Part 8 - Shuffle Synchronicities Podscript 🎙📇 with Ray Padgett
the eighth post is the last one, right? RIGHT?
NOTE: Recommending getting the free Substack App.
Some posts are a bit too long for email inboxes like Gmail and you can only hear the Audio embeds on the app or on the website, so…🤷♂️
Today in other Substackers to follow if you do get the app, we’re going with
who some of you might know as the author of The LA Times Best Seller and winner of The California Book Award, Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles, which is a great gift from a local bookstore for those still shopping for the season. Besides becoming the unreplaceable replacement to the essential Mike Davis, who analyzed LA until passing this year, Rosecrans is also a tennis bud & sometimes projected-upon-father-figure, at least in this guest post of his from Volume 1.5 of the Shuffle. More germane, he has a Substack!
Reading it is deeply enjoyed when time is found; the economy yet beauty/insightfulness of his words is admired/if not often part of Shuffle house style 😂
Rosecrans also writes about 🎾 and other sports including this recent World Cup essay, and, such as in his recommendation of The Inner Game of Tennis, he often finds many life lessons in gamesmanship ;)
Previously…
In Part 7 of the Podscript 🎙📇
We discussed our first experiences seeing Dylan, how & why Dylan & The Dead were so bad together, & made requisite y2k KaZaA jokes…
Want to catch up?
Part 7 is available here. Part 6 here. Part 5 here. Part 4 here. Part 3 here. Part 2 here. Part 1 here. Preamble here.
Don’t want to wait?
The audio of the full Podcast is also already available:
Otherwise…
Part 8 of The Shuffle Synchronicities Podscript 🎙📇 with Ray Padgett
begins now!
Ray selects a playlist for his live-Shuffle!
Dave
So I'm, I'm kind of, I've been kind of prying, prying into my own Psyche a lot. And it feels like there's some, some resistance to prying into your psyche, but I'm just curious, like, if we were to do a Shuffle, you know, and kind of what I like to do is, set an intention of, like, Hey, what's going on in my life that I want to have insight into? And then I'll pick a playlist and shuffle and see if there's anything to discern. Wanting to know about, you know, your book that's coming out? Or what do I need to know about anything? I don't know. So is there something that, maybe you prepped for this, or not, that you, like, would want some insight into with this huge Dylan playlist that you sent me? You sent me this amazing Dylan playlist. I think we should put in the show notes that it’s not just, like, the Dylan albums that you can find really easily on Spotify, but it is, how would you describe it?
Ray
It's an insane playlist. And to be clear, I didn't make it. So credit to whoever did [lucasshare]. But it's like basically every officially released Dylan track that's on Spotify. So it's every song from every album of course. But that's just like the baseline. It's also all the live albums or live tracks that are on Spotify. It's all the like, outtakes. You know, he releases these things called the Bootleg series. That'll be like, here's like three different takes of Stuck Inside a Mobile that weren't used on the album. Maybe one of 'em is even better. So it's like all that stuff I have to pull, I have to find it and actually pull it up myself, but…it’s like a thousand or more, right?
Dave
Yeah. It's also, like, there's stuff that's not even his name that like was him or, like, on [an] album and he-
Ray
Was like a guest star on it.
Dave
Yeah. I remember I was going through it and like, I try to save every Dylan song in my Liked Songs playlist, the like 88,000 songs one now. And I was going through it just manually pressing the love button <laugh> in Spotify or whatever. And there was a lot of 'em. There was like, It's not even saying his name, but yeah, it's in here so he must be involved in this song in some way. It's pretty impressive.
The pre-shuffle gives Ray a bit of imposter syndrome anxiety…
Ray
I know <laugh> I'm laughing hearing you talk about this, because I've just pulled it up, there's fourteen hundred songs, and I'm laughing because I may have shot myself in the foot doing this. I'm like presenting myself here as this Dylan expert, but like because this thing goes so deep, the odds of me shuffling a song and I'm like, I don't know what this is. Like, it's not impossible.
Dave tries to soothe Ray by joking about his espoused beliefs in his pioneering form of music criticism
Dave
Yeah, yeah, for me, too!
Ray/Dave
<laugh>
Dave
I mean, that's what people say too when they’re like, Do you know all the songs you're shuffling to? I'm like, No! Like, I just like put in tons of stuff and then whatever comes up is just, you know, interesting to relate to.
Ray
Yeah. Because it's, like, if it's on an album, I'll know it, but, like, I'm just looking Yeah. This thing goes so much deeper than just what’s on the albums that who knows what it's gonna pull up.
Dave
Yeah. I mean, do you think he's played all [fourteen hundred] of these songs live? There’s probably many of these songs he hasn't even played live before.
Ray
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Lord knows he's played a lot of songs live. He's fairly versatile in that way, but I'm sure plenty of these he hasn't played live.
Dave
Yeah. Alright, well, you can set the intention or not? You can say the intention out loud or you can just, like, just shuffle?
Ray sets his intention…
Ray
Alright, my intention is gonna be. I'm going to use the book one, but be a little more specific. You know, because my big work thing is the book. And the thing I'm stressing about is, I'm not worried about the content. Like I, I mean, I'm a little worried obviously, but basically, I'm confident I'm gonna make a good book, but I'm self-publishing this book, which I have not done before.
