The Drop the Needle Podcast

Brad Pitzele beat Lyme disease, then autoimmunity, then melanoma. And somewhere in the middle of all that, he stopped just trying to survive and started asking a bigger question: what does the body actually need to heal?

In his thirties Brad developed autoimmune arthritis and ended up on a treadmill of drugs that helped a little less each time, until a known side effect showed up as melanoma. His doctor's answer was another drug in the same class, and to hope for the best. Those words kept ringing in his ears. Years of diets, supplements and treatments later, a test finally came back positive for Lyme disease and a co-infection called Bartonella, and the doctor who ordered it sent him out the door with one suggestion: look into oxygen.

We talk about the dark, isolating side of chronic illness, faking it through the workday with a young family at home, and why Brad says you can't just have a seat at the table when it comes to your health. You need to be at the head of it. He walks us through the day his symptom journal showed him 13 symptoms had quietly disappeared, breaks down oxygen, inflammation and mitochondria in plain English, names the biggest mistakes people make while trying to heal, and explains why he believes hope may be the most powerful tool you have. I share a family story of my own about being told to trust the experts, and we get into how a homemade oxygen setup became 1000 Roads.

And stay for the Playlist Round: Joan Jett, Led Zeppelin, Phish, the Grateful Dead and Widespread Panic, "Eye of the Tiger," Paolo Nutini, Neil Young, and the one song Brad's daughter has played more than 5,000 times.

Brad shares his own experience; nothing in this episode is medical advice. Talk with your own doctor before starting any new therapy.

KEY TOPICS
Autoimmune arthritis and the medication treadmill · When a side effect becomes melanoma · A late Lyme disease and Bartonella diagnosis · The isolation of chronic illness · Owning your own health · Oxygen, inflammation and mitochondria · Exercise with oxygen therapy and red light · Progress over perfection · Hope, the mind and the spirit in healing · Depression as energy conservation

SOUND BITES
"A healthy person has a thousand wishes and a sick person only has one."
"You need to own your own health. Not just have a seat at the table. You need to be at the head of the table."
"I was a denier until it became undeniable."
"Progress is more important than perfection, I always say, in the path to healing."
"Everyone has to travel their own road to wellness."

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:40 Meet Brad Pitzele
1:13 Where Brad was and where he is today
5:43 Lyme disease, autoimmunity and melanoma
8:45 The emotional side of chronic illness
10:23 From waiting to be fixed to figuring it out
13:44 Jim's story: becoming your own advocate
18:02 Energy, oxygen and mitochondria
20:21 What feeling better actually felt like
24:27 When your tests are clean but you still feel terrible
27:54 Oxygen and mitochondria, explained simply
31:16 The biggest mistakes that slow healing
33:57 Adding more vs. stripping it back
36:01 What 1000 Roads does and who it's for
40:01 Red light therapy explained
42:53 Body, mind and spirit
43:49 Depression and the body
45:51 The Playlist Round
51:39 Outro

CONNECT WITH BRAD PITZELE
1000 Roads: onethousandroads.com
YouTube: youtube.com/@OneThousandRoadsHQ
Instagram: @onethousandroadshq

TODAY'S PLAYLIST
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/56TSEx94PmOsu1S4moF7fV

FROM YOUR HOST
Mentioned in this episode or just want to go deeper?
📖 Did I Just Have a Spiritual Awakening, or Was It Something I Ate?
🌐 jimalstott.com
🎙️ dtnpodcast.com

If this episode found you at the right moment, the best thank-you is simple: like, comment, and subscribe so you never miss what's next.

He drowned in his own pool, woke up on the bottom under a full moon, and came back with an equation for happiness.

For years, Thayne Martin looked like a man who had it all figured out: six-time President's Club, top 10% nationwide, a career built on breaking sales records. Underneath it he was carrying a secret from childhood, abuse that began when he was a boy in Phoenix, and a stack of diagnoses that included dissociative identity disorder, bipolar I and complex PTSD. He tells us how he hid it, how it surfaced in a board meeting, and the woman who never gave up on him.

Then, on August 13, 2023, alone in the pool late at night, he had a seizure and drowned. It was his second near-death experience. He woke up at the bottom of the pool, calm, an atheist with no idea how to get out, until a voice said: move your head. What came back with him became ELAH, the Equation of Life and Abundant Happiness: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division applied to your emotional life, plus "net neutral," the "gratitude cocktail," and why he says fear is a direction, not a stop sign.

And stay for the Playlist Round: ZZ Top, Propaganda, Above & Beyond, Donna Summer with the Phoenix Symphony, and the song that carried a little boy over the rainbow.

This conversation includes Thayne's account of childhood sexual abuse, addiction and suicide attempts. If it brings something up for you, in the US you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Thayne shares his own experience; nothing here is medical advice.

KEY TOPICS
Hiding childhood trauma behind a high-performing career · Dissociative identity disorder, without the Hollywood myth · Two near-death experiences by drowning · Leaving the victim story behind · ELAH: the Equation of Life and Abundant Happiness · Net positive, net negative and net neutral · Experiential gratitude and the "gratitude cocktail" · The principle of abundance · Music as vibration

SOUND BITES
"I'm not a victim. I was never a victim. None of us are."
"I woke up at the bottom of the pool. That's where I woke up."
"Happiness in life comes when we're authentic, a hundred percent who we are without filters."
"Fear is a sign and a direction. Fear just says I can learn something here."
"There's only one thing on the other side. It's love."

