Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews journalist Ivor Davis
Topics include: The Beatles, Charles Manson, Ronald Reagan, Brian Epstein
Segment aired Sept. 20, 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 for episode #478 (audio only)click above to listen (audio only).
Here is the 478th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Sept. 20, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with journalist Ivor Davis (“The Beatles and Me on Tour”). Plus: Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection (“Gwyneth”), Inside Broadway, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Oh Mercy), Saturday Segues (Cohen n’ Cave, The Beatles), The Wretched Pun of Destiny (Murphy)
Guests: journalist Ivor Davis, Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce 00:46:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Cohen n’ Cave 01:29:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:52:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Ivor Davis 02:53:00 Friends 02:59:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #107 (Gwyneth) 03:08:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – The Beatles 03:27:30 THE WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY – Murphy 03:30:30 Sponsors 03:33:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Oh Mercy) 03:47:30 DAVE GOES OUT
Sept. 20, 2014 Playlist: “Faraway, So Close” (00:55:00), “Nobody’s Baby Now” (01:01:00) & “Cassiel’s Song” (01:10:00; Nick Cave). “On That Day” (00:59:00) & “Closing Time” (01:13:30; Leonard Cohen). “Famous Blue Raincoat” (01:05:00; The Handsome Family). “Who Will Love Me as I Am?” (01:50:00; Side Show 2014 Broadway cast). “Please Please Me” (02:49:00), “Come Together” ({Anthology version} 03:09:30), “Hey Bulldog” (03:13:00), “That Means a Lot” (03:16:00), “Good Morning, Good Morning” (03:18:30), “Golden Slumbers” (03:21:00) & “In My Life” (03:23:00; The Beatles). “Most of the Time” (03:36:00) & “Where Teardrops Fall” (03:41:00; Bob Dylan). “Ring Them Bells” (03:43:30; Barb Jungr). “On a Golden Autumn Day” (03:51:00; Van Morrison).
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of September 7, 2014.
Chuck D once rapped, “My Uzi weighs a ton.” If only Uzi submachine guns did weigh a ton, then children couldn’t pick them up and fire them. But, of course, submachine guns are made purposely to be lightweight and portable yet still cause massive damage in a brief amount of time. Like eating sugar-free Gummi Bears.
Last week near Las Vegas, a nine-year-old girl was practicing on a gun range. As Lewis Black would say, I shall repeat that. There’s an Arizona firing range, about an hour from Sin City, where tourists can go practice their marksmanship under instructional supervision. Among those tourists last week: a nine-year-old child. (Not that there are any nine-year-old grownups – unless you count kids with the aging disease that makes them look like Mr. Magoo.) This little girl was doing so well with regular weapons, that her instructor, Charles Vacca – the late Charles Vacca – said, “Oh, what the hell. Let’s give her a repeating assault weapon, and see how she does.”
She did not do well. I think most parents will tell you that a nine-year-old girl can barely control her bladder, let alone a semi-automatic machine gun. Charles Vacca instructed the precocious tyke to pull the trigger and fire off one round at the target. Which she did. But you know, bullets are like potato chips; you fire one, before you know it, you’ve emptied the whole bag. The difference between a snack food and an Israeli-made weapon of mass destruction is that a can of Pringles doesn’t have a kickback. Well, unless they’re made with Olestra. A machine gun, however, in the hands of someone who weighs fifty pounds, is gonna squeeze off fifty rounds. One of those bullets managed to find its way to the middle of Charles Vacca’s forehead, which is why he had to cancel the rest of his classes through next Thursday. His return after that depends on whether Moshiach comes on Friday and revives him.
Otherwise, you’ve got a dead guy, a child who has to go through life knowing she killed him, and a gun industry saying, “Hey, freak accident. We don’t need minimum age requirements, just height and weight suggestions.” Morons.
But there is some good that can come out of this tragic incident. When this moppet murderess grows up and goes to college, she is the last chick any frat boy is gonna date rape. (“Steer clear, bro. Remember what she did to the last guy who grabbed her arm?”) Also, in the big book of karma, you gotta figure this is payback for every deer that was ever minding its own business, frolicking in the woods and suddenly, BAM!, she’s on the hood of a four-by-four. For once, Bambi’s mother gets to snicker and go, “How’s it feel, asshole?”
Lastly and bestly, this episode does serve to showcase the glorious superiority of Israeli technology. Arabs can fire a thousand rockets out of Gaza, with two or three – almost by accident – hitting targets and causing damage. But the Uzi submachine gun? You pick that up and point, and you’re looking at a Jonestown massacre in seven seconds. That’s craftsmanship!
