Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews singer Baby Jane Dexter
Topics include: cabaret, depression, rape, AIDS.
Segment aired Nov. 29, 2014 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Sad Note: Our Friend of the Daverhood, Baby Jane Dexter, passed May 20, 2019.
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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
The 14th Wretched Pun of Destiny segment aired Nov. 22, 2014 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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
* 14. For his work on “30 Rock,” comedian Tracy Morgan was in London to be knighted by the queen. Unfortunately, right after the ceremony, Morgan begins suffering terrible maladies related to his near-fatal car accident.
They bring him to the Royal Hospital where he complains of dizziness and a burning sensation in his left hip.
The doctor examines Morgan for a few minutes and makes some brief notes on a chart, which he hands to the head nurse. But she stops him in the hall. “I’m sorry, doctor, but I don’t understand your notes,” she tells him.
The doctor says, “It’s simple. We put the patient in a spinning centrifuge to counteract his vertigo. Then we drain off some fluid from his hip to ease the inflammation. It’s all there on the chart.”
“Oh, now I get it!” gasps the nurse. “Spin Sir Tracy, and Catheter in Hip Burn.”
Here is the 486th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Nov. 29, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with singer Baby Jane Dexter. Plus: Saturday Segue (this week), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Real Live), The Wretched Pun of Destiny (Tracy Morgan).
Guests: singer Baby Jane Dexter, Dave’s wife, Joyce Weil
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce Weil (late start, Thanksgiving with Frendy, Paul Williams) 01:04:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – This Week 01:27:00 More with Dave & Joyce (auto-correct, Sting) 01:35:00 Sponsors 01:53:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Baby Jane Dexter 03:26:00 Friends 03:31:30 THE WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY #14 – Tracy Morgan 03:34:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Real Live) 03:54:30 Weather 03:57:30 DAVE GOES OUT
Nov. 29, 2014 Playlist: “Baby Jane” (00:45:00; Rod Stewart). “Jelly Roll Gum Drop” (01:07:30; Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention). “Everybody’s Wrong” (01:12:30; Buffalo Springfield). “Little Wing” (01:14:30; Jimi Hendrix). “Norwegian Wood” (01:17:00; The Beatles). “Gimme Shelter” (01:19:00; The Rolling Stones). “The Kids are All Right” (01:23:30; The Who). “I Got Thunder” (01:50:30), “You Really Got a Hold On Me” (02:11:30), “One Meatball” (02:25:00), “Chickie Chickie Chickie” (02:46:30), “Fifteen Ugly Minutes” (02:51:30), “Everybody Hurts” (03:16:00) & “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart” (04:02:00; Baby Jane Dexter). “Tombstone Blues” ({Real Live version}; 03:44:00), “License to Kill” ({Real Live version}; 03:45:30) & “Ballad of a Thin Man” ({Real Live version}; 03:49:00; Bob Dylan).
Baby Jane DexterWhatever Happened to Baby JaneStreemaDylan’s Real Live
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of November 23, 2014.
And here I was, all set to do a gentle sermon about Thanksgiving. How grateful we should all be for friends and co-workers and family — well, maybe not family — but for all the loving, helpful people in our lives. How we must be thankful to HaShem if we still have good health, functioning limbs, working brain cells, food on the table, a roof overhead — preferably one with a fiddler on it — a decent job, a couple of hobbies, a warm winter coat and a not-bad summer vacation.
Saying grace after every meal has never been my thing. What, I should sit there thanking God for his bounties, and by the time I’m finished, the food gets cold? No wonder goyim are so skinny; by the time they finish praying, their entrees are back in the microwave. Nevertheless, a couple of times a year, it’s good to remember that everything comes to us by the courtesy of God above and the hard work of our peers and forebears.
How lovely to offer a Rabbinical Reflection on such a spiritual and fraternal topic. However, the news this week forbids me from doing such a gentle, joyful sermon. I am, once again, detoured from being my usual snuggly marshmallow of delight into sounding like a vindictive, vituperative expounder of hate and revenge. Last Tuesday, two Palestinians armed with guns and meat cleavers burst into a Jerusalem synagogue and began firing and chopping. They murdered five people, including a policeman, three American Rabbis and an Orthodox Jewish Brit. For their troubles, the assassins, Ghassan Abu Jamal and his cousin, Oday Abu Jamal, were sent to martyrdom and their 72 ugly-ass virgins in the sky.
As an extra-punitive measure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then ordered that the killers’ houses be demolished. Honestly, I don’t know how upsetting that is to a dead terrorist. What’s he gonna say? “Aww, I was gonna make hummus tonight. No wait, I’m being shoveled into an unmarked grave. Gee, I’m gonna miss the sun room.”
Still, hurrah for any action by the Israeli government that warns Arabs we will not stand for such horrors as violence, murder and television programs featuring Jane Velez Mitchell. Let there be no doubt: bloodthirsty Palestinians may not storm into a temple in Yerushalayim and start executing people. Not unless it’s the high holy days and they bought a ticket.