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:36 Phoenix, age five, and the secret he carried
03:42 "I'm not a victim. I was never a victim."
05:24 Every diagnosis was a coping mechanism
05:55 Seven pillboxes a day, and then zero
06:17 August 13, 2023: alone in the pool at night
07:02 Waking up at the bottom of the pool under a full moon
08:09 An atheist comes back with a "download"
10:02 "Move your head": the breath that got him out
12:28 Six-time President's Club: what the man on stage believed
14:40 The gap between the facade and the true self
17:05 A life of success, and a secret underneath it
18:19 The best liar in the world
20:40 Gratitude and unconditional love as neuroscience
21:56 Every sunrise since September 2024
22:26 Experiential gratitude and the "gratitude cocktail"
25:18 Which diagnosis explained the most
28:11 The board meeting that ended his career
28:45 A love story: the woman who never gave up
29:54 What he wishes someone had said
31:38 Net positive, net negative, and living in net neutral
34:37 Two near-death experiences: what the first one showed him
37:55 The first thing he did when he came back
39:18 Love as the power that operates everything
40:48 Why we remember what we feel
41:59 What happened to the men responsible
43:24 A lawsuit, scholarships, and a donation-based program
44:24 ELAH: why math is the language of the universe
45:44 Add and subtract: balancing to neutral
46:49 Multiply and divide: the principle of abundance
48:59 From growing up scarce to giving it away
50:09 Letting go of ego, and a love that never punishes
51:34 Fifty years at the piano: everything is vibration
54:21 What he still gets wrong about his own equation
55:12 Vasopressin, oxytocin and dopamine
58:48 Playlist Round: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
59:53 Road trips: Mom's 70s records, and disco
1:00:37 Senior year: ZZ Top's Eliminator
1:01:17 College: Propaganda's A Secret Wish
1:03:01 Pump-up: his "Shift" playlist and Above & Beyond
1:04:30 Guilty pleasure: Donna Summer and the Phoenix Symphony
1:05:04 The song written for him: "Blue Sky Action"
1:05:48 All-time favorite: why the rainbow
1:06:46 Thank-yous, where to find Thayne, and we drop the needle

RESOURCES MENTIONED
Above & Beyond, "Gratitude" and "Blue Sky Action"
Propaganda, A Secret Wish
ZZ Top, Eliminator
Donna Summer
"Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz

CONNECT WITH THAYNE MARTIN
It's Pure Love / ELAH: https://www.itspurelove.com
Instagram: @itspureloveofficial

TODAY'S PLAYLIST
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/089P25t56cNoqYmagZ8yuR

FROM YOUR HOST
Mentioned in this episode or just want to go deeper?
📖 Did I Just Have a Spiritual Awakening, or Was It Something I Ate? https://a.co/d/020nrzCH
🌐 jimalstott.com https://www.jimalstott.com
🎙️ dtnpodcast.com https://www.dtnpodcast.com

If this episode found you at the right moment, the best thank-you is simple: like, comment, and subscribe so you never miss what's next.

#DropTheNeedle #ThayneMartin #NearDeathExperience #Gratitude #UnconditionalLove #SpiritualAwakening #Healing #ELAH

What if you reach the top of your mountain and it turns out to be the wrong one?

In 2000, Matt Ludmer and his partner were named the No. 1 producing team at DLJ. He walked up to collect the award, and his very next thought was, "Where do I go from here?" Earlier that year he had wandered into a matinee of a play called Wrong Mountain, and its question never left him.

Matt grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, the son of a man who sold staples and nails up and down the Turnpike. He talked his way into the University of Chicago by sitting outside the dean's office, talked his way into Morgan Stanley by walking into a recruiting lunch uninvited, and spent decades building wealth for other people while quietly studying meditation, Tibetan Buddhism and Judaism on the side. For years, none of those worlds knew about the others. At his 50th birthday, none of his best friends knew each other.

We talk about the thirteen years between knowing and leaving, why a risk manager decided the risk of staying was worse, the day he wrote ARTICULATION on his daughter's wall and saw her light dim, a week alone in a Vermont cabin where he started laughing on day three, and what his father knew about contentment that took Matt forty years on Wall Street to learn. His new book, The Right Mountain, comes out October 20.

And stay for the Playlist Round: Led Zeppelin, Queen, Al Green, a tenor aria, and the Knicks.

KEY TOPICS
Reaching the top and asking "where do I go from here?" · Living two lives: Wall Street and the meditation cushion · The four dimensions of true wealth · Intelligent risk and the decision to leave · Money as achievement, not fulfillment · Being spiritual in business · Parenting and the achiever mindset · A solo retreat and laughing at your own story · Must do, fun to do, and what your heart wants · What a father's contentment teaches

SOUND BITES
"Did it ever occur to you that you may be on the wrong mountain?"
"I'm a wealth manager and I didn't feel wealthy."
"My job is not managing money. My job is managing risk."
"Money is achievement, but it's not fulfillment."
"Wisdom has many, many lifetimes."

