Jones next week somewhere else and no one would be none the wiser.

To be impartial, think of your workplace. Now think of how long you have been there and how hard you work. Now imagine that there is a new hire with no experience in the field who is hired and becomes your supervisor. Would that bother you, or would you think that's alright, she must be a nice person and therefore deserves the promotion? That's how a lot of people are looking at her. To be fair, she gets less abuse here than at other forums because she is from this forum, and very few here have said anything truly negative about her, lest they be torn limb form limb by the whiteknights. I know that there was a 4chan invasion recently, but I don't think many took those posters seriously because of their obvious agenda. I have yet to see any of the old guard here really say anything truly bad about her. People are entitled to their opinion of how she does on her/Art's show.

As far as the intimations of improper interactions between her and Art, that is how it seems to many people who wonder how she could have gotten her gig so easily when she just met him and has no experience. I would like to think that she and Art are above this type of behavior. For that matter, I would like to think that all people on the planet are above that type of behavior. But we don't live in a perfect world, and people will always speculate and gossip when things seem hinky and little to no explanations are given that make any sense.

I keep thinking that I am over this, but then someone comes and pulls the scab and the cut reopens. If it is not Art coming out of the woodwork to keep this thread going, then it is someone else "from the inside" who comes to instigate.

Good post. In my best Walter Cronkite voice (not very good, I'm afraid), I say: That's the way it is, Sunday, January 24, 2016.

[Value Of Pi]

Clarity?  LMFAO.

The guy used a bunch of flowery language precisely to disguise his lack of clarity. 

But one thing's clear to anyone who's not brain dead - dude had the hots for Redacted/Heather.  He invited her to meet IRL, certain he was gonna get some.  But after she saw him in person, Heather made it quite clear she wasn't interested in having sex with him.  So he decided to make a virtue of necessity, and had an epiphany that because Heather is such an angel, celibacy with her is ten thousand times better than being in a sexual relationship with her.

"I invited Heather to participate in the reality of my personal and home life."  Yeah, that's some real "clarity", right there. 

No, if he wanted clarity, he would've written it this way.  "I asked Heather to move in with me."

Clarity?  Nope.  Here's the clear version:

I'd just gotten divorced, and I was horny as hell, and so I couldn't wait to shack up with Heather.    But she had zero interest in having sex with me, and said "Let's just be friends."  I agreed, in hopes that one day she would change her mind, and I let her stay despite the fact that she wasn't putting out.

"We've" kept the relationship platonic?  Ha!  No, she kept it platonic.


Of course, a platonic relationship wasn't my original intention, but hey, I made the best of it, and decided that since Heather is such a saint, I actually liked living in a perpetual state of blue balled bliss.

Correction - she's not someone who was ever vaguely sexually suggestive, inappropriate, or flirtatious with him.  That's because she didn't find him attractive.  If she had, she would've definitely been sexually suggestive and flirtatious, as all women are when they're attracted to a man.  (This part's even more hilarious considering that noble, sainted Heather used to make a living talking dirty to men.)

Of course, it wasn't the destination I originally had in mind, but here we are, and she's just not into me, so whaddya gonna do?

So, let me get this straight?  They've both supposedly got the hots for each other, but they refuse to sully such a beautiful friendship by having sex?  Yeah, right.  No, he's got the hots for Heather, but she has zero interest in him.  But he wants to make one thing clear, at least - he can still get it up, "thank you very much."  And she didn't shoot him down, oh, heck no!  They were both feeling "natural hormonally instinctive attractions" for each other, constantly, but they simply made a mutual decision not to have sex in order to keep their relationship on a higher level.  Honest!

Bullshit.  When two people who are both single have  "natural hormonally instinctive attractions" for each other, they have sex.  He was attracted, she wasn't.


Translation: "She always kept her bedroom door locked."

Uh-huh.  Why let sex ruin a beautiful relationship between a man and woman, amirite guys?

Right.  "They" made  a "mutual" decision to ignore their "mutual" raging attraction to each other in order to avoid having an "awesome" sexual relationship.  Yeah, that's real believable.  :

That last, pathetic sentence about the awesome sex he thinks he could've had pretty much says it all. Clearly, he wanted Heather.  He wanted her bad.  But she had zero interest in having sex with him.

