January 2013 – Dave's Gone By

Dave’s Gone By Skit: Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #54 (1/27/2013): THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS

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Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #54 (1/27/2013): THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS

Aired January 26, 2013 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnXLGyFEdC0

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of January 26th, 2013.

Let’s say I go to the supermarket and buy a box of donuts. “Why am I eating that?”, you ask. “Well,” I say, “donuts are a health food.” “Health food?” I hear you gasp. “But they’re loaded with sugar and white flour.” “Yes, but they’re a health food,” I reply. “But they’re glazed with chocolate coating made out of corn syrup,” you counter. “I don’t care, they’re a health food,” I persist. “But look at the box!” you yell. “Half the ingredients are red dyes and preservatives and fiberglass insulation.” “You’re making wayyy too much of that,” I say. “Donuts are a health food.”

And now you start screaming, “But if you eat donuts, you get fat, your teeth rot, eventually you’ll risk heart disease and diabetes.” “Oh, don’t be so politically incorrect,” I say. “Donuts are a health food.”

Sounds crazy, right? Like I should have my head examined for not admitting what’s plainly in front of my face – or in my stomach.

Fine. How many times have we heard left-wing pundits and middle-east apologists say that Islam is the religion of peace? That’s the big slogan – religion of peace. And no amount of 9/11’s or Munichs or Lockerbies or Benghazis will convince these people that maybe Islam isn’t such a friendly how-do-ya-do.

“Oh, it’s just a small faction; it’s just the radicals,” comes the response. True. The millions and millions of Muslims in this world aren’t out there blowing up embassies any more than every NRA member is out there shooting up schools. However, no other religion since Christianity in the Middle Ages has caused so much needless, vicious and sociopathic bloodshed. Except, perhaps, the Death to Disco Movement of the 1970s, but they had a point.

So this time, the horror springs from Algeria – instead of Iran or Pakistan or Egypt or Syria – or, well, point to a map of the Middle East and find an Arab country that isn’t a killing field. Last week, a hostage crisis in Algeria resulted in more than two dozen civilian dead, including one American. Plus, 32 dead hostage takers, or, as I like to call them, refuse.

The Algerian government is being blamed for jumping the gun on its rescue mission. After three days of a bloody stand-off, Algerian troops stormed the gas plant that was under siege – which resulted in pretty much everyone dying. Mainly because the terrorists began executing the hostages once the fun started.

Other countries are now saying, “Oh, we weren’t informed, we could have done it better, we could have ended this with more survivors, blah di bloo di blah.” Algeria’s position is, “Sorry, we don’t negotiate with terrorists.” And to that, may I add, especially not terrorists who are killing the hostages anyway, who are strapped to the gills with explosives, and who come from a radical culture where suicide is the expected outcome of a violent event. Kind of tough to negotiate with someone who actually wants you to shoot him. It’s like going up to an alcoholic at a party and saying, “Look, I can either drive you home, or I can pour you another scotch.” That’s a win-win either way for the booze-hound.

Terrorists are sick, desperate people who can be dealt with in only the most extreme, desperate ways. Like full-on raids, waterboarding and being forced to watch “Teen Mom 2.”

We can mince words all we want so as not to offend Saudi Arabia and Qatar and UAE and other countries that could afford to buy the Statue of Liberty and sell it back to us in pieces. However, until every country, east and west, takes full action in crushing radical, violent Islam, we’re just gonna get more Algerias, more World Trade Centers, more Koran-concocted carnage. Just ask Israel, which has endured sixty years of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism disguised as Palestinian nationalism. Israel realizes: the only way to say “no more” is to say, “no,” more. And that means, when terrorism rears its ugly covered head, you gotta put the religion of peace in a world of pain.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.

(c) 2013 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.
–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29250

Dave’s Gone By Interview (1/26/2013): RAY COONEY & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with British playwright and director Ray Cooney (Run for Your Wife, Funny Money).