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:06 Matt's thumbnail: Teaneck, a staples salesman's son, and the road to Wall Street
02:14 Tibetan teachers at 18, and camping outside the dean's office
03:35 Two lives: meditation in the dorm, Morgan Stanley by day
04:35 Unintentional Fridays and a play called Wrong Mountain
05:29 The lightning moment, and the No. 1 producer award
07:04 Uncle Marvin the headhunter, and where the nerve came from
08:36 A motivation box on the wall and reading Emerson
10:07 Walking uninvited into Morgan Stanley's recruiting lunch
11:58 The downside of the achiever mindset
12:28 His daughter Grace and the word ARTICULATION
14:48 Scottsdale, 2000: "Where do I go from here?"
15:37 Thirteen more years, and a wealth manager who didn't feel wealthy
16:15 Ken Wilber and a map for a fragmented life
18:10 A 50th birthday where none of his best friends knew each other
19:58 The four dimensions of true wealth
21:28 Fear, money, and a family to support
22:57 "My job is managing risk"
23:57 Losing his light, and the decision to leave
25:14 Stay with the question: advice for anyone at a crossroads
27:05 What he yearns for now, and the purposes of money
29:31 Money is achievement, not fulfillment
30:30 You don't have to renounce the world to be spiritual
31:58 Can you be spiritual and still sell?
34:21 "Your dad's a really good guy"
35:49 The secret life: who he hid from the longest
38:26 Imams, priests and rabbis: the result that matters
39:47 "I want to be wise"
41:10 The kinds of wealth AI won't change
43:31 2008, a cabin in Vermont, and a laugh on day three
47:24 Labels, identity, and laughing at yourself
48:59 Must do, fun to do, and what your heart wants
51:06 Having a view: a map made of other people's wisdom
54:07 Being lit up about your life
55:08 The Old Croton Aqueduct and the sound of a basketball
56:16 What his father knew that took 40 years on Wall Street to learn
58:04 Ma Tovu: arms wide open in Central Park
1:01:19 Playlist Round: Led Zeppelin and an omen
1:02:08 Road trips with three daughters and Diana Ross
1:03:01 Senior year: Queen
1:03:36 College, his friend Dave Goldberg, and Pat Metheny
1:05:03 Pump-up song: the Knicks, NBA champions
1:05:58 Guilty pleasure: Otis Redding and a tenor aria
1:07:25 Al Green and Sly and the Family Stone
1:08:40 The song that stops him: The Right Mountain album
1:10:52 Healing frequencies and three bodies
1:12:28 Today's song: James Taylor's "Secret O' Life"
1:13:46 Where to find Matt, and we drop the needle

RESOURCES MENTIONED
Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything (Integral theory)
George Kinder, the "father of life planning"
Wrong Mountain (the play, 2000)
The Aligned Center, Irvington, NY
Robert Peng, qigong master
Pat Metheny
Al Green, "Love and Happiness"
James Taylor, "Secret O' Life"

CONNECT WITH MATT LUDMER
The Right Mountain (out October 20, 2026; pre-order now): https://therightmountainbook.com
Aligned Wealth: https://alignedwealthmanagement.com

TODAY'S PLAYLIST
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3gMES9eaRTwgDa0ehP8zWQ

FROM YOUR HOST
Mentioned in this episode or just want to go deeper?
📖 Did I Just Have a Spiritual Awakening, or Was It Something I Ate? https://a.co/d/020nrzCH
🌐 jimalstott.com https://www.jimalstott.com
🎙️ dtnpodcast.com https://www.dtnpodcast.com

If this episode found you at the right moment, the best thank-you is simple: like, comment, and subscribe so you never miss what's next.

#DropTheNeedle #MattLudmer #TheRightMountain #TrueWealth #Meditation #SpiritualAwakening #MoneyAndMeaning #WallStreet

What happens when a guy runs for mayor of Los Angeles on a platform of love?

Helix Wolfson did exactly that. He legally changed his name to Paul E. Amori, put on a three-piece red suit, and ran for mayor on one question: what would love do? He came in last. He also walked off a debate stage with a dozen people telling him he'd earned their vote, and he says it felt like winning.

That's one chapter. Helix grew up in the theater, made films, built stages at Burning Man and Lightning in a Bottle, and when COVID cancelled Burning Man he helped build the Infinite Playa, a virtual version of it. That project grew into Infinite Reality, a metaverse company that reached a $12 billion valuation. Then he walked away.

We talk about what survives when you move a sensory experience like Burning Man into a virtual world, the difference between the cutting edge and the bleeding edge, and why the people who start a company usually aren't the ones who end up running it. Then we get into AI, and his answer surprised me: he thinks we're not scared enough. We go back and forth about jobs, fulfillment, and what's happening in the workforce I see every day in my recruiting work, and we land on the one thing he believes technology can't replace: being in a room with other humans.

And stay for the Playlist Round: Helix shares some big personal news for the first time, right here on the show.

