Shuffle Synchronicities Podcast

Colin Ryan, Seth Graves and I recorded 11 songs for Colin’s Superwords record last Monday September 1st Labor Day at Barber Studios in Echo Park.We’re also working with the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council and SELAH to get him some resources and aid.It’s all very punk rock and also very serious life.I spent an hour tonight trying to convince Colin to take the appointment I set with him and a psychiatrist.Personally, I’m up from .5 MG to 2 MG of the anti-psychotic Risperidone myself this summer due to some life circumstances or whatever God wants right now from me.Art is important.But so is reality.I said or something like it.The next part of the documentary footage is coming soon.But for today enjoy “Spiritual Warfare”Which is one of my favorite of the raw unmixed tracks from the session.Seth Graves and Colin’s brother Nate Ryan, who Colin got back in touch with as well as his father, after making the album last week, are going to add some touches God willing.Thanks for following the Shuffle Synchronicities/Ask The Music journey as it evolves from memoir to teaching to talk show to documentary of music producing and social work.We’re actually editing the next episode of the talk show right now too.It’ll be with Aaron Astrodamus.Oh yeah and we go to the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council meeting on Homelessness tomorrow at 6 PM at the Los Feliz Library.Pray for us or come support if you’re local.God is good, so is music, and all is well even when it’s not.Love, Dave/David Get full access to Shuffle Synchronicities 🔀✨ Ask The Music at shufflesynchronicities.substack.com/subscribe

A spontaneous collaboration with a genius musician on the streets of Los Feliz Vermont AvenueEnjoy! Get full access to Shuffle Synchronicities 🔀✨ Ask The Music at shufflesynchronicities.substack.com/subscribe

After asking the Shuffle Synchronicity for guidance on whether to start making live videos with musicians and getting “Synchrogazer” by Nana Mizuki.With Synchro the root world of Synchronicity and gazer to gaze or view like a video…Out of 122,000 songs it felt like a meaningful musical coincidence to evolve the project!And after motivation from appearing on Laura Scarpati’s The Woo Report podcast…I’m happy to release the first Shuffle Synchronicities Live Video :)With musician/comedian Kenny Gray!In support of his new album Demolicious Derby!What Is Shuffle Synchronicities???The idea is simple: You ask the Universe a question, shuffle a playlist, and use the resulting song—its title, artist, lyrics, and vibe—to find insight that helps guide you. You can think of it like Music Tarot. On TikTok, it's trending a bit as #Shufflemancy.I'm now bringing this to video and podcast, similar to Subway Takes by Kareem Rahma, but with musicians.We meet up with a musician and talk about their new work.The musician then asks a personal or professional question on their mind that day, they shuffle one of their favorite playlists, and we analyze the results.Then, in return, I ask a personal or professional question of my own and shuffle a playlist of their work, exploring the guidance that emerges for me from their music.Kenny Gray and I talk about his identity crisis of music versus comedy, what’s the difference between parody versus pastiche, why don’t more artists work in more genres, how The Artist's Way inspired his process, and how Kenny turned 32 popular internet demos into a wonderfully eclectic album…that is so him...Kenny then shuffles for guidance about bringing his album onto the stage...And I shuffle from his new album for guidance about a collab with a Substack Shufflemancy Sibling...Fun, Surprising, and Helpful results ensued!Follow @k3nnygrayand@_davecowen_ and @shufflesynchronicities Get full access to Shuffle Synchronicities 🔀✨ Ask The Music at shufflesynchronicities.substack.com/subscribe

