Daves Gone By – Page 116

Dave’s Gone By #353 (5/7/2011): RACK AND RUANE

Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).

Here is the 353rd episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, May 7, 2011. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guests: editor Benjamin Welch (UNC Mirror) and author John Ruane, radio host Bob Cudmore

Featuring: Dave chats with college newspaper editor Benjamin Welch and political pundit John Ruane (“The Wizards of Spin”). Plus: Inside Broadway (news, nominations & reviews), Saturday Segue (mother songs), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (mothers), Dave’s appearance on WVTL’s “Coffee with Bob Cudmore,” and Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on the death of Osama bin Laden.

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:08:00 DAVE GOES OFF – Osama
00:22:30 GUEST: Benjamin Welch
00:45:30 DAVE on “Coffee with Cudmore” w/ Bob Cudmore (WVTL-AM 1570, taped 5/3/11)
00:58:00 INSIDE BROADWAY, pt. 1 – Tony Nominations
01:14:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (mothers)
01:40:00 GUEST: John Ruane
02:30:30 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection – Dead! Dead! Dead!
02:40:00 INSIDE BROADWAY, pt. 2 – Obits (02:40:00) & Reviews (Potato Needs a Bath (02:52:00) & War Horse (02:55:30)
03:04:30 SATURDAY SEGUE: Mothers
03:17:30 Friends & Thank Yous
03:23:00 DAVE GOES OUT

May 7, 2011 Playlist: (part one) “Gimme Some Truth” (00:18:00; John Lennon); “Ain’t That News” (00:43:30; Tom Paxton); “Tell Me, Momma” (01:14:30), “Mama, You Been on My Mind” (w/ Joan Baez; 01:19:30), “Shake Shake Mama” (01:22:30), “Tough Mama” (01:26:00); “Call Letter Blues” (01:30:00) & “Clothes Line Saga” (01:34:30; Bob Dylan); “Turn on the News” (02:26:00; Husker Du); “Small World” (02:37:00; Gypsy 1959 Bway cast w/ Ethel Merman); “A Fact Can Be a Beautiful Thing” (02:48:00; Promises, Promises, 1968 Bway cast w/ Jerry Orbach & Marian Mercer); “Your Mother Should Know” (03:04:30; rehearsal version); “Your Mother’s Here to Stay” (03:07:30; Allan Sherman); “Mother” (03:10:00; Tiny Tim); “Mother Dear” (03:12:30; The Divine Comedy); “What Would My Mama Say” (Roger Miller; 03:24:30).

Pictured from top: John Ruane, UNC Mirror newspaper, Osama bin Laden, 2011 staff of the UNC Mirror (Dave – front row, second from left; Benjamin Welch – back row, third from right), Bob Cudmore, Tony Award, John Ruane’s “The Wizards of Spin,” War Horse, Shona Reppe in Potato Needs a Bath.

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #014 (5/1/2011): Royal Wedding

click above to listen (audio file)

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #14 (5/1/2011): Royal Wedding

aired April 30, 2011 on Dave’s Gone By (davesgoneby.com). Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZGSzxPDOS4

Shalom, Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon, with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of May 1, 2011.

Mazel tov, mazel tov – it’s over. Finally, it’s over. The biggest merger since A&P took over Waldbaums in 1986. I’m talking, of course, of the wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton, which, barring someone not forever holding their peace, happened Friday in England.

I have to say, I feel terrible. Not for the bride and groom; he’s rich, she’s hot – they’re set for life. No, I feel bad for the morning TV news shows. What will they talk about now that they have to send their cameras back across the Atlantic? How will they fill twenty minutes out of every half hour if they can’t stop English people on the street and say, “Hey, aren’t you excited?” If they’re not careful, these news programs are gonna have to resort to something drastic – like reporting news.

I know, I’m being a killjoy. But find me a Jew who isn’t!

More to the point, I do have mixed feelings about the overdose of media coverage for what is, at its core, a simple ceremony between a man and a woman. Or, if you’re in Massachusetts, a man and a man. Or if you’re in Rhode Island, a woman and a woman…which is my favorite. But turning this semi-sacred ritual into an international media circus rankles, mainly because so much pomp and circumstance and money is frittered away on a one-time event.

