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Coming in just under the clock once again, this is the binnall report. After what seems like a month of one stress after another, things seem to be settling down some around planet binnall. Hopefully this is the beginning of an extended period of solitude I can enjoy.
This week, we look back at the previous week's offerings from Coast to Coast AM, including the fantastic Raymon Grace episode and the John Lear episode that was marred by "outside interference". We look ahead to a special Rosslyn Chapel episode and the return of Seth Shostak. We dip into the mailbag for a livid missive re: my take on Steven Hairfield last week. We look into the C2C vault and prove that Noory has loved dinosaurs for quite some time. I tease next week's return of BoA : Audio and, of course, we've take a sneak peek at C2C's new TV venture "Noory Leap" in Hot Newz.
It's all in this week's edition of the binnall report and it starts ... now.
The Week That Was
As expected, last week's Friday into Saturday Open Lines, featuring the return of George Noory to OL madness, was, indeed, zany as all get out. It started with an update on C2C's home grown urban legend, the John Titor story, with Oliver Williams and some guy who made a Titor movie. From there, we also had Hoagland stop by to refute the story that he was made ambassador to Armenia (seriously) at the beginning of hour number two. Not to be outdone, Noory also played poker over the phone with a caller. Okay ... moving on.
Saturday evening, Ian Punnett hosted Coast to Coast AM Live with guest Dr. Pauline Chen to talk about strange medical stuffs. I skipped out on "Ian", as I am known to do, so we'll turn it over here to Lesley's C2C Rewind ... "They discussed her book Final Exam: A surgeon's reflections on mortality and some other interesting medical topics such as people who wake up in the middle of surgery. We also found out that Ian's doctor does not give out pain killers, much to Ian's dismay. A pretty good show so far as non-paranormal shows go."
After seemingly finally getting back to his regular schedule, poor IP was drafted into C2C proper hosting duties, later that night, when Art Bell had some technical difficulties. So we got an impromptu "8 Hours of Ian", which is always a nice treat. Apparently, the joker who scheduled Peter Lance for the 1st hour of "Ian" has a twisted sense of humour, as Lance returned for the 1st hour the later version of C2C that night.
Ian seemed to be trying to continue his conversation with Lance from earlier, but Lance was his usual, over-the-top, mile-a-minute, let me bore you with a thousand details, self. At one point, Ian implied something that he didn't agree with and then Lance just went off like a nut, which was both hilarious and annoying as hell. I even fastblasted Ian, saying that "Peter Lance is a douche", but I got no response from Ian to that observation.
The full show guest was Ann Druffel, but she ended up only staying for an hour. I'm not quite sure of the reasoning behind that move, but it may have to do with the impromptu host change. Ian seemed to be really winging it on this one and you could kind of tell that he got thrown into a situation he really wasn't ready for. His confusion over Druffel's work just made the entire interview all the more confusing. Be that as it may, Ian's confusion was mildly amusing.
Following the 1 hour Druffel interview, Ian had Open Lines with the special topic line being "funky weirdness". Ian, you cad, that sounds like a satire of Noory's Friday into Saturday Open Lines special topics. In true C2C form, "funky weirdness" ended up netting Ian an on-air debate between Les, "the antichrist", and C2C's favorite son, JC. Sadly, after he disposed of Les, JC told Ian, "You are a continuous disappointment to me, continuing to carry the water for Art and George. You think you're so cool because Art Bell smokes cigarettes and hangs out on ham radio." Great stuff. The Ian / JC interaction, where JC tries to recruit Ian, is second only to when JC lectures Art.
Art Bell got his act together on Sunday night and had Ed and Kris Sherwood on the show to talk about crop circles. Much like the Druffel fiasco the previous night, this interview ended up going off the rails almost from the very beginning. At the start of the conversation, Art was already bothered by their phone connection, rightly so, as Kris was barely audible throughout the show. Ed, meanwhile, seemed to just ramble on endlessly about stuff I couldn't follow at all. Art was not impressed with their pictures that they sent to C2C and made a point of saying so throughout the conversation. As it was, the interview ended an hour early, which was for the best as it was really turning into a train wreck.
Monday night, The Noor was back in action with a great episode, featuring Raymon Grace talking about cleansing evil spirits. Grace was just fantastic, claiming he could determine if someone was a serial killer just by doing some dousing and that his leg once got possessed, amongst other hilarious proclamations. All the while, telling us these things with a thick Southern twang that gave it just the right mix of insanity and goofiness that made it a very strong episode.
I missed Tuesday night's episode, where TBA turned into Nick Begich. The topic was "mind control". The buzz on this one seemed to be good, as Begich is usually a pretty strong episode.