Topics include: writing farce and the film version of Run for Your Wife.

Segment originally aired Jan. 26, 2013 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Note: Interview 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)2013 TotalTheater Productions.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information on Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com

Dave’s Gone By #409 (1/26/2013): RUN FOR YOUR WIFI

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Here is the 409th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Jan. 26, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with playwright Ray Cooney (Run for Your Wife, Funny Money) and offers his Rabbinical Reflection on the Algerian crisis. Plus: Inside Broadway (Drood), the satirical News Gone By, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Ray), and birthday Saturday Segues.

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guest: playwright Ray Cooney

00:00:01 Pre-show intro
00:03:30 DAVE GOES IN
00:12:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Sarah, Lucinda & Margo
00:51:00 INSIDE BROADWAY (news (00:51:30) & review (The Mystery of Edwin Drood)
01:21:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Ray Cooney
02:01:30 Sponsors
02:06:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Ray)
02:41:00 NEWS GONE BY
02:48:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #53 (The Battle of Algiers)
02:54:30 Weather & Friends
02:59:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Cantor & Channing
03:13:00 DAVE GOES OUT

Jan. 26, 2013 Playlist: “Something About What Happens When We Talk” (00:12:30), “Drunken Angel” (00:25:00) & “Sweet Old World” (00:36:00; Lucinda Williams). “Blue Guitar” (00:16:00), “Miles from Our Home” (00:28:00) & “Sweet Jane” (00:40:3 0; Cowboy Junkies), “Blue” (00:22:00), “Fallen” (00:33:00) & “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” (00:44:00; Sarah McLachlan). “All I Ask of You” (01:00:00; The Phantom of the Opera (orig London cast w/ Michael Crawford). “Don’t Quit While You’re Ahead” (01:18:00; The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 1985 Broadway cast). “Caribbean Wind” (02:08:00), “Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight” (02:14:00), “Standing in the Doorway” (02:25:30) & “Floater” (02:33:00; Bob Dylan). “Gotta Serve Somebody” (02:19:30; Shirley Caesar). “Turning of the Tide” (02:45:00; Bob Mould). “Before the Parade Passes By” (03:03:00; Hello, Dolly!, 1964 Broadway cast w/ Carol Channing). “My Baby Just Cares for Me” (03:06:30) & “Makin’ Whoopee!” (03:11:00; Eddie Cantor). “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (03:08:00; Carol Channing). “Mad Rush” (Philip Glass).

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #53 (1/20/2013): Lance Armstrong

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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #53 (1/20/2013): Lance Armstrong

Aired January 19, 2013 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksF769ibSjk&feature=youtu.be

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of January 20th, 2013.

I never understood the appeal of bicycle racing as a spectator sport. Oh sure, it’s fun to pedal a Schwinn through the neighborhood while running errands, looking at the scenery and zipping past poor bastards in cars who have to stop for red lights. It’s healthy exercise uphill, and it’s a mechayah downhill.

Granted, the man who invented bicycle seats must have worked for the Nazis. I ask you: if they can design a chair cushion that makes you feel like you’re floating on a cloud, why can’t they make a bicycle seat that doesn’t mash your testicles halfway up your groin.

But be that as it may, watching people bicycle is about as much fun watching people roller skate. Twelve seconds and you wanna shoot yourself. Thirty seconds and you wanna get on a bicycle and run the skaters over.

So the whole Tour de France mystique is lost on me. Cyclists spend day after day for three weeks riding two thousand miles just to put on a yellow jersey. Sorry, but I can give Jet Blue some money, fly two thousand miles in half a day, and they give me a free headset. No contest.

But I do not deny the skill, athleticism or endurance of those who compete in these races, especially Lance Armstrong, who survived cancer to win the Tour de France for seven consecutive years. (It was testicular cancer, by the way, for which, as I said – I blame the bicycle seat!) Anyhoo, Lance Armstrong represented everything great about athletics. Training, discipline in body and mind, healthy diet, the will to win, grace under pressure and battling back against all odds. He was one of those athletes parents could point to on a cereal box and say, “You could be like him, if you eat your Wheaties.” What we didn’t know is that you had to sprinkle your Wheaties with corticosteroids and substitute the milk with Red Bull.

