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Ho, ho, ho, kids, we're still on-location here in San Diego as the yuletide season is in full effect. This is "the binnall report", your weekly jaunt through the mainstreets and backroads of Coast to Coast AM. Before we dig into the goods, allow me to wish all the great "tbr" readers out there a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays all around.
As I was teasing in our last edition, this past Saturday the long awaited Noory - binnall summit did indeed happen. Yes, my friends, I have met The Noor. I'm going to save the sordid details until next week, when I will be back in Boston and able to post the pictures of this historic meeting online. Suffice it to say, Noory was cool as hell, he knew who I was (making it even more bizarre) and I've a feeling it was only the beginning of a long and interesting friendship. Full report, including pictures, in next week's "binnall report".
Moving right along, let's peruse what we have in store for you this week in "tbr". First, we're going to look back at the past week's Coast offerings and some of the pitfalls of listening while on vacation. From there, we'll look ahead at next week's C2C episodes on tap, including the return of Graham Hancock and two big UFO episodes over the weekend. No mailbag again this week, as I remain short on time, due to my situation here in San Diego. We do, however, give you an in-depth preview of this weekend's BoA : Audio Christmas Special featuring Stanton Friedman, plus we twist your arm for more Coastie Votes, and dig into the C2C vault for some perspective on esoteric history. And, of course, Hot Newz, featuring yet another Coastie Commemorative Poster.
They tell me it's almost Christmas, but all I see are palm trees and beaches. Nonetheless, this is the binnall report, so let's get down to it.
The Week That Was ... Somewhat
For starters, trying to catch C2C three hours early is a tough change to make. A couple of nights, I found myself turning on the show at my normal time (1 AM, Eastern) and it was, obviously, my least favorite portion of the show : listener phone calls for the guest. Ugh. So, what I did catch was spare hours and half hours here and there, usually around the middle of the main guests interviews.
I caught the final hour of Sunday's show, which was a rebroadcast of the 8.13.6 episode of Coast, featuring Sir Charles Shults talking about nanotechnology and what-have-you. Ironically, the callers portion was pretty hilarious, as one dude had serious issues with nanotechnology and they spent much of the final half hour with him arguing about it with Shults. Great line from the caller, where he said having nanobots do work would be like giving a bunch of five year old shovels and telling them to dig. Even Art seemed disappointed that the show ended before the caller could argue with Shults more.
I will admit to being wrong about Monday's guest Dr. Fred Bell. He had charisma in buckets and his stories were great. I caught about a half hour where he claimed to have consulted some holographic thing and it gave him back his motorcycle from the 1950's. That was great tale, albeit pretty suspect. It did leave me wishing I'd caught more, because Fred was fairly entertaining.
On Tuesday, I listened to the middle hour of The Noor's interview with Marie Jones regarding her book "Psience". I thought this was some interesting stuff. Marie had a nice sense of humor that seemed to mesh well with Noory's style. I thought her take on "what God is" to be fascinating and enjoyed her explanation of the differences between actual wicca and the mainstream perspectives on it.
Wednesday night, I only caught like a tiny portion of the show. I've heard Will Henry about a million times, so I figured I could afford to miss him. What I did hear was decent, but pretty standard Will Henry material. He was talking about "Starwalkers" and beings that travel between dimensions and what-have-you. Decent stuff.
Wrapping up the week, I heard the middle hour of Thursday's guest, Steve Alten, talking about 2012 and the Mayan Calendar. What I heard was good and I'm looking forward to catching the remainder sometime next week when I get back to Boston.
All in all, despite only hearing bits and pieces of the past week's offerings, I was impressed with what I did hear, especially from Alten, Marie Jones, and Fred Bell.
The Week That Is
We kick off the upcoming week tonight with Art Bell guest hosting for The Noor and lording over Friday into Saturday Open Lines. No word on the pop-in yet.
Saturday on "Ian", IP has Laurence Gonzales on the show to talk about survival stories, including the recent stories about people getting lost mountain climbing and on vacation. Ian will surely be riveted by this sort of material and it should be good.
Saturday night on C2C proper, Art Bell has Bill McDonald on to discuss human evolution and the infamous Greys. McDonald will attempt to figure out if they are some sort of time travelers or something. Given Art's suspicions about the Greys, this could be a frightening episode.
Wrapping up the weekend on Sunday, Art has David Sereda on the program for more discussion on ETs and the like. Sereda will be focusing on "the battle between science and religion", which sounds pretty interesting. Overall, a strong weekend line-up, for sure.
Monday, Christmas night, The Noor returns to action to welcome Hugh Ross for a conversation about a variety of cosmology subjects. Given the holiday, this could be a downer and sounds a bit dry. That said, I could have sworn that Ross was fairly entertaining last time, so it could be surprisingly good.
Robert Miles returns to C2C on Tuesday to discuss his ET contact experience. Miles has a fairly fascinating story and Noory hasn't spoken with him yet, so this should be pretty good.
