Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Luana, Henry Jaglom, Orson, Peter, Sally, Dennis, Carl
Hacking The Afterlife podcastShow Notes
This is an unusual version of the podcast. An old friend passed, someone I've known for 40 years, someone who was friends with our moderator Luana Anders on the Flipside, and by his own estimate was friends with 80% of our class on the flipside. Henry Jaglom was a Hollywood icon, known by everyone, knew everyone, used to hold the most attended New Year's Eve parties where I got to meet the cast of the Sopranos, met Ang Lee, Oscar winning actors, directors - Peter Bogdanovich, would run into my friend Carl Weathers and Sally Kellerman and her husband Jonathan Krane. It was always fun - and Orson was a born raconteur. He also didn't believe in the afterlife at all. He was adamant about it - and if the topic came up, would squint at me, wrinkle his brow, shake his head - just the way Luana's pal BJ Merholz does when the topic comes up. All I can say is Harry Dean Stanton was the King of Skeptics - and when we spoke to him on a number of occasions (and he proved beyond a shadow of doubt he still existed by giving me private health messages to friends of his at his memorial - who were flabbergasted to hear what Harry had to tell them as only he could have known those intimate details from the Afterlife.. Harry told us to tell people to "believe in the possibility of an afterlife so they don't waste another minute of their lives arguing about it like I did." As noted in the podcast, Jennifer was able to squeeze me in today when I told her a friend had passed, without telling her anything about it, and his friends had already reached out to me to ask some questions. So sincere best wishes to his family, to his kids, to his exwives, to all those who loved him and think this is an unusual way to pay our respects. Yes, I know that Orson Welles was upset that he caught Henry secretly taping him - I heard it from Orson's secretary at a party at Henry's house. She whispered to me that Orson felt so betrayed, "He never left his home again." I didn't have to tell Jennifer who I was asking about - she could see them. And to be clear - Jennifer is not a movie fan, she spends much of her day on criminal cases helping out various law enforcement agencies pro bono - I've interviewed some of those agents or detectives. She is interpreting what she gets - like when I asked her on BJ Merholz behalf - "who introduced him to Henry?" I thought it might be their mutual pal Jack Nicholson - but Jennifer got that it was a woman - and wasn't Luana (even though that makes sense) but really couldn't pin down who it was. Why? Who cares? She was aware of Bert Schneider without knowing who he was (or how his first name is spelled) and how he "left the planet too early." (How could she know?) Or that Dennis was Dennis Hopper, or that Orson was Orson Welles - she knew nothing, zero, zippo about Henry Jaglom and most people who knew Henry didn't know that much about him anyways. Finally it wasn't until I was listening to the podcast when I realize why Carl Weathers and Sally Kellerman were teasing him about "being in our class." I realized that they were referring to the fact that he was adamant about life going on - and I suspect those who knew this about Henry will continue to believe that is the case - but in doing this work with Jennifer EVERY WEEK for the past ten years, I can report we've had many skeptics, curmudgeons show up to talk to us about how surprised, gob smacked, shocked they were to realize that life goes on. Life goes on. Get over it. Thanks for tuning in.
More from Hacking The Afterlife podcast
Another mind bending podcast. Amelia Earhart is in the news - and came through to talk about what the expedition means to her. She then was followed by the screenwriter, my old boss Robert Towne who wanted to weigh in on Tom Cruise's performance in the film "DIGGER." Robert worked with Tom often, and he gave it a rave. And then - both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel stopped by - whom we interviewed before in BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE FLIPSIDE BOOK THREE, and they gave their thumb reviews. Mind bending stuff all the way around. The recent book SHE WAS NEVER LOST: The Amelia Earhart Saga is available everywhere.