Now, believe it or not, I’m not categorically against performance-enhancing drugs. Who’s to say what’s a natural additive and what’s going too far? If one guy makes a morning shake out of a special secret recipe of wheat grass, crushed vitamins and horny goat weed, is he getting an unfair leg up on the guy who’s just eating pancakes? And what if – just what if – Lance Armstrong decided to race competitively while he was still recovering from cancer? Not expecting to win, but just to prove something to himself and to the world. So his body is all full of these chemo chemicals that are keeping him alive – and, perhaps, enhancing his performance. Where does therapy stop and doping begin?

I cannot answer these questions. These are questions for doctors, chemists and Ozzy Osbourne. What I can say is that Armstrong’s behavior has been reprehensible. Not only did he lie for years, he discouraged, harangued and even threatened others who wanted to tell the truth. He was a bully, and one of those people who breathe such rarified air, they imagine rules that apply to everyone else don’t apply to them.

Finally, when his back was against the wall – and his tuchas impaled on a banana seat – and there was nothing else to tell besides what we already knew, Armstrong allows himself to be cross-examined in prime time by Oprah Winfrey. Because criminality is so much more palatable when it’s packaged and sold as entertainment. And because for Oprah to get ratings, it’s either this or getting Dr. Phil and Mehmet Oz to french each other.

As for the special itself, Armstrong admitted to some things, denied others, and looked for all the world like someone who’s about to lure you into a scientology booth. One day Christopher Walken will play Armstrong in a movie, and he’ll actually be less creepy than the real thing.

Should we expect remorse? I know that’s big with defense attorneys – “Ooh, he feels really bad, let’s be nice to him.” But Armstrong’s ego is such that he seems almost proud of getting away with cheating as long as he did. Sure he’s sorry – sorry he got caught. Which makes him little different from all the baseball players who turned the 1990s into a home-run derby. They sure gave us a lot of thrills while the commissioner looked the other way. But try telling kids, “Don’t do drugs! Always play fair! Drink your juice!” when their heroes are juicing in a very different way. As for punishment, well, what will all those steroids will do to their bodies when these guys turn 60 or 70 – if they even get there? It’s like a chemical version of “Faust”; one day, you have to pay back the devil. Or Vince McMahon, take your pick.

But I do have a confession to make: I myself, have a problem with `roids. Hemorrhoids, and they’re killing me. Oprah would you like the scoop?

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29254

Dave’s Gone By Interview (1/19/2013): LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III

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Dave Lefkowitz chats with singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III.

Topics include: his career and latest CD, “Older than My Old Man Now.”

Segment originally aired Jan. 19, 2013 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

All content (c)2013 TotalTheater Productions.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information on Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com

Dave’s Gone By #408 (1/19/2013): WAIN’S WORLD

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Here is the 408th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Jan. 19, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Dave chats with singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III. Plus: Rabbi Sol Solomon offers his Rabbinical Reflection Lance Armstrong’s confession, Inside Broadway (The Other Place), and Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (copyright).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guest: singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:12:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Loudon Wainwright III
00:43:30 INSIDE BROADWAY (news (00:44:00) & The Other Place (01:03:00)
01:14:00 GUEST: Loudon Wainwright III
02:00:00 Sponsors
02:06:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (copyright)
02:46:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #53 (Lance Armstrong)
02:59:30 DAVE GOES OUT

