Here is the 811th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook Saturday morning, Aug. 14, 2021. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Guests: competitive whistler Steve Herbst, theater critic David Sheward; actress Vicki Quade
Featuring: Dave interviews Steve Herbst (“The Whistler”); Today/Yesterday trivia quiz (Aug. 14 w/ Steve Herbst, Vicki Quade, David Sheward); Greeley Crimes & Old Times; Dave Goes Off (Delta); Colorado Limerick of the Damned (San Luis); Inside Broadway.
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (no-shows, show to do) 00:38:30 DAVE GOES OFF (Delta) 01:01:00 GUEST: Steve “The Whistler’ Herbst 01:22:00 TODAY/YESTERDAY Trivia Quiz (Aug. 14 w/ Steve Herbst, Vicki Quade, David Sheward) 02:47:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 03:01:00 DAVE GOES FURTHER IN w/ Joyce (day job, new potato) 03:12:30 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 03:33:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:38:00 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED 03:41:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Here is the 793rd episode of the long-running radio show/podcast Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook Saturday morning, April 10, 2021. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews composer Stacy Widelitz and offers his Rabbinical Reflection on post-pandemic normalcy; Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Superior); Greeley Crimes & Old Times; Today/Yesterday trivia quiz (April 10 w/ Stacy Widelitz, Leslie (Hoban) Blake, David Sheward).
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (beautato, post-pandemic, batter’s box) 00:47:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:17:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:31:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Stacy Widelitz 02:02:00 TODAY/YESTERDAY trivia quiz (April 10 w/ Stacy Widelitz, Leslie (Hoban) Blake, David Sheward 03:15:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #168 (normalcy) 03:24:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:35:00 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED (Superior, CO) 03:37:00 DAVE GOES OUT
(Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflections air on the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By. Watch on youtube: https://youtu.be/BZO2xOs8pPs)
Shalom, Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for April 10, 2021.
What do we want? Normalcy! When do we want it? Soon. Please!
In case you didn’t know, since March 2020, America has been in various modes of lockdown, quarantine, and stasis, owing to the coronavirus pandemic. This was a sensibly safe response to a disease that swept through the world killing hundreds of thousands of people and putting millions of others in grave danger — and in danger of the grave. Each time we thought we’d seen the worst of it, another wave would come along and submerge us in fear. It’s like listening to an Oasis album. Every time a six-minute anthem finally ends, you’re like, “Ooh, silence. Beautiful quiet.” And then another fucking Oasis song starts.
Life has been like that for the past 13 months. We get our hopes up that the CDC and the NIH and CIA have a handle on the virus equivalent of the Gallagher brothers, and then, Boom!, there’s a holiday, families gather, people travel, and the numbers shoot back up. You could understand Dr. Fauci warning, “hold out a little bit longer. You don’t want to see your mother-in-law anyway, so stay home!” And you could sympathize with vulnerable people or those too young to qualify for the shot, saying, “Sorry, but wearing a mask is not fascism. Put it on, wash your hands, and have fun storming the capitol.”
But what a magnificent century we’re in! We can encounter a brand-new disease, get our drug companies working on it, and half a year later already have a remedy ready for launch. Thanks to President Trump, the medicine rolled out at warp speed, and thanks to President Biden, it’s being distributed as systematically as dollar bills at a farbrengen.
As of this ranting, 100 million Americans have received at least one dose of the Pfizer, Moderna, or J&J vaccine. Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population, including myself and my dear wife, Miriam Libby, and eleven of our 21 ½ children, is fully vaxxed! So why am I vexed?
The answer stems back to the most basic human idea of fairness: Patience followed by reward. Endurance rewarded with triumph. Eat your broccoli, then you can have ice cream. Unless you had steak with the broccoli, in which case you’d be mixing milchig with fleishig, so you have to eat the broccoli AND wait six hours for the ice cream, but don’t complain because some people go to bed hungry and you got to eat steak, so shut up, you kvetch.
