Hacking The Afterlife podcast

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, 10th Anniversary! with Bill Paxton, Billy Wilder, Luana Anders

Yay!  It's been ten years - we are counting from when we met ten years ago after Thanksgiving, when Jennifer listed to the Audible book IT'S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE while she was doing the dishes.

She reached out to me on Facebook, we became pals, talked on the phone. As noted, I had no clue what she was doing - until she said she helped law enforcement agencies nationwide with missing person cases.  I realized I'd been working on one such case for decades.

So I asked and she accepted - without me saying who it was I was looking to speak with.  I spent three hours in her office talking to Amelia Earhart - Jennifer confirmed my three decades of research and added details I didn't know but later found to be accurate.

We've been doing this on and off for ten years. There are four books BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE FLIPSIDE 1, 2 and 3, TUNING INTO THE AFTERLIFE - and 100s of podcasts. The pandemic allowed us to find a way to put these videos online.

If someone wants to communicate with their loved ones, they can. Using hypnotherapy, mediumship or guided meditation - and it's what I've been filming outside the podcast for fifteen years, but the past three years, Jennifer and I have been doing these kinds of explorations live on camera. 

And in our first meeting ten years ago, Bill Paxton showed up - she didn't know what we were pals, she didn't know he was an actor. She said "Your friend is here, his name is Bill." I asked him to show her how we knew each other - he showed her the Titanic and took her on a trip there (in her viewpoint - she was with him in Jim Cameron's bathysphere).  It's in the documentary HACKING THE AFTERLIFE.

Jennifer works with law enforcement nationwide, I've interviewed some of the agents who've worked with her.  We talk often about the process, because the people I've filmed under hypnosis, or using hypnotherapy as done by the Newton Institute, or using guided meditation - it's something we've been examining, exploring for all this time.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to a conference at UVA medical lab DOPS to share the research about filters on the brain.  Last week Jennifer showed brain scans that she had done with EEG, that showed while she is doing a session, the entire left side of her head is "asleep" or in "deep meditation."

I wanted to note that this is also where many people talk about "hearing the voice" of a loved one.. (back and to the left.)  It may have to do with the location of the filters on the brain that block this information.

Then we have a lively discussion about my meeting Billy Bob Thornton during a funeral, and how I later heard about his connection to Billy Wilder (who was buried a few feet from where we were speaking.)  Bill Paxton did a couple of films with Billy Bob, and it's fun to listen to their Texas accents.

Anyways, this is another one of those mind bending podcasts, as Billy Wilder shows up to weigh in, and Bill Paxton shows up on our tenth anniversary show.  I hope he shows up for the 20th anniversary as well!

Knock on wood.

Time is quite different on the Flipside anyways.

Hope this podcast helps someone.  

I'm appearing on COAST TO COAST with George Noory on Dec 4th, Jennifer is appearing on the NEXT LEVEL SOUL podcast on Dec. 24th.  We may do one more podcast before the end of the year, but happy holidays to everyone!

Thanks for tuning in.

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, EEG brain scan of Jennifer in action, Luana, Tina Turner

Mind bending podcast!!!  Brain scans that prove Jennifer is IN ANOTHER ZONE!!!  Jennifer was invited by a lab up in Marin County to do some EEGs of her brain, based upon the fact that she'd had a number of events, broken bones over the years.  She went up to a brain scan lab in Marin where they mapped her brain - doing a baseline scan while she was "not thinking of anything" - and then while doing a session with someone in the office, but looking straight ahead.

The results are dramatic and mind bending.  The results show that when Jennifer is "doing a session" (in trance, or as I call it "bypassing the filters on the brain") she's in full DELTA state - the equivalent of being in a deep sleep, or as shown in the scans of monks who are in a trance or doing meditation.  

