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Don't you remember ? We built this city on rock and roll. Welcome to another edition of the binnall report. It's rather drab outside, but baseball season is in full effect and my beloved Red Sox are looking pretty damn good so far. It should be a fun and exciting season.
Meanwhile, I'd like to give an extra special shout out this week to my plucky brother James, who turns an insane 30 years old today. James, you are old now, deal with it. Congrats on your special day.
This week, we dig into the Week That Was on Coast to Coast AM. We discus the Week That Is. We look back at This Week in C2C History and answer some letters in the binnall report mailbag. Plus, we celebrate the return of BoA : Audio with a preview of tomorrow's episode featuring Nick Redfern. And, of course, Hot Newz, where we get a glimpse of the 2006 C2C Softball Team.
So what are we waiting for ? Let's do it.
The Week That Was
We left off last week with The Noor about to embark on yet another Friday into Saturday night Open Lines. The pop-in was Renee Karen, talking about ... how she can talk to animals. Oy vey. Now I wish I'd caught that one. Also, my sources contend that Sir Hoags-A-Lot, Richard C. Hoagland, popped in at some undetermined point. I'll check up on that. Your standard Open Lines followed with the special topic being "creepy stories".
For the first time in what seemed like ages, I managed to catch my old friend and part-time nemesis Ian Punnett's ultra special spin off titled "Ian" (or "Coast to Coast AM Live" or something) on Saturday. And ... it was like we were never apart. Ian rocked the house hardcore with Michael D'Antonio to talk about Milton Hershey, founder of the Hershey candy company and overall loon. Hands down, best Ian episode I may have ever heard.
For starters, he'd just finished reading D'Antonio's book, so he both knew what it was all about and had questions and highlights to enlighten the audience. Ian, I like your style. Secondly, Ian needled D'Antonio about the controversy behind the book and his Pulitzer Prize. Ian smashes the fourth wall. Thirdly, the topic of the bizarre life of Milton Hershey was spot on esoteric madness at its finest. These are the alternative history type shows that Coast needs more of. Ian, my friend, you are the star of the week.
Following that episode was another classic, with George Knapp guest hosting the Saturday installment of the Bell Zone with special guests Bob Lazar and Gene Huff. This was some more great stuff, as Knapp spent the first half hour or so finding out about some bizarre raid on Lazar's house and how Lazar may be in hot water with the feds. Despite having nothing to do with Area 51, it was entertaining as all hell.
When they finally did get down to the nitty gritty of Area 51, it was pretty good, albeit not groundbreaking by any means. Lazar was interesting in that he pretty much loathes Area 51 and his whole saga. It was interesting hearing about how his 15 minutes of esoteric fame have now stretched into a lifetime of rumour and innuendo. I'm not quite sure what Huff was doing there other than to act as Lazar's second, but it worked in an odd way. Bonus points for the triple team beat down of Tim Ventura.
Then came Sunday's Bell Zone, which was, point of fact, The Noor Zone. Since Bell is missing in action, Noory was the guest host and he had Lou Gentile as the guest to talk about EVPs and hauntings. Since I'd never listened to Lou Gentile's show before, I didn't have as much interest as I thought I would with the "Flintstones meets the Jetsons" aspect of the episode. Nonetheless, I caught the first hour or so of the Gentile interview and it was decent. I liked how Gentile talked about some kind of heat between he and Coast, which I'd not known about and then how he kissed up to Noory for having him on the show, despite said heat. The discussion on hautings was decent, but I detected an air of arrogance that one often gets from those who do ghost investigations, like they are God's gift to esoterica. Puhleeze.
The Noor produced a sheer joy ride of insanity on Monday with Dr. Richard Boylan. I had heard that Boylan was once a mainstream Ufologist (talk about an oxymoron) before he became so extreme, but it's hard to imagine. For those who missed it, Boylan said that at some point in the 1960's, the various world governments made some kind of deal with ETs. It was convoluted as hell but also quite detailed, to the point of being rather amusing and intriguing. Then Noory asks where he got all this info and he says via channeling with an ET. God dammit, thanks a lot.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the one moment of the episode that topped that one. Boylan is talking about his website and some quiz on there to determine if you are a "star kid". Noory then says he took the test and then says gravely, "I think I may be one." This was straight out of grade-Z sci fi or something and it was one of the funniest moments on C2C in quite some time. How a 60-something year old man can be a "star kid" is beyond me. The thought of Noory wearing a backwards cap, overalls with one strap undone, and flicking through his iPod has had me cracking up ever since.