But back to my point. We are taught that if we deny ourselves for the greater good, we’ll get some of that great good. Save your pennies for a rainy day, and you’ll have money to buy an umbrella. Since 2020, we have been denying, and forgoing, and masking, and isolating, and socially shrinking because we understood the bargain: when the vaccine comes, and the herd immunity kicks in, life will be life again. We got mad at mayors and governors who appeared to jump the gun on reopening because they valued commerce over public health. We dreaded restoring schools until we realized that juveniles may spread a ton of disease, but not to each other. We cringed at watching another press conference from Governor Cuomo because…he’s Governor Cuomo. And we waited.
So, nu? We’re getting our shots, we’re doing our best…where’s the reward? Two weeks after the second shot, we’re 90-something-percent protected against the Wuhanian flu. We’re more likely to get hepatitis from a hobo than Covid from a co-worker. And yet, the Center for Disease Control says, “Keep wearing your mask. Don’t get on a plane unless you have to. Stay six feet away from your neighbor. Don’t lick a postage stamp unless you know where it’s been.” Basically the same rules we’ve been tolerating since Alex Trebek was still hosting Jeopardy. So what was the point of the shots? Why put ourselves — or, more importantly, myself — through the inconvenience, the uncertainty, the soreness of receiving a subcutaneous Fauci ouchy, if the result is merely more of the same?
Imagine a guy going on a date with a hot girl at her place. “Now Reuven,” she says, “did you remember to bring a condom?” “I sure did!” “Did you put it on?” “Oh, yes.” “Great, now stay in the kitchen and make me a sandwich.” What the hell?
Why am I shooting some profit-driven pharmaceutical company’s untested RNA into my bloodstream if I still must approach the world through solitary confinement? Why do I have to walk in a bank still looking like a bank robber? Why is it after boosting all my antibodies, all I hear about is Covid variants that can kick sand in my antibodies’ face?
You know, the Haredi community has taken a hatload of heat for their response to the pandemic. They obey their own rules, they’re careless with protocols, they hold massive weddings barely six inches apart let alone six feet. And the media has taken significant pleasure in reporting that the spread of Covid has been rampant among the Orthodox. Makes sense. Funny, but they haven’t been reporting — among all the black-hatters testing positive — how many dropped dead? Apart from a couple of decrepit rabbis, how many have kikt di emer? How many on ventilators or in hospitals? Versus…how many had two days of a bad headache and a sleepy streak? Heck, I get that just taking a poop. I’m not saying the haredi should be proud of their insular arrogance, but maybe the rest of us have over-reacted more than they under-reacted.
HaShem, if you’re listening: how about a break? Howzabout acknowledging those of us who’ve done everything right and rewarding us? it’s time to give us the ice cream — non-dairy! We don’t want to be too greedy.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with musician ANDREW FARRISS
Topics include: INXS, religion, music, the West.
Segment aired April 3, 2021 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio/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.
Dave chats with entertainment journalist HARRY HAUN, who is then joined by his husband, Charles Nelson, as well as critics Leslie (Hoban) Blake and David Sheward to play the Today/Yesterday trivia game.
Segment aired Feb. 6, 2021 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio/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.
Here is the 754th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook, Saturday morning July 11, 2020. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon Reads the papers; Inside Broadway; Greeley Crimes & Old Times; Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Dillon); Eating Competition; Today/Yesterday (July 11), Wretched Pun of Destiny (icon); Potato News, Dave’s Gone Canceling (Quick Draw McGraw).
Guest: Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (corona at work, Wheat Thin contest, Joey & Miki, new potato, Carl in the kitchen, new shorts) 01:08:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:29:00 POTATO NEWS 01:42:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 02:05:00 DAVE’S GONE CANCELING (Quick Draw McGraw) 02:13:30 TODAY/YESTERDAY (July 11) 02:44:00 Friends of the Daverhood 02:49:00 RABBI SOL READS THE PAPERS 03:10:00 WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY (icon) 03:14:00 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED (Dillon) 03:18:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Here is the 752nd episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook Saturday, June 27, 2020. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guest: Dave’s wife Joyce
Featuring: Greeley Crimes & Old Times, Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Prowers), Wretched Pun of Destiny (tornado), Dave’s