Here is the 475th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Aug. 9, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actor Barry Levey(Hoaxocaust). Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (Ian Anderson, health), Dylan – Sooner & Later (Shot of Love) and the Wretched Pun of Destiny (Nerd Bus).
Guests: playwright-actor Barry Levey, Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (The Daverhood, mimes, sound effects, stone marmot, illness, holococks) 00:46:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Healthy 01:15:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:34:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Barry Levey 02:05:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Shot of Love) 02:26:00 WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY #3 – Nerd Bus 02:27:30 Friends 02:33:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Ian Anderson 02:56:30 Thanks 02:58:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Aug. 9, 2014 Playlist: “I’ve Still Got My Health” (00:47:00; Panama Hattie 1940 Broadway cast w/ Ethel Merman). “I’m Not a Well Man” (00:49:00; I Can Get it for You Wholesale 1962 Bway cast w/ Jack Kruschen & Barbra Streisand). “Eat Healthy” (00:51:30; Jim Gaffigan). “Getting Better” (00:52:30; The Beatles). “Feeling Better” (00:55:00; Sugar). “A Healthier Lifestyle” (01:01:30; John Pinette). “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” (01:06:30; The Byrds). “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” ({acoustic} 01:09:00; Warren Zevon). “More Than We Bargained For” (01:30:00; Side Show 1997 Broadway cast). “You’re Gonna Wish the Holocaust Never Happened” (02:04:30; Sarah Silverman). “Watered-Down Love” (02:08:30), “In the Summertime” (02:12:30), “Trouble” (02:16:00) & “Shot of Love” (02:20:30; Bob Dylan). “Kismet in Suburbia” (02:37:30) & “Cosy Corner” (02:50:30; Ian Anderson). “Cross-Eyed Mary” (02:42:00), “Cup of Wonder” (02:46:00) & “Skating Away (on the Thin Ice of a New Day)” (02:51:30; Jethro Tull).
The 3rd Wretched Pun of Destiny segment aired Aug. 9, 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
* 3. A big event for seniors happens here every year, where all the nursing homes take part in a math-and-science Olympics. On Sunday afternoon, senior residents from all the different nursing homes arrive by bus to the town recreation center to compete for prizes and bragging rights. The rules are: you have to be really smart, over 85, wear glasses and a pocket protector, and you can’t have more than nine teeth in your head.
Unfortunately, last year it was embarrassing because one of the buses had engine trouble and had to be towed to the location. It took hours, with everybody standing in the parking lot, waiting for the seniors to arrive.
Finally, after two hours, one parking-lot attendant looked down the road and shouted, “Here it Comes! Here Comes Your Nine-Teeth Nerd-Bus Breakdown.”
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #104 (8/3/2014): Great Guns in Gaza
aired Aug. 2, 2014 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://youtu.be/aNHPRoAQWFc
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of August 3rd, 2014.
If you play with fire, you’re gonna get burned. If you keep throwing gasoline on that fire, you’re gonna get burned blacker than the New York Knicks in a lunar eclipse. Or, put another way, if you beat up your wife ten times, each time she will forgive you, she’ll wear a band-aid and concealer, and she’ll live in fear until the next flare up. But on the eleventh time, if you haven’t killed her yet, she’s gonna call a friend of a friend named Nunzio, and, for a fee, he will relocate you – to the middle of the East River.
It’s the law of “enough is enough.” If you are the nation of Israel, and surrounding your borders are a people who have sworn to drive you into the sea . . . These people fire rockets, indiscriminately and daily, into your heimat. If you’re Israel, you tolerate a dozen rockets, a hundred rockets, a thousand fakakteh rockets that usually land in the middle of nowhere, thank God. But rocket number 1,001? It’s time to pull your Incredible Hulk costume out of the closet and kick some ass.
Three weeks ago, as I’m sure you recall, three innocent Jewish teenagers were slaughtered when they hitchhiked a little too far into Gaza. This was not just another act of violence – you know, like Saturday night in Chicago – this was a flashpoint. It was the moment the Israeli government could say, “You know what? We give the Palestinians the Gaza Strip in exchange for peace, and they give us our teenagers back in pieces. Enough with their rockets, enough with the terrorism, enough with the bullshit about Hamas being a legitimate political organization; it’s time to open up a can of whoop-tuchas on this enemy that means us only harm and destruction. Bring it.”