Jan. 29, 2013 Playlist: “The Swimming Song” (00:12:30; {BBC Sessions version}), “People in Love” (00:15:30), “Carmine Street” (00:18:30), “No Knees” (00:21:00), “Unhappy Anniversary” (00:23:30), “You Can’t Fail Me Now” (00:26:30), “This Song Don’t Have a Video” (00:30:00), “School Song” (00:32:00), “Dead Skunk” (00:35:00), “the Here and the Now” (01:10:30), “Over the Hill” (01:19:30), “Daughter” (01:32:00), “Liza” (01:35:30), “I Remember Sex” ({w/ Dame Edna} 01:46:00), “Strange Weirdos” (01:53:30), “Pretty Good Day” (03:04:30) (Loudon Wainwright III). “One Normal Night” (00:47:30; The Addams Family (Broadway cast)), “Mixed-Up Confusion” (02:12:00), “Kingsport Town” (02:14:30), “Hero Blues” (02:18:00), “No More Auction Block” (02:19:30), “Corrina, Corrina” (02:22:30), “Rambling Gambling Willie” (02:25:00) & “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance” (02:29:00; Bob Dylan). “Google” (02:39:30; Art Paul Schlosser). “Heroes” ({live “Stage” version}, 02:53:00; David Bowie).

Laurie Metcalf and Daniel Stern in The Other Place (photo by Joan Marcus)

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #52 (1/13/2013): Al Gorezeera

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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #52 (1/13/2013): Al Gorezeera

Aired January 12, 2013 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKNhqPjnANY. https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29258

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of January 13th, 2013.

I never liked Al Gore. Something about him – the smugness, the silver spoon, the hypocrisy – (we’ll get to that). And for all his left-wing democratic ideals, he married a woman whose claim to fame was begging Congress to put warning labels on record albums. Because in 1985, the greatest threat to our country was not Russia or the Middle East or poverty or famine but the Ramones. So there was always something shifty about Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. Lord knows, his jet-setting lifestyle seems a little out of sync with his altruism about sustainable energy, but okay, it’s not as if we expect him to live in a hut. Neil Young can build electric cars, but he’s still tooling around in a `56 Crown Victoria.

Anyway, most of what skeeved me about Al Gore I couldn’t put my finger on. I think a lot of liberals felt that way when George Bush stole the presidency out from under him. After eight good years under Bill Clinton – we didn’t know how good we had it – people still couldn’t bring themselves to pull the lever for Mr. Internets. True, the former vice president scored brownie points by making a movie about global warming. It left most people global sleeping but still, it was the right message that should have been listened to then and now. And with a whole TV network at his disposal, Gore had the chance to make a real difference in the content and dissemination of news around the world.

That his network, Current TV, failed financially is no shame. But his response was mind boggling – he sold it to Al Jazeera. That’s right, ground zero for Arab propaganda, Al Jazeera, now gets a bigger hoofhold in America. Al J paid Al G 500 million dollars for the privilege of reaching Comcast, Dish Network, Verizon and your local Etch-a-Sketch.

Now, let’s be fair. Most of the time, Al Jazeera functions as an objective journalistic outlet that covers the Arab world more directly than Rupert Murdoch or Reuters ever could. But make no mistake: Al Jazeera was founded and financed by people very close to the ruling family of Qatar. Yes, the network is privately owned – by the cousin of the Emir. And American journalists who have worked for Al Jazeera have complained that everything on it has an anti-American or anti-Israel slant. Remember – this was the place Osama bin Laden would mail his Mp3s to.

“Oh Rabbi,” I hear you say, “if the Zodiac killer sends his messages to the San Francisco Chronicle instead of to the cops, do you blame the paper?” No, and you can’t fault Al Jazeera for running with the story, even if their superstar was a mass-murdering lunatic that they could have helped bring to justice. As such, you can be wary of a network that lives to pish on the Western world. And if I want to watch Israel bashing in the guise of news, I don’t need Al Jazeera; I’ll just put on Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now.”

Al Gore did not have to do business with these people. If there can be entire networks devoted to game shows or old soap operas, surely Gore could have found a buyer with a 24-hour skateboarding channel, or a new MTV that actually plays music videos. And hey, Tipper’s now history, so you can even leave the obscenities in.

