Author and reporter Ivor Davis has written widely on movies, entertainment, and medicine. In the first half, he discussed the careers and lives of Elvis Presley and the Beatles and touched on the Manson murders. On August 16th, it will be the anniversary of Elvis' death in 1977, and just recently, his grandson Benjamin Keough committed suicide by gunshot. Keough, the son of Lisa Marie Presley, bore a striking similarity to Elvis in appearance, said Davis, who added that there are many cases of the offspring of celebrities dying tragically. He shared his first-hand account of what happened when Elvis met the Beatles on August 27th, 1965 at a mansion in Beverly Hills. Initially, it was somewhat awkward-- they all just sat around silently watching a TV with the sound turned down. "Finally, Elvis jumped up," Davis recalled, and said "'hey you guys, I'm going to bed unless you guys want to jam.'" That broke the ice, and they ended playing some music together.
During that time frame, Elvis was a bit jealous of the Beatles' instant success, Davis remarked. He talked about the Beatles' trip to India to commune with the guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whom they took on as a kind of spiritual advisor, after the death of their manager Brian Epstein. One suspected reason that Elvis never played concerts abroad was that his manager Col. Tom Parker was believed to be an illegal immigrant, said Davis, and he feared arrest if he left the US and tried to come back. Regarding the Tate/La Bianca killings, he said that Charles Manson was never remorseful and denied having any part in their deaths. Davis, based in Los Angeles in 1969, reported on the murders back then and recently revisited this time for the new Helter Skelter documentary on EPIX.
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In the latter half, Theresa Cheung, a bestselling author in the fields of spirituality, dreams, and the afterlife, spoke about her mission to make these topics more credible and engaging. She highlighted the importance of dreams, and how many people are dreaming more vividly during the pandemic. One of the most crucial aspects of sleep is the dreaming activity, she suggested, and writing down our dreams enhances our ability to understand them. You could think of dreams as communication to us in another language, she continued-- a world of symbols imbued with personal significance. Dreams that you have between 3-5 am may have the most inspirational or powerful impact, and should definitely be recorded, she added.
Cheung talked about her research into near-death-experiences (NDEs), and found that such reports are on the increase because resuscitation techniques have become more advanced. While it has been thought that those who believe in paranormal phenomena are very gullible, she noted that her collected accounts come from people in all walks of life, including doctors, lawyers, nurses, and teachers. There was a study, she added, showing "that the more intelligent you are, the more likely you are to believe in the possibility of there being more to this life than the material." In the last hour, she offered interpretive analysis to callers' dreams.
News segment guests: Dr. Peter Breggin, Cal Orey