Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with theater critic SAMUEL L. LEITER
Topics include: Kabuki, Japanese theater, Brooklyn, Broadway, theater, teaching
Segment aired March 2, 2024 as part of the 933rd episode of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio/video podcast 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)2024 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com.
Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with storyteller KATSURA SUNSHINE
Topics include: Rakugo, Japan, comedy
Segment airs Nov. 23, 2019 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” podcast 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.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews performer Katsura Sunshine, Dave Goes Away (to Austin, TX), Greeley Crimes & Old Times, Inside Broadway, Today Yesterday (Nov. 23), Colorado Limerick of the Damned.
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (cousin conductor, It’s Pat!, 721 Broadway) 00:34:00 DAVE GOES AWAY: Austin, TX (w/ Joyce) 01:13:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:30:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Katsura Sunshine 02:06:00 INSIDE BROADWAY (news & review (02:13:30; Soft Power, 02:29:00; A Christmas Carol)) 02:40:00 DAVE GOES OFF (WALK-away) 02:54:00 TODAY YESTERDAY (Nov. 23) 03:25:30 Friends of the Daverhood 03:32:30 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED (Fleming) 03:34:00 DAVE GOES FURTHER AWAY (Austin, TX) 03:55:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Nov. 23, 2019 Playlist: “Carol of the Bells” (02:40:30; Handbell Quartet).
Here is the 455th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Jan. 25, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with radio legend Jerry Blavat. Plus: Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection on Hiroo Onoda, Inside Broadway, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Kansas), Saturday Segues (Lucinda Williams & Lloyd Cole).
Guests: radio host Jerry Blavat, Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 Pre-Show 00:02:00 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce Weil (birthday, AARP, couponing, cloth newspapers, birthday meals, UNC TV) 01:00:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Lloyd Cole 01:27:30 Sponsors 01:32:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:53:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Jerry Blavat 02:49:00 Sponsors 02:53:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Kansas) 03:17:30 Friends 03:29:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #89 – Hiroo Onoda 03:34:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Lucinda Williams 03:57:30 Weather & Thanks 04:02:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Jan. 26, 2014 Playlist: “Morning is Broken” (01:03:00), “Why I Love Country Music” (01:08:00), “Man on the Verge” (01:11:00), “Rattlesnakes” (01:14:30), “So You’d Like to Save the World” (01:18:00) & “Don’t Look Back” (Lloyd Cole; 01:21:30). “Rock of Ages” (01:51:30; Forbidden Broadway – Alive & Kicking 2012 off-Broadway cast). “The Impossible Dream” (02:44:00; The Temptations). “Meet Me in the Morning” (02:54:30), “The Ballad of Donald White” (03:04:00) & “Union Sundown” (03:08:30; Bob Dylan). “Wanted Man” (02:58:30; Nick Cave). “Something About What Happens When We Talk” (03:34:00), “Lately” (03:37:30), “Still I Long for Your Kiss” (03:42:30), “Sharp Cutting Wings (Song to a Poet)” (03:46:30), “Which Will” (03:50:00) & “Overtime” (04:04:00; Lucinda Williams).
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #10 (3/27/2011): Tsunami Tweet
aired March 26, 2011 on Dave’s Gone By. https://wp.me/pzvIo-2rN. youtube: https://youtu.be/XxqV1jT8YD8
Shalom Dammit, this is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of March 27th, 2011.
My congregation has been asking, “Rabbi, when are you gonna talk about Japan? It’s such a huge calamity, when will we hear your thoughts about the earthquake, the tsunami, the nuclear plant – where are your words of wisdom?
My dear friends, what can I say? A tragedy is a tragedy. What can a human being say about an event that is beyond the scope of human understanding? Granted, I’ll bet some World War II veterans are thinking, “At last! Pearl Harbor payback!” But if the world truly worked like that, the tsunami would have hit Berlin. Followed by a tornado, locusts, a polio epidemic and a fast-moving iceberg.
No, sometimes, as in Japan, these things just happen, and we can only guess at the motivations of HaShem and the universe. As the Yiddish phrase goes: men tracht, und gott lacht – man makes plans, God laughs.
And speaking of laughter, what I really wish to discuss in this Rabbinical Reflection is the overreactions to reactions to the disaster. People make a few bad jokes, and the wrath of political correctness is upon them.
I speak specifically of Gilbert Gottfried, beloved voice of the Aflac duck. He’s fired from that job because of his Twitter tweets or, in his case, quacks. He makes a joke about breaking up with his girlfriend – but it’s okay because, as they say in Japan, another one will be floating by any minute.”
This is funny. It amuses me. But even if it didn’t, Gilbert Gottfried is not a psychologist; he’s not a scientist; he’s not a schoolteacher. He’s a comedian. And he’s a comedian best known for making another funny joke that bombed – about September 11th – and then saving the evening by telling yet another joke: “The Aristocrats” – the most vile, crude, sexually explicit, violent, vulgar, perverted, disgusting joke ever written. And if you want to hear it, give me a call on my cell `cause I have my own version, and it kills. Not to give it away, but in mine, the father brings in two camels and an enema bag. Priceless.
But getting back to Aflac: the insurance company does a lot of business in Japan, so when Mr. Gottfried let his fingers move a little faster than his brain, they gave his career a karate chop. Do I think this was justified? No, their judgment was just as poor as his. They may be contractually in the legal right, but can you imagine hiring anyone else to do the same quack? In fact, if it’s the same quack, Mr. Gottfried can sue for imitation. So it would have to be a different but similar quack.
I could do it: “Aflac.” “Aflac dammit!” It’s just not the same.
Nobody likes actor switcheroos. The only time it ever worked was when “Bewitched” got another Darrin, and that was only because Dick York was crippled by a bad back. I only hope, if they do hire another actor, Aflac’s campaign is crippled by a bad hack.