KEY TOPICS
Running for mayor as Paul E. Amori · Leading with love instead of fear · Career politics and liquid democracy · Building a virtual Burning Man · Amori's Casino and Burlesque · From startup to $12 billion, and walking away · Cutting edge vs. bleeding edge · Founders vs. operators · AI fear, AGI and superintelligence · Jobs, fulfillment and the changing workforce · What technology can't give us

SOUND BITES
"What would love do was my mantra."
"To become authentic while assuming a role is quite a feat."
"The bleeding edge… is as painful as it sounds."
"I'm not sure you'll like this answer, but I actually think we're not scared enough."
"Those are the places where we will always want to be in human connection."

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:12 Helix's thumbnail: theater kid, filmmaker, Burning Man builder
03:34 COVID, a cancelled Burning Man, and a $12 billion detour
05:35 Paul E. Amori and the Love Party
05:57 The alter ego came first: mayor of Lightning in a Bottle
08:05 Legally changing his name to run for mayor of LA
09:47 Trump wins, a dark night of the soul, and "what would love do?"
12:06 What a festival taught him about fear and love
13:44 3,300 votes: love came in last
15:06 Getting Candid with the Candidates over coffee
16:30 The debate nobody else would hold
20:23 Authentic in a wig: the night he earned their votes
21:26 What losing taught him about career politics
26:03 Liquid democracy and the most loving solution
27:59 Burning Man goes virtual: what survived the crossing
33:52 Amori's Casino and Burlesque
39:04 From a startup to $12 billion, and walking away
41:00 The cutting edge vs. the bleeding edge
43:22 Why founders leave what they built
44:52 Three new companies in a few months
47:05 AI and fear: "I actually think we're not scared enough"
50:29 AGI, superintelligence, and the robots
53:54 Jim's view from hiring: who shows up for work
56:22 Fulfillment: human work vs. machine work
59:14 Eighteen job changes in one career
1:02:06 What employers can do about it
1:03:40 What technology can't give us
1:07:14 Playlist Round: Bennie and the Jets
1:08:08 Reggae road trips, Toots, and a rubber chicken
1:10:24 Hip-hop, jazz, and anything with brass
1:11:53 Pump-up songs and a guilty pleasure
1:13:46 Sleeping at Last's "Saturn"
1:15:01 Tears for Fears in the desert
1:16:15 Big news: Helix is about to become a dad
1:17:56 Where to find Helix, and we drop the needle

RESOURCES MENTIONED
Meow Wolf (immersive art experiences)
Lightning in a Bottle (music festival)
Burning Man and its Ten Principles
The Midnight Mission, Skid Row, Los Angeles
Sleeping at Last, "Saturn"
Tears for Fears, "Rivers of Mercy" (2022)

CONNECT WITH HELIX WOLFSON
Website: https://heliximagen.ai
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helixwolfson/
Instagram: @helixalot

TODAY'S PLAYLIST
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2C1Isy7ZizMYackwMq4ukr

FROM YOUR HOST
Mentioned in this episode or just want to go deeper?
📖 Did I Just Have a Spiritual Awakening, or Was It Something I Ate? https://a.co/d/020nrzCH
🌐 jimalstott.com https://www.jimalstott.com
🎙️ dtnpodcast.com https://www.dtnpodcast.com

If this episode found you at the right moment, the best thank-you is simple: like, comment, and subscribe so you never miss what's next.

#DropTheNeedle #HelixWolfson #BurningMan #ArtificialIntelligence #Metaverse #LeadWithLove #ImmersiveExperience #SpiritualAwakening

How much of what you're carrying is actually yours?

Connie Smock, Connie Warrior of Light, is back for her third visit, and this time we get practical. Her book, Shift Your Energy, Change Your Life!, is built around one word: fear. After 35 years of readings and energy healings, she says fear is what blocks most people, and a lot of what feeds it is energy they picked up somewhere else and never put down.

We talk about why the people who challenge us most are our biggest teachers, what sales school taught her about celebrating the no's, and why staying in a relationship that's over can hurt the other person more than leaving. Then we get into energy clearing in plain English: what it is, how to tell what's yours from what isn't, the quick clearing she says anyone can do today, and why sage and holy water never touched what was in her own house.

Then I put myself in the chair, and Connie reads me live, on the air.

KEY TOPICS
Fear as the root of most blocks · The people who challenge us as teachers · Celebrating the no's · Why staying can hurt the other person more · Energy clearing in plain English · Body testing: what's yours and what isn't · Discarnate souls and "hitchhikers" · Interdimensionals and why sage wasn't enough · A quick daily clearing · The seven sacred flames · Developing clairsentience · A live tarot reading

SOUND BITES
"The people who challenge us the most… those are your biggest teachers."
"Celebrate the no's… because you're that much closer to your yes."
"You're hurting that other person more… that other person could be with someone who actually looks forward to seeing them every day."
"If you never washed your physical body ever… how many layers of filth and dirt would you have? … It's the same thing with spiritual clearing."

