The Drop the Needle Podcast

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