In my previous Rabbinical Reflection, which I’m sure you’ve nearly memorized and put on flash cards for easy reference, I urged the IDF to take action in Gaza. To avenge the death of those boys and give the camel jockeys payback for years of tears, fears and jeering Emirs. I am thrilled, therefore, that Benjamin Netanyahu gathered up his army into a white-and-blue fist, and they’ve been pounding the Gaza goons ever since.
Dead civilians? Unfortunate casualties? For sure, and what a shame. It’s called collateral damage, and every war has `em. And the Arab teenager that Israeli extremists abducted and killed in retaliation? No one’s proud of that. I’ll even go as far as saying that Israel hasn’t gone out of its way every single time to make sure they’re only blowing up militants and not bystanders two feet away from militants. But when did the Arabs ever make a distinction between soldiers and regular folk? Bombs on buses? Shrapnel in cafes? Mass murders of Olympic athletes and commercial airplanes slamming into the tallest buildings in New York? It’s a good thing I’m not an army General, because I’d napalm every speck of Gaza with a tent on it.
And where does American stand in all this? It’s honestly hard to tell. Barack Obama and John Kerry are talking the left-wing, liberal talk of “stop the fighting now, it’s a humanitarian crises, Israel and Hamas need to cease fire immediately and sit down at the table because there’s wrongs on both sides” – all the typical crybaby blah-blah that negates the basic fact that Israel tends to be in the right 90 percent of the time.
However, words and actions are entirely different things, especially in diplomacy. And for all the handwringing blather as a sop to the “Democracy Now” crowd, the Obama administration has, until this point, watched from the sidelines and let Israel do what it has to do. Thank you, Mr. President. If our Secretary of State wants to appease the Muslims by making noises about how Israel is being too harsh and causing too much suffering to the poor, innocent Palestinians, no problem. Just give Yisroel time to collapse the tunnels, kill the killers and drag Hamas, begging and desperate, to the outhouse of surrender. By eliminating terrorists and religious fanatics, Israel is doing America favor after favor, and I honestly believe Obama and company realize that – no matter how many times Republican bloggers call him “Hussein” and make him sound like the love child of Josef Stalin and Ayatollah Khomeini.
It’s the nature of Israel that whenever we do strike back against those who oppress us, we have to apologize for killing more of them than they of us. When our missiles hit their targets, when 100 Palestinians die for every Israeli soldier, that’s unseemly somehow. It should be more balanced. We should die more just to ratchet up the sympathy vote. Sorry, Charlie. The goal is to weaken Hamas and make Israel safe from attack. If that means bombing Gaza back to the stone age, so be it. Besides, Arab children have proven quite skillful at throwing stones, so it’s right up their alley. Just don’t expect to throw stones at Jews anymore, because we will fire them right back at a hundred times the speed.
Go Israel! Go Bibi! And remember what Abba Eban said, “It is better to be disliked than pitied.” I’m both, but I’m beyond giving a crap.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews actor-singer George Ball
Topics include: Amanda McBroom, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well…, Robert Goulet, David Letterman.
Segment aired Aug. 2, 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
click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 474th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Aug. 2, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actor-singer George Ball. Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (Joseph Spence, Tony Bennett), Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection (Going Great Guns in Gaza) and the Wretched Pun of Destiny (Football).