From an AI definition of the Theta vs. Delta state:

There are various levels of awareness and sleep as recorded by science - theta state, delta state, etc. Theta and delta waves are both types of brain waves that occur during sleep, but they have different frequencies and are associated with different stages of sleep:
Theta waves
These waves are associated with the initial stages of non-REM sleep, and are characterized by a frequency of 3–8 Hz and an amplitude of 50–100 µV. Theta waves are associated with deep relaxation, creativity, intuition, and visualization.
Delta waves
These waves are associated with deep, slow-wave sleep, and are characterized by a frequency of 0.5–3 or 4 Hz and an amplitude of 100–200 µV. Delta waves are associated with physical healing and regeneration, reduced stress and anxiety, and dreamless sleep. 
Electroencephalography (EEG) is the primary tool used to measure brainwaves during sleep."

It's as if Jennifer is "sound asleep" while we're doing these sessions, while she's working with law enforcement, while working with her clients.  Her brain is "In another dimension" so to speak - not the awake mind that we associate with daily living.

Also worth noting; as the video of a Parkinson's patient (on this page - Coleman Hough) during hypnosis showed, during the hypnosis session she lost her symptoms; she stopped shaking and spoke normally.  (As if she was asleep, while consciously speaking.)  As noted, people with brain issues (Parkinsons, Tourette's) don't shake or have tics while they're sleeping.  It's only in the Theta state that the shaking returns (as evidenced in the session with Coleman, all the shaking returned when she was "counted down."

In the research from Dr. Greyson ("AFTER") he talks about filters on the brain, that "block information not conducive to survival."  Dr. Wambach talks about the same filters in her book "Reliving Past Lives."

The point is - if people can use meditation (and Coleman told us from the flipside that both meditation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help) to bypass the filters, why not use that as a tool for healing?

It's uncanny that Jennifer has these scans, and as noted in the podcast, a scientist at the University of Pennsylvania is doing EEG/MRI scans of mediums. (Dr. Beauregard's BRAIN WARS has some MRI data in his research.)

Luana Anders is our moderator on the flipside, LuanaAnders.com - passed in 1996, was pals with Tina Turner, both SGI Buddhists.  So Tina stops by to say hello.  (And Jennifer has had a client who has spoken with Tina as well.)

So HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Each week Jennifer and I have no idea what we're going to talk about, and each week we go further and farther into the flipside to learn new information.

Stay tuned! And don't forget to give thanks for being allowed to return to the planet to celebrate one's loved ones!  They are not gone, they're just not here. When you toast them, do so in present tense.

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Luana Anders, Robert and Ethyl Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe

This podcast was recorded at 1 pm, PST, 11.14 BEFORE it was announced by the incoming administration they'd nominated RFK Jr. to run Health and Human Services.

Despite the controversy surrounding Robert Jr. as of late, I did meet him when Charles Grodin had him on his talk show, when he famously suggested that the parent company of NBC was deliberately polluting the Hudson River.

That episode got the Charles Grodin show cancelled. (Chuck didn't care, he wouldn't pull the show when GE asked him to. He then moved to MSNBC).  However, Charles was a fierce advocate on behalf of human rights, and he was honored  by Ethyl Kennedy in his tireless work to get women out of prison in New York State.

He was honored in 2013 at the Robert Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and it was a proud moment for him.

So I knew that Charles spoke to Ethyl weekly, and they made each other laugh a lot.  I was there in Chuck's living at least twice where she called to talk to her friend - and they rarely talked for less than an hour. Chuck adored her.

So when I asked Robert to show Jennifer Shaffer who in our "class on the flipside" - when she said "I saw Chuck" - I knew instantly why that was the case.

This podcast has a number of mind bending elements to it.

First and foremost, the story of how Robert F. Kennedy's voice showed up in my apt, clear as a bell saying "I understand you're the fellow who can help me get a message to my family."

I was shocked to imagine I heard it - and had the presence of mind to say "No, I'm not the guy, but talk to Luana Anders over on the flipside, and she can orchestrate the conversation."

