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After last week's admittedly lackluster edition of the binnall report, I am looking over this week's edition and can safely say that this week's edition is the total opposite. It may be as jam packed a "tbr" in quite some time.
In the meantime and on a personal note, my poor father has fallen ill again to the same foot injury that felled him in mid-July and has returned to the hospital. I ask that all my dear readers keep him in their thoughts and prayers and hopefully he can make a speedy recovery and be back at BoA HQ soon.
In this week's binnall report, we look back at the past week's Coast to Coast AM, including the return of Steven Greer and the excellent 911 Special. We look ahead to next week's big launch party for Noory's "Worker in the Light". We dip into the mailbag for one of the most well written anti-Noory missives I've ever received. We look back into C2C's archive with an update on the infamous Area 51 caller from the old Art Bell show. And, of course, Hoagie's Big Adventure comes to Hot Newz.
Plus, if that's not enough, we've got all the information you've been craving about the Season Premiere of BoA : Audio, Season Two, including the premiere date and the guest, plus a nifty little recap of what we'll be discussing on the return episode.
So there's a ton to cover this week and I'm sure you are as busy as I am, so enough dawdling, let's put the pedal down and turn this baby loose.
The Week That Was
Unlike last week, when I missed the bulk of C2C, this week I managed to catch almost all of the episodes, save for two or three of the eight editions offered to us. So ... here's how the week shook out.
The Noor ended the formal week with the usual madness that is Friday into Saturday Open Lines. Amongst the highlights (and lowlights) were JC calling in to rant and rave about Star Trek, Richard C. Hoagland to wax poetic about Star Trek, Mark Lerner being the pop-in to talk about astrology and Pluto, and a special tribute to Steve Irwin, consisting of a replay of his 8.6.2002 C2C appearance. So there was a lot of good, bad, and ugly in the mix and it sounded like one of the better OL editions of Coast.
Saturday on "Ian", the hardcore fans' seemingly favorite C2C host, Ian Punnett, welcomed Michael Trudeau to the show to talk about a cashless society. As seems to be the case this Summer, I managed to miss this episode, but rumour has it that Ian continued his streak of strong episodes. We turn it over to Lesley's C2C Rewind for the play-by-play on Trudeau's appearance ... "Ian interviewed Michael Trudeau about a cashless society. Ian didn't seem to have much against the thought of a cashless society, but still managed an entertaining and even at times thought provoking interview. Sadly, he seemed to steer Trudeau away from any true conspiracy talk."
Saturday night on Coast, Art Bell had both Simeon Hein and Scott Flansburg, together, on the show to talk about their cutting edge research into crop circles. This episode was, for the most part, very rich in deep esoteric and math stuffs and was rather hard to follow. At the end of it all, I still wasn't quite sure what the duo had accomplished other than making their own crop circle and observing some oddities related to it. Be that as it may, I give strong kudos to the both of them for teaming up and putting their dual specializations together to further advance esoteric research. If more folks in the field had this attitude, some serious headway would be made to "figuring it all out."
Apparently, Simeon had to leave at the halfway point and then it was just Flansburg, dubbed "The Human Calculator" and I, myself, dropped the show at that point. I hear Flansburg started talking about 911 and I'm not sure what he said or Bell's reaction, so that may be worth going back and checking out.
Sunday on Coast, Art had Dr. Steven Greer on the show as the full show guest. Great stuff from Greer, who seemed to focus on astronauts and UFOs and teased a lot of information regarding alleged astronaut UFO sightings. The usual stuff, with Greer speaking in clues, dropping names left and right, and teasing tantalizing information that probably only like 5 people can verify as true or not.
Greer has reached the Ed Dames level of audience polarization. More than a few casual C2C listeners (and hardcore Ufologists) really hate the guy. Personally, I find him more intriguing than irritating, given the range of outlandish stuff he says and the strong depth of some of his witness collection. As far as continuing the SETI thing, I'm don't recall if he rehashed that controversy or not.
As I'm sure you all know, Monday marked the 5th anniversary of 911 and C2C stepped up to the plate, big time, with their 911 Special. The format was similar to the critically acclaimed JFK Specials of year's past, where different viewpoints got a portion of the show to share their take on what 911 was all about. Before I give you my take on the episode, I'd be remiss in not mentioning this week's K-Files which featured BoA's senior columnist Khyron's take on the very same episode. Be sure to check it out.
Now, onto the episode, itself, the 911 portion of the show kicked off with David Hawkins, who says 911 was all about an insurance scam and that the WTC owners hired Al Qaeda to pull off the attack. Ho hum stuff and not too believable, but kudos to the depth of research that went into the theory, as it may yield some clues to the entire puzzle. I never quite got the reason for the Pentagon attacks, but he may have delved into that and I missed it.