FIFY, paladin.  There's your clarity.

"When Harry Met Sally" met Night Train.

[GuerrillaUnReal]

Become a huge Art Bell fan.
Spend years being told Art wants to come back and everyone else is substandard.
Be cultured to not accept and piss on any substandard host.
Sit through a disaster of a come back two years ago.
Be told Art can't come back because "contracts"
Wait two years as some new guerrilla network specifically tailored to every desire Art has had as a performer is created.
Spend money to create the network.
Work with other fans to promote and get the network going.
Art gets on the air.
The network starts kicking ass.
Substandard hosts get sent running in a panic like the little bitches they are.
Just as the network is about to take over, all of a sudden Art quits because "someone is trying to kill him."
Get handed a bunch of bullshit stories that don't tie together.
Get some obsessed fan with no experience with a creepy as fuck relationship with Art as the new host.
Watch the whole thing crash into the side of a mountain while people lose their shit publicly.
Be told you're an asshole for noticing reality.
Be told it's your fault as a fan and vague allusions of sexism because of the disaster it all became and the fact the new substandard host is the worst replacement yet.

I think that's about where we're at.
Why you mad?

[Value Of Pi]

Okay, all caught up now. Sorry for all the consecutive posts.

[Freyja]

You are correct in your pragmatic assessment that regardless of what happened or how it happened, the net result is no Art. However, like with so many other things in life, this is a nuanced issue. It is like the difference between manslaughter and murder. Either way, there is still a corpse, but intent is what will determine the sentence from a judge.

The issue is not so much THAT Art left, but HOW he left. He gave his fans what seems to be a flimsy excuse for leaving when he seemingly had other options to exhaust before exiting stage left. I think that his fans would have given him a pass except that he already had "priors" as it were. Not only were there other quittenings, but even in his latest incarnation as MITD, he was already making noises about "announcements on Monday that some won't like" and that if he ever left again it would be to "spend more time with the family". Really? Because the 24 hours a day that he spends with his wife, who doesn't work outside the home is not enough? Presumably at 9pm his time, when he took the mic, both the daughter and wife went to bed so that they could be up early for the daughter's school the next morning. As soon as Art would wake up, there would be his wife. As soon as his daughter got home from school around 3-3:30, she would be greeted by dad. I wish I had seen my father that much growing up, but he worked a 40 hour workweek and sometimes more if he worked overtime. The only way that Art could have spent more time with his family is if he had watched them sleep.

If he wanted to retire again, that's fine. It would have been a major disappointment to us all, but if he had been man enough to make the announcement, then the blowback would have been considerably less. Instead he gives what seems to be simply excuses, which frankly is a slap in the face to many of his fans. I don't know about others, but I certainly don't like my intelligence insulted. Just be honest with people and things go better. Game playing never ends well. The veiled threats at MV, the snide remarks about this site on his FB page, the continuing to control things behind the scenes even though he refuses to come back, and the many other dick moves that he continues to pull are further gasoline on the conflagration which burns his reputation and goodwill more and more each day. He has made himself a joke in the industry and has squandered much of the goodwill his fans once had towards him. Just like many on this site say that Art does not owe us anything, his fans also do not owe him anything either. A fact that is lost on him. Without a fanbase, you are a non entity and Art has done nothing if not piss all over his, then wonder why they are upset.

Too many people gave Art the benefit of the doubt, had faith in him and worked for 2 years for his comeback. All for what? A fistful of nothing? To be frank, I think most of us were expecting him to quit within 3 months. But we kept holding our breath and thinking happy thoughts. If anyone said anything about his quitting again, that person would be shouted down by his other fans. It was almost as if no one said the word "quit", it would not occur to him to do so again.