Seriously, do you know why these terrorists embarked upon their rampage? Was it eye-for-an-eye revenge? Were they mad about Jews who went on a killing spree in the local Falafel Mart? No, because that didn’t happen. The Palestinians were irate because Jews have been visiting a holy site on the Temple Mount that the Arabs think should be off-limits to Hebrews. Doesn’t matter that Arabs in East Jerusalem can go anywhere they damn well please; Jews are forbidden from going where the Arabs don’t want them. Apparently, the penalty for trespassing in the Arab world is being hacked to death. Which makes sense, since the penalty for stealing is cutting off a hand, and the penalty for adultery is, well, let’s just call it extreme circumcision and leave it at that.
Following the synagogue attack, lame-duck President Obama is calling for peace and restraint on both sides, downplaying the savagery of the event and, as usual, doing nothing. Hey Barry! We had three Americans murdered by agents of a foreign regime. Isn’t that like, war, or something? I know the dead Rabbis weren’t black, but you could at least raise an eyebrow.
In the weeks ahead, you can bet your burqa Israel will do a lot more than snivel and call for moderation. There’ll be raids, roundups, demolitions and, alas, probably some vigilantism, too. I won’t deny that there’s a back-and-forth, you-did-this-so-I-do-that element to Israeli/Arab conflagrations. Remember last time? They killed those hitchhikers, so some misguided, hyped-up Israelis murdered some soccer-playing kids. Much as I hate the radical Arabs, killing innocent people is never an answer to anything. In fact, that’s what got us here. If the Palestinians would stop being terrorists, we’d stop being enemies. And if we stop being enemies, they can visit our synagogues, and we can be tourists at their shrines. And we’ll talk, and we’ll laugh, and we’ll bitch about the government, and we’ll share music and art and sports and do business deals, and food! We’ll sit down together with pastrami and goat and borscht and eggplant and kugel and yogurt, and we’ll watch TV, and we’ll fall asleep, and you know what we’ll call it? Thanksgiving.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews actor Chazz Palminteri
Topics include: A Bronx Tale, Yankees, theater, Bullets Over Broadway, Robert De Niro.
Segment aired Nov. 15, 2014 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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
The 13th Wretched Pun of Destiny segment aired Nov. 22, 2014 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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com * 13. An old Asian tea maker took pride in teaching his culinary students a very special blend of his chai tea. The brew had a strong, delicious taste and an oddly delicate bouquet. No matter how his young students tried, even the best ones could not replicate the brew.
What the teacher couldn’t tell them was the real reason his tea had such a distinct flavor: every morning before school, he would wake up, take a dry loofa and scrape the wrinkly, dead skin off one of his buttocks and into the bag of leaves.
All goes fine until one day, a know-it-all student takes a sip of the old man’s signature tea. “Ugh,” says the boy, “when was this tea made, 1937?”
“What you talk about?” says the teacher, “is fresh, new tea!”
“New? This tastes ancient. I don’t wanna make old tea.”
“Old? Is not old! Made right now!”
“Is not!” counters the boy. “What kind of teacher are you?”
“I good teacher!” the old man yells, “and is new tea!”
“No, it isn’t,” says the boy, “I’m outta here.”
The kid turns to leave, but the teacher grabs him by the collar and hollers, “I good teacher! No Chai Old, Left Behind!”
click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 485th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Nov. 22, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actor Chazz Palminteri. Plus: Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection (Murder in Jerusalem), Inside Broadway, The Wretched Pun of Destiny (Old Tea), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Rolling Thunder), Saturday Segues (Randy Newman, Thanksgiving Feast).
Guests: actor Chazz Palminteri, Dave’s wife, Joyce Weil
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN (Oofty’s Nuts, UNC’s perks, Waste Management Phoenix Open, winter blues, bad-news Bears, Boing!, bad Bard) 01:32:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Randy Newman 01:54:00 Sponsors 01:59:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Chazz Palminteri 02:31:00 Friends 02:36:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 03:02:00 THE WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY #13 (Old Tea) 03:04:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later – Rolling Thunder 03:30:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #111 – Murder in Jerusalem 03:39:00 Weather 03:42:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Thanskgiving Feast 04:01:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Nov. 22, 2014 Playlist: “Laugh and Be Happy” (01:34:30), “Shining” (01:37:00), “Real Emotional Girl” (01:43:30) & “Losing You” (01:46:00; Randy Newman). “Have You Seen My Baby” (Chris Smither; 01:41:00). “Disc Jockey” (02:41:00; Mike Nichols & Elaine May). “Tonight, I’ll Be Staying Here with You” ({live 1975 version}, 03:09:00), “Isis” ({Live 1975 version}, 03:16:00) & “Sara” ({live 1975 version}, 03:21:00; Bob Dylan). “Mama, You’ve Been on My Mind” ({live} 03:13:00; Bob Dylan & Joan Baez). “A Lonely Grain of Corn” (03:43:00; Uncle Bonsai). “Pumpkin Soup” (03:46:30; Kate Nash). “Turkey in the Straw” (03:49:30; Neil Morris & Charlie Everidge). “Squash” (03:51:30; Townes Van Zandt). “Saving Grace” (03:53:30; The Cranberries). “Thank You Friends” (04:03:30; Big Star).
Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews songwriter Daniel Cainer
Topics include: The Jewish Chronicles, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Germany.
Segment scheduled to air Nov. 15, 2014 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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
The 12th Wretched Pun of Destiny segment aired Nov. 15, 2014 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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
* 12. Basking in the success of his “Godfather” films, Francis Ford Coppola books a much-needed vacation to Peru. On his first morning, he visits a llama farm, where he watches the ranchers feed and groom a herd of llamas and alpacas. Immediately, Coppola becomes fascinated by the animals’ eating habits. He gets on the phone to his agent and says, “I know what my next film is gonna be! I’m watching these llamas and the adorable way their faces move when they chew. So I wanna make a nature documentary where all you see are close-ups of their faces and their mouths.”
“Okay,” says the agent, “you’re the genius. But what on earth will you call it?”
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of November 17, 2014.
Merry Christmas, non-Jewish listeners! A very merry Christmas and Yuletide to all the goyim within the sound of my strident voice! Jingle bells, glad tidings, joyeux Noel – whatever the hell that means — Merry Chris — wait, what? You mean it’s not Christmas? You mean it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and Christmas is a month and a half away?
Well, you wouldn’t know it. Not from the TV commercials. Not from the music they play in the department stores. Not from the displays in Walgreens and Walmart and K-Mart and K.Y. and why is it Christmas already when it isn’t December 25th for another 35 days?
We all know why, of course. It’s because America needs to sell you crap as much and as often as possible. The home shopping networks and the mall shopping outlets want to get you in the money-spending spirit as soon as they can. If they could start next year’s holiday sales on December 26th at midnight, they would. In fact, they already almost do. In the middle of July, QVC and HLN and the CIA are doing infomercials for ornaments. “Make sure you order them now, people, so they arrive by August — just in time for Christmas.”
As a Jew, but not just as a Jew, but mainly as a Jew, I object to all this haranguing, day after day after day over a holiday I do not believe in and couldn’t care less about. You wanna put up some lights on the weekend before Christmas, and maybe start the Ruh-puh-pum-pum on your drum a week or two before the holiday? Be my guest, and buy me something nice. But stop with the Yuletide cheer when I haven’t even gotten all the matzoh out of my colon from Passover yet!
I have spoken before and elsewhere about the pressure Jews feel to morph Chanukah into a Yuletide-like holiday…Chrismakkah…a concept which fills me with enough loathing to stuff a Santa suit. They are not similar holidays; they are not equivalent holidays. And yet, because they fall at the same time of year, Yiddlach feel compelled to match their neighbors gift for gift, light for light, stupid singalong for stupid singalong. The only thing that keeps me from jamming hot knitting needles through my eardrums this time of year is Adam Sandler, and even that song wears out its welcome by its third spin. Try playing “Here Comes Chanukah” as often as Rite Aid plays “The Christmas Song,” and you’ll want to open every bottle in the pharmacy and swallow till the pain stops.
Holiday overkill is bad enough two or three weeks out of the year, but a whole month? You got radio stations that play only Christmas music. Some stores block off entire sections for stocking stuffers the day after Labor Day. Just stop it! Stop it! Nobody’s roasting chestnuts on an open anything. If grandma’s getting run over, it’s by grandpa’s Rascal, not a reindeer.
And I know Christmas is an excuse for people to do nice things and feel good about themselves. Soldiers stuck in a sandpit in Trashcanistan have a chance to come home and see their families because it’s Christmas. Why the army can’t do that on Groundhog Day just the same is beyond me, but okay. It’s like supermarkets that give the destitute free turkey on Thanksgiving. Fantastic — homeless people have a dozen meal options on Thanksgiving Day. The day after Thanksgiving? Pfftth. Back to 99-cent pizza and Spaghettios.
Still, if we use the holiday as an impetus to be better humans and do more good, even the cranky, miserable misanthrope in me cannot object to that. But the time leading up to the holiday is about nothing more than marketing and selling and forced, fake, phony good cheer. It’s all too much, too soon, and if I sound like the Grinch, so be it. Especially since I’m not trying to steal Christmas. I just want to hide it for awhile, like the Afikomen, so that, as an accountant would say, the interest appreciates.
No Marine comes home on special leave November 8th. Nobody’s donating cans to the food bank on December 12th. We’re subjected to the hype but not the help. I say, if big business must turn Christmas into a season-long capitalist orgy, at least give out condoms of compassion to go with it.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York. Ooh, only 288 shopping days until Simchas Torah!