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:41 Connie Smock, back for a third visit
01:52 The Listening Field retreat, and why she does qigong every day
05:32 Why fear? The spine of her book
10:01 Sales school: celebrate the no's
11:47 35 years of readings. What finally made her write it
14:25 "Yeah, for you": the gap between knowing and doing
17:56 The skier, the toddler, and getting back up
19:59 The waterfall breath
21:59 Jumping timelines
23:10 Who the book is for, and why staying can hurt them more
27:40 What she'd change, the workbook, and Jim narrating the audiobook
29:54 Energy 101: not all of it is good for you
31:13 High and low vibrations, and the headless figure on the stairs
33:12 The fastest clearing: Michael, Raphael and the violet flame
34:44 Energy clearing in plain English: a hundred coats
36:58 What's yours and what isn't: body testing
41:18 If you never clear: hitchhikers and souls that don't cross
45:18 What a clearing feels like: "night and day"
47:37 People vs. houses, and the interdimensionals
53:11 When to call a pro, and why sage isn't enough
56:34 A clearing you can do today, plus the seven sacred flames
1:00:33 Do you walk the house? Intention over the tool belt
1:04:30 Start developing your gifts: the clairsentient truth test
1:08:59 Connie reads Jim live
1:15:50 Her six-day psychic mediumship course
1:19:13 Where to find Connie, and we drop the needle

RESOURCES MENTIONED
Shift Your Energy, Change Your Life! by Connie Smock
Spiritual Clearings by Diana Burney

CONNECT WITH CONNIE SMOCK
Website and newsletter: https://conniewarrioroflight.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conniewarrioroflight
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conniewarrioroflight
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conniewarrioroflight
Guided Psychic Mediumship Program, live on Zoom, October 19–24, 2026
Live Open Forum Mediumship at Red Lotus Yoga, Rochester Hills, MI, Sunday, November 8, 2026

TODAY'S PLAYLIST
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4TMGhQDIlE36PUeX3LBfN4

FROM YOUR HOST
Mentioned in this episode or just want to go deeper?
📖 Did I Just Have a Spiritual Awakening, or Was It Something I Ate? https://a.co/d/020nrzCH
🌐 jimalstott.com https://www.jimalstott.com
🎙️ dtnpodcast.com https://www.dtnpodcast.com

If this episode found you at the right moment, the best thank-you is simple: like, comment, and subscribe so you never miss what's next.

#DropTheNeedle #ConnieWarriorOfLight #EnergyClearing #AngelMedium #Qigong #SpiritualAwakening #Mediumship #Tarot

What does a child who never spoke a word leave behind?

Mike Gomoll's son Joey died at five. With Butch Vig, he built Joey's Song: $2 million raised for epilepsy research, zero paid staff. Dravet syndrome, Freezing Man, 35 artists playing free.

Joey couldn't speak. When the music came on, he'd find whoever was in the room, grab a finger, and make sure they were dancing. Fifteen years later his dad runs Joey's Song and Freezing Man, two nights at a 2,500-seat room in Madison with members of Guns N' Roses, Cheap Trick, Tears for Fears, The Bangles and the Goo Goo Dolls, all of them playing for nothing.

Mike on the misdiagnosis years, the brain's "blue screen of death," the night Butch Vig asked what he could do to help, and why one in 26 people have epilepsy and hardly anyone says so out loud.

✨ In this episode:
✅ Joey, Dravet syndrome, and two years of misdiagnosis
✅ Why music got through when words couldn't
✅ Epilepsy as the brain's blue screen of death
✅ Zone defense: protecting Julia and Sam
✅ Grace for the people who say the wrong thing
✅ How a CD release party became Joey's Song
✅ The night Butch Vig asked how he could help
✅ Freezing Man: 35 artists, two nights, nobody paid
✅ One in 26: why epilepsy stays in the shadows
✅ Making the ask for Joey's Song

Sound bites
"Then we lost Joe, and it was time to help the next family."
"You saw the sun in his face."
"My five-year-old son died. I need your help."

Chapters
00:00 The kid who made sure you were dancing
01:46 Welcome, Mike
02:10 Headliners, IBM, and the road back to Wisconsin
04:50 Three kids from Guatemala, and Joey's first seizure
05:20 "Then we lost Joe, and it was time to help the next family"
06:42 Why music got through when words couldn't
07:37 Epilepsy as the brain's blue screen of death
10:00 What you saw in Joey's face
11:35 Two years of misdiagnosis
12:11 The small breakthroughs that carried them
17:50 Zone defense: protecting Julia and Sam
18:55 Grace for the people who say the wrong thing
20:05 Joey's Song begins as a CD release party
22:23 Butch Vig makes the fatal mistake of asking how he can help
24:17 "You never know who's going to show up"
27:52 Rock camp for musicians
32:44 Boyfriends vs. Girlfriends: the battle of the bands
35:41 Why epilepsy stays in the shadows
39:58 One in 26: every seventh house on your block
41:37 "My five-year-old son died. I need your help."
43:21 What Joey would make of all this
45:03 The playlist round
46:56 Three songs that always filled the dance floor
48:56 Carry On Wayward Son
51:52 Start Me Up
52:49 Guilty pleasure: Call Me Maybe and Harry Styles
54:15 The song the world needs right now: Everybody Hurts
56:13 "Name," and the breakup that still stings
1:01:34 How to help Joey's Song

Today's Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1o15TNcLS2oNtfEHU50tWs

💬 QUESTION FOR YOU
Who taught you something important without ever saying a word?
Share your story in the comments.
👍 Like, Subscribe, and Share to help others discover meaningful conversations about music, loss, and what we do with it.