Dave
Oh yeah! Yes, yes.
Ray
And so I'm stressed about all that side of things. Because in my previous two books, I had publishers do everything for me, other than writing it pretty much <laugh>
Dave
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's the thing. We talk about this too, because, yeah, I did some regular publishing and then I really moved pretty much fully into self-publishing and we had some conversations about, you know, what you're gonna do with this book. Because you had some potential options of regular publishing, then you were just, I'm gonna go and self-publish it. So. Yeah, yeah. Let's get some insight into, yeah, that's a great, great way of handling this. Awesome!
Ray shuffles…
Ray
All right, so should I hit the shuffle button and just let you know what I, what I pull up? Is that how you wanna do it?
Dave
Yeah, just hit the shuffle and you might be able to, if you play it really loud, then the Zoom can pick it up a little bit. And then-
Ray
All right, let me unplug my headphones then. Otherwise you're definitely not gonna hear it.
Dave
Okay.
<loud muffle>
Dave
<laugh>
Ray
Can you still, can you still hear me?
Dave
Yeah, I can still hear you, yeah.
Ray
So let me put it on shuffle. All right, here, see if this works. If it, if it accidentally plays the first song on the playlist, I’ll redo it. But if not…
3, 2, 1.
Shuffle.
🔀
Ray
Well, now I'm not hearing anything. Can you hear it?
Dave
I can't, but-
Ray
<laugh>
Dave
You, you can tell me what it is.
Ray
Right. I'm gonna do my headphones again.
Dave
Yeah, go with your headphones. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It’s one that became famous from…
Ray
So it's, it's the, hang on one second. <muffle> All right. So! What The Shuffle pulled up. Is a, a not-famous version of a famous song. The song is The Mighty Quinn (Come All Without Come All Within).
Ray
One of his, actually speaking of Synchronicities, that's another song that became much bigger from a cover. Manford Man covered that song. Had a big hit with it.
Manford Mann
Come all without, come all within.
It’s also a…
Ray
Bob's wasn't a hit. But this is not the album version because this playlist goes really deep. This is a live version.
Dave
Wow! It’s a live version, too!
Ray
Yeah, I know, perfect, right?!
Dave
It's a live cover!
Ray
Right. Yeah, a live version of a song that's famous from a cover.
The concert was…
Ray
It's a live version from the Isle of Wight, which is a, sort of one of Bob's like comeback show.
Dave
Ahh.
Ray
You know, he had the motorcycle crash, he disappeared for a few years and then in 1989, he played this sort of one-off giant show with The Band, at the Isle of Wight in the UK.
Bob Dylan and The Band
Ev’rybody’s building the big ships and the boats. Some are building monuments. Others, jotting down notes. Ev’rybody’s in despair. Ev’ry girl and boy. But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here. Ev’rybody’s gonna jump for joy. Come all without, come all within. You’ll not see nothing like The Mighty Quinn.
Ray
It’s like a famous, a famous show…
Dave
And this is 1989?
Ray
Sorry. No, 1969.
Dave
Oh, 69, right, right. Sorry. Yeah. Wow. So yeah, that was after the motorcycle. Then The Basement Tapes.
Dave looks at the song’s lyrics for synchronicities
Dave
So yeah, looking at the lyrics like “Come All Without Come All Within.” To me, that's like the self-publishing like ethos and the Substack ethos.
Ray
<charming mouth-pop noise in agreement>
Dave
It's like, you're giving away part of your product on Substack for free. You know, Come all within, come into this space, and then hopefully people like see the value, and then they're like, you know what? I'm gonna contribute! Monthly to Ray.
Dave
Or, you know, monthly to Shuffle Synchronicities!
A digression into self-publishing details
Dave
And then there's, then it grows into the book. And then, because you started an IndieGoGo. You financed it differently than I did. I usually just use Amazon and then like Amazon takes a portion and they just, you know, print on demand, and then I don't have to worry about [putting] up the [upfront] costs. Like you did an actual IndieGoGo and got tons of support, right?
Ray
Yeah, yeah. Just to get some upfront money, you know. Because I want to license photos and stuff. And also just get the word out there in advance, you know, because it's like, pre-ordering is a little weird if you're self-publishing. So yeah, I did an IndieGoGo, it's actually about one month into two months right now. It goes till mid-December, and yeah, I hit the goal, within a couple days.
Dave
That’s- [great]
Ray discovers synchronicities in the song’s lyrics himself!
Ray
But yeah, it's been very, very satisfying. I’m just looking, I mean, it's funny doing this because also, like I said, I don't really know the lyrics, but I'm looking 'em up and maybe one synchronicity is like, so, this song is, is absurdist, right? Like, it's got lyrics like, “Guarding fumes and making haste” and “It ain't my cup of meat,” you know, just these weird- And just the weirdness of this song, I feel like self-publishing is like a little bit, like, let's get weird, you know.
Dave
It’s so weird.