As far as Heather, she seems like a lovely person, but what angers a lot of his fans is that Art put someone in the seat who seemingly had no experience in radio, when there were SO many other seasoned hosts already with shows on the Darkmatterdigitalnetwork. I understand that those behind the scenes who know Heather IRL bluster when anyone takes a shot at her, as they should. I don't like hearing my friends insulted, either. However, only a handful of people know her. That's part of the problem. To the other thousands, if not millions of Art listeners and fans, she is just a disembodied voice. A disembodied voice with no experience who did not put in her dues like everyone else in the radio industry. And people are giving her the metaphorical stank eye because of it.

Maybe Art thought that he was doing her a favor, but all he did was hand her over to the wolves and he continues to hide behind her as she gets more and more vitriol hurled her way. When DMDN goes under, who will hire her? Maybe if she hadn't been baptized in fire, she would have had the same shot that others in radio/podcasting have. But now, she is associated with the whole Art Bell debacle and that diminishes her stock in the eyes of many. The good news is, since no one knows anything about her, she could resurface as Mary Jones next week somewhere else and no one would be none the wiser.

To be impartial, think of your workplace. Now think of how long you have been there and how hard you work. Now imagine that there is a new hire with no experience in the field who is hired and becomes your supervisor. Would that bother you, or would you think that's alright, she must be a nice person and therefore deserves the promotion? That's how a lot of people are looking at her. To be fair, she gets less abuse here than at other forums because she is from this forum, and very few here have said anything truly negative about her, lest they be torn limb form limb by the whiteknights. I know that there was a 4chan invasion recently, but I don't think many took those posters seriously because of their obvious agenda. I have yet to see any of the old guard here really say anything truly bad about her. People are entitled to their opinion of how she does on her/Art's show.

As far as the intimations of improper interactions between her and Art, that is how it seems to many people who wonder how she could have gotten her gig so easily when she just met him and has no experience. I would like to think that she and Art are above this type of behavior. For that matter, I would like to think that all people on the planet are above that type of behavior. But we don't live in a perfect world, and people will always speculate and gossip when things seem hinky and little to no explanations are given that make any sense.

I keep thinking that I am over this, but then someone comes and pulls the scab and the cut reopens. If it is not Art coming out of the woodwork to keep this thread going, then it is someone else "from the inside" who comes to instigate.

^^ this

+11111......more than well penned....the entire post!

[Mr. Fidget]

For fucks sake, don't you have your own thread?  Take your damn meds and get back in your bed (thread).

Ha! Ha! Ha! Thanks for your "insight." At least I was talking about Art Bell in the "Art Bell" thread. It is topical to speak of his motives in regard to the handling of my appearance(s) on his show. All you brought was degradation.
Free speech, yay!
http://bellgab.com/index.php/topic,6585.0.html
I'll see your D-3, return it... and raise you a C-6 + with a B-3 chaser.

[onan]

You are correct ... who comes to instigate.

Lucky for us, no corpse.

As for Art's story for leaving, sorry about that. I was disappointed too, then I went to the store.

As far as benefit of the doubt, yeah about that, not so much. Way too many Matlocks hit the beach first. And as we all know, it changed nothing. Really, whatever was given on this forum directed at Art for quitting... still no Art, I am fine with that by the way. As far as what people did, welp, I'm old school, I took no part in those endeavors. I will pay for tickets to see the band, maybe buy a shirt, but I am not buying the amplifier for the band or paying for their gas to get to the club. I even mildly addressed that with Heather on a Gabcast.

Let me clarify on Heather, she is a lovely person not just seemingly so. But none of us wear a halo. None of us have perfect backgrounds that we are willing to share with people that want nothing more than to be angry. And I get that to some extent. But this became a shit storm with nothing after all was said and done but shit.

Art's motivations for putting Heather in the chair... I don't know why I choose the socks I do in the morning, what Art does is beyond my concern. I'm lucky, I guess, no one gets to do what I do without the proper credentials. I have been in jobs however where someone did come in without the necessary skills. My choices were to accept or leave. I usually left. For what it's worth, Heather being placed in that spot didn't affect my employment. As for the producer that got axed, I have no facts about his leaving. People get fired for the wrong reasons all the time, this isn't the one I am going to lose sleep over.

Finally, regarding the suggestion that Heather and Art were more than professional, none of that is my business. It does seem tawdry, mean, and base.