🔗 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Joey's Song and the Freezing Man concerts, The Sylvee, Madison, WI
Butch Vig
Dravet syndrome and epilepsy research

🌐 CONNECT WITH MIKE GOMOLL AND JOEY'S SONG
Website: https://www.joeyssong.org
Instagram: @joeyssong
Facebook: @joeyssong
Follow the Joey's Song podcast. The Freezing Man shows stream free on the Joey's Song YouTube channel the night of the show.

🎙️ CONNECT WITH JIM ALSTOTT
📖 Did I Just Have a Spiritual Awakening, or Was It Something I Ate? https://a.co/d/020nrzCH
🌐 https://www.jimalstott.com
🎙️ https://www.dtnpodcast.com

#DropTheNeedle #JoeysSong #FreezingMan #Epilepsy #DravetSyndrome #ButchVig #MusicAndGrief #EpilepsyAwareness

Drew McManus learned the word that would become his band's name on a mountain pass in Nepal. It means sitting in the company of truth. He's built ten years and six records on it.

The new one is called Elohim, and he didn't pick the title. He was told to.

We talk about the revelatory experience that preceded it and the illness that followed, about a father who was a preacher and told a skateboarding punk rock kid he had a minister's heart, and about the question Drew asked for years growing up poor in a house he doesn't pretend was safe: why did all of this happen to me? The answer, when it arrived, had changed shape. Perhaps none of it happened to him. Perhaps it happened for him.

We also get into why he won't play two of his early songs anymore, what the music industry looks like from the inside when you've refused to play along, the one sentence a Buddhist said to him at a merch table that became a mantra, and a hidden Nipsey Hussle track that he heard on the Pacific Coast Highway beside a friend who'd been in federal prison three hundred days earlier.

Elohim is out now. Twenty seven minutes, built to be played start to finish. Satsang plays Garcia's Chicago on November 4th.

Every song Drew named, in the order he named them, 21 tracks from Jackson Browne to Nipsey Hussle. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2lrJeDuNf7H8TIAMjd3lXY

Elohim: https://satsang.ffm.to/elohim
Satsang: https://satsangmovement.com
Instagram: @satsang
Chicago: Garcia's Chicago, 4 November 2026

Drew McManus is the founder and frontman of Satsang. He named the band after a word he learned on a mountain pass in Nepal in 2013, meaning to sit in the company of truth. Six records later he remains independent and owns all of his music. His new album, Elohim, released 4 September 2026, and the Elohim Tour runs through the autumn. Press photo credit: Drew Korf.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
02:36 The word on a mountain pass in Nepal
13:18 How Elohim was made backward
28:27 Brian's voicemail as the album intro
31:03 A preacher father, and the phrase said most in the Bible
36:30 Being told to make a record called Elohim
40:25 Malachi, and the name he knew before his son was born
49:57 The music round: the songs that made him
59:04 Why Bob Marley's lyrics are scripture
1:01:17 The hidden Nipsey Hussle track, and the drive down the coast
1:08:56 Garcia's Chicago, November 4th

What if the sacred and the secular were never two different things to begin with?

Rev. Dr. Rob Zahn is a Lutheran pastor, a theologian, a semiotician, and a musician. He wears Converse under his liturgical robes. He also wrote a book about LSD, a drug smuggling ring, and the birth of contemporary Christian music.

To him, none of that is a contradiction. That is the whole point.

In this episode of The Drop the Needle Podcast, Jim Alstott sits down with Rob to trace a life that runs from a small town childhood with an absent father, through a doctorate in semiotics, to the hidden history behind his book, LSD to Galilee: Incarnation in the Psychedelic Subculture.

Rob explains why he does not frame his father's absence as a forgiveness issue, even after a reunion that surfaced anger, grief, and questions nobody answered. He walks Jim through the line that runs from the Brotherhood of Eternal Love to the Jesus People movement to Maranatha Music, and why Lonnie Frisbee got quietly written out of the cleaner version of that story.

Then there is the music. Mumford and Sons in a stadium full of strangers singing the same words. Dave Matthews Band. Meatloaf. Hamilton. Disney soundtracks he refuses to apologize for.

Can a pastor tell the truth about where his faith came from and still keep his pulpit?

✨ In this episode:

✅ Growing up in small town America, raised by a single mother

✅ Why forgiveness may be the wrong frame for an absent father

✅ The father he found through one mailed letter, and the Las Vegas hotel room

✅ What semiotics reveals about culture, congregations, and blind spots

✅ Why the sacred and secular divide does not hold

✅ Converse under the robes, and other small acts of resistance

✅ The Brotherhood of Eternal Love to the Jesus People to Maranatha Music

✅ How Lonnie Frisbee was written out of the story

✅ Psychedelics, sacrament, and music as portals to the divine

✅ Why the church has to keep being put in check by people, not power

Sound bites

"I'm not sure forgiveness is necessary."