The biggest obscenity is that Mr. Gore, who has spent 30 years warning the world about oil being so scarce, how drilling depletes our natural resources and changes the weather, how pollution is melting the arctic, how there are so many cleaner and more efficient ways to make energy – this Al Gore just pocketed half a billion dollars from a company founded on the profits of oil drilling, consumption, fake shortages and price fixing. Not to mention a country governed under family dictatorship and Sharia law.

For years, I felt bad that I didn’t vote for Al Gore in the 2000 election. I went with Ralph Nader, because I believed his rap about Democrats being just as lousy as the Republicans – that both parties are owned by the same mega-corporations and drug companies. Nader was right, but eight years of Dubya also proved him wrong. I used to wonder how different America would have been had Al Gore been president instead of Bush. Now I know. He would have sold New Mexico to Saudi Arabia and made Mahmoud Ahmedinejad chairman of the B’nai Brith.

I am not one to advocate censorship. I’m not saying, “Hey everyone, call your cable provider and threaten to go back to rabbit ears if Al Jazeera gets a channel.” But the price of freedom is vigilance. If Current TV now morphs into wall-to-wall Intifadeh, with the most popular show being “Two and a Half Men Blowing Up Three and a Half Synagogues,” you know what to do. After all, the Arabs have spilled rivers of American blood. Must they now have blood and Gore?

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29258

Dave’s Gone By Interview (1/12/2013): PETER MARSHALL & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with entertainer and “Hollywood Squares” host Peter Marshall.

Topics include: “Hollywood Squares,” cabaret and yesteryear.

Segment originally aired Jan. 12, 2013 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information on Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com

Dave’s Gone By #407 (1/12/2013): CIRCLE GETS THE SQUARE

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Here is the 407th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio Jan. 12, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with entertainer Peter Marshall (“Hollywood Squares”) and offers his Rabbinical Reflection on Al Gore selling out to Al Jazeera. Plus: Inside Broadway (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Last Seder, My Name is Asher Lev), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later, and Saturday Segues (birthdays, fingers).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guest: entertainer Peter Marshall

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:08:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – birthdays
00:35:30 INSIDE BROADWAY (news (00:36:00), Glengarry Glen Ross (00:42:30), My Name is Asher Lev (00:47:30), The Last Seder (00:51:30), “Broadway Musicals – A Jewish Legacy” (00:54:30)
01:06:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with Peter Marshall
01:51:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later
02:27:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #52 – Al Gorezeera
02:33:30 Weather & Friends
02:37:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Fingers
03:03:30 DAVE GOES OUT

Jan. 12, 2013 Playlist: “Wishing on Telstar” (09:00:00; Susanna Hoffs). “Sway” (00:13:00) & “Ventilator Blues” (00:21:30; The Rolling Stones). “I’m a Band Leader” (00:17:00) & “Golden Birdies” (00:25:00; Captain Beefheart). “Beware of Darkness” (00:18:00; Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs). “Tell Me” (00:26:30; The Bangles). “Hollywood Squares Final Episode” (excerpt; 01:03:30; “Hollywood Squares” w/ Peter Marshall). “And Then She Wrote (Trailer)” (01:39:00; And Then She Wrote w/ Peter Marshall). “Isis” (01:53:30), “North Country Blues” (02:00:00), “Hazel” (02:05:00), “One Too Many Mornings” (02:07:30), “If You See Her Say Hello” (02:10:00), “Something There is About” (02:15:00) & “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” (02:19:30; Bob Dylan). “Linger” (02:47:00; The Cranberries). “Different Finger” (02:51:00; Elvis Costello). “Cross Your Fingers” (02:53:00; Laura Marling). “Magic Fingers” (02:55:30; Frank Zappa). “Magic Finger” (02:59:30; James Kochalka). “Powderfinger” (03:06:30; Neil Young).