Pundits have said the marriage of Billy and Kate is just another distraction, a shiny bauble that hypnotizes us into briefly forgetting just how screwed we are by every corporation in the world. It’s the media saying – “Don’t look at that gas pump with five dollars a gallon on it; look at Buckingham Palace with the horses, pretty horses. What? You’re worried that your home value just depreciated another ten percent? Come watch a princess shop for a dress that’s 30 times the value of your house! Doesn’t that make you feel better?”

Now, I’m not saying there aren’t positives about the whole marital megilla. Certainly England is getting tons of tourism and free publicity, and part-time jobs for people willing to stand on street corners and hawk souvenirs that say, “He gets to bone her in the Palace, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”

And I will also say that while the wedding is definitely a mindless distraction, it’s also happy news. How much of that do we get? Every day it’s Syria this and Democrats-versus-Republicans that, and a fire in the foothills and a serial rapist in the suburbs, and Tokyo melting down and Charlie Sheen melting down, and cancer victims throwing up and glaciers thawing out until you just wanna pack it in.

So for once, we get a big, bright, beautiful happening: a ritual that upholds tradition while giving everyone a parade and a party. Two nice young kids, the gorgeousness of London, and the old woman can die now, she has an heir – it’s all good.

So while the temptation is to be a sourpuss and go, “millions of people are homeless and starving, and these bluebloods are eating cake; the reality is, people are gonna be homeless and starving no matter what, and a few hours of nuptial noodling isn’t gonna make a farthing’s worth of difference.”

And hey, for those of you who are really jealous of the prince and princess and their billion-dollar wedding just remember: They had one of these 30 years ago – and we all know how that turned out. Let’s just hope this time, when the princess gets slammed in the tunnel, it’s only a metaphor.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, NY. To the happy couple, L’chaim!

—> https://youtu.be/2ZGSzxPDOS4

—> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=30747

Dave’s Gone By Interview (4/30/2011): SHECKY GREENE & Rabbi Sol Solomon

Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews comedian Shecky Greene

Topics include: comedy, show business.

Segment originally aired April 30, 2011 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Please 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: Full Episode

All content (c)2011 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 #352 (4/30/2011): SHECK & JIVE

click above for episode #352 (audio only)

Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).

Here is the 352nd episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on UNC Radio, April 30, 2011. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guest: comedian Shecky Greene

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with legendary comedian Shecky Greene. Plus: Inside Broadway (NY musical reviews), Saturday Segue (green songs), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (green), Dave Says Bye to Phoebe Snow, and Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on the royal wedding.

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:15:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – green
00:31:00 INSIDE BROADWAY – Broadway news & reviews (Anything Goes (00:50:00) & How to Succeed in Business… (00:56:00))
01:02:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later: green
01:30:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Shecky Greene
02:19:00 DAVE SAYS BYE – Phoebe Snow
02:33:30 DAVE – Sponsors
02:42:00 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection – royal wedding
02:57:30 DAVE GOES OUT

April 30, 2011 Playlist: (part one) “Green Onions” (14:30:30; Booker T. & the MG’s), “Green Shirt” (00:17:30; Elvis Costello); “The Leaves that are Green” (00:19:30; Simon & Garfunkel); “Little Green” (00:22:00; Joni Mitchell); “Green Rocky Road” (00:25:30; Tim Hardin), “It’s De-Lovely” (00:47:00; “Anything Goes” 1962 off-Bway cast); “Wiggle Wiggle” (01:03:00), “House Carpenter” (01:05:00) “Let Me Die in My Footsteps” (01:09:00), “Baby, Where are You Tonight?” (01:12:30) & “Three Angels” (01:18:30) & “Copper Kettle” (01:21:00; Bob Dylan); “Shecky Greene at Italian Earthquake Benefit” (01:27:30; youtube excerpt), “Somewhere That’s Green” (02:14:00; Little Shop of Horrors, off-Bway cast), “Poetry Man” (02:20:30), “Every Night” (02:25:00) & “Majesty of Life” (02:28:30; Phoebe Snow), “Wedding Bells” (02:46:30; Benny Bell); “Bein’ Green” (02:57:30; Van Morrison).

