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Here is the 537th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired Dec. 19, 2015. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection (Word of the Year); Saturday Segue (Phil Ochs, Frank Zappa); Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (in the News); Inside Broadway; Greeley Crimes & Old Times.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz Guest: Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (Berli’os, underground newspapers) 00:24:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 00:56:30 DAVE GOES FURTHER IN (piglette, snowstorm) 01:06:30 Sponsors 01:10:00 DAVE GOES EVEN FURTHER IN (Marriott, The Producers) 01:28:00 SATURDAY SEGUE (Phil Ochs) 01:51:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 02:10:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (in the news) 02:36:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #132 (Word of the Year) 02:47:00 Friends 02:54:30 SATURDAY SEGUE (Frank Zappa) 03:14:30 Weather & Thanks 03:20:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Dec. 20, 2015 Playlist: “Chanukah Fever” (00:50:30; Mama Doni). “Ballad of William Worthy” (01:36:30), “How Long” (01:39:00), “Half a Century High” (01:42:00) & “Jim Dean of Indiana” (01:45:00; Phil Ochs). “Wedding Dance” (02:08:00; Fiddler on the Roof 1964 Broadway cast). “You’re a Big Girl Now” ({acoustic} 02:12:30) & “Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight” (02:21:30; Bob Dylan). “Man in the Long Black Coat” (02:17:00; Joan Osborne). “Love of My Life” (02:57:00), “Charlie’s Enormous Mouth” (03:01:00), “Inca Roads” (03:05:00) & “Any Way the Wind Blows” (03:08:30; Frank Zappa). “What Will Rumi Do?” (02:59:00; Ensemble Modern). “Holiday” (03:21:00; American Idiot 2010 Broadway cast).
Shalom, Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of December 20, 2015.
Well, Chanukah’s over, so I can go back to being my crotchety, miserable self. Perfect timing, too. You’ve got terrorists shooting everybody, Republicans shooting their mouths off, and, as usual, my poop chute hurts—and I’m low on Desitin.
All I want towards the end of the year is a little good news, a bit of lightness to counter the darkness and stupidity all around. So what do I get? First, Time Magazine —- remember Time Magazine?—no one does. I’m sure it’s four pages long and printed on tissue paper at this point. But Time Magazine tries to stay relevant by picking its person of the year. Now, that doesn’t always mean the honored person is honorable. Past People of the Year have included Hitler, Stalin, and the Ayatollah Khoumeini —- who are always my top three when planning a holiday party. But Time has also singled out U.S. presidents, Pope Francis, Bono—pretty much anyone who’ll sell at the newsstand.
This year, Time chose Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, as person of the year. I know, right? Your guess is as good as mine. Aside from my lingering fear of anything German—including measles, cars, and ovens—did this nice lady do anything at all that affected my life? I mean, she could have gotten me a bagel from the grocery downstairs or maybe paid forward my last meal at the deli, but pfft, nothing. All Merkel does is strengthen the Euro, which is fine for Germany but hasn’t exactly been a boon for Greece, Finland, or the American greenback.
But Time Magazine is not why I am grumpy. Last week, Merriam-Webster announced its Word of the Year. Now, that’s a nice thing. In order to stay somewhat relevant in a world where dictionaries are just those clunky things we used before spell-check, Webster’s reminds everybody they still exist. How? By choosing a word that has been particularly relevant or popular over the past annum. For example, last year’s number-one word was culture. Lovely word! Culture. It means the behavioral customs of people, as well as the fine arts. And also what they take from your throat when you’ve got strep.
But you know what? People don’t listen anymore. They don’t play by the rules; they don’t follow directions. Webster’s Third International Dictionary has 470,000 words in it. That’s nearly half a million choices the editors could make when picking a word of the year. They could select words like lambrequin, which is a hood or covering for a helmet; or rasophore, which is the lowest order of Greek monk; or flabelliform, which means shaped like a fan. If people aren’t using these terms regularly, maybe making one of them Word of the Year could change all that. Undercover spies from Webster’s and Oxford could sneak the word into common usage: “Hey, isn’t that the guy from ZZ Top?” “No, he’s just a lowly rasophore. You can tell by the cassock.”
But okay, maybe these words aren’t at the top of everyone’s text-message suggestion bar. So how about cheese or synergy or the word everybody googles: porn? Somehow, even these simple words weren’t good enough for Merriam and his life-partner, Webster. As I said, they had hundreds of thousands of options for Word of the Year, and the one they chose . . . the word these scholars, in their infinite wisdom, selected as Word of the Year is: Ism. I’ll say it again: Ism.
