Segment aired July 8, 2023 as part of the 900th episode of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio/video podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
All content (c)2023 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: davesgoneby.com
click above to watch episode #902click above to listen (audio only)
Here is the 902nd episode of the long-running radio show/video podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook Saturday morning July 8, 2023.
Featuring: Dave chats with business strategist Elliot Gluskin; Today/Yesterday Trivia Quiz (w/ Elliot Gluskin, Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Vicki Quade); Greeley Crimes & Old Times; Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Laird).
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce 00:33:00 GUEST: Elliot Gluskin 01:03:00 TODAY/YESTERDAY Trivia Quiz (July 8 w/ Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Elliot Gluskin, Vicki Quade) 02:10:00 DAVE GOES FURTHER IN (power outage, Nathan’s rainout) 02:47:30 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 03:07:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:14:00 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED (Laird, CO) 03:16:30 DAVE GOES OUT
Click above to watch in-studio footage of Dave Lefkowitz’s phone interview with writer Bruce KlugerClick above to listen to Dave Lefkowitz’s phone interview with Bruce Kluger (audio only).
Writer Bruce Kluger joins Dave for the 2017 New Year’s Eve special.
Topics include: satire, Playboy.
Segment aired Dec. 31, 2017 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
All content (c)2017 TotalTheater Productions. More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
The 60th Wretched Pun of Destiny segment aired July 1, 2017 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations.
All content (c)2017 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
*
60.
While surfing through Craigslist, a rare book collector comes across a signed first edition of a classic. He calls the seller and says, “Look, I’ve gotta have the book, but the price is high, and I’m short on cash. Would you be willing to barter?”
“Depends,” says the seller. “What can you trade?”
Immediately, the collector grabs three pop-culture items from his stash. He tells the seller, “Here are three options. I’ve got an early Johnny Cash album, on Sun Records, signed and dated by Johnny and June Carter.”
“Not bad,” says the seller. “What else?”
“I’ve also got a handwritten one-act play by Vaclav Havel. He wrote it in prison years before he became president of Czechoslovakia.”
“Very tempting,” says the seller. “Tell me about number three.”
“Third is a rare photograph of Hugh Hefner cutting the ribbon on the first Playboy Club. He’s surrounded by beautiful hostesses, many of whom ended up living with him at the mansion.”
“Wow,” says the seller. “All three are impressive. The hard part is picking which one to trade for the book.”
The collector says, “I know, but you’ve gotta choose one. So will it be Cash, Czech, or Bunny Hoarder?”
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of March 5, 2017.
Remember New Coke? It was Coca Cola’s attempt to fix something that wasn’t broken. Take a formula that merrily rotted people’s teeth for years, change it for no particular reason, market the hell out of it, and watch customers start drinking Pepsi. The Coke folks realized their error, they reinstituted the classic recipe, and everything went back to normal levels of thirst quenching and obesity.
So who was the latest company to overthink its brand and screw the pooch? None other than Playboy magazine. In a stroke of madness—well, stroke may not be the best word—Playboy changed its whole ethos. Like so many magazines today, Playboy has felt the terrible pinch of the digital era. Circulation is down—and I don’t mean sales, I mean Playboy readers are so old, their bodies have no circulation. Meanwhile, along comes Maxim, also targeting the men’s-lifestyle market, and they eat away at Playboy’s potential younger audience. And unlike Playboy, Penthouse, Juggz, and my favorite, Barely Legal Anal Nurses,Maxim’s photo shoots are scanty but still clothed. The honchos at Playboy must have been scratching their heads, along with their crab lice, and wondering, “For years, men lied about reading us for the articles. Now there’s this other magazine with articles, and they’re proud to read it for the bikinis. What the what?”
So Playboy made the decision a year ago to eschew nudity. Think of it: Playboy without nudity. That’s like Auschwitz without Jews in it. This was the magazine that put a naked Marilyn Monroe in its first issue, the magazine that made stars of Dorothy Stratten, Anna Nicole Smith, and many others who died of natural causes; this was the magazine that served as ground zero for the sexual revolution, mainstream pornography, and the worldwide Kleenex shortage of 1967.