Then came Wednesday's Coast, featuring the much anticipated return of C2C legend John Lear. The first hour was outstanding stuff and classic Lear, including him talking about mining operations on the moon, how there's a whole population of Martians living there, and how a 4th astronaut died in the infamous Apollo 1 fire and the government covered it up. Also lots of discussion on the secret parallel space program.
Then came the middle hour of the interview. Remember last Summer when C2C finally got Dan Aykroyd on the show and ended up ruining it because they let some crazy caller tell her UFO story and wasting a bunch of time ? This episode was reminiscent of that night, as they had Richard C. Hoagland come on and ruin what was turning into an awesome episode. Richard talked and talked and talked while Lear barely said anything and it all turned into "yet another Hoagland appearance". Hoags also called himself a "physicist", much to my surprise. (Did he even go to college ?)
Anyway, Hoags finally left for the final hour and even Lear seemed relieved he was gone. But the damage was done and the episode never really recovered from that miscue, despite some interesting stuff from Lear and the callers. A surefire homerun episode, marred by some questionable "enhancement", that will probably be more remembered for that awful middle hour than anything else, which is a damn shame, because the Lear solo stuff was quality.
The week wrapped up on Thursday with Gregg Braden talking about the "divine matrix". I tried listening to this one, really I did, but it was just terribly nebulous altogether. Noory seemed to have trouble wrapping his mind around it, as did I, and eventually I just gave up. I'm sure upon second listening, I'd be able to glean something out of it, but I'm not sure if I have that kind of time. Recommended if you dig the nebulous theoretical esoteric stuff.
All in all, a decent week, with the overarching theme seeming to be "when interviews go wrong". Between Ann Druffel, the Sherwoods, and the Lear / Hoags debacle, this was a week where the best laid plans of Ian and The Noor sometimes went astray.
The Week That Is
We kick it all off tonight with The Noor and his beloved Friday into Saturday Open Lines. I'm not sure how they will top last week, but I think they'll try. I've got two word for you ... Doctor Morgus. You've been forewarned.
Saturday on "Ian", IP has James "Jason" Wentworth. Apparently James "Jason" is a horse trapped in a human body. Yikes ! Ian gets all Sally Jessy Raphael on us and tries to help us feel his pain. Could be interesting, albeit probably more than a little creepy, especially if Ian starts eating oats.
Saturday night on C2C proper, Art Bell welcomes Charles Seife to the show to discuss cosmology. Could be interesting, could be barely more entertaining than licking paper, depends on your interest in alt. science.
Sunday night, Art has John Jay Harper on the program to discuss China and their space weapon. There will also be additional discussion on solar flare activity and other things related to the sun. Should be interesting, albeit a tad dry.
Monday night, The Noor attempts to cleanse our collective pallet as he has a special Rosslyn Chapel episode, featuring two guests, Mark Pinkham and Andrew Sinclair. My only real qualm is that this is one of those topics that never seem to evolve much and are a lot of retreading of material, but with two guests, I expect this episode to overcome those limitations and turn out to be quite good.
Tuesday, Noory and Albert Taylor are on the hunt for spirit entities gone bad. Taylor usually brings the goods and Noory loves the whole OBE area of research, so this should be decent, if not strong.
Glynis McCants breaks out of the Forecast 2007 box and gets her own full show appearance on Wednesday (eat your heart out, SDM). Glynis will surely be providing fascinating insight into the upcoming year for half-baked Hollywood celebrities. You know, the important stuff. What's the over / under on when Glynis says something inappropriate about her sex life ? I'm predicting the first half of the middle hour.
And, C2C wraps it up on Thursday with TBA. Ah, the infamous floating TBA. Two weeks ago it was Wednesday, last week it was Tuesday, this week it's Thursday. I'm 0-2 on predicting TBA guests, but we'll try again this week and I'll "predict" Sean David Morton as the guest, after C2C can't get anyone else and he floods their voice mail complaining that Glynis got a full episode and he didn't.
All in all, a solid week featuring a nice mix of serious and strange with some good guests on tap all around.
BoA : Audio, Season Two
I can't say for sure who the guest will be next weekend (1.27.7) when BoA : Audio returns, but I will say that so far we have taped three new interviews and have one to tape tomorrow afternoon. In total, we've got about 5 hours of material already (one guest is a two parter), covering a variety of esoteric topics, not just UFOs and Ufology.
And, tomorrow, we'll be putting up a special page for Streaming Audio devoted solely to those plucky little BoA : Audio preview samples that have, until now, be only available for download.
Sometime next week @ BoA, we'll have all the goods regarding the guest for our first episode back.
binnall report mailbag
I read your 2 cents worth on your little message board. And you are entitled to your opinion.
I almost feel like having the 4068 people who emailed us and was amazed by Dr. Hairfield's insight to post their opinion on your board.
But I wouldn't give you that much attention.
How many times have you been a guest on C2C? Oh, none? So you sit around and comment on those who are. Interesting life you have.