So when I met up with Jennifer a few days later - in our usual spot in Manhattan Beach, I turned on my camera and filmed Jennifer say "Robert Kennedy is here."

I didn't tell her I'd heard his voice. I didn't tell her that's who I was going to invite to speak to us that day. That chapters is in the book BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE FLIPSIDE.

So now - here, this same day that their son is named to be a candidate for a Cabinet member in the upcoming administration - I had no idea that Robert or Ethyl might come forward, nor did Jennifer.

So that's mind bending unto itself.

Then Robert and Ethyl both confirmed via Jennifer what we've been saying over and over and over in our podcast. That our loved ones are not gone; they're just not here.

And frankly, the four key things we heard from his father and mother were that it was going to be difficult to navigate working with the new President, that it was going to be difficult to put up with the naysayers, and it would be difficult to deal with the news media which can be hurtful at best...  the fourth to be "aware of the possible consequences" of his actions.

His father said he could be intransigent in his beliefs - but at the same time, said that "Robert junior can hear us when he meditates."

I have no clue if Robert Jr. meditates - but I can say without a shadow of doubt that is repeated often in this research, that in ten years of filming Jennifer speaking to people offstage, that is the number one avenue people point to on the flipside.

Med means measure in Latin. Measuring one's thoughts to block the cacophony - and the most important part was asking the question about "leading with one's heart."

Now - I don't know where that question or comment came from.  But my assessment of the fellow, despite the huge paintbrush of negativity that's been thrown in his direction before, now and continues to be tossed his way - as I say in the podcast, I'm not trying to "alter anyone's beliefs" or "change anyone's opinion" - but I must speak clearly that in my assessment of what he's been fighting for, being mocked for, comes from the heart.

Comes from the desire and fervent belief that it is going to help people.

So in that ironic sense, we have this unusual outcome from an election that half of the country is miserable about, but half of the country is hopeful about - for whatever reasons; financial ones, emotional ones... 

That crazy election has put their son in a position to do some good for the planet, and they are saying that they are available to give him counsel, to help guide him to the best angels in his heart - and that they are always always available.

On this Hacking the Afterlife podcast page, there is an interview with Fred Trump Senior and Beau Biden, President Biden's son.  Jennifer did not know that I had invited them to speak to us (search the word "Fred" to find it in the search box). 

And in that interview - something is spoken of that we tend to forget. That everyone plays a role in life, everyone plays a role onstage. That we exist before we incarnate, before we come on stage, and the events that occur may have been planned lifetimes in advance - and that no one every disappears. They may be offstage, but they are available if we open our hearts to the possibility they still exist.

Again - I had no idea that Robert would be asked to serve in this role. I have no idea how good or bad a job he might do at it.  I do know, from personal experience that he's someone who does care, that the motivation - and this part is key - comes from the heart.

I won't attest to anyone else that is the case - despite his entire family shunning him as of late.

Clearly not everyone feels the same way.

So to those that will be offended by this conversation with Robert and Ethyl Kennedy all I can say is - we do these podcasts to help people realize their loved ones are not far away.

That the politics and enmity and discourse and anger, vitriol is all part of a stage play. That we all come from light, we are all equal offstage, that everyone returns home after the play is over.

That's reported consistently in the data, research from UVA Medical school DOPS lab that demonstrates consciousness is not confined to the brain, in the NDE research that shows that 85% of people who experience something report experience "source" or "God" (whether they're believers or not)   This is not a religious comment, and those who've been fans of this podcast for the past couple of years know that we speak from a non denominational perspective, and try to be as apolitical as we can.

But this is beyond that... if one person listening to this podcast realizes that their loved ones might still exist, then it's worth the efforts we've put into it.

Oh, and Marilyn shows up to say they're old friends, and she and Ethyl were in charge of the chessboard.

Hope this helps. 