Next up was Victor Thorn and Lisa Guliani of Wing TV, talking about the Israeli angle to 911. This portion was tighter than Hawkins stuff and I thought their take on the attacks was probably closer to what happened. I will give kudos to Noory for even having this duo on the show, as they have ripped him royally over at their website (wingtv.net) and he'd have every reason not to have them on the show, but did anyway. That shows some serious intestinal fortitude on his part and I'm left wondering what they have to say about Noory now that he brought them onto Coast. Sadly, despite their seeming disgust with The Noor and Art Bell, they never once went after him or the show or Alex Jones, one of their favorite targets, leaving a big white elephant in the room as we waited for them to say something controversial.
Speaking of The Bulldog, Alex Jones was, ironically, the next segment on the Special. We all know Alex's take on the 911 affair, so we don't need to get into specifics here. AJ had been in NYC all day and he sounded like he was exhausted, but he had a ton of insight into the mood at Ground Zero on the fifth anniversary of 911. This wasn't the usual wildman, he was more subdued and pretty thoughtful. In all, it may have answered some of his critics who claim he is too over the top.
Noory wrapped up the guest portion by playing an interview with Howard Bloom (whether it was from a previous edition of C2C or not, I'm not sure). Bloom's take was along the lines of the mainstream 911 story that Bin Laden and company are out to get us and they pulled of 911 on their own accord. He also pushed for pre-emptive action against Islamic nuclear development and suggested future attacks on America, which isn't a surprise. Much like Alex Jones, this one was straight out of the C2C regular's playbook.
The Noor then turned over the last hour of Open Lines, which, thankfully, let me get some sleep after an excellent episode. Easily best of the week, the format was spot on, the guest choice was good (not great), and the range of theories was sufficiently diverse. This was the sort of episode that showcases C2C strengths well.
Tuesday, Noory highlighted the main streets and back roads of esoterica with Robert Schneck and his collection of strange stories found throughout America. Think Lionel Fanthorpe without the funny voice and you'll get the picture. And that is a suitable comparison, because Shneck brought the goods, big time, and produced an outstanding episode. I actually had missed this episode, but the buzz on it was such that I had to make time to see if it what all the fuss was about.
Great stories from Shneck with tons of detail, but always with an eye on the bottom line and never really sensationalizing anything. A fine alternative history / cryptozoology episode that could stand up with the best of the bunch so far this year on Coast. Highlights included a "vampire" pardoned by a president, some kind of pygmy controversy, witch trial stories, Spring Heel Jack type stories, Ouiji board tales, stuff about vanishings and tons more little gems.
You know in a week where I catch both Art Bell episodes that some episode must fall through the cracks and Wednesday's episode, sadly, was the one that took the tumble. TBA turned into psychic Angela Moore, who talked about psychic stuffs and made some predictions. I'm sure you'll be able to find more detailed accounts of her predictions, but the gist of it was retirements for spiritual leaders (whatever that means), an assassination attempt on a female political leader (Hilary ?), and animals acting out more (ugh). No buzz on this one and probably only any good if you are looking to fill that void in your life since Sylvia Browne was banished from Coast.
Thursday wrapped up the week with Philip Mantle in a strong episode talking about UFOs in the USSR and the infamous Alien Autopsy film. The lowlight was some awful phone connection for Mantle in the first half hour that really killed some awesome momentum he was building up. (Thankfully, it was fixed after the first half hour) Irregardless of that, a ton of interesting material on the Soviet side of the UFO phenomenon was presented. It kind of felt rushed, in a way, like Noory was trying to squeeze way too much into that portion of the show and didn't really get into the proverbial meat of the "Dark Skies" book, which is an outstanding tome. The stuff on Alien Autopsy was interesting, in that it dealt a lot in the human aspect of the story, including a lot about the infamous Ray Santilli and the rise and fall of the AA film. Good, solid episode that only really suffered by trying to do too much.
What can I say ? It was a killer week. Greer, Mantle, and Schneck were all top notch guests and the 911 Special was C2C at its finest. You can't complain about a week like that. Kudos to Noory and company for breaking out of the doldrums of the last few weeks.
The Week That Is
On tap for the week ahead, we've got Noory and his usual hijinks that is Friday into Saturday Open Lines. No word on the pop-in, but that Joshua Tree conference isn't going to sell itself, so don't be surprised if Hoagland shows up at some point.