Ray
You're not doing it the normal way. You're not doing it in the sort of old school by-the-book’s way. You're like kind of going out there--
Dave
Yeah, and you’re ‘making haste’. Skipping queues. You're, like, not waiting for a year however long it takes to publish a book. You're, like, <laugh> I could publish this tomorrow if I want!
Ray
I was about to say, you're going out on a limb and there's literally a line here. Feeding pigeons on a limb. So there you go.
Bob Dylan and The Band
Everybody’s out there, feeding pigeons on a limb!
Dave
And also something like The Mighty Quinn, it's, like, The Mighty Quinn is Dylan, right, for you, right? You're like, Look, I'm bringing Dylan out in a way that you guys haven't seen. This version of the Dylan story, through these band members, that you said, haven't talked in the way that they've shared with you.
Bob Dylan and The Band
Come all without. Come all within. You’ve not seen nothing like The Mighty Quinn.
Guitar now!
(Solo begins)
Dave
So I think like, that's what you're promoting when you're promoting the book is, and we have to as self-publishers, right? We have to <laugh> do the promotion. There's no publishers who are gonna have that [handled].
Dave
So, yeah. So, there you go. That's a shuffle.
How does Ray feel about his Shuffle?
Dave
I mean, how does, what does it make you feel? Does it make you feel like you're doing the right thing with the- Or what does it make you think now that you’ve had that [experience]? That you've done that? Is there any insight? Or is it just kind of like- What are you thinking right now? I don't know <laugh>
Ray
I'm thinking, as you were talking, I was looking through the lyrics. I'm thinking it's a mixed message, right?
Dave
Okay <laugh>
Ray
Because we just talked about all the positive things, but here are two lyrics that are not so encouraging. You ready?
Dave
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Ray
One is “I like to do just like the rest,” which is hopefully the opposite of what I'm trying to do, I’m trying, I'm trying to not do it just like the rest.
Dave
Yeah.
Ray
And then I’m hoping, in the last chorus, I'm really hoping this doesn't happen when people read my book, is “Everybody's gonna wanna doze.”
Dave
Oh <laugh>
Ray
Hopefully my book will not make people want to doze <laugh>
Bob Dylan and The Band
When Quinn the Eskimo gets here, everybody's gonna wanna doze, whoa-whoa!
Dave
Yeah. Interesting. I don't know, man <laugh> It also says right before that, “Nobody can get no sleep. There's someone on everyone's toe.”
Ray
That's true. You're right.
Dave
I think he's, it's always, yeah, there's some sort of like binary where he is like, yeah, you're up, really up, up, up and then you [need to] sleep. And I don't know.
Ray
Another connection you can make with that line is that I find the mechanics of self-publishing fairly boring.
Dave
Sure, sure.
Ray
Like, I'm doing it as an experiment, partly financial, to see if I can make more money. Partly it's nice having the direct connection with readers, but like the actual, like, for instance, setting up this IndieGogo, I had to spend like probably multiple hours figuring out shipping costs to various countries and like I wanted to jump out of a window fairly soon. It was like so confusing slash boring, right?
Dave
Yeah. Oof, oh, man, oh, no, aww.
Ray
<laugh>
Ray
So, part of the self-publishing process makes me wanna dose. So yeah, I can actually, actually I'm putting that into Pro column cause I can really relate it to that.
Another digression into self-publishing details
Dave
This, we don’t have to put this in, but…I know you're doing hardcovers on your own, and then you're doing soft covers on Amazon, right? Is that what you said?
Ray
That's right. Yeah.
Dave
Yeah. But I think you can do hardcovers on Amazon if you wanna avoid that shipping thing. I dunno-
Ray
The thing is. I want to- I thought of that. From what I’ve read and understand. Amazon looks fine. But these other companies look better.
Dave
Yeah.
Ray
And so kind of, it's, it's kinda like a compromise. Like, the Amazon one will be good enough and it'll be fairly cheap. The hardcover one's gonna look nicer on your shelf. It'll, you know, be on nice paper, that sort of thing.
Dave
Cool.
Ray
So that's kind of why I'm doing it different.
Dave
Got it. Yeah.
You have & have not been tricked
While this eighth part does end the interview portion of the Podcast/Podscript with Ray Padgett…
There is then another portion of the Podcast/Podscript…
Yes, you guessed it, right, with eight more parts…
This portion of the Podcast/Podscript with Ray will explore the night of the Dylan show & the deletion of this Substack + it has other more ‘me’ focused aspects of our conversation!
Don’t worry there will be an interlude after this post for a brief respite.
Though if you don’t enjoy this particular delicacy of Substack spam in your inboxes, always feel free to unsubscribe (in the button all the way at the bottom)
Thanks for reading Part 8 of the Podscript🎙📇!
And for supporting Volume 2 of Shuffle Synchronicities.
NOTHING will be emailed tomorrow ;) Part 7 is available here. Part 6 here. Part 5 here. Part 4 here. Part 3 here. Part 2 here. Part 1 here. Preamble here.
Don’t want to wait for all the Podscript posts to be emailed to you?
The audio of the full Podcast is already available to listen to here:
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Hope you enjoy the rest of the posts to come
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