"There's no division between the sacred and secular. I think that's a made up thing."

"I don't know if there's a more human experience than music."

"Which means he wasn't paranoid. He was still underground."

Chapters

00:00 Welcome: a pastor, a semiotician, a musician

01:24 Rob's childhood, music upbringing, and path into ministry

03:41 Questioning father absence through theology and identity

06:48 Why forgiveness may not be the right frame

12:07 The anger and grief that surfaced anyway

13:59 What semiotics reveals about signs, culture, and the church

19:35 Mumford and Sons, spirituality, and a stadium full of shared meaning

22:58 Why the sacred and secular divide doesn't hold

26:46 How psychedelic culture and Jesus music are historically connected

30:46 Why Lonnie Frisbee was written out of the cleaner church narrative

35:14 How Rob's congregation responds to his full story

39:42 The Chosen, outsiders, and meeting people where they are

46:53 Doubting certainty and embracing the unknown

56:43 Music, worship styles, and Rob's first ministry in Las Vegas

01:02:26 Rob's father, cancer, and the Brotherhood's underground history

01:08:01 Jim shares his own father story and reconnection

01:10:57 The music round begins: first radio song, road trip songs, high school anthem

01:15:15 Guilty pleasure soundtrack and Disney singalongs

01:16:55 A song that could change how people see the world

01:18:38 A song that feels written for Rob's life right now

01:22:12 Where to find Rob, and we drop the needle

Today's Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7C9T8To450S3f03qK4Gelq

💬 QUESTION FOR YOU
Where have you been told the sacred stops and the ordinary starts, and who decided that?

Share your story in the comments.
👍 Like, Subscribe, and Share to help others discover meaningful conversations about faith, music, and meaning.

🔗 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
LSD to Galilee: Incarnation in the Psychedelic Subculture, by Rob Zahn
Zumbro Lutheran Church, Rochester, MN
The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, Lonnie Frisbee, Calvary Chapel and Maranatha Music

🌐 CONNECT WITH REV. DR. ROB ZAHN
Website: robzahn.com
Instagram: @rzahn001
Facebook: rob.zahn
LinkedIn: robzahn

🎙️ CONNECT WITH JIM ALSTOTT
📖 Did I Just Have a Spiritual Awakening, or Was It Something I Ate?
🌐 jimalstott.com
🎙️ dtnpodcast.com

#DropTheNeedlePodcast #RobZahn #LSDtoGalilee #JesusPeople #LonnieFrisbee #Semiotics #Faith #Deconstruction #ChristianMusic #Psychedelics #Lutheran #SacredAndSecular

What if walking away from the religion you were raised in isn't losing your faith — it's the first honest thing you ever did with it?

Sunshine Witchski was eleven years old when she noticed the contradictions in what she was being taught in Catholic school. She asked. Nobody had an answer she could live with.

What followed was decades of addiction, a rock bottom in Costa Rica, and a long walk back — not to the Church, but to something she could finally call her own.

Today she is a psychic medium, soul healer, Reiki master, high priestess, and the founder of Sunshine Readings. She calls herself the Sober Witch.

Can you lose your religion and keep your faith?

In this candid episode of The Drop the Needle Podcast, Jim Alstott sits down with Sunshine Witchski to talk about growing up Catholic in Detroit, the question at age eleven that started everything, the years she spent numbing what she couldn't name, and how she built a spiritual life on her own terms — one with room for tarot, recovery, shadow work, and every part of herself she was once told to hide.

Sunshine shares the moment she stopped performing belief, what rock bottom actually looked like, and the day she walked into a room full of strangers and heard the only thing that could have reached her: you are not alone, and there is hope.

Together, Jim and Sunshine get into the difference between prescribed religion and personal faith, why shadow work isn't optional, why receiving help is harder than giving it, and what changes when you decide the universe might be conspiring in your favor.

✨ In this episode:

✔️ Growing up Catholic in Detroit

✔️ The question at age eleven that changed everything

✔️ Rock bottom in Costa Rica

✔️ The room where hope came back

✔️ Prescribed religion vs. personal faith

✔️ Shadow work and healing old wounds

✔️ Why receiving is more vulnerable than giving

✔️ Personal sovereignty and self-acceptance

✔️ Pronoia — the opposite of paranoia

✔️ Music as the soundtrack of a life

"Walking into a room with other alcoholics told me I was not alone, there was hope."

Whether you're in recovery, quietly questioning what you were raised to believe, or just tired of carrying something by yourself, this conversation is an invitation to stop hiding and start showing up whole.

Playlist link:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5gLQWLHy75QE25XypLW2cW?si=71c4568692d94bc3

💬 QUESTION FOR YOU
What part of yourself were you told to hide — and what would change if you stopped?

Sound bites

"Walking into a room with other alcoholics told me I was not alone, there was hope."

"Receiving is a very vulnerable thing, showing emotion many are not comfortable with."

