The GabCast (A podcast about BellGab)

[GuerrillaUnReal]

You uploaded it instead of linking to it.

[GravitySucks]

Why isn't this gif moving,  people? It was so funny when it was moving.  Any ideas?

It's moving fine for me. Try shaking your device.

[whoozit]

So you saying you are that dull and dumb ?? hehe , lol

I had no problemo reading and comprehending SredniVashtar's  texts...
and english is my third language,...and I made mistake and never went to school to learn properly
, so my grammar sucks...

So you whoozit  you are saying that you are dull and dumb  ??  hehe , lol

You were inattentive, I posted quickly and thought we were discussing Hoagies stalker.  I replied to YP and plead as such.  SV's posts are well written, even if I don't agree with everything he says.  Your posts are coherent compared to stalker guy even though you are posting in your third best language.  That's faint praise, but praise none the less.  It is about all I can give you, that and responding to you since you were nice enough to use my name.

[Imconfused]

You uploaded it instead of linking to it.

THANK YOU. 

[Lilith]

From reading the comments yesterday, it sounded like this show was going to be one huge disappointment. Although a lot of questions went unanswered, I think it was a bit more revealing than many people realised. First of all, it would have been uncomfortable and unfair to do any sort of interview that didn't give Art all the respect in the world for being such a great broadcaster. I have been listening to a few old Art shows recently, and he was peerless at what he did. They also, however, show that there crept in a certain lack of enthusiasam once he 'retired' back in the '90s, and I don't think he every really recaptured the glory days. Turning the GabCast into some sort of adversarial showdown would have done the man a disservice, because it's just a radio show, and it would have been out of place. But this was still an opportunity for Art to clear a few things up for his listeners.

When it came to the 'stalker' question I think you needed to read between the lines. Now that we have had the chance to hear him recount it, event by event, I don't think it's hard to see that he is using it as an excuse to stay off the air. The first 'event' could have been anything. If those shots were meant to be aimed at the house the 'stalker' must have the worst aim in the world. If they were meant to intimdate then they ought to have been seen by Art, which they weren't. It makes no sense, and the most obvious conclusion is that his neighbour got confused. It sounds like there was a lot of stuff going on that night, and she could have got caught up in the general hysteria along with Art. The second 'event' seems more credible until you remember that this was the man who also considered shooting a 'shadow person' in his home a few months before. Finally, the third 'event' has become a bit garbled with the telling. Art has forgotten that he told us that he heard a voice from the darkness telling him 'you were...', but that sounds like it has been dropped from the story now. Again, it could have been anything. It's a handy story because it's open-ended and doesn't have to rely on evidence. At the same time there is nothing whatsoever to back up his claim. If you think you have been shot at then you don't equivocate and say it might have been a firecracker. It was ironic that he later said that his reason for believing Bob Lazar was because his story never changed. You can believe Art's story, if you want; but I hope that the short bus has comfortable seating, because you are going to be riding it for a long time.

Art said he thinks he knows who it is, but didn't want to take out a restraining order. His reasoning was that it 'could make things worse'. How could it be worse when he has been driven from the airwaves because he fears for the safety of himself and his family? He later went on to say that the 'stalker' must be 'crazy'. So he refuses to do anything to prevent an insane person who is threatening the lives of his family, because it might make things worse? The reason that there has never been another incident is clearly because there doesn't need to be. There's no reason to believe that staying off the air is connected with his safety at all. All you need to do is look at Art's behaviour â€" not listen to his words â€" to see how seriously he is taking this 'stalker'. I don't think MV needed to bang the table over this, it was enough to leave the more intelligent listeners to figure it out for themselves.

I was disappointed in the whole Heather discussion (if you can call it that) but not surprised. I don't think you need to start by saying how wonderful you think she is, even if you believe it to be true (which I hope he doesn't). I wish someone would tell me why there is a code of silence around her (or 'Sister Heather of the Perpetual Meltdown', as she is known in the convent). The way some people talk about her I expect her to start turning water into wine pretty soon. I never found out how a total novice can be Art's 'first choice'. Art knows what it takes to succeed in broadcasting but he hands the show off to a total amateur. What. The. Fuck? I wish MV had asked why someone so inexperienced is also saddled with running the board and being her own producer. Couldn't Art dig into his jeans and get her some support if he's that keen for her to succeed? I thought Art's aside that 'she's done some good shows' was quite revealing. She's been doing this for two months, and the best he can say is that she's done 'some' good shows? How many, and which ones? The only way people talk about St Heather is polite euphemism. 'She's doing a great job under the circumstances' means that she's rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. 'Heather's getting better' sounds like the sort of thing you say about a child in a remedial class. I took MV's comment that she could get a job on lots of radio stations to mean that 'there are lots of shitty broadcasters out there, and she isn't the worst'.   