Dave’s Gone By Interview (4/23/2011): ARI GOLD

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Dave Lefkowitz interviews actor and director Ari Gold

Topics include: The Adventures of Power, filmmaking.

Segment originally aired April 23, 2011 as part of 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 #351 (4/23/2011): ARI FLEX

click above for episode #351 (audio only)

Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).

Here is the 351st episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, April 23, 2011. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guest: filmmaker Ari Gold
Featuring: Dave chats with filmmaker Ari Gold (“The Adventures of Power”). Plus: Inside Broadway (NY reviews), Saturday Segue (NY songs), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Bard on Bard) and Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on Easter.

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:12:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – New York City
00:34:00 DAVE GOES OFF – Back in NY
00:59:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later: “Bard on Bard”
01:32:00 GUEST: Ari Gold
02:24:30 DAVE – Sponsors & weather
02:37:00 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection – Easter
02:46:30 INSIDE BROADWAY (Arcadia (02:46:30), Jerusalem (02:49:00), Good People (02:52:30))
02:56:00 DAVE – Friends
02:59:30 DAVE SAYS BYE – Ross Higuchi
03:04:00 DAVE GOES OUT

April 23, 2011 Playlist: “Dirty Boulevard” (12:30:30; Lou Reed), “Spring in New York” (00:16:00; Tony Bennett); “New York City” (00:18:30; Suzzy & Terre Roche); “New York, New York” (00:22:00; Tiny Tim); “Manhattan” (00:25:30; Jim Caruso); “The Only Living Boy in New York” (00:30:30; Simon & Garfunkel); “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” (live; 00:59:30), “Lone Pilgrim” (01:05:30), “Desolation Row” (alternate take; 01:08:00), “Floater” (01:19:30) & “Po’ Boy” (01:24:30; Bob Dylan); “New Jersey Nights” (01:28:30) & “We Are Power” (02:23:00; Ethan Gold).

Bard on Blonde

Dave’s Gone By Interview (4/9/2011): PAT COOPER

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click above to listen (audio only)

Dave Lefkowitz interviews comedian Pat Cooper

Topics include: comedy, families, growing up Italian.

Segment originally aired April 9, 2011 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Farewell to our Friend of the Daverhood, Pat Cooper, who passed June 6, 2023 at age 93.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com

Dave’s Gone By Interview (4/9/2011): GABRIELLE LOUISE

Dave Lefkowitz interviews singer Gabrielle Louise

Topics include: folk music.

Segment originally aired April 9, 2011 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com

Dave’s Gone By #350 (4/9/2011): STANDING PAT

click above for episode #350 (audio only)

Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).

Here is the 350th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, April 9, 2011. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guests: comedian Pat Cooper & singer-songwriter Gabrielle Louise.

Featuring: Dave chats with legendary comedian Pat Cooper and ecology-minded singer-songwriter Gabrielle Louise. Plus: Inside Broadway (naughty words), Dave Says Bye to Sidney Lumet, Saturday Segue birthday tribute to Tom Lehrer, and Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on killer whales.

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:09:30 GUEST: Gabrielle Louise
00:53:00 DAVE – Sponors & Weather
01:01:00 INSIDE BROADWAY – News & Naughty Words
01:24:30 GUEST: Pat Cooper
01:58:30 DAVE – Coming Up
02:02:00 DAVE SAYS BYE – Sidney Lumet
02:09:30 DAVE – More Sponsors
02:18:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later – Master pieces
02:48:00 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection – Killer Whale
02:53:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Tom Lehrer 83rd birthday tribute
03:02:00 DAVE GOES OUT

April 9, 2011 Playlist: (part one) “Save the Arkansas” (00:09:30), “Make You Remember” (00:13:00) & “Journey” (00:49:00; Gabrielle Louise); Many Ways (01:21:30; Baxter Holvoe); “Friar’s Roast for Drew Carey” (excerpt, 01:23:00) & “On Italians” (youtube clip, 01:55:30, Pat Cooper); “When I Paint My Masterpiece” (02:19:00), “Lone Pilgrim” (02:22:00), “Masters of War” (demo version; 01:02:00), “Positively 4th Street” (02:29:00), “Slow Train” (live w/ Grateful Dead, 02:33:00) & “Every Grain of Sand” (02:38:00; Bob Dylan); “Bright College Days” (live; 02:53:30), “Who’s Next” (02:58:30) & “We Will All Go Together When We Go” (03:07:00; Tom Lehrer).