Saturday on "Ian", IP has Ken Jennings, of Jeopardy fame, talking about worldwide trivia buffs. Jennings has parlayed his 15 minutes of game show fame into a new book called Braniac and that will, apparently, be the source of inspiration for this interview. I'm sure Ian will ask about the infamous Jeopardy run and I suspect that will be very entertaining. A perfect guest for Ian, so I suspect good things with this one.
Saturday night on C2C proper, it will be John C. Mankins joining Art Bell and discussing solar powered satellites amongst other things. Mankins used to work for NASA and he has some wild ideas about harnessing space for clean energy and other fantastic stuffs. Art should dig it, but I'm afraid it will be too bland for my tastes. We'll see, though, I could be surprised.
Sunday night on the big show, Art has Philip Gardiner on the show to talk about scientific proof of the paranormal. Gardiner is one of those C2C guests who you always think was just on like last month, but then it turns out it was actually six months ago. Anyway, this could be good or bad, depending on what Gardiner brings to the table and whether or not Art is smelling what he's cooking.
Monday, The Noor will brave the esoteric elements as he has Michelle Belanger, self proclaimed "psychic vampire" as the guest. Given Noory's endless wailing about psychic vampires, he best wear some Depends for this one. Seriously, though, this one ought to be good as Belanger will be talking about all sorts of various aspects to the vampire niche. I suspect she'll bring some charisma and I'm sure Noory will be all about this one.
I'm already very worried about Tuesday's episode of Coast, as the guest will be William Birnes and he and Noory will launch the release of "Worker in the Light". Yes, after what seems like months (if not years) of hype, "Worker" will finally be available for mass consumption. To be honest, I am looking forward to getting my sticky little paws on the first ever Noory co-authored book. What I am not looking forward to is the potential all-out blitz of hype that we may be forced to endure on Tuesday when the book goes on sale and Noory and Birnes turn the show into an infomercial for "their baby". That said, it could be kind of funny and let's not discount the potential for laughs if the hype goes overboard. An episode worth catching, but more for the story of how it all goes down and less for the actual content.
I swear to crap that the "powers that be" at Coast to Coast may very well be reading the binnall report (there have always been unverifiable rumours, but let's not go there) as TBA again falls on a Wednesday for the 3rd straight week. For the love of Noory, would you, C2C, please dub it Wildcard Wednesday, as I have been suggesting for months, and prove once and for all that the binnall influence is heard loud and clear at C2C HQ.
Thursday, we wrap up the week with a double shot of cryptozoology as John Bindernagel and Jeffrey Meldrum join the show to talk about scientific evidence for Bigfoot. Should be interesting, as I am fairly unfamiliar with these two and I'm always interested in hearing varied points of view on the infamous 'foot. Since it is two guests, I suspect that they'll bring a lot to the table and this one has a lot of on-paper potential.
So there you have it. A decent week that is peppered with a lot of darkhorse guests who could turn out to be really good episodes. And, don't forget, you've got the Coaster potential in the "Worker in the Light" launch party as well.
BoA : Audio, Season Two
After a three month absence, I am happy to announce that BoA : Audio, Season Two will have it's monumental Season Premiere on 9.30.6, a mere two weeks from Saturday. The guest will be the same legendary esoteric researcher that helped us kick off Season One, Jim Marrs.
We'll be talking about 911, the JFK Assassination, Hurricane Katrina, the evolution of the 911 Truth Movement, and the tenuous relationship between Ufology and the 911 truth seekers. Plus, tons more.
Tomorrow : We will roll out the first (of two or three) BoA : Audio, Season Two commercials. This should give you a small taste of what's to come for Season Two. The folks who have heard it so far have really dug it and I hope you stop by BoA to check it out.
Next Week : The full schedule and guests for October will be announced
binnall report mailbag
Letter #1
Re : Tour de Noor
Hilarious! The more lampoons of George, the better...for starters, it would behoove the self-appointed King of late night talk radio (more accurately : the Wizard of Odd) to invest more time and energy into a Verbal Advantage-type of program. I am a fan of the show in general and really enjoy Art and Ian, in particular. However, if one is fairly educated and has a firm grasp on the English language, listening to George's banal, pompous and garbled patter is cruel and inhumane torture-Gitmo may not even be able to implement it in an effort to extract info' from those pesky enemy combatants! "Please,no more Noory!!!
If I have to hear one more thing about how fabulous he and his career and his book and his childhood are/were ad nauseum, I will blow myself up! Really! I will! ANYTHING is better than his insidious mangling of the English language and his hideous pontification on all topics that he truly knows very little about as he attempts to dialogue with some truly interesting, educated and vastly superior-to-his-intellect guests...if Noory keeps it up, he will be broadcasting from Beirut..." Could someone PLEASE develop a vaccine to prevent a pandemic of Noory-itis...his ego is growing at an alarming rate!