I’m all for sensitivity. To quote Mel Brooks, “I’ve got sensitivity coming out the blow-hole.” But I’m tired of political correctness running amok. From NPR to Charlie Sheen to that anti-Semite French designer. You can’t have a personal conversation anymore without somebody spitting it back to the media to make you look like a schmuck.
And jokes? To fire a comedian because he makes jokes? A comic understands better than anyone the natural tendency of humans to mix schadenfreude with “thank God it wasn’t me.”
I hope no one at my temple is so humorless as to target me if I make a joke or two. Even a shameful, tasteless joke. Such as: what is the only meal you can get in Japan? A big shake, then tuna melt.
That’s terrible! Or asking, why is a Japanese supermarket like a Taco Bell burrito? Neither has any actual food in it.
How dare I find humor in this! Or in a joke like – What do Japanese power-plant workers have in common with court-martialed U.S. Marines? They both got burned by the corps.
Or what’s the difference between a nuclear meltdown and cancer? Ehhh..about 15, 20 years.
Such dark, unfeeling jokes! Like: did you hear about all the Japanese went through a massive religious conversion. They were Buddhists; now they’re quakers.
Shame! Shame! How dare I ask: how many Japanese does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None. They don’t need light; they’re all glowing.
What a sick, heartless, joke that is. Or even worse: Why are they nicknaming the tsunami victims New Kids on the Block? Because they’re washed up overnight.
My friends, I do not tell these jokes to be funny. Thank goodness because, well, you’ve heard the jokes. I tell them in solidarity with Gilbert Gottfried and 50 Cent, and anyone else who saw yet another catastrophe in the world and went, “what can you do but laugh?”
Well, you can give to charity, you can write sympathy cards, you can help mobilize relief efforts; but still, you should be able to have a giggle. Because, like it or not, life is a cycle, and one day the joke will be on you.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, NY. Domo arigato.
Here is the 348th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, March 26, 2011. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz Guest: groundbreaking comedienne Rusty Warren
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with bawdy comedienne Rusty Warren. Also: the Saturday Segue (April songs), Inside Broadway (news), Bob Dylan: Sooner & Later (big ones) and Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on Japan.
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN 00:10:30 SATURDAY SEGUE: April songs 00:37:30 INSIDE BROADWAY: Theater News 01:03:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later: Big Ones 01:34:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with Rusty Warren 02:29:30 DAVE – Sponsors & Weather 02:43:00 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection: Japan 01:21:30 Dave – Friends 01:27:30 DAVE GOES OUT
March 26, 2011 Playlist: (part one) “April Come She Will” (00:10:30; Simon & Garfunkel). “April Showers” (00:12:00; Al Jolson). “Intro/Hello Muddah/Love is Lovelier…” (00:15:00; Allan Sherman); “Pieces of April” (00:17:00; Three Dog Night). “April Fool’s Day Morn” (00:25:00; Loudon Wainwright III); “April” (00:29:00; PJ Harvey & John Paris). “April in Paris” (00:33:30; Billie Holiday). “Nowadays” (00:49:00; Chicago, 1996 Bway cast. “Arthur McBride” (01:04:30), “I Shall Be Free” (01:10:30), “Tangled Up in Blue” (01:15:00), “Girl from the North Country” (01:21:00) & “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (live 1975, 01:24:00; Bob Dylan). “Tonight is Gonna Be the Night” (01:31:30), “Knockers Up” (01:41:30), “PTA” (02:00:30), “Bounce Your Boobies” (02:26:30) & “Am I Getting Old?” (01:34:00, Rusty Warren); “Make it Go Away (Radiation Song)” (Sheryl Crow; 02:49:30).
Here is the 346th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, March 12, 2011. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with singer-songwriter Dan Bern. Also: Sponsors n’ weather, Inside Broadway (Footloose in Greeley), Dave Says Bye to Hugh Martin, Saturday Segue (Irish tunes), Bob Dylan: Sooner & Later (disaster songs), and Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on gas prices.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guest: Dan Bern
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN 00:09:30 MUSIC: Dan Bern 00:30:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with Dan Bern 01:09:30 DAVE – Sponsors, Bill Maher & Weather 01:34:30 INSIDE BROADWAY: Footloose 01:56:00 DAVE SAYS BYE: Hugh Martin 02:03:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (disaster songs) 02:34:00 News from Japan 02:40:30 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection: gas prices 02:46:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Irish tunes 03:01:30 DAVE SAYS HI – Friends of the show & upcoming guests 03:08:00 DAVE GOES OUT
March 12, 2011 Playlist: “Feel Like a Man” (00:09:30), “Revolution Begins in the Basement” (00:13:00), “Breathe” (00:17:00), “My Country II” (00:23:00), “Bush Must Be Defeated” (00:26:00) & “Remember Me” (01:05:30; Dan Bern). “I Can’t Stand Still” (01:32:30; Footloose, original Broadway cast), “The Song that Goes Like This” (01:52:00; Spamalot, original Broadway cast). “You Made Me Love You, For Me and My Gal, The Trolley Song” (01:57:00; Judy Garland); “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (02:04:30), “Black Diamond Bay” (02:10:30), “I’d Hate to Be You on that Dreadful Day” (02:18:00), “Talking World War III Blues” (02:20:00), “Down in the Flood” (02:26:30) (Bob Dylan). “This Wheel’s on Fire” (02:29:00; The Byrds). “Celtic Ray” (02:46:30; Van Morrison & the Chieftains). “The Patriot Game” (02:50:00; The Clancy Brothers). “A Pair of Brown Eyes” (02:53:30; The Pogues); “Bounce Your Boobies” (excerpt, 03:06:30; Rusty Warren).