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #011 (4/3/2011): Circumcisions

click above to listen (audio file)

Shalom Dammit, this is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of April 3, 2011.

Japan, Libya, Syria, Gaza – all this going on, so what makes headlines? A guy in San Francisco who wants to ban circumcisions. Lloyd Schofield is trying to collect seven thousand signatures to put the issue up for a vote in November. If it passes, people will have to drive all the way to Orange County to get their bananas peeled.

Mr. Schofield claims he opposes circumcision on human-rights grounds, and that cutting off the foreskin is a cruel and pointless mutilation – especially when you’re doing it to babies who have no say in the matter.

I do not disagree with any of this. If I woke up one day to find a Rabbi hoisting me in his arms and giving me two drops of wine while his pen-knife does a rotato on my shmeckel, I’d be screaming, too.

Both sides of the issue claim health benefits. The anti-bris contingent says it’s traumatizing and causes nerve damage, and that at best, it’s cosmetic, elective surgery. And let’s face it – Jewish men are not black men; we need all the inches we can get. If I were a talking baby, I’d say, “Leave the penis, take the nose!”

The pro-circumcision group say that doing a cockwork orange is more sanitary, more aesthetically appealing, and has a lower risk of HIV, Chlamydia and penile cancer. Those findings are in dispute, but I have to say the idea of standing in the shower doing a smegma check every week is not my idea of a good time. Of course, if it’s a 22-year-old blonde doing the checking, I could be persuaded.

But if we take health off the table, we’re left with a brief but painful process that is done in the name of tradition. Like having relatives over on the holidays.

Can we replace the circumcision, a covenant stretching back millennia, with a new, harmless ceremony? After all, so much of what we do in Judaism is metaphorical. When we spill wine on Passover, this represents the ten plagues and the blood that was spilled when we vamoosed from Egypt. It’s not like we have to go out every Pesach and kill an Arab. Although with the missiles coming from Gaza right now, sometimes I’m tempted…

On Chanukah we light the menorah to symbolize the drop of oil that burned for eight days in the great temple. So why can’t we take a baby, have him wear a little condom, and then the mohel yanks off the Trojan and says, “Ut! This is to commemorate what we used to do to baloney ponies for 5,000 years.”

As you can see, I sympathize with Lloyd Schofield’s argument. When we hear about African tribes slicing their women’s privates like mango chunks, we react with horror. And I’ll be honest, if a grown man came to me and said, “Rabbi, I wanna convert. I’ll do the Bar Mitzvah, and I’m willing to skin the flute,” my first response would be, “Are you suuuuuure? I mean really sure? `Cause if you think peeling an onion makes you cry…”

And yet, for all the reasonable challenges to circumcision, I can’t throw the baby out with the pee-water. Maybe there was something our forefathers knew that we don’t; maybe there is a real covenant between us and God that has to be symbolized by a painful whack to the wang; maybe we have no business messing with a tradition that someone found valuable because hospitals do it automatically no matter what religion you are?

I say, until you can categorically prove that circumcisions are unhealthy, leave `em alone. Give parents the right to choose as they wish for their children, and for their children’s yogurt hoses. Or, as Dooley Wilson would sing:

You must remember this:
A bris is still a bris
A baby’s gonna cry
So what if there’s some blood upon his thigh?
We don’t ask why.

And though some skin he’ll miss
He still can take a piss
And let the semen fly
So take a tip…from this Rabbi
And just comply.

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

So if you have a boy
And if he’s not a goy
Then kiss his flap goodbye
At least he keeps his pink whale eye
And stays a guy.

Aaaaaand…cut.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=30807