Guests: songwriter George Ball, Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce 00:30:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Joseph Spence 00:44:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 00:53:00 WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY – Football 00:55:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews George Ball 02:03:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #104 (Going Great Guns in Gaza) 02:10:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later: Another Side Knocked Out Again 02:34:00 Friends 02:41:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Tony Bennett 03:01:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Aug. 2, 2014 Playlist: “Good Morning Mr. Walker” (00:30:30), “Yellow Bird” (00:33:00), “Rock Daniel” (00:35:30), “Goodnight Irene” (00:37:30; Joseph Spence). “A New Sun in the Sky” (“The Band Wagon” 1959 film soundtrack; 00:51:30). “Some Enchanted Evening” (00:55:00), “If I Were You” (01:05:00), “The Moon is Still Over her Shoulder” (01:14:00), “Fanette” (01:27:30), “Highway Patrolman” (01:44:30) & “Save the Last Dance for Me” (01:58:00; George Ball). “Ballad in Plain D” (02:40:30) & “Brownsville Girl” (02:23:00; Bob Dylan). “Until I Met You” (02:44:30) “Shakin’ the Blues Away” (02:47:30), “Lost in the Stars” (02:49:00), “For Once in My Life” (02:53:30) & “The Best is Yet to Come” (02:57:00; Tony Bennett). “August Winds” (03:03:00; Sting).
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #105 (8/31/14): Eventful August
aired Aug. 30, 2014 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJUCZgwGJnI
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of August 31st, 2014.
Well, it’s been an eventful month in World Woebegone. What should have been a nice, relaxing laze through the end of summertime – or for those of you in New Zealand, your last good shot at a snowball fight – instead has been an August fraught with war, tumult and misfortune.
Closest to my own heart, of course, is the battle raging between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza. When last we checked in together, Israel was mourning the loss of three innocent hitchhikers who took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. That was followed by Palestinians firing rockets at Israel – actually it was preceded by and followed by Palestinians firing rockets at Israel. Which led to Israel saying “enough’s enough.”
Which led to massive bombings, more rockets, a couple of psychotic Israelis killing Arab children, a few cease fires that lasted long enough for the Arabs to import more rockets, lots of dead Arab terrorists, Hamas militants and semi-innocent-semi-civilians, too many dead IDF soldiers, and a battle that President Obama has been kind enough to let Israel wage without much interference beyond the occasional “naughty-naughty.”
My feelings about the Gaza situation have been spoken so many times, I feel like a “Murder She Wrote” rerun on the Hallmark Channel. Still, I’ll say it again: tiny little Israel shaved off a sliver of itself to give the Arabs in exchange for peace. What do the Palestinians give us in return? Thousands of attempted murders by rocket attacks, punctuated by the occasional real murder, just to break the monotony. How does Hamas expect to give the Palestinians a permanent home if they’re such horrible tenants when they rent?
And to all the left-wing ignoramuses – ignorami? Ignoramians? – okay, morons, who march in Times Square and the garment district with their Arab flags and their Zionism-is-Nazism banners and their screaming about Israeli war crimes, I will say once again: when the Arabs stop terrorizing Jews – and every other culture in the Western World, we’ll stop killing Arabs back. And if they don’t like living in or near Israel, there’s plenty of Arab land in the Middle East where they can worship Islam, stone their women and cut off each other’s hands for picking their noses.
Oh, and for all those “Democracy Now” types bashing Israel for killing Arabs, guess how many Arabs were killed by Arabs in Syria? 191,000, give or take. Meanwhile, Iraq is falling apart, so we have to go back there because of militant Mohammedans, and in response, a Syrian terrorist cut off the head of an American journalist and put it on youtube to see how many likes he could get. Some say the video is a fake, but even if it is, somebody got his head handed to him.
And speaking of violence: it just wouldn’t be a summer in the American south without racial tension, would it? So a black guy shoplifts from a convenience store, roughs up the owner a little bit when he tries to resist, gets stopped by a cop for reasons that have nothing to do with the crime, starts charging at the officer – or surrendering – depending on whose story you believe, and gets a half a dozen bullets in his head for his troubles.
Are the blacks upset? You bet. The guy had no knife, no gun, no nothing. Instead of his deadliest weapon, the cop coulda reached for a taser, or his nightstick. Then again, Michael Brown coulda reached for his wallet instead of stealing those cigars. He’s lucky the store owner didn’t blow his head off before the po-po did.