Why do I have a problem with this? Very simple. You have a swath of geniuses using computer programs, volumetrics, and common sense to come up with a word, and the word they choose . . . last time I checked, IS NOT A WORD. It’s a suffix. Look it up! No, really, look it up IN WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY. I-S-M: it’s not a word, it’s the end of a word! Imagine if Baskin-Robbins held a contest for ice cream flavor of the year, and the winner was “ocolate!”
Now the dictionary dances around these semantics by saying that “ism” is a noun, that represents a whole bunch of words ending in ism. Which sounds to me like a tautologism. And the reason for the choice of ism this year has to do with all the web searches for ism terrorism—thanks to ISIS, socialism—thanks to Bernie Sanders, racism—thanks to Freddie Gray, capitalism and fascism—both thanks to Donald Trump, and, of course, jism, thanks the aforementioned porn.
Please understand, I have nothing against “ism” as a suffix. After all, where would I be without Judaism? Probably, happily sipping martinis on a yacht. And I’m also pretty big on Zionism, secular humanism, and the occasional aphorism. But if the sacred guardians of words can’t be bothered to find a word, what’s the world—and the word—coming to?
The answer is that it’s already come and gone. Yes, dictionary.com chose its own word of the year, identity, a gratifyingly rational decision there. But the Oxford English Dictionary—the gold standard of linguistic lexicography—they, too, had a word of the year. They didn’t pick a prefix, no. They didn’t pick a compound word or phrase. They didn’t go with slang or an abbreviation. My friends, the O.E.D. chose, as word of the year: a drawing. More specifically, the “tears of joy” emoji. You know, the Japanese-y face with the tear drops and the slanty eyebrows and one long tooth smiling while crying? This is their Word of the Year. You can’t even say it. It takes a paragraph to describe it. I thought a picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words not replace all of them!
If the best and smartest of us can’t even get simple instructions right, what hope is there for the rest of us numbnuts to solve immigration, feed the hungry, and slow down climate change? That is why I have, not one, but two words for the Webster’s and Oxford dictionaries. Each word is one syllable. The second word is a pronoun. The first word is a transitive verb that is, quote, “usually vulgar.” In case you haven’t guessed it by now, my words are—well, picture an emoji of a big yellow hand with its middle finger lifted in defiance. Or, in a different language, geh kaken oifen yam! And yes, I realize that’s a yiddishism.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, New York. Can I get a lambrequin for my shtreimel?
Topics include: music, New Year’s Eve. Segment aired Dec. 31, 2015 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” 2015 New Year’s special 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)2015 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
Aired July 16, 2016 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)2015 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 536th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Dec. 12, 2015. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Dave chats with old friend Jeff Goodman; Inside Broadway; Rabbi Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection (Hanukkah Haiku); Saturday Segues (Frank Sinatra, vacation); Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Sinatra’s Shadows); Greeley Crimes & Old Times.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz Guest: former guest co-host Jeff Goodman, Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (so long semester, snu, temps, Eggley Bagelface, The Soup, Mama Doni, Hawaii Kai, Kaleidoscope, horse head) 01:12:30 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:47:30 GUEST: Jeff Goodman 02:36:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Frank Sinatra 02:59:00 Sponsors 03:02:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 03:23:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Sinatra’s Shadows) 03:40:30 Sponsors 03:45:30 RABBINICAL REFLECTION – Hanukkah Haiku 03:51:00 Friends 03:46:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Vacation 04:16:30 Weather & Thanks 04:20:30 DAVE GOES OUT
Dec. 12, 2015 Playlist: “Chanukah Fever” (Mama Doni). “Chanukah” (01:08:30; Six13). “The Coffee Song” (02:39:00). “It’s the Same Old Dream” (02:42:00), “It Never Entered My Mind” (02:44:30), “You Make Me Feel So Young” ({live}; 02:47:30), “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (02:51:00) & “I Have Dreamed” (04:22:00; Frank Sinatra). “A Brand New Day” (03:19:30; The Wiz 2015 TV cast). “That Lucky Old Sun” (03:27:30), “What’ll I Do” (03:31:00) & “Stay With Me” (03:34:30; Bob Dylan). “The Draidel Song” (03:50:00; Mickey Katz). “Your Mind is on Vacation” (03:57:30; Van Morrison). “Take a Musical Break” (04:00:30; Dottie Burman). “Albuquerque” (04:02:30; Neil Young). “Take Me Away” (04:06:30; Oasis). “Homeward Bound” (04:11:00; Simon & Garfunkel).