Art said he wanted fellow BellGabbers to give Heather advice. Perhaps Bateman? I might suggest something along the lines of 'you are in the wrong job'. Putting Heather behind a mic long enough does not automatically turn her into a tolerable broadcaster, any more than attaching wheels and pedals to my grandmother transforms her into a bicycle. The fact is, even when she did the GabCast she wasn't very memorable, but it wasn't worth pointing out. When you regularly do a show with someone like b_dubb (who seemed to make it a point of professional pride to fuck a goat every single show) then anyone is going to look good in comparison. You could stick Terri Schiavo in there under those circumstances and she'd look like Rush Limbaugh. Yet, Art never had any doubts that this woman â€" totally inexperienced â€" could take over a show in an area of broadcasting that is notoriously difficult to make interesting these days. Preferred above someone like Howard Hughes, who has been doing that sort of show off and on for nearly two decades. If you can't get Art to answer those questions then you failed to do a proper job. You never know, he may have made a good stab at telling us what we are missing. Instead, all we got was that 'despite what you may have heard, she's doing a great job'. In other words, 'the audience doesn't like her, but I do. So there!'

I think the overall tone of the show was that Art's over it but he doesn't want to say it in so many words. There's no point criticising the man, but I wish he'd be a little straighter with the listeners and stop treating us like babies. He was also being disingenous about the show - saying that she should make it her own - if Heather needs all the bumper music to be pre-approved. The only reason that most people are continuing their subscriptions is simple inertia at the moment. If Art categorically stated that he was done with the show then we would see a sharp drop. He knows this, but is being duplicitous. This isn't adult behaviour. Neither is it smart to claim that Heather is 'carrying the network' in a dig at Hoagland. If Art announced tomorrow that he was quitting for good we'd soon see how capable Heather is of carrying anything. Art sounded lucid but he has also shown some deplorable judgement over the last months. Having the lunatic Leo Ashcraft fouling the airwaves with his news segment shows us that Art's sense of what is good on the air is defective these days, to say the least. His fussiness over basically irrelevant details like sub-optimal audio quality is another example of the way that his priorities have become skewed over the years. He was always a bit of an audio nut but this has developed into a neurosis.

So, we learned that Art's reason for staying off the air is, at best, thin. But we never found out why a total amateur is good enough to follow a broadcast legend. If he'd been challenged on this then he might have been able to put up a good case. But he wasn't, so we are none the wiser. As it is, I don't think many people would have been encouraged to retain their subscriptions, let along bring in new ones. It's not mean-spirited to ask these question, and it doesn't have to come across in a bad way, so it was an opportunity lost.

Approved by the Iron Fist in the Velvet Glove.

SO SAY WE ALL !!!

[Imconfused]

It's moving fine for me. Try shaking your device.

You've been drinking too much.   

[pyewacket]

here...

Cheers, Sweetie Darling!

[delanee]

From reading the comments yesterday, it sounded like this show was going to be one huge disappointment. Although a lot of questions went unanswered, I think it was a bit more revealing than many people realised. First of all, it would have been uncomfortable and unfair to do any sort of interview that didn't give Art all the respect in the world for being such a great broadcaster. I have been listening to a few old Art shows recently, and he was peerless at what he did. They also, however, show that there crept in a certain lack of enthusiasam once he 'retired' back in the '90s, and I don't think he every really recaptured the glory days. Turning the GabCast into some sort of adversarial showdown would have done the man a disservice, because it's just a radio show, and it would have been out of place. But this was still an opportunity for Art to clear a few things up for his listeners.

When it came to the 'stalker' question I think you needed to read between the lines. Now that we have had the chance to hear him recount it, event by event, I don't think it's hard to see that he is using it as an excuse to stay off the air. The first 'event' could have been anything. If those shots were meant to be aimed at the house the 'stalker' must have the worst aim in the world. If they were meant to intimdate then they ought to have been seen by Art, which they weren't. It makes no sense, and the most obvious conclusion is that his neighbour got confused. It sounds like there was a lot of stuff going on that night, and she could have got caught up in the general hysteria along with Art. The second 'event' seems more credible until you remember that this was the man who also considered shooting a 'shadow person' in his home a few months before. Finally, the third 'event' has become a bit garbled with the telling. Art has forgotten that he told us that he heard a voice from the darkness telling him 'you were...', but that sounds like it has been dropped from the story now. Again, it could have been anything. It's a handy story because it's open-ended and doesn't have to rely on evidence. At the same time there is nothing whatsoever to back up his claim. If you think you have been shot at then you don't equivocate and say it might have been a firecracker. It was ironic that he later said that his reason for believing Bob Lazar was because his story never changed. You can believe Art's story, if you want; but I hope that the short bus has comfortable seating, because you are going to be riding it for a long time.