Tuesday saw another superior alternative history episode with Dr. Thomas Blass talking about the obedience experiments of Dr. Stanley Milgram. Yes, it sounds about as exciting as licking paper, but, believe me, it was great. Lots of discussion on how far folks would go if they were told to do so, but Blass wouldn't make the leap that Noory wanted him to and start fearing the New World Order like the rest of us. I would have liked to hear some talk of similar experiment at Stanford dealing with prisons and guards, but they didn't seem to get into that. Worth checking out if you enjoy alternative science and history.
Wednesday, The Noor welcomed Roger Tolces to talk about electronic surveillance. Every few months Noory and Coast feel the need to scare the crap out of us by updating the audience on the progress of the means to track your every move. This was pretty decent, leaning upwards. I especially liked how Tolces weaved Orwell's 1984 into the episode to give it some extra flavour. It was like Noory got his NWO fix that Blass wouldn't give him the previous night and it was off to the races with paranoia for everyone. Now ... where should I build that bomb shelter ?
On Thursday, we heard from Paul Smith on remote viewing. Smith wasn't one of those "fire and brimstone" type remote viewers and had a more realistic and down-to-earth view on RV. While I was worried it was going to be boring, it actually turned out to be pretty interesting, especially his take on how the RV program in the military worked when he got into it.
I also enjoyed his take on skeptics and science in general and how there seems to be a definite slant against the paranormal. Most notable was his shredding of Michael Shermer's appearance on Coast's Skeptic's Cage show. He made some good points that Shermer was asking for anecdotal evidence ("Find bin Laden") while also putting the bad mouth on anecdotal stuff. Also noteworthy, was Noory's beat down, once again, of Sylvia Browne, saying he wished "folks like that" would just admit to being wrong instead of spinning. Could Noory finally be seeing the light when it comes to these C2C "psychics" ? One can only hope.
In all, this was one of the best weeks of Coast in quite some time. You had a "special" type episode (Knapp, Lazar, Huff), a zany as hell episode (Boylan), a ultra strong alt. history episode (D'Antonio), and three strong alt. science / alt. history episodes (Blass, Tolces, and Smith). Sometimes, they hit on just the right mix and it is esoteric radio alchemy. This week was pretty damn close.
The Week That Is
We kick it off tonight with George "The Noor" Noory holding court over Friday into Saturday Open Lines. No word yet on who the pop-in is.
Ian on Saturday features the ever repugnant Sean David Morton to forecast the future for that small handful of people who still believe his tripe. I'm sure SDM is smarting over being bumped to the proverbial "B show" of the C2C universe, but I'm also sure he'll make the most of the free publicity. I just hope Ian doesn't kiss his posterior and tell everyone how great SDM is, when we all know it is bogus.
The Bell Zone is all rebroadcasts this weekend, starting with Saturday night's repeat of a Bell-hosted episode from 11.15.2003, featuring Peter Davenport in the first hour and Bart Kosko as the full guest, discussing nanotechnology and "fuzzy logic". I don't recall this episode, so you're on your own here.
Sunday's Bell Zone features the rebroadcast he requested before he left, the 7.23.1997 episode featuring none other than the legendary Col. Phillip Corso, along with Dr. John Alexander, talking about, what else, Roswell and back-engineered ET stuffs. I don't care if it almost 10 years old, this is a must-hear episode. I'll be sure to catch it.
Monday, The Noor returns with Alan Watt, making his C2C debut, to discuss secret societies. The C2C bio of Watt is decidedly vague, but a perusal of his website and the episode preview makes this one sound like a real barn burner. Coast says that Watt is going to "discuss how ultra high level sects have controlled the course of history to a pre-determined goal and are still in power." Sounds like a potential classic.
Tuesday, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny joins the show to talk about bird flu and vaccines. Given Noory's insane hatred of bird flu paranoia and vaccines in general, this could be interesting. It could also be boring as all get out.
Wednesday, Kenneth "The Lariat" Hanson returns to C2C to cover the topic of "lost Bible texts". I actually missed Hanson's appearance last year, so I'll try and catch this one. Another hit or miss episode, but it has more potential than the bird flu episode of the previous night.
We round out the week on Thursday with Will Henry, who will be on the show to discuss the connections between Egypt and Atlantis. Henry has perhaps the best repoire with The Noor of any C2C guest, so it should be entertaining at the very least.
BoA : Audio, Season One
After a painful 3 week hiatus, BoA : Audio finally returns to action this week with a two part Nick Redfern interview. We've been working the phone lines and e-mail exchanges to line up some stellar guests as we head to our Season Finale in June. More guests will be announced as the interviews are taped. Expect some more names revealed next week. Until then, here's this week's preview ...