Shalom, Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of December 12, 2015.
With everything going on in the world – the craziness, the killing, chaos in the GOP, E. coli at Chipotle—which is really confusing because how the hell are you supposed to differentiate noro-virus diarrhea from regular Chipotle diarrhea? Such distinctions are lost on me. But what we must not lose this mid-December is the arrival of Chanukah. Eight days of happiness and food and gratitude, and a reminder that every Jewish holiday isn’t about fasting and wishing you could afford maid service.
Sometimes we win. Sometimes the enemy who is trying to destroy us, or weaken our faith, gets a shank in the ribs. We did it to Egypt in a thousand BC, we did it to the Greeks—who bent over and took it—and one day we’ll do it to ISIS and ISIL and Al Qaeda and Boko Haram, and maybe the first guy who said, “Hey, it’s Halloween soon. Let’s put pumpkin spice in everything. Lattes, pancakes, donuts, beef wellington—doesn’t matter. Pumpkin spice is the new oxygen.” We need to get him.
Anyhoo, Chanukah commemorates a small band of Jews who would not succumb to the hellish Hellenic hellions who tried to hinder our Hebrew historicity. The second temple in Jerusalem was recaptured from the Greeks, re-consecrated as a synagogue, and retrofitted for Wi-Fi. And when the Hashmonaim were cleaning the temple, and making it minty fresh, they had only a drop of oil with which to light the holy candelabra, the menorah. And yet that oil burned day and night for eight straight days. The electric bill must have been horrendous, but the point is: miracles do happen. They happened then, they happen now. It’s a miracle that a computer can digitally print working human organs. It’s a miracle you can stare at a hole in the ground in a city block, come back six months later, and it’s an office building. It’s an astounding miracle that someone like me is on the radio.
So let us delight with our family, our friends—all the people we barely tolerate for fear of loneliness—and cheer the miraculous holiday of Chanukah. To do so, I have written a few short poems celebrating the Festival of Lights in haiku form. Haiku is a Japanese poetry style that is perfectly marvelous because it’s so short. As soon as you get started, you’re finished. Like a teenage boy on prom night. Your entire thought process must fit into a mere 17 syllables, which proves the Japanese not only invented haiku but twitter.
I pray that you enjoy these holiday poems from me, Rabbi Sol. Chanukah Chaikus:
Eight candles burning
On my shaky menorah.
Shit! Call 9-1-1.
Headline: Polish Jews
Suffer Third-Degree Burns When
Bobbing for Latkes
Judah Maccabee
And sons beat the Greek army
Yay for terrorists!
Happy holidays, my friends, and may all your dreidel spins come up hay. I’d say gimel, but why press your luck? This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, New York.
Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 535th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Dec. 5, 2015. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with author Michael Colby; Inside Broadway; Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (massacre); Saturday Segues (Tom Waits, Stone Temple Pilots); Greeley Crimes & Old Times.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz Guests: author Michael Colby (“The Algonquin Kid”), Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (jazz hands, the Algonquin, throat singers, “Nebraska”) 00:26:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:04:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Tom Waits 01:26:30 Sponsors 01:30:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 02:00:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Michael Colby 02:51:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (massacres) 03:12:30 Sponsors & Friends 03:22:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Stone Temple Pilots 03:34:30 Weather 03:37:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Dec. 5, 2015 Playlist: “Shiver Me Timbers” ({early years version} 01:06:00), “Metropolitan Glide” ({live} 01:10:00), “The House Where Nobody Lives” (01:13:00) & “Woe” (01:20:30; Tom Waits). “Better Off Without a Wife” (01:17:00; Pete Shelley). “China Doll” (01:57:00; Suzanne Vega). “I Can Sing” (02:01:00; Klea Blackhurst, Christine Pedi). “It Could Only Happen in the Theater” (02:19:00; Polly Pen, Merle Louise, Michael McCormick, Timothy Landfield). “In My Dreams” (02:33:30; Julie Wilson). “A Different Holiday Song” (02:46:30; Amy London, David Gurland, Susan Hale). “Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre” (02:54:00), “The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar” (03:00:00) & “It’s All Good” (03:04:00; Bob Dylan). “Vasoline” (03:23:00), “Interstate Love Song” (03:26:00) & “Big Empty” (03:29:00; Stone Temple Pilots). “Chanukah” (03:41:00; Six13).
Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews lyricist Michael Colby
Topics include: Charlotte Sweet, Algonquin Hotel, New Jersey
Segment scheduled to air Dec. 5, 2015 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)2015 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