Obviously, police have a trigger-finger problem, especially when it comes to foreigners or people whose skin is darker than your average manila file folder. So if this whole Ferguson, Missouri calamity leads to better policing, I’m all for it. But when I see protestors willing to believe everything bad about American cops and everything angelic and wonderful about Michael Brown, my eyebrow rises. And when I see other protestors somehow equating Israel’s retaliation against Hamas with the death of this teenager, my gorge rises. And when I see actress Penelope Cruz denouncing Israel for committing genocide, my dick rises. I can’t help it, it’s Penelope Cruz. But the bitch really needs to show more tits and less mouth. I hope she chokes on her Nescafe.
Speaking of choking, a fond farewell to Robin Williams, actor, comedian and apparently all-around good guy. He really wasn’t that funny, but he made such a constant effort to be funny that you had to give him props and marvel at his gusto. I liked him in “Mork and Mindy,” I loved him in “Awakenings,” and I’ll miss his risk-taking performances as much as his more patented standup. Yes, he suffered from depression, but if you made “Patch Adams,” you’d be depressed, too.
We also had a suicide by Nascar, with Kevin Ward, Jr., stepping out of his vehicle to confront driver Tony Stewart for sending him into a spin. Okay, here’s a math problem everyone: If you stand in front of a car going 250 miles an hour, what are the odds of getting hit by a car going 250 miles an hour? I’d say 100 percent, Alex. Maybe Kevin Ward was too angry to think straight, but he was certainly too dumb to live.
Then again, the state of our government could make anyone suicidal. The Republicans keep vowing to impeach the president for being Karl Marx, while 2016 GOP front runner Rick Perry gets indicted for being Machiavelli.
We lost a nice Jewish girl named Betty Jane Persky who grew up to be Lauren Bacall, and the month of August also gave us a 6.0 earthquake in Northern California, causing millions of dollars of damage to vineyards in Sonoma and Napa Valley. Great, just when we need to get rip-roaring drunk to forget all the crap that’s happening, God smashes the bottles.
So where will we be a month from now? Will Russia invade the Ukraine? Will September 11th come and go without ISIS offering us an anniversary gift? Will Malaysia start making airplanes out of rubber, just in case they have to bounce? Hang on, my friends, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
The 2nd Wretched Pun of Destiny aired on Dave’s Gone By, Aug. 2, 2014.
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
* 2. This huge football fan is excited that the new season is starting soon, so he wants to invite all his buddies for a party on the day of the first game. He heads to the local printing shop and tells the owner he wants to send out invitation cards that would be fun for them to RSVP.
“No problem,” says the shop owner. “We can make the perfect cards. We’ll put the team logos right on the cover and all the information. How do you want the words to look?”
“Well, that’s your department,” says the fan. “I just want something that’s right for sports, guys, football – you know.”
“I know the perfect style,” says the shop guy. “The American Library Association uses a typeface and font that we always use for this kind of invitation.”
The fan says, “Fantastic, go for it! It’s the Broncos vs. the New York Jets. Here’s a list of the Broncos fans I’m inviting, so put their logo on those cards; and here’s a list of the Jets fans. Just make the same exact card, only with the Jet logo, instead.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”
“What do you mean, you can’t do that?”
“Well, we can do it for the Bronco fans, no problem. But not New York.”
“Why the heck not?” asks the fan.
“Haven’t you ever heard the expression, “An ALA Font, Never For Jets?”
Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews songwriter John Bucchino
Topics include: A Catered Affair, Urban Myths, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz.
Segment scheduled to air July 19, 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
click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 473rd episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, July 19, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with songwriter John Bucchino. Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (Elaine Stritch, Nikki Sudden, octopuses), Dave’s Rolf Harris song and the Wretched Pun of Destiny (Oprah).