Carolyn This may be the most well written Noory critique I've ever read, and funny at that. If I receive thoughtful e-mails like this, I can only imagine the kind of stuff The Noor is bombarded with all the time. I presume he has grown desensitized to it by now.
Do I have problems with the Noor and his hosting style ? Sure. But ... I will be the first to say that Noory has an insanely difficult job, so I'm more open to granting him some slack. It's easy to say Ian is the best C2C host right now, but he only has to host one episode a week, as compared to five episodes. And while that may not seem like a big deal to the layperson, I can tell you that a workload like that is tremendous.
Far be it from me to be a Noory apologist (see my coverage of the Greer / SETI fiasco for the opposite side of the coin), the best we can hope for, right now, is for The Noor to listen to his critics, adapt his style, and evolve into a host that satisfies some of the folks in the audience who aren't thrilled with what C2C has become.
And, for the love of Pete, please get some better bumper music. This easy listening stuff they play now, more often than not, is god awful.
Letter #2 :
Hi. I just discovered your show a few weeks ago and have listened to all the archives. I think you would enjoy interviewing Alan Watt. He might fill in some of the gaps that put together the whole mystery. I like your show. Good job.
Brien in Seattle Thanks for the praise and the input on future guests. I'll be sure to check out Alan Watt. I think he's been recommended to us before, so I sense a groundswell of interest in having him on the show. I'll do my best to look at his stuff and, if possible, we'll try and get him on BoA : Audio.
Questions ? Comments ? Send them to tbinnall@hotmail.com
This Week in C2C History
9.15.2005 : Trevor Marriott joined C2C last year to discuss Jack the Ripper with Noory. Here's my take on it from last year's binnall report, "Thursday was perhaps my personal favorite of the week, with Trevor Marriott on the show to talk about Jack the Ripper. First of all, jeers to Noory for not asking an ultra rare fastblasted binnall question : "What about the theories that the Ripper murders were part of a Masonic ritual ?" Boo to you, Noory, boo.
Meanwhile, Marriott was good all around with some interesting tid bits on the Ripper, a topic underdiscussed on Coast. A part of me couldn't help but laugh at all the talk of prostitutes and seamen. Noory was amusing during those exchanges as well, sounding like someone looking for advice on how to pick up a prostitute. Noory, you cheeky bastard. Better than good episode, a "lighter" topic than usual on Coast 9.15.2003 : An excellent episode featuring Howard Storm and Debra Cunningham, who went in-depth on the Philadelphia Experiment. Sadly, they haven't been heard from on Coast since. Here's a snippet of their stuff, " '"Our focus is solely on looking for evidence we can substantiate from the government,' Strom said. To that end they have collected a wealth of declassified "secret" documents, which they believe indicate that the Navy has been and still is involved with experimentation with time travel and teleportation." (c2c.com)
9.15.1997 : Some follow up on one of the most talked about incidents in all of C2C history, "David Oates will do reversals on the call from a man claiming to be a former employee of area 51 in the near future. Art has set that show up. This is the man that was on the phone when the satellite went dead last week. Officals at Art's network have serious reservations about the excuse they have been given for the earth link loss. Art says the whole situation scared him and he doesn't like the thought that he may have been taken off the air by someone. So he may just set up the area 51 phone line again tonight. The end of the original call that listeners didn't hear has the man screaming and then sound of the phone being dropped." (artbell.com cd rom)
End Notes
Well, I'm off to tend to family commitments. I hope this week's binnall report picked up your spirits after last week's trifling affair. I suspect that for the time being, my schedule will be like this, with some weeks being full of material and some weeks being less than full. In time, it will all make sense, I assure you.
Plugs : Tomorrow @ binnallofamerica.com, experience the first taste of BoA : Audio, Season Two with the first ever BoA : Audio commercial. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, it'll make you salivate in anticipation for our season premiere in two weeks. Do check it out, I'm sure you'll dig it. Sunday, it's Lesley's C2C Rewind @ The Debris Field and smoker dave updated. Monday, R.Lee's Trickster's Realm. Tuesday, Lesley's Grey Matters. Wednesday, Khyron's The K-Files. Thursday, Hot Newz. And, Friday, we do it all again right here in the binnall report.
binnallofamerica.com ... I think you hear us knocking and I think we're coming in.
With all that said and done, I wish you well on your weekend adventures, my friends. I hope you are enjoying the beginnings of the Autumn season as much as I am and I have a feeling the weeks and months to come are going to be quite a ride. Until you hear from me next week, this is binnall ... signing off.