Anyhoo, the Arizona Last Stop shooting range where all this went down, is still open, still packed with customers, still promoting, quote, “a Desert Storm” atmosphere with a base age requirement of eight. I shall repeat that: eight. Folks, I have an eight-year-old kid, and I won’t even let her use a cheese grater. Yes, I have to tolerate chunky wedges of parmesan on my linguini, but she keeps her fingers, and I keep my sanity. Well, such as it is.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, going out with a bang, from Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews singer-songwriter Janis Ian
Topics include: At Seventeen, LGBT, Judaism.
Segment aired Sept. 6, 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 for episode #477 (audio only)Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 477th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Sept. 6, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with singer-songwriter Janis Ian. Plus: Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection (“Uzi Does It”), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (#11), Saturday Segues (Moby, Chrissie & Aimee), Inside Broadway, The Wretched Pun of Destiny (Muffins)
Guest: musician Janis Ian, Dave’s wife Joyce
Note: This episode has some audio issues, including some sections being monophonic on only one track. Apologies!
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce Weil (back at last, chalk talk, potato!, teachin’, scripted comedy, Uzi girl, polka!) 01:12:00 SATURDAY SEGUE (Moby) 01:39:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:56:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Janis Ian 02:42:00 Friends 02:50:00 Wretched Pun of Destiny – Muffins 02:52:00 Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (the 11th) 03:18:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #106 – Uzi Does It 03:24:00 SATURDAY SEGUES – Chrissie & Aimee 03:51:30 Thanks 03:54:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Sept. 6, 2014 Playlist: “Honey” (01:15:30), “Mothers of the Night” (01:19:00), “Dream About Me” (01:22:00), “South Side” (01:25:30), “Guitar, Flute and String” (01:29:00) & “We are All Made of Stars” (01:31:30; Moby). (01:52:30; Big Broadway cast w/ Barbara Walsh). “At Seventeen” (01:56:30), “On the Dark Side of Town” (02:18:30), “Play Like a Girl” (02:26:00), “Searching for America” (02:33:00) & “When the Party’s Over” (04:01:30; Janis Ian). “Wiggle Wiggle” (02:56:00), “Tin Angel” (02:58:00), “Cry A While” (03:07:00) & “God Knows” (03:12:00; Bob Dylan). “You Didn’t Have To” (03:29:00) & “Human” (03:35:30; The Pretenders). “Like in the Movies” (03:43:30; Chrissie Hynde). “(Believed You Were) Lucky” (03:32:00; `Til Tuesday).” “Slip and Roll” (03:39:30) & “Ballantines” (03:47:00).
Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews comedian Sandy Hackett
Topics include: Buddy Hackett, Rat Pack, comedy, Jerry Vale, George Carlin, Sam Kinison.
Segment scheduled to air Aug. 30, 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 for episode #476 (audio only)click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 476th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Aug. 30, 2014. Info: Davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with comedian Sandy Hackett. Plus: Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection (“Eventful August”), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Highway 61 Re-revisited), Saturday Segues (Lewis Black, Van & Liam), Inside Broadway (Joan Rivers), The Wretched Pun of Destiny (Nose Wear).
Guest: comedian Sandy Hackett
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN 00:13:00 SATURDAY SEGUE (Van Morrison & Liam Clancy) 00:41:30 Sponsors 00:43:30 INSIDE BROADWAY (00:56:30; Joan Rivers) 01:09:00 Friends 01:13:00 Wretched Pun of Destiny – Nose Wear 01:14:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Sandy Hackett 02:04:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Highway 61 Re-Revisted) 02:28:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #105 (Eventful August) 02:29:30 SATURDAY SEGUE (Lewis Black) 02:55:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Aug. 30, 2014 Playlist: “Portlairge” (00:17:30; The Clancy Brothers). “Buachaill on Eirne” (00:22:30) & “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (00:29:30; Liam Clancy). “What Makes the Irish Heart Beat” (00:19:00), “Raglan Road” (00:24:30) & “Song of Home” (00:35:30; Van Morrison). “Part One” (01:04:00; Joan Rivers). “The Original Chinese Waiter” (01:59:30; Buddy Hackett). “Shipoopi” (02:02:00; The Music Man film soundtrack w/ Buddy Hackett). “Queen Jane Approximately” (02:10:00) & “Ballad of a Thin Man” (02:21:30; Bob Dylan). “Highway 61 Revisited” (02:18:30; PJ Harvey). “Dead President” (02:41:00), “A Great Headline” (02:45:30) & “Hitting 60” (02:48:00; Lewis Black).
Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews playwright Barry Levey
Topics include: Hoaxocaust, Judaism, New York International Fringe Festival, Holocaust.
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 More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
click above for episode #475 (audio only)click above to listen to the episode (audio only)
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).
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.