Wednesday night sees a veritable quilted episode of C2C, as first there will be a rebroadcast of the 1st hour of the 4.11.2005 episode of Coast, featuring Ray Bradbury and Marc Zicree. Following that, they patch it together with the 8.14.2003 full show interview with Kathleen Keating. From what I can recall, this is strong stuff.
The week wraps up on Thursday with Art Bell sitting in for Noory and the guest is the venerable Graham Hancock. Talk about a belated Christmas gift. This should be a stellar episode, as Hancock will be talking about his recent interest and research into DMT and the like. Surely, Art will be on his game with Graham.
Top to bottom, it looks like a pretty darn good week of C2C as we close out 2006.
The 2006 Coasties
One week from today, at the end of the day, Coastie voting will have closed. The votes are coming in fast and furious at this point, so if you haven't done so yet, time is running out to vote and every vote counts and could decide the difference between Coastie glory and Coastie runner-up status.
Not sure who to vote for ? Can't keep track of all those episodes ?
BoA put together the =http://www.binnallofamerica.com/06coastieslist.html]Coastie Contenders List[/url] to narrow down the massive field into a handful of contenders in each field (from 5 up to 10 or so contenders for some categories). For those who feel it's impossible to distill 2006 into a Coastie Vote, I suggest consulting the list. Hardcore fans seem to already have their favorites picked out.
No matter how you decide your favorites, be sure to voice your opinion of the best of the best on C2C in '06.
Consult the Ballot for Award Categories, Rules, and additional Resources.
The Coastie schedule for '06 is as follows ...
12.1.6 :: Ballot released, voting begins. Coastie season is underway.
12.29.6 :: Voting closes.
12.31.6 :: Winners announced.
BoA : Audio
This Week : The BoA : Audio holiday tradition continues, as "The Father of Modern Day Ufology" Stanton Friedman returns to the program for an in-depth discussion on his early years in Ufology and the evolution of his career as a speaker on flying saucers, the 1968 Congressional investigation into UFOs, the Condon Report, and the NICAP v. APRO feud. Stan shares some amazing stories from his first hand perspective on Ufology during that era. We also discuss the lack of young people in Ufology and what Ufology needs to do to develop the next generation. Plus, of course, tons and tons more in this richly detailed edition of BoA : Audio.
Stanton Friedman's website is www.stantonfriedman.com
You can hear an MP3 preview of our Christmas Special featuring Stanton Friedman on BoA : Audio HERE * Just right click and then "save target as".
Next Week : James Carrion
The new International Director of MUFON comes to BoA : Audio to discuss his plans as the new leader of the organization. In this in-depth interview, we discuss the road to Jim becoming new MUFON director, new initiatives to improve MUFON's public relations and draw in younger members, Carrion's long term goals for MUFON, the organization's "end game" plan in event of UFO disclosure, response to critics of MUFON, and tons more.
The MUFON website is www.mufon.com
This Week in C2C History
12.22.2004 :: Some RCH to tide you over until next week's conclusion of "Hoagland / Dore '98", a glimpse of his recent feud with Phil Plait as seen through the eyes of "the binnall report", "So close they could practically reach over the ad break and smack each other, "Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait and the illustrious RCH made dual appearances on 12.22. Plait made no mention of Hoags and vice versa, until The Noor read a "fast blast" from Plait disputing RCH's opinion on a picture he was ranting about. I lost what little shred of respect I had for Plait after that happened, but, ironically enough, gained even more for The Noor for "stirring the pot" like that. Way to be, Noory, C2C needs Plait v. RCH in 2005." (tbr, 12.24.4)
12.22.2003 :: Bigfoot and UFOs. Rarely the two meet on C2C, but they did during this episod, with Stan Gordon. "In one unusual case, Gordon noted that an 8-ft. tall creature was seen carrying a "small glowing sphere." In fact, he said that in a number of instances, UFO and Bigfoot sightings have been made at the same time. He told of cabin dwellers that were surrounded by five creatures with "glowing red eyes," that were accompanied by a craft hovering over the trees that resembled "a big Christmas tree ornament." (c2c.com)
12.22.1999 :: Hardcore C2C fans will remember Art's feud with Curtis Sliwa from back in the day ... "Curtis Sliwa talked over Arts program last night calling Art the anti-christ once again. Art plays a recording which plays when you dial a certain phone number offering to help you over your addiction to Art Bell and Art gives out the number so you can leave a blistering message."
End Notes
With that, we wrap up our second on-location edition of "the binnall report". Thanks for your patience as we try and keep the show running, thousands of miles from BoA HQ.
Plugs : Tomorrow @ binnallofamerica.com, the BoA : Audio holiday tradition continues with Stanton Friedman returning for our annual Christmas special. Sunday, C2C Rewind, possibly, and smoker dave is updated. Monday, BoA celebrates Christmas with a minimal update while y'all enjoy your presents. Tuesday, Classic Grey Matters as Lesley has the week off. Wednesday, the K-Files returns. Thursday, Hot Newz featuring Coastie Commemorative Poster #5. And, Friday, we do it all again here in the binnall report.
binnallofamerica.com ... a festivus for the rest of us.
Until we meet again, my friends, this is binnall, wishing you a very Merry Christmas and signing off.