What is not to be over? Again, it was/is a radio show. I am more concerned my drive to work tomorrow.

[pyewacket]

Become a huge Art Bell fan.
Spend years being told Art wants to come back and everyone else is substandard.
Be cultured to not accept and piss on any substandard host.
Sit through a disaster of a come back two years ago.
Be told Art can't come back because "contracts"
Wait two years as some new guerrilla network specifically tailored to every desire Art has had as a performer is created.
Spend money to create the network.
Work with other fans to promote and get the network going.
Art gets on the air.
The network starts kicking ass.
Substandard hosts get sent running in a panic like the little bitches they are.
Just as the network is about to take over, all of a sudden Art quits because "someone is trying to kill him."
Get handed a bunch of bullshit stories that don't tie together.
Get some obsessed fan with no experience with a creepy as fuck relationship with Art as the new host.
Watch the whole thing crash into the side of a mountain while people lose their shit publicly.
Be told you're an asshole for noticing reality.
Be told it's your fault as a fan and vague allusions of sexism because of the disaster it all became and the fact the new substandard host is the worst replacement yet.

I think that's about where we're at.
Why you mad?

This has all the makings of a reality show worthy of a slot on the Lifetime Network.

[GravitySucks]

This has all the makings of a reality show worthy of a slot on the Lifetime Network.

Can we all audition for bit parts?

[pyewacket]

Can we all audition for bit parts?

Absolutely yes! Who would you like to play and why? Be honest now. 

I'd like to be one of the cops who shows up at Art's house. I'd just have one line, "Seriously, Mr. Bell?"

[GravitySucks]

Absolutely yes! Who would you like to play and why? Be honest now. 

I'd like to be one of the cops who shows up at Art's house. I'd just have one line, "Seriously, Mr. Bell?"

Damn, beat me to it.

Okay, I will be the cable guy. "Looks to me like somebody pulled too hard from inside the guest house."

[pyewacket]

Damn, beat me to it.

Okay, I will be the cable guy. "Looks to me like somebody pulled too hard from inside the guest house."

Pulled on what too hard? That's a good one Gravity. I just like wearing a uniform with handcuffs and a gun- the rest I don't care about.

[trostol]

This has all the makings of a reality show worthy of a slot on the Lifetime Network.

lol for some reason i was thinking more of an appearance of Art on Springer or Maury

[ItsOver]

I place the blame on me for my disappointment with Art.  I expected more from him.  I should have known better.

[GravitySucks]

Pulled on what too hard? That's a good one Gravity. I just like wearing a uniform with handcuffs and a gun- the rest I don't care about.

Back when he had troubles with his internet connection, there was some type of "tampering" in the junction box outside. Since the box was locked, I am pretty sure that whomever hooked up the cable in the guest house just pulled it too hard, causing a problem back at the junction box.

Nice pic. You can read me my rights now.

[malachi.martini]

Be told you're an asshole for noticing reality.

The Heather Defense Force only seems to enlist older, lonely, sad sounding men that will sooner shit on Bellgab, blame MV, threaten to leave, and/or feign indifference poorly before they confront the reality laid bare here.

[GuerrillaUnReal]

lol for some reason i was thinking more of an appearance of Art on Springer or Maury

That would be amazing. Airyn comes running out from backstage, shatters a chair over Heather's head and then starts throwing haymakers at Art until she's dragged kicking and screaming off the stage... only to do another run-in once everything calms down. Somewhere Keith is eating popcorn chicken by the tub full and crying.

[trostol]

That would be amazing. Airyn comes running out from backstage, shatters a chair over Heather's head and then starts throwing haymakers at Art until she's dragged kicking and screaming off the stage... only to do another run-in once everything calms down. Somewhere Keith is eating popcorn chicken by the tub full and crying.

lol that...is an amazing picture you paint..but i was thinking more Art and the fans lol

[GuerrillaUnReal]

lol that...is an amazing picture you paint..but i was thinking more Art and the fans lol

Meh, I don't think his current fans are interesting enough to sustain a show. Look at MITD in it's current form. We need drama, passion, anger, violence, deep seeded hatred, chair shots to the face. Good old clean American fun.