Art said he thinks he knows who it is, but didn't want to take out a restraining order. His reasoning was that it 'could make things worse'. How could it be worse when he has been driven from the airwaves because he fears for the safety of himself and his family? He later went on to say that the 'stalker' must be 'crazy'. So he refuses to do anything to prevent an insane person who is threatening the lives of his family, because it might make things worse? The reason that there has never been another incident is clearly because there doesn't need to be. There's no reason to believe that staying off the air is connected with his safety at all. All you need to do is look at Art's behaviour â€" not listen to his words â€" to see how seriously he is taking this 'stalker'. I don't think MV needed to bang the table over this, it was enough to leave the more intelligent listeners to figure it out for themselves.

I was disappointed in the whole Heather discussion (if you can call it that) but not surprised. I don't think you need to start by saying how wonderful you think she is, even if you believe it to be true (which I hope he doesn't). I wish someone would tell me why there is a code of silence around her (or 'Sister Heather of the Perpetual Meltdown', as she is known in the convent). The way some people talk about her I expect her to start turning water into wine pretty soon. I never found out how a total novice can be Art's 'first choice'. Art knows what it takes to succeed in broadcasting but he hands the show off to a total amateur. What. The. Fuck? I wish MV had asked why someone so inexperienced is also saddled with running the board and being her own producer. Couldn't Art dig into his jeans and get her some support if he's that keen for her to succeed? I thought Art's aside that 'she's done some good shows' was quite revealing. She's been doing this for two months, and the best he can say is that she's done 'some' good shows? How many, and which ones? The only way people talk about St Heather is polite euphemism. 'She's doing a great job under the circumstances' means that she's rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. 'Heather's getting better' sounds like the sort of thing you say about a child in a remedial class. I took MV's comment that she could get a job on lots of radio stations to mean that 'there are lots of shitty broadcasters out there, and she isn't the worst'.   

Art said he wanted fellow BellGabbers to give Heather advice. Perhaps Bateman? I might suggest something along the lines of 'you are in the wrong job'. Putting Heather behind a mic long enough does not automatically turn her into a tolerable broadcaster, any more than attaching wheels and pedals to my grandmother transforms her into a bicycle. The fact is, even when she did the GabCast she wasn't very memorable, but it wasn't worth pointing out. When you regularly do a show with someone like b_dubb (who seemed to make it a point of professional pride to fuck a goat every single show) then anyone is going to look good in comparison. You could stick Terri Schiavo in there under those circumstances and she'd look like Rush Limbaugh. Yet, Art never had any doubts that this woman â€" totally inexperienced â€" could take over a show in an area of broadcasting that is notoriously difficult to make interesting these days. Preferred above someone like Howard Hughes, who has been doing that sort of show off and on for nearly two decades. If you can't get Art to answer those questions then you failed to do a proper job. You never know, he may have made a good stab at telling us what we are missing. Instead, all we got was that 'despite what you may have heard, she's doing a great job'. In other words, 'the audience doesn't like her, but I do. So there!'

I think the overall tone of the show was that Art's over it but he doesn't want to say it in so many words. There's no point criticising the man, but I wish he'd be a little straighter with the listeners and stop treating us like babies. He was also being disingenous about the show - saying that she should make it her own - if Heather needs all the bumper music to be pre-approved. The only reason that most people are continuing their subscriptions is simple inertia at the moment. If Art categorically stated that he was done with the show then we would see a sharp drop. He knows this, but is being duplicitous. This isn't adult behaviour. Neither is it smart to claim that Heather is 'carrying the network' in a dig at Hoagland. If Art announced tomorrow that he was quitting for good we'd soon see how capable Heather is of carrying anything. Art sounded lucid but he has also shown some deplorable judgement over the last months. Having the lunatic Leo Ashcraft fouling the airwaves with his news segment shows us that Art's sense of what is good on the air is defective these days, to say the least. His fussiness over basically irrelevant details like sub-optimal audio quality is another example of the way that his priorities have become skewed over the years. He was always a bit of an audio nut but this has developed into a neurosis.

So, we learned that Art's reason for staying off the air is, at best, thin. But we never found out why a total amateur is good enough to follow a broadcast legend. If he'd been challenged on this then he might have been able to put up a good case. But he wasn't, so we are none the wiser. As it is, I don't think many people would have been encouraged to retain their subscriptions, let along bring in new ones. It's not mean-spirited to ask these question, and it doesn't have to come across in a bad way, so it was an opportunity lost.