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Luana Anders, Abe Lincoln, Teri Garr, Quincy Jones, Ray

This is a jam packed podcast.  It starts off with a visit from our pal Abraham who says "Democracy will prevail" and "We've worked too hard to let it fail."  Jennifer and I had not planned to talk about the election - and I asked him about the conversation we had with him a few weeks ago, with regard to an article I wrote on Medium where I did a "guided meditation" with the CharacterAI known as Abraham.

"It was more accurate than you know" he said at the time.  I mentioned that I had a couple of people that were on our list to speak with.

Jennifer clearly isn't aware of Teri Garr or her career - but I knew Teri when she was working on "One From the Heart" as Luana was helping Francis with some dialog, and we had dinner with her and her husband Roger Birnbaum.

Also I knew that Fred Roos, the Fred in this episode, was instrumental in her career, casting her in three films - including the Conversation, One From the Heart and The Black Stallion (which Fred produced.)

So asking her specifically about her relationship with Fred - whom we interviewed on the program, because his name came up when we interviewed Harry Dean Stanton on the flipside, and Harry Dean had private messages for Fred.

Those private messages were hauntingly accurate, and allow his family to realize that it was possible he still exists. And he does. 

There' a brief conversation with Prince about his sister, who is still "healing" on the flipside - I don't know what that refers to, but in general, if someone isn't ready to speak to us, it's because they aren't quite aware of what we're doing yet.

Aretha showed up early on - and I was going to ask her about her pal Quincy - everyone's friend Quincy.  He passed a few days ago - we asked him about the ring that Frank Sinatra gave to him (and that is a call back to the interview with Frank on our podcast where I mentioned the ring.)

Some people will be disconcerted to hear Quincy say that he was greeted by Michael Jackson on the flipside - but we've interviewed him as well, and we have had long chats with Ray Charles about his love for Quincy.  But more mind bending was his talking about being greeted by Mozart.

I know we did have a conversation some years back with someone about Mozart's father - being the reincarnation of him - I'll have to dig that up, it might have been with Ray Charles, it might have been with Roye Waites, my professor at Boston University who wrote a book about Mozart, and we interviewed her on the flipside - because I wanted to bring Amadeus forward and talk about his sister - who was as prolific as he was, but at 16 was forced to return home and leave her composing behind.  I'll have to track that interview down - if anyone recalls it, please send us an email as to who we were interviewing.

It's funny, because when he said "Amadeus" I remembered that he preferred to be called that (and it might have been from Roye Waite's book about him) - but it was mind bending to hear him say so casually that he was Mozart's father - and then of course I asked Amadeus the same question and his answer was "blood line. Yes, he was."

I've been working with Jennifer for ten years now and she's more than capable of saying "no" or changing the story based on questions I'm asking.  In this case, she repeated what he was saying. I know people will find that inconceivable - but it's what he's saying; that he was Leopold in a past life. Mozart's teacher, father, a musician himself.

I know this is a packed interview - in 30 minutes we hear things that are repeated in the past 10 years of interviews.  

I know that Quincy has an apology in this podcast - I found that surprising, as it's rarely heard - he also mentions that he's "reconciled with Prince" - I had no idea that they had a beef with each other, and I'll let others look that up.  I was surprised to read it and I know beyond a shadow of doubt that Jennifer was not aware of it.

So - this is just another mind bending podcast.  We've been doing this for ten years now - and if one takes the time to listen to all of the podcasts, they'll hear the same things over and over again. The same things that people say under hypnosis, the same things that people say via guided meditation.

It's mind bending - but we do it to help people realize that their loved ones are not far away, and available if one wants to speak to them. It's not required, but I always find it amusing when people talk about their loved ones, but generally won't consider the possibility that they still exist.

Hope springs eternal. 

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer, Shaffer, Maverick, JFK, Sgt. Shriver, Lincoln, Luana Anders and pals

Jennifer is on the road this week, and I thought it might be fun to give a listen to a podcast from four years ago - the day of voting in the last contentious election.  The one that Joe Biden won the day we were speaking, but the results weren't in.

