Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, David Crosby and friends

Another one for the ages.

 I was a music critic at Variety during my film career, they had me go by the moniker Tini, and I got to meet or review many musicians... fun gig.  At some point, Luana Anders and I were having lunch in Hugo's in West Hollywood when David Crosby came in, came over to the table to say hello to Luana. They were old pals from the 60's. He had just had his live transplant and had a new lease on life.  He was friendly and kind.

When he passed last week, as noted in the podcast, I had the distinct impression that he was in our kitchen. It's often a place where someone "pops into my head" - not sure why, but I have a simple response when they do; "It's not me you want to talk to, but Jennifer."  

I guessed he had stopped by so quickly because so many of his pals are in Luana's class on the flipside - that is, the class that has gathered since Jennifer and I began doing this kind of odd research eight years ago.

Jennifer and I get together for lunch, or a chat every week - and two years ago, I turned it into this podcast. I don't know if I'm going to see her for sure, and I don't know if she's available. She does a lot of work, so it's something we try to carve out each week.

In this case, just prior to the podcast, I took to David's Wikipedia page and jotted down some of the people in his life - I knew of the beefs between him and his band members, I'd seen the documentary about his life in Laurel Canyon - and I was aware of the "bad blood" over the years. But I was also aware of something important in his life - the relationship he had with Christine Hinton years ago - and how her sudden passing had affected him adversely.

I knew that she had been in a car accident, it is in the interview that we did with Mama Cass that is in the book "Backstage Pass to the Flipside."  I can point out that having worked with Jennifer for 8 years she's not aware of the conversations we had last week, let alone years ago, so my mentioning Christine isn't something that would jog her memory - unless someone on the flipside jogged it for her. Which happens sometimes, but not in this case.

David spoke eloquently about their relationship in this interview - about their many lifetimes together, and how wonderful it was to be back with her. Also the powerful accounts of seeing his brother Ethan (whom I read about minutes prior to the session) or his son Beckett - and he poignantly talked about seeing them on the flipside.

The reason we do this work, the reason you're hearing this podcast, the reason I'm posting it - and we have 100's posted on MartiniZone - is to demonstrate how easy it is to converse with our loved ones. You don't need a medium - it helps - you don't need a hypnotherapist - it also helps - you don't need to do meditation, but that also helps.

In this case, a profound message from Luana Anders as well about gratitude, and how powerful a mindset that can be. And David suggests that one put music into one's life - to sing, dance, allow it to remind you of who you once were, or who you aspire to be.  Music is the frequency of life, as well as carries the frequencies of love.

Tuning into the Afterlife is the book with the most musicians in it - culled from various interviews Jennifer and I have done with other musicians, including others who report that "Jimi Hendrix" was there to greet them.. Why?  We asked Jimi that question before - and he says "It allows him to participate, to help with a "soft landing" because everyone recognizes him on the flipside.

Also a shout out to John Lennon for pointing out that the lyrics of "Yellow Submarine" are related to our experience of seeing these folks in a thought bubble, in the yellow submarine of a classroom on the flipside.  Mind bending stuff to be sure.

Thanks for tuning in.