Hi!Happy Valentine’s Day :) Trying out Substack’s video posts because I have some exciting video content!People are always like these shuffles have to be made up, how can these be real?But they are lolAnd here’s some fun video proof and how it has evolved the project!A few years ago in 2023, I did a Live Video Shuffle Synchronicity asking if I should start doing Live Video Shuffles… And out of the tens of thousands of songs in the playlist at the time it played Chuck Berry “You Never Can Tell”… Which was also a song in my graphic novel that I finally released last month…I didn’t continue doing the live shuffles then…But the book is going well…(You can buy it here!)And I was inspired by @laurascar_la from the @thewooreport who recorded a podcast with me about Shuffles Synchronicities to be released soon… She had me dig through my archives for content to get social media marketing going…So also I now have a social media account for this substack @shufflesynchronicities That I then had the idea to do a Live Video Shuffle #2 this evening…Two years later….Asking: Is it a good idea to do live video shuffles with musicians kind of like @subwaytakes but with shufflemancy … Having the musician ask a life question and get an answer in musical form… And me a question just with their catalogue …And … wow… You can’t make this up… you got to wait for it…but you’ll see how real it is in the video…I got a song … No lie/no joke… “Synchrogazer” by Nana Mizuki…With synchro the root world of Synchronicity and gazer meaning gaze or view like video… Out of 122,000 songs!… Looks to me like it’s a meaningful musical coincidence from the universe… Guiding the evolution of the project and co-curating my life :)🔀✨🤳Follow along at @shufflesynchronicities !!And also follow @thewooreport for my upcoming podcast with @laurascar_la who is so inspiring and a huge influence on me these days :)And Happy Valentine’s Day!If you want to give a Valentine’s Day gift to me, a friend told me they didn’t realize they weren’t re-subscribed as a Paid Subscriber after I took the Shuffle down when it was top 25 on Substack music, and have since brought it back, but yeah, if you’re a former Paid Subscriber who also thinks they are still a Paid Subscribed, YOU’RE NOT! So if you’re liking these past few months and this video content and some future collabs with musicians, it would be great to have you back $5 a month, I think $50 a year, or go big with a founder level, not sure if you can tell fromt the video but I’m 40 and live in a studio apartment…it’s a good if different life than many of yours, but I could use some patronage income :0 or buy a book! Thanks! Get full access to Shuffle Synchronicities 🔀✨ Ask The Music at shufflesynchronicities.substack.com/subscribe

Dave Cowen of Shuffle Synchronicities talks with Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson.Ostensibly about Haggadahs as Jay is known for his 15 years of covering the liturgy text for the holiday of Passover as “The World’s Greatest Expert in Haggadot” and Dave has just published his fifth parody one, THE MESHUGAH KANYE HAGGADAH: A PARODY PASSOVER MUSICAL, but Jay & Dave end up talking about a lot more: Billy Joel, enlightenment versus spiritual bypass, seed retention, messianism, pornography, Lou Reed, synchronicities, and yes a bit of Haggadahs and Ye fka Kanye West…Jay Michaelson is a journalist at New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, and other publications, having previously been a columnist for The Daily Beast for eight years. He has written over 1400 articles on the Supreme Court, religion, LGBTQ issues, climate change, and other topics. Jay previously worked as a professional LGBTQ activist for ten years.The Ivy League grad and lawyer and Enneagram 7 is also a rabbi and meditation teacher who has also authored several books on meditation, religion, and spirituality. And he was an editor and podcast host for Ten Percent Happier for four years.Jay’s affiliated as an assistant professor at Chicago Theological Seminary and is a visiting fellow at the Center for LGBTQ Studies in Religion. He holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Thought from Hebrew University and a J.D. from Yale Law School. His tenth book, The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth, published by Oxford University Press, won the 2022 National Jewish Book Award for scholarship.Find more @ https://www.jaymichaelson.net/Podscript 🎙📇 will be emailed out as well soon! Get full access to Shuffle Synchronicities 🔀✨ Ask The Music at shufflesynchronicities.substack.com/subscribe

In this Podcast🎙:Dave Cowen of Shuffle Synchronicities talks with founder of the most popular blog about cover songs; author of a 33 1/3 series book; contributing journalist to The New Yorker, Spin, and The AV Club; interviewee on NPR; and top paid music Substacker, Ray Padgett of Flagging Down the Double E’s, about: * Ray’s history of live Bob Dylan Substack that’s become so popular he’s adapting it into a book* What Ray makes of why he’s developed a niche of writing about Dylan, Tom Waits, and Leonard Cohen * Why Ray thinks he’s always been disinterested in writing about song lyricsAnd much more, including:* Debating the future popularity of covers of Dylan songs versus the originals* Laughing about why Dylan’s collaboration with The Grateful Dead was regarded as perhaps his worst-ever live album* Comparing Dylan’s gospel era to Kanye West’sAnd, of course, there are some super fun live-Shuffles!Plus, Dave also recounts the story of:* The ecstatic and epiphanic experience of attending a Dylan show in June of 2022 in LA * The many synchronicities it inspired* And how it led to the deletion that night of this Shuffle Synchronicities Substack 🤪NOTE: The transcript of the Podcast will also be emailed out as posts in eight parts as a Podscript🎙📇 Get full access to Shuffle Synchronicities 🔀✨ Ask The Music at shufflesynchronicities.substack.com/subscribe

Dave Cowen of Shuffle Synchronicities discusses with NPR and Rolling Stone music journalist Kiana Fitzgerald their personal experiences with bipolar disorder in order to provide context for the mainstream media and entertainment leaders as well as those in the Jewish and Black communities to perhaps better understand what's going on with Kanye West. Get full access to Shuffle Synchronicities 🔀✨ Ask The Music at shufflesynchronicities.substack.com/subscribe