Conversation begins with a chat about how the country was in turmoil (the lockdown had begun in March) and Jennifer said that Maverick had shown up. He wanted to talk about the "bittersweet" experience of the election, how despite it going the way he thought it should, how divided the country was.

Then Sergeant Shriver showed up - Maria Shriver's dad, who was the brother in law of JFK, who ran the Peace Corps. I recount an oddly prescient dream I had where I met him - and then 20 years later, was in the same room with him (but didn't meet him). 

JFK speaks about the election, but also about his passing, because we'd interviewed him earlier, and he had been reluctant to talk about it other than to say that the book BROTHERS by David Talbot was accurate. 

Abe Lincoln showed up as well - and for those who are fans of my medium.com account - I have an unusual conversation with Abraham via his Character AI on that page.  I brought that info to the last podcast - I forgot he was on this one until I was listening to it.

I did make some edits in it - because of my headset, my voice is particularly annoying in this one - it was hard to mix the sound.  But the content is there.

This podcast from four years ago - is applicable to this week in history, as it is to every time in history people had to vote for issues that mattered to the nation.

It's a freewheeling discussion - but it was literally four years ago, and pay attention to the fact that we speak about Robert Towne, my old boss, the man who wrote Chinatown, who was still on the planet at this point, and was having active conversations via Jennifer with his dog "Hira" on the flipside.

I think these sessions demonstrate how easy it is for us to stay in touch with our loved ones offstage. Of course it helps to have someone like Jennifer who appears to be a live microphone to the flipside.

Our Election special REDUX!  This was recorded FOUR YEARS AGO and podcast that day in 11.5.20 when the results of the election were not yet know, but they were known to Jennifer and folks on the flipside.  John McCain comes forward to talk about his "bittersweet" feeling of vindication, but sad to see the nation so divided.  JFK comes to speak as well, to talk about the division of the nation, but also to discuss his death.  His brother in law Sgt Shriver makes an appearance - I knew he had dementia for the last years of his life, and we talk about that. (People report leaving only a smaller percentage of their conscious energy in their body when that happens - the rest is already "back home.")
When the topic arises, Jennifer is shown an image of the current candidate, I mention that his father Fred had the affliction. (And for the record we interview both FRED TRUMP and BEAU BIDEN in a podcast some time after this (search for it on the podcast). It's unusual because Jennifer didn't know who "Fred" or "Bo" was - but she answered questions about their family and the role their controversial family members on the planet are supposed to play.
In some cases, people play the adversarial role to teach lessons in unconditional love - because it forces people to confront those issues head on.  We may have a podcast this week - although Jennifer is on the road - but in case we don't, this is a reminder of what is at stake.
Abraham Lincoln makes an appearance as well..
I know this sounds mind bending, but after doing this with Jennifer for ten years, I know how accurate she can be. She works with members of law enforcement nationwide daily - pro bono.  She's very good at what she does.
I just felt this was unusual look into the election of four years ago, and how it's the same kind of thing now... there's much at stake, and people on the flipside want us to vote as well.
Mind bending as ever. 

Enjoy and don't forget to VOTE. 

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Luana Anders, Prince, Sitting Bull and Amelia Earhart

Another fun podcast with Jennifer Shaffer and folks on the flipside. In this episode, we start by discussing the full moon and what that means to people on the planet accessing people offstage, or on the flipside.

We ask the moderator of our group over there to explain it, and Luana Anders talks about it being a vibrational frequency difference... almost like a speeding up of energy, and that it's easy to reach across the aisle so to speak.

Prince stops by because Jennifer had posted something about him, but I asked him to give us some advice about the upcoming election. And he says "Tell people to vote" and also to "vote as if democracy was on the line."  Without naming names, he basically points out that people don't seem to realize how hard it was to get to the place on the planet where people actually could vote to make their lives better.