Keep up the amazing work.
Chad My first ever "hate mail" regarding something written here in the binnall report from someone associated with the actual guest. I knew if I kept ranting and raving, eventually someone's feelings would get hurt. I just figured it would be Hoagland, that's all. Anyway, what follows is my response to Chad ...
Chad ::
Thanks for the feedback. I didn't mean to offend. It's just my opinion, as you say.
For what it's worth, I enjoyed Steven's original appearance on C2C, "Tuesday's episode was fantastic. Steven Hairfield brought the goods big time, talking about 2012. I can't quite put my finger on it, but Hairfield had a terrifying scenario and a zen peacefulness that made it a wild ride. His pontifications on the world were weighty with wisdom. Best episode of the week, by far. For what it's worth, Hairfield says that 2012 may actually be 2006, so start building your bunkers ... now." http://www.binnallofamerica.com/tbr2.17.6.html
I just didn't dig this recent appearance. Whether is was my own foul mood, as alluded to in the actual paragraph you reference or @ the beginning of the review, "So forgive me if the reviews are vague or more biting than usual, it's just how things were this week." I'm not sure.
I do know that I would have liked Hairfield to tackle his mis-step re: 2012 / 2006 head-on. He was so adamant about it in his last appearance (to a delightful degree), that to not even mention it, here still on the cusp of 2007, didn't sit right with me. Had he cleared that up right @ the beginning of the interview, I think I would have gone into it with a better point of view. Just my 2 cents.
I'm sure lots of people disagree with me re: the Hairfield episode. It wouldn't be the first time I deviated from public opinion re: a guest. I'm sure it won't be the last time either.
Re : C2C appearances and lack thereof ... Webster Tarpley, Mac Tonnies, Jerry E. Smith, Adam Gorightly, John Velez, Lisa Shiel, Stuart Miller, Joseph Farrell, James Carrion, Walt Andrus, Joe Fex, Alfred Lehmberg, and John DeCamp deserve to be on C2C, but they haven't been. That doesn't make their work any less important.
Better luck next appearance. I'll try and be in a better mood.
All the best,
Tim Binnall After that, Chad wrote back and it appears we have worked out our differences of opinion (until he sees that I have printed his e-mail this week, of course).
Questions ? Comments ? Send them to tbinnall@hotmail.com
This Week in C2C History
1.18.2006 : A fun episode from a year and a day ago. That week's "binnall report" reviewing the episode included a prescient comment that foresaw Alex Jones's winning of this year's Coastie for Best C2C Regular ... "Wednesday, the gravel voiced infowarrior himself Alex Jones stopped by to hold court with The Noor. Excellent episode. Alex figured out what Hoagland forgot : that moderation of appearances increases their value. Alex and Noory have awesome chemistry now and I loved when Noory started spouting off about the Middle East, saying that he was some kind of expert on the area. It sounded like two dudes who've been up all night pontificating about life. Also, I nearly did a spit take when some caller managed to get the "R Word" (Rense) on the air. " (binnall report, 1.20.6)
1.17.2005 : Proof that Noory's fascination with still living dinosaurs goes back at least two years ... "George Noory's favorite psychic, Joe Jacobs, returned to C2C for his annual January appearance on Monday. Jacobs is almost as cheerful as Dannion Brinkley but not as annoying. I could've sworn that somewhere in there I heard George Noory attempt to advance his agenda of proving dinosaurs still exist on Earth, when the topic of Nessie came up." (binnall report, 1.21.5)
1.19.1999 : Art Bell's website makes news ... "Art turned on CNN Headline News yesterday after he got off the air and saw his face on the TV. He realized they were doing a story on his website. He called CNN and confirmed that it was indeed about the website. He had talked to Keith earlier in the day and Keith had mentioned that traffic was heavy on the website over the weekend for no reason he could think of. Now we know why, the story was running over the weekend too." (artbell.com cd rom)
End Notes
There you have it, folks. Another one bites the dust. Hope you enjoyed this week's foray into the flora and fauna of esoterica.
Plugs : Tomorrow @ binnallofamerica.com, BoA : Audio ... the previews gets posted. Now you can hear the infamous BoA:A previews in all their streaming audio glory. Consider it a prelude to next week's return of the underground audio sensation. Sunday, Lesley's C2C Rewind @ The Debris Field. Monday, Hoags to Hoags AM updated and Coastie Contenders finally updated (I hope). Tuesday, Lesley's Grey Matters. Wednesday, Khyron's The K-Files. Thursday, Hot Newz. And, Friday we do it all again for a special "binnall's birthday" edition of binnall report, which will arrive, not coincidentally on my birthday.
binnallofamerica.com ... esoterica with attitude.
And, on that note, I bid you farewell for another week. Have an excellent weekend and a stress free week. Until you hear from me next week, this is binnall ... signing off.