This Week : Nick Redfern, (Part 1 of 2), "On the Trail of the Saucers Spies". In-depth discussion on Redfern's new book dealing with the covert, and sometimes overt, surveillance of UFO researchers and witnesses. The methods and means of surveillance, what causes one to become the subject of said surveillance and all the insanity that surrounds it. It's a compelling look at an often lamented but rarely discussed aspect of Ufology.
His website is : www.nickredfern.com
Next Week : Nick Redfern (Part 2 of 2). We wrap up discussion of "On the Trail of the Saucer Spies" and also discuss his prior book "Bodysnatchers in the Desert" and the fallout in esoterica from that controversial tome. We also touch on the infamous Serpo story making the rounds and Redfern gives his perspective on how to deal with stories like that. Plus, a little bit of discussion on cryptozoology as well.
binnall report mailbag
Letter #1 :
binnall,
I love your website. But I don't understand what that little thing is in place of the "all seeing eye" on your logo. Please explain.
Barry in Peoria, Illinois I forget sometimes that we have newer readers who have not come along for the entire evolution of binnall. The "little thing" is my face wearing a silly hat. The original binnall logo was a bigger version of just "the face". Slowly but surely as we gained more "street cred", we decided to merge the face with its esoteric leanings and put it atop the infamous pyramid in place of the "evil eye". It serves to remind our readers and listeners that we strive to be the all seeing eye of esoterica.
The esoteric origins of the hat were explained in binnall report 8.5.5 :
"In the Spring of 2000, I was on tour in Europe. I happened upon a large African man in the streets of Venice, Italy selling posters in one of the plazas. He wore the hat now world famous as "the binnall hat". He kept trying to sell me a poster, but I kept refusing, but I enjoyed haggling with him. I thought to myself, "I love that hat." Moments after thinking that very thought, he said to me, "How much for the hat ?" The rest is history."
Letter #2 :
Tim,
Do you know where Art Bell went ?
Ryan in Topeka, KS No, not really. I trolled about on some of the more Art Bell devoted forums and some seem to speculate that he is going to go into space or something, but I doubt that. I do know that he said something about a "change of scenery", but that is about it. He has been alluding to odd stuff in the first hour or so and sort of setting the stage for something in the future. I for one remain breathless in anticipation to hear what it is. I'm sure it will not disappoint.
Questions ? Comments ? Send them to tbinnall@hotmail.com
This Week in C2C History
4.7.2005 : Mitch Horowitz joined the show to discuss the occult with Noory and shared these observations : "An effort was made by the early church to associate paganism and nature-based religions which delved into hidden abilities with something sinister, he said. For instance, he noted that in ancient art, horns depicted on the head of humans were a sign of enlightenment, but in a kind of "cultural warfare" the church later associated such imagery with evil. " (c2c website)
4.8.1999 : Duck and cover ! More Y2K paranoia : "Power Plants across the nation are going to hold a drill Friday to see if the juice can continue to flow if there are Y2k computer glitches that may prevent then from communicating with each others." (artbell.com cd rom)
4.8.1998 : A historic anniversary, I think, as 8 years ago tomorrow, Art Bell played the "Sounds from Hell" tape that has become a C2C standard : "Art rereads an old report about geologists having discovered Hell while drilling at an undisclosed site in Siberia. Art reads an email he received today from a listener who confirms the Siberian discovery and plays some taped sounds that came from this 9 mile deep hole." (artbell.com cd rom)
End Notes
And we are out of here. I've got to go put the finishing touches on this week's BoA : Audio. Be sure to check out our big return, you won't be disappointed.
Plugs : Tomorrow @ binnallofamerica.com, BoA : Audio returns with Nick Redfern (Part 1 of 2). We discuss how Ufologists both in the past and in the present have drawn the attention of shadowy forces within the government. Sunday, smoker dave. Monday, Trickster's Realm. Tuesday, Grey Matters. Wednesday, The K-Files. Thursday, Hot Newz. Friday, the binnall report returns.
Meanwhile, I was so busy taping future episodes of BoA : Audio that I never had time last Monday to actually finish up the debut edition of "Viral Esoterica". It will now debut next Monday, 4.17.6, @ binnallofamerica.com. 1000 apologies for those of you who were disappointed this past Monday.
With that, we conclude this week's edition of the binnall report. Be sure to check out BoA : Audio this weekend and may you have an excellent weekend. This is binnall ... signing off.