But times change, and for three decades now, Playboy has had to compete with digital magazines, cable TV and home video, changing popular tastes, and shifting cultural landscapes. It hasn’t helped that the visionary founder of Playboy, Hugh Hefner, is still alive. If he’d dropped dead years ago, he’d be extolled as an iconic, nostalgic reminder of America throwing off the shackles of the 1950s and embracing a world of new freedoms. But as a 90-year-old coot, Hef just makes people think of airbrushing, exploitation, and Bill Cosby honing his groping skills in the grotto. And what’s with those twins Hef was dating? How sexy is it to have two curvaceous, nymphomaniacal hotties give grampa a reacharound…just to change his ostomy bag.
But back to the nudity, or the removal thereof. When Ringling Brothers, responding to pressure from animal-rights groups, got rid of its elephants two years ago, what did that lead to? That’s right: the end of Ringling Brothers. When Playboy bid bye-bye to boobs and bushes…what happened? Actually, to be honest and surprising, sales went up a bit, especially for a younger demographic. And the magazine was able to be displayed more prominently on more newsstands. But it still wasn’t enough. Readers would look at Playboy, glance at the photos — instead of staring intently at them for several minutes — and then ask themselves, “Why am I still reading this?”
Cooper Hefner, the son of Hef and company COO since his sister stepped down in 2009, admitted putting ponchos over pussies was a mistake. In fact, “Nudity is Normal” is the motto on the cover of the March/April issue—an issue with mega-hot model Elizabeth Elam topless on the cover. Why, Playboy is even bringing back its party jokes, so all is right with the world. Who knows, maybe they’ll even bring back those cartoons with the wrinkly old, sex-crazed granny. I mean, she’s only 80 years older than Hef’s next girlfriend.
So welcome back old-fashioned Playboy. You’re still a dinosaur on the way to the amber yard, but at least along the way, you’ll help a few more teenage boys explore the wonders of gynecology. In a time when our government seems intent on yanking America back to the days of “Father Knows Best,” it’s heartening that once more, Playboy will leave it to beaver.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, New York. Show us your tits!
Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 596th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC radio, March 4, 2017. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz Guests: songwriter Tom Toce, Dave’s wife Joyce
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews songwriter Tom Toce. Plus: Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection on Playboy, Inside Broadway, Greeley Crimes & Old Times, Potato News, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Joan Osborne), Saturday Segues (Gary Numan, In the News)
00:00:01 DAVE’S GONE BY w/ Joyce (sabbatical, no critics, Columbia) 00:36:00 POTATO NEWS 00:42:00 DAVE GOES FURTHER IN (dead horses & mump titers, hpv) 00:50:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:11:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Gary Numan 01:32:00 INSIDE BROADWAY
02:00:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Tom Toce 02:35:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Joan Osborne) 03:03:00 Friends 03:17:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #145 (Playboy) 03:24:30 SATURDAY SEGUE (In the News) 03:52:00 Weather 03:54:00 DAVE GOES OUT
March 4, 2017 Playlist: “Are `Friends’ Electric?” (01:13:30), “Complex” (01:19:00) & “Walking with Shadows” (01:22:00; Gary Numan). “Live for Loving You” (On Your Feet 2016 Broadway cast). “You Could Have Fooled Me” (01:58:00), “Our Fair City” (02:11:30), “Better than Rock `n’ Roll” (02:32:30) & “Welcome to Another Day” (03:57:00; Tom Toce). “I’ll Remember You” ({live}; 02:37:30) & “Quinn the Eskimo” ({take 1} 02:50:00; Bob Dylan). “Man in the Long Black Coat” (02:41:30; Joan Osborne). “Take Me to the Mardi Gras” (03:26:00; Paul Simon). “Moonlight Serenade” (03:29:00; Frank Sinatra). “Have You Ever Seen a Prettier Little Congress & Stability” (03:33:00; The Rothschilds 1970 Broadway cast). “World Tour Sessions” (03:36:30; Public Enemy).
(pictured: Tom Toce’s “Songwriter in the House,” Tom Toce, Potato News, Gary Numan, Playboy magazine)
Writer Bruce Kluger joins Dave for the 2017 New Year’s Eve special.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