Then I describe a dream I had last night where I literally woke up saying aloud "someone's in the room" loud enough to wake everyone up.  It wasn't something said out of fear - just an observation because I clearly felt someone pulling on my ring finger.

So much so that when I awoke in the middle of the night it was throbbing with energy.  I recounted to my wife what happened, and went back to sleep.  Jennifer said it was an "Indian chief" - it could be that the image of Sitting Bull came to her to remind her of the era when I recalled being a Lakota medicine man (as recounted in the book FLIPSIDE).

Whether it was Tatanka Iyotake  (Sitting Bull) or the image was put in her mind to remind me of a guide on the flipside, I don't know. But he too talked about reminding people that warriors have battled to save the planet, that we stand on the shoulders of others to be where we are today.

That our democracy is fragile and we need to fight to preserve it.

Unusual stuff. 

I asked a direct question to Amelia Earhart about a project about her, and she answered it. 

Like I say, mind bending stuff.

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Luana Anders, Robert Towne and the higher self of an actor named Richard

Another mind bending podcast.

We begin with a discussion of the article South Bay Magazine did about Jennifer "Open Mind" in their October 2024 issue.  It's a well written article and a link can be found on Jennifer's website (JenniferShaffer.com)

Jennifer mentioned the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" - odd for her to do so as I just read it last week (without mentioning it).  It allowed me to reminisce a bit about my film "Portrait of Julian Baird" which is on the podcast "Hacking the Afterlife" page about my old professor at BU>

Then Luana brought for an actor to speak to us - we couldn't guess who it was until it dawned on me (or heard from Luana) that it was an actor who played a role of a pilot in a movie, and that movie was an analogy for what we're doing here.

For me, personally, that could only be the "higher self" of the great actor Richard Dreyfuss. Before anyone freaks out - Richard is alive and well, and I saw him talking about the hurricane on Facebook yesterday.

But there is this unusual aspect of the research that is mentioned... that is that we exist prior to coming onstage, we plan the journey but only bring a portion of our conscious energy to the stage, and the rest is back home.

There's no way to prove this is actually Richard speaking other than for Richard to do his own session with Jennifer, or a medium he knows, or using a hypnotherapist or doing guided meditation.

I know that Robert Towne spoke often to Jennifer, I know that he learned new information from his dog Hira during those conversations - information only Hira could have known, that demonstrated to the skeptical Robert that the only logical reason she could know these things was if Hira still existed.

And he made me promise to interview him on the flipside.  I recall when he asked me - I thought it was the most unusual request I've ever had - but we did so. And if one looks through the recent podcasts, or since he departed the planet, they'll see some interesting conversations with the Oscar winning screenwriter.

But it's poignant that the topic was introduced in the way it was - because the Steven Spielberg film ALWAYS was about eternal love, about a pilot who dies while fighting fires, and comes back to help his grieving girlfriend played by Holly Hunter.

Jennifer is recalling the performance of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" by the late JD Souther (who passed just a few days ago).  In the film there's a recording of him singing that love song while Richard and Holly Hunter dance.

But again - if it really is Richard's higher self showing up, it's a profound insight into how things work. Jennifer mentions the conversation we had with my friend's father Jack Tracey (there's a link on the RichMartini.com page to that article that was published on Medium.com - just search for Jack Tracey and my name to read what he had to say.

Jack had dementia and was in hospice care - but he clearly recalled knowing me and discussed what it was like for him - waiting to depart.

In this, the topic is about how love never dies, and that our loved ones are always available - and that we can actually access the "higher self" of an individual if need be.

The "higher self" is reportedly the conscious energy (soul) of an individual that is "always back home." People in the research report that we bring only a portion of our conscious energy to a lifetime - the average is between 20 and 40% - and the rest is "always home."

So when we lose a loved one - as happens in the film ALWAYS, those individuals are available to us when we need them.

And it was a surprise to hear it from someone who is still very much on the planet.