Guests: songwriter John Bucchino, Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce 00:43:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Elaine Stritch 00:57:00 Sponsors 00:59:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Octopuses 01:20:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:42:30 Tribute of Sorts: Rolf Harris 01:47:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with John Bucchino 02:59:30 WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY – Oprah Winfrey’s Teas 03:02:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (July Releases) 03:19:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Nikki Sudden 03:43:00 Friends & Thanks 03:51:00 DAVE GOES OUT
July 19, 2014 Playlist: “The Beast in You” (00:45:00; Goldlilocks 1958 Bway cast w/ Elaine Stritch). “Why Do the Wrong People Travel?” (00:48:00; Sail Away, 1961 Bway cast w/ Elaine Stritch). “Here’s to the Ladies Who Lunch” (00:51:30; Company 1970 Bway cast w/ Elaine Stritch). “Octopus’s Garden” (01:01:30) & “Octopus’s Garden/Sun King” (01:15:00; The Beatles). “Octopus” (01:03:30; Handsome Family). “Octopus Woman Please Let Me Go” (01:07:00; Dick Kent). “Octopus” (01:09:30; Syd Barrett). “The Octopus Song” (01:13:30; Kenny King). “Oswald Closing Theme” (01:14:30; Oswald). “Sugar Daddy” (01:38:00; Hedwig and the Angry Inch 2014 Bway cast w/ Neil Patrick Harris & Lena Hall). “Take Your Underoos Down” (01:44:30; Dave). “Something Spontaneous” (01:47:00), “Better Than I” (02:07:00), “Unexpressed” (02:42:00) & “Learn How to Say Goodbye” (02:56:00; David Campbell). “Ralph and Me” (02:12:00; A Catered Affair 2008 Bway cast w/ Leslie Kritzer & Faith Prince). “Sweet Dreams” (02:37:00; Judy Collins). “Blowin’ in the Wind” (03:05:00), “Bunkhouse Theme” (03:08:00), “Lady Lady Lay” (03:10:00), “Billy 7” (03:13:30) & “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (03:15:30; Bob Dylan). “Back to the Coast” (03:22:30), “100 Miles from Here” (03:25:30), “Evangeline” (03:30:00), “Captain Kennedy” (03:34:00) & “Tell Me” (03:38:00; Nikki Sudden). “Grateful” (03:52:30; Michael Feinstein).
The 1st Wretched Pun of Destiny aired July 19, 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)2016 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
* 1. If you’ve been to Starbucks recently, you know that Oprah Winfrey has a new line of Chai teas. Well, they’ve been so successful, Oprah goes to her marketing and research-and-development people and asks if they could create more lines of tea that she could brand in the same way.
“I’m glad you asked,” says the head R&D guy. “We’ve been working on this new project that we think is perfect for your brand. It’s a line of tea made from essential fish oils.”
Oprah makes a face. “You’re not serious?”
“No, really! I know how it sounds, but they taste great. They’re healthy, they smell amazing, people get their omega fatty acids – here, just try one!”
So the guy brings out a hot cup of tea. “This is yellowtail. Just taste it.”
Oprah does and gasps, “This is delicious! No bad smell, and it looks lovely. And it’s fish oil?”
“Exactly!” laughs the R&D guy. “And we can have whole line of them: Oprah Salmon Tea. Oprah Tilapia Tea. Oprah Swordfish Tea. And I haven’t even shown you the best part!”
The guy brings out all these cups of dry tea and gives Oprah a big kettle of hot water.
“Go ahead, pour!” he says.
So Oprah pours boiling water into the first cup. As soon as she does, she hears this loud, incessant, knocking sound. “What’s that?” she laughs.
“That’s the surprise! The tea leaves are so tightly compacted, the second the boiling water hits them, it sets off chemical reactions that make a racket. It’s a great novelty, and you can market it like crazy. Try some more!”
So Oprah pours water onto the Flounder Tea, and she hears, “knock knock knock knock…” She does it on the Monkfish Tea – same thing. Pretty soon there’s a riot of noise as she’s boiling the Mackerel Tea, the Redfish Tea, the Trout Tea . . .
Finally, she gets to the one with tuna fish and pours the water on it, but all she hears is one single “knock.” “Hmm, let me try another one,” she says. So they hand her another cup of the tuna, she pours the water in, but again, just a single “knock.”
“Well, this is incredibly promising,” Oprah raves. “I love the whole line, and I can’t wait to get it going. Of course, you’re gonna have to bring this last one back for more testing. All the others made so much noise; it’s a shame the tuna is so quiet. Can you fix it?”
The R&D man looks at her aghast and replies, “Oh, heavens no! Oprah Tuna Tea Only Knocks Once!”