This is a rerun of a podcast from two years ago - it didn't have subtitles but I've included them now. This was an unusual podcast just based on the folks who showed up to chat with us. Jennifer and I had taken a trip to the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Blvd, and we had a group of folks who stopped by to say hello. At some point John Belushi talked about "ghost watching" - not to show up in the hotel to watch people onstage, but to watch "the other ghosts wandering around." Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson showed up to talk about early exits - people who leave the stage early for whatever reason. And that brought a bunch of people forward, from JFK to Elvis, to Matthew Perry, Robin Williams and others... the point they were making is that people leave the stage in all different fashions, and it's about focusing on who they were while they were onstage, and not how they left it. We had a brief chat with Gene Hackman again - to clarify what happened in light of the police reports... and he made a joke about it. I try to repeat the advice that these folks are available to anyone if they take the time to ask them questions. But be prepared for them not being all that interested in questions that relate to our journey and not theirs. I asked my old pal Charles Grodin about what it was like to see his old friend Gene, and then we shifted to an event that happened later in the day. While dining at Musso and Frank's in Hollywood two members of my group saw "a ghostly figure" sitting in the corner of the room. They didn't know who it was or could be, but said he "looked like the actor Robert Downey Jr." (And even then they didn't know his name either, and asked questions about someone named "Downey") They also heard him talking about "table #1" to them - so I invited the waiter to stop by the table and simply asked about any ghosts people might have seen in the restaurant. He said "Charlie Chaplin" and I asked where table #1 was - and he mentioned the table that I had lunch with Jonathan Winters - which was table #1 - and how that's where Charlie liked to dine. We asked Charlie about why he was seen "scribbling notes" and he said it was the place he liked to have good ideas and good food, but also said in this instance, he showed up so that members of my group would see him, and that would inspire me to invite him to chat on our podcast. I don't know how else to put it - but Jennifer and I have been doing this weekly for ten years. Not everyone who shows up in our conversations is a celebrity - but because of my 40 years in the business, and Luana Ander's 300 TV shows and movies (my friend who moderates our podcast from the Flipside, who passed in 1996) I'm not surprised when people do show up that we can recognize. Jennifer's father Jim also stopped by to clarify some things, and I must say - the topic of leaving the stage early came up - if someone is in need of help or counseling, there is help - and one should reach out to 988 and the counselors there from any telephone. But in my desire to not use the S word in the podcast, I tried to leave it out of the conversation, as the algorithms will generally not want it to be discussed - but the important point was made by people offstage - that is to realize that life goes on no matter what happens, and that everyone onstage signed up to be onstage, and should see what things might occur or happen that we could not be aware of. Oh, and Robin Williams showed up to not only discuss the same topic, but to confirm that during a recent guided meditation, this woman saw him in her "classroom in the afterlife" - and he confirmed that it was him BEFORE I COULD ASK THE QUESTION. Anyways, all of it is mind bending, and hopefully whomever needs to hear what they are talking about is able to hear what they're trying to say. Thanks for tuning in!
THIS IS A PODCAST WE DID ON THIS DATE TWO YEARS AGO IN 2024. Before the book SHE WAS NEVER LOST came out... but the story remains the same. This version has subtitles for the hard of reading, but the sound is the same for the hard of hearing! xo
Today's episode begins with a discussion about talking to people on the flipside - Jennifer describes the over 200 people that she read recently, and gives an account of one of the stories where someone came through and flipped out their family when the grandmother said "I'm so glad you didn't get that tattoo!"
Another mind bending podcast... Elvis introduced Jennifer to his friend Dolly Parton. I had an inkling she would show up this week - as the day she passed I heard her voice say "I'd love to be on your show Richard" or something to that effect. I know I was thinking about something else at the time, so was suprised to hear it. And for the next couple of days it felt like we were having a conversation - me hearing Dollyisms (as a jaded blues music player, Dolly was not on any of my play lists, although I admired her voice and writing skills). So for a couple of days, I kept hearing funny comments and remarks - and then nothing the past few days, so I wasn't sure if she'd show up or not. But she did. Jennifer is a huge fan, and becomes emotional while repeating what Dolly asks her to say. Jennifer wasn't aware of the duet "Islands in the Stream" with Kenny Rogers, but Dolly made her aware of that. I asked her the same questions I ask all of our guests; who greeted her? (Husband Carl). Was that a surprise? (No, because he'd been standing by for her since he left). She spoke about her mediumship abilities - something I'd read about prior to the session. Other tidbits of fun - and observation about what it's like on the other side, and how musicians hang out together. She was and is a fan of Aretha's - and brought her along with... We spoke briefly with my pal Charles Grodin about the premiere of the documentary on TCM about him last friday night "Rebel With a Cause" and he mentioned to Jennifer his work with getting people out of prison (she hasn't seen the documentary, so it's not something she would know about). Anyways, just another day at the office. Enjoy.