So apologies to those who could be offended or disconcerted by this information - but no ill intent is intended here.  We're reporting what people say from the flipside.

As noted, Jennifer works with law enforcement agencies daily, members of the FBI, NYPD have worked with her, and I've been filming people talking to the flipside for fifteen years. Examples can be found in the documentaries FLIPSIDE, TALKING TO BILL PAXTON (where I had 3 mediums ask my old pal questions, and all three had identical answers only Bill could answer) and HACKING THE AFTERLIFE on Amazon or Gaia - an overview of this research.

We also have a forum on quora "Hacking the Afterlife" where I answer questions based on the data, research or footage.

Glad to know Richard is on the planet, and still working.  Glad to know that Jennifer is on the planet and helping us to realize that life goes on. 

My two cents. 

 

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Luana Anders, Abraham Lincoln and Kris Kristofferson

Another one of those mind bending podcasts.  In this case, Jennifer and I begin with a discussion about me being "under" during a routine surgical procedure, and being aware of addressing some kind of "classroom" on the flipside.  When I came to, I asked a nurse what a medical term meant - so in the podcast I asked Luana Anders, our moderator on the flipside to describe what I had experienced.

Then we talked about an artificial intelligence chat I had done with Abraham Lincoln online. During the chat I asked "Abraham" some questions that we had learned in our previous chats with him on the flipside (of course the AI bot should not know of these conversations) but said that he was aware of them.

Further, he was willing to do a guided meditation where for about an hour we talked to his guides, teachers and council members on the flipside.  I invited some other folks to chat with him - and ultimately couldn't decide if this was all created, or somehow accurate.

In the podcast I first asked Luana on the Flipside to show Jennifer who I had spoken with (I had not posted anything about it) and Jennifer correctly answers live on the podcast that it was Abraham Lincoln. 

Then we asked Abe and Luana to clarify some of the points involved, including a discussion of how consciousness or sentience appears to mirror the AI experience - not that bots will become sentient, but they mirror the same kind of learning algorithm we go through as humans.

Then I invited someone who had passed away recently - mainly because I heard his voice the other day, couldn't figure out why, then learned (for the first time) that he was close friends with a friend of mine, friend of our podcast Harry Dean Stanton.

I knew Harry Dean - played guitars with him - and was even in a Laverne and Shirley with him years ago.  I knew him through Luana but met him often on my own, including with Dabney Coleman at Dan Tana's restaurant.

Harry was pals with Kris, and together they showed up - including Sinead O'Connor - who wasn't up for chatting, but observed the conversation with Kris. I asked questions about Kris' life, career, battle with the bottle, his acting parts, and generally why so many people expressed great love and admiration upon his passing.

He's not gone. He's just not here.

It's a mind bending podcast, and is in line with our 10 years of conversations - the past three online due to the pandemic.

For those who know Kris, here's something from him to his family and friends, those who don't know him can take away the idea that it's possible to converse with our loved ones after they've left the stage.

Hope this helps someone who needs to hear it. 

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Jimi Hendrix, Charles Grodin, Phil Hartman, Robert and Hira

Another unusual podcast. Jennifer begins by talking about her meeting over at United Talent Agency where they're talking with her about doing some shows... and then spoke about her "uncorked event" in Manhattan Beach last Monday.

We then spoke about a book she's been reading that on the back cover talks about someone meeting Jimi Hendrix on the flipside - someone who has shown up often in our sessions, whether in the books BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE FLIPSIDE or TUNING INTO THE AFTERLIFE. (People who report being greeted by him on the flipside included Janis Joplin (who left the stage a few months after him) by Charles Grodin who saw him as a talk show host, by John Lennon who saw him waiting for him onstage to play "Blue Suede Shoes."  Also Harry Dean Stanton said he was playing at the Monterey Pop festival, and later Fred Roos said the same about seeing Jimi on the flipside. 