Amen, Brother.

[Imconfused]

Cheers, Sweetie Darling!

heh heh

[nooryisawesome]

I hope MV will let us know if he gets the $500 from hoaglands alleged stalker.

MV should interview that dude even without getting $500. Also that would be a good show for Falkie to co-host again.

[GuerrillaUnReal]

That $500 should go to anyone who can actually last two hours listening to him. All I got out of the phone calls I heard (I missed a big chunk of calls trying to call in) was Hoagland apparently had him committed sometime in the mid 2000s?

[norland2424]

That $500 should go to anyone who can actually last two hours listening to him. All I got out of the phone calls I heard (I missed a big chunk of calls trying to call in) was Hoagland apparently had him committed sometime in the mid 2000s?

Not sure if i read it or heard it on youtube but apparently Hoagland had his wife robin pretend to be his doctor and him commited to be able to suppress the alien artifacts that he found on mars, basically the stalker thinks that hoagland is hiding alien info from the public.

[zeebo]

That $500 should go to anyone who can actually last two hours listening to him....

Maybe we can have a raffle guessing how long from starting out all polite and reasonable till he goes raving nuts?  (We'll need a timer sensitive enough for milliseconds.)

[GuerrillaUnReal]

Maybe we can have a raffle guessing how long from starting out all polite and reasonable till he goes raving nuts?  (We'll need a timer sensitive enough for milliseconds.)

That's a great idea. I'd kind of like MV or whoever is hosting to just be silent and let him flail around helplessly when he can't connect two coherent thoughts together while screaming every few seconds "DID YOU HANG UP ON ME?!?!?!"

[area51drone]

I thought SV's post was pretty much spot on, even though you really had to wade through it.   However, I also agree with Onan.  There isn't much of a reason to keep beating the Heather thing to death.  You either like her like Zeebo does, or you don't.  But what I took away from SV's post - and I think this really is what is important - is that Art needs to put up or shut up.  Quit or don't quit, but don't leave this open ended bullshit that "I may come back."   I do think the ONLY reason he isn't making a final decision on it is because, as SV says, it's keeping a lot of the subscriber base from dumping her.   I'm not really sure if she has all that many left anyway, but Art certainly doesn't want to see any more leave.    I've said it before and I will say it again - the fact that Art did not immediately refund and unsubscribe people automatically was a shitty move.   

I'm kind of surprised that no one is commenting on my points about Keith Rowland.  Why is it that he gets so much ownership of the content?  Why does he get a split of the profits from the show, when all he's really doing is providing a place to stream?  Hell, Art could have done MITD on UFO Ship and it wouldn't have made a bit of difference to any of the listeners.   Why is it that Keith Rowland was allowed to serve up a substandard platform for Art and yet doesn't even give a shit about the show itself?    It seems to me that every time you hear negative shit about the "network", Keith's name is the one that is brought up more often than not.   

Maybe I'm beating a dead horse, but it would be nice if someone pointed that out to me. LOL

[theONE]

You were inattentive, I posted quickly and thought we were discussing Hoagies stalker.  I replied to YP and plead as such.  SV's posts are well written, even if I don't agree with everything he says.  Your posts are coherent compared to stalker guy even though you are posting in your third best language.  That's faint praise, but praise none the less.  It is about all I can give you, that and responding to you since you were nice enough to use my name.

Ouch,...in that case whoozit, please accept my sincere apology,...yes I mean it, Sorry , 
And thanks for nice words.

[zeebo]

...what I took away from SV's post - and I think this really is what is important - is that Art needs to put up or shut up.  Quit or don't quit, but don't leave this open ended bullshit that "I may come back."  ...

I'd agree with this .. enough of the "Stay tuned" stuff.  Short of some break in the case it sounded like there wasn't really a plausible situation for Art's return.  He can always do a guest spot on his old show if he wants, but that's a pretty thin connection to leave hanging out there. 

[Corona Kitty]

I hope MV will let us know if he gets the $500 from hoaglands alleged stalker.

MV should interview that dude even without getting $500. Also that would be a good show for Falkie to co-host again.

Gary called into the show tonight, hes not giving mv 500$.

[GravitySucks]

Gary called into the show tonight, hes not giving mv 500$.

You should have held out for at least $37.50

[Jackstar]

Why is it that he gets so much ownership of the content?
Why does he get a split of the profits from the show, when all he's really doing is providing a place to stream?
Why is it that Keith Rowland was allowed to serve up a substandard platform for Art and yet doesn't even give a shit about the show itself?