"Pro Noia is the opposite of paranoia, believing the universe is conspiring in your favor."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Sunshine's background and work

02:00 Growing up Catholic and questioning authority

06:28 Realization of religious contradictions at age 11

12:49 Transition from religion to personal spirituality

26:53 Rock bottom in Costa Rica and the path to sobriety

36:25 The power of community in overcoming addiction

45:28 Shadow work and healing past wounds

52:26 The vulnerability of receiving help

59:37 Music as a reflection of life and emotions

01:00:15 Closing remarks and contact information

Playlist link:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5gLQWLHy75QE25XypLW2cW?si=71c4568692d94bc3

Share your story in the comments.
👍 Like, Subscribe, and Share to help others discover meaningful conversations about spirituality, healing, and connection.

🌐 CONNECT WITH SUNSHINE WITCHSKI
Website: Sober Witch Life
Readings: Sunshine Readings
Instagram: @sunshine_readings
Illuminate: Sober Witch

🎙️ CONNECT WITH JIM ALSTOTT
📖 Did I Just Have a Spiritual Awakening, or Was It Something I Ate?
🌐 jimalstott.com
🎙️ dtnpodcast.com

#DropTheNeedlePodcast #SunshineWitchski #SoberWitch #Sobriety #Recovery #ShadowWork #SpiritualAwakening #PsychicMedium #Tarot #Deconstruction #PersonalSovereignty #Pronoia

What if the signs you've been asking for are already happening... but you're overlooking them?

Psychic medium Gina Versace, better known as The Inked Medium, believes our loved ones and even our pets, never truly leave us.

From repeating numbers and feathers to dreams and unexpected encounters, Spirit is constantly communicating. The key is learning how to recognize the messages.

Do our loved ones continue communicating after they pass away?

In this heartfelt episode of The Drop the Needle Podcast, Jim Alstott sits down with Gina Versace, internationally known as The Inked Medium, to explore spirit communication, intuitive development, pet communication, and the everyday signs that remind us we are never truly alone.

Gina shares remarkable stories from her own life, beginning with seeing spirits as a young child, through discovering her calling as a professional psychic medium, and building a life dedicated to helping people reconnect with loved ones on the other side.

Together, Jim and Gina discuss how Spirit communicates through numbers, dreams, symbols, animals, and emotional impressions, why setting energetic boundaries is essential, and how anyone can begin strengthening their own intuition.

✨ In this episode:

✔️ Childhood spirit encounters

✔️ How loved ones communicate after death

✔️ Pet communication and animal spirits

✔️ Why repeating numbers like 444 matter

✔️ Spirit guides and signs

✔️ Meditation and energetic protection

✔️ Developing intuitive gifts

✔️ Private vs. group mediumship readings

✔️ The importance of spiritual boundaries

✔️ Music, healing, and raising your vibration

"Spirit signs are in everyday things."

Whether you're curious about mediumship or you've experienced signs from someone you've lost, this conversation offers comfort, insight, and practical guidance for trusting your own spiritual connection.

Playlist link:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4mzHMk1ZHacW3XBCiYxiin?si=37e9376925b646e2

💬 QUESTION FOR YOU
Have you ever received a sign from a loved one or pet that made you stop in your tracks?

Sound bites

"Music lifts my spirits and helps me heal."

"My dad sends me 444"

"Spirit signs are in everyday things"

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Gina Versace and her background

01:22 Gina's childhood spirit sightings and family heritage

04:19 The influence of early childhood experiences on her gift

06:14 Connecting with spirit through signs and protection

08:12 The significance of asking for signs and guidance

10:07 The story behind the Inked Medium brand

12:48 Her Italian Sicilian heritage and spiritual upbringing

15:52 Transition from corporate career to full-time mediumship

17:29 How to recognize signs from spirit in everyday life

19:46 Meeting spirit guides and their presence

22:09 The message of never being alone from spirit

24:00 Gina's motorcycle accident and recovery story

27:01 The role of pets in spirit communication

30:18 How animals come through in readings and their surprises

33:31 Spirit orbs and sacred geometry in photos

36:00 Signs from loved ones and spirit guides in daily life

37:55 Family and friends on the other side and their connections

42:47 Differences between private and group readings

Playlist link:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4mzHMk1ZHacW3XBCiYxiin?si=37e9376925b646e2

Share your story in the comments.
👍 Like, Subscribe, and Share to help others discover meaningful conversations about spirituality, healing, and connection.

🌐 CONNECT WITH GINA VERSACE
Website: The Inked Medium
Instagram • Facebook • TikTok
(Charity work and social links in the description.)

🎙️ CONNECT WITH JIM ALSTOTT
📖 Did I Just Have a Spiritual Awakening, or Was It Something I Ate?
🌐 jimalstott.com
🏕️ The Listening Field Retreat

#DropTheNeedlePodcast
#GinaVersace
#TheInkedMedium
#Mediumship
#SpiritCommunication
#SignsFromSpirit
#SpiritGuides
#PetCommunication
#AnimalSpirit
#Intuition
#PsychicMedium
#SpiritualAwakening
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🎙️ The Drop the Needle Podcast explores the intersection of spirituality, healing, personal growth, and the power of music through insightful conversations with thought leaders and intuitives.

🌐 Visit our website: dtnpodcast.com

📲 Follow us on social media: @thedtnpodcast

📧 Reach out to Jim: [email protected]

🔗 The Drop the Needle Podcast is on Apple and Spotify