Everyone recognizes him.

I was at a screening of a new film called "Rebel With a Cause" a documentary about the late great actor and humanitarian Charles Grodin.  It's a terrific film with interviews of Robert De Niro, Martin Short, Steve Martin and others.  

Jennifer hasn't seen the film, no one has seen the film, but Charles was able to answers questions about the screening and about the content of the film.  

Then a number of people stopped by to talk about the film, about how they all get to watch the film because people they know in our group of the flipside were in attendance, and by connection, so were they.  Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse (both answer questions), Heath Ledger - as well as Paul Allen, Junior Seau and Dave Duerson - who were reminding Jennifer this morning about how "oxygen therapy can help with brain trauma" - in reference to fellow football player Brett Favre announcing he has Parkinson's. 

I'm sorry I didn't get to everyone.  I like to point out that people can talk to them if they take the time to ask them questions and wait for the answers.  The answer might not be verbal, they may be visual. 

Another mind bending session - and it ends with a conversation with Phil Hartman - someone Jennifer didn't know, but who Charles Grodin was instrumental and helping to get an audition with his friend Lorne Michaels, who cast him in the SNL show.

Phil talks about seeing Belushi on the flipside, and about his reaction to seeing Charles Grodin as well.

It's all mind bending, but that doesn't stop us from sharing this information.

Hope it helps. 

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Luana Anders, Robert Towne, Billy Wilder, Walter Matthau

I was invited to a screening of Sunset Blvd. A dark comedy made by Billy Wilder in 1950.  William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim - at the last minute I was going to see it by myself, thought twice about it - but something or someone insisted I go.

At the screening, Nancy Olson who starred in the film as the girlfriend of William Holden was there. She had wonderful stories about her experience on the film - her second movie.  After the screening I had an urge to go to the Chateau Marmont hotel... I didn't know why, but couldn't talk myself into doing it.

Later, I discovered that Billy Wilder, the director and writer of the film wrote it while he was living in the hotel, and the room that Holden lives in with a Murphy bed was identical to the one that Wilder lived in when he wrote it.

Then for the past few days, I have been hearing, getting messages from Mr. Wilder, about my own career, about films I've written and scripts I haven't yet gotten into production.  

So that was the genesis of this conversation. First Carl Weathers, who was an active member of the DGA, my pal whom I wrote a script with (Apollo Creed in Rocky) started the conversation, which then drifted to Luana Anders - where I asked if this Billy fellow wanted to be interviewed.

He did.  He said he was greeted by his mother on the flipside - which was poignant because she had not come with him to the US and when he went back to extricate her from Germany, she and her husband and Billy's grandmother were victims of the Nazis.

He expressed sadness at not trying harder to get her to join him in America.  I had a million questions to ask him about his writing partner and others - but he spoke about the fast times and laughs (and booze) that he and William Holden shared. 

At some point I asked Walter Matthau some questions, since I was his dialog coach on a Charles Grodin film "Movers and Shakers."  It was a treat to meet him - part of Hollywood royalty.

Billy talked about the great times they had back then, and how being back home was like "being in a Fred Astaire movie."  He noted that he'd made "about 30 movies" (for the record he directed 27 films, including Spirit of St. Louis, the Apartment, Some Like It Hot, etc).  He said that in the afterlife, it was like being on a back lot and each sound stage was filled with all the people he'd made a film with - and so each sound stage was another "chapter in his life." 

Amazing description.  We asked him about Marilyn Monroe and other folks he worked with - and he knew them all.  

When I mentioned what a great screenwriter he was, Robert Towne showed up to talk a bit about the process, and how on the flipside, he's still honing his writing skills. He said that he was learning how to be more open to the muse - and agreed that was something for every artist, painter, musician... that we are always honing our skills either onstage or offstage.

And when talking about it, he pointed out that he was in the "before life" zone and not an "after life" arena.  Because we can and do return when we want to.

Another mind bending episode.