You have no need to know.

[GravitySucks]

You have no need to know.

Top right corner material right there Jackstar.

[SredniVashtar]

In response to all of you who breathe heavily through the mouth when confronted with anything that goes on for more than two paragraphs, I have decided to write a brief executive summary/review of the partial-birth abortion GabCast the other night:

'While MV and Art were passionately slow-dancing around the room, they ignored the elephant that was busily shitting all over the carpet.'

I don't think it's only diaper dollars that will be needed from now on, but mouthwash money to sluice out the taste.

I never get tired of the dead horse parallel. Perhaps those people who trot it out on every occasion ought to bear that in mind if they come home from vacation one day to find a bunch of strangers living in their house. 'Oh, it's a done deal, let's just move on'. Bollocks.

[littlechris]

In response to all of you who breathe heavily through the mouth when confronted with anything that goes on for more than two paragraphs, I have decided to write a brief executive summary/review of the partial-birth abortion GabCast the other night:

'While MV and Art were passionately slow-dancing around the room, they ignored the elephant that was busily shitting all over the carpet.'

I don't think it's only diaper dollars that will be needed from now on, but mouthwash money to sluice out the taste.

I never get tired of the dead horse parallel. Perhaps those people who trot it out on every occasion ought to bear that in mind if they come home from vacation one day to find a bunch of strangers living in their house. 'Oh, it's a done deal, let's just move on'. Bollocks.

I'll join you if you want.

[onan]

In response to all of you who breathe heavily through the mouth when confronted with anything that goes on for more than two paragraphs, I have decided to write a brief executive summary/review of the partial-birth abortion GabCast the other night:

'While MV and Art were passionately slow-dancing around the room, they ignored the elephant that was busily shitting all over the carpet.'

I don't think it's only diaper dollars that will be needed from now on, but mouthwash money to sluice out the taste.

I never get tired of the dead horse parallel. Perhaps those people who trot it out on every occasion ought to bear that in mind if they come home from vacation one day to find a bunch of strangers living in their house. 'Oh, it's a done deal, let's just move on'. Bollocks.

You are without a doubt, the most articulate member of this forum. There is no house here. There a bunch of people, that mostly, have gotten to know, learned to accept/tolerate, argued with, disparaged, or ignored. Just when everything gets cozy, members change.

At best this place is a community. In one area of the community are porta potties that are rarely maintained. Being human we all need to venture into the stink area every so often. Being a metaphorical stink area, its location is somewhat different for each member.

The problem is we all think our stink is just a bit less repellent than other's. Sometimes that is true.

[SredniVashtar]

Or maybe those of us that did a tldr don't need any vindication for our likes and dislikes.

I remember a spokesman for NAMBLA saying something similar. 

[onan]

I remember a spokesman for NAMBLA saying something similar. 

That was me.

[SredniVashtar]

The problem is we all think our stink is just a bit less repellent than other's. Sometimes that is true.

I know this discussion annoys you, and I respect you arguing your case. As I said before, I don't believe that anything I say is going to affect anything in the real world, and I don't intend it to. If you believe I am taking any of this seriously, then I am here to tell you that that is not the case. I wrote that post yesterday as a way of livening things up really, because I don't enjoy consensus all that much. The show had its merits, but there were also big holes and I pointed them out. Sometimes I think that I am one of the few people who says what a lot of people think but don't like to say publicly, even with the anonymity of the forum. They know they will be attacked, and don't like it. I enjoy people taking me on, so I don't mind. That's another reason I will criticise Art and Heather - because I don't mind getting it back in turn. If people are good at it, then I can have some fun; if they are dull and abusive, then I ignore them. That's all. I think most of my comments have been fairly mild, too, if slightly mischievous at times because this is a public forum.

Places like this are all about opinions. I am not going to insist my view is correct. Sometimes there is an underlying assumption about a few of your posts that there are 'no go' areas, that it is impolite to venture on. If something is 'dead' then people stop talking about it. It's a law of nature, almost. It's like those people who complain about 'thread-derailing'. If something is interesting, then people talk about it. If they don't, they don't. That's all.

[PB the Deplorable]

Things have died down at least a couple of times, only for Art Bell to stir it all up again

[littlechris]

Things have died down at least a couple of times, only for Art Bell to stir it all up again

Paper*Boy,
Can you install a webcam at Falkies place?

[delanee]

Things have died down at least a couple of times, only for Art Bell to stir it all up again

Remember "Nothing is as it seems" and "Mysterious and Reassuring"?  Art's been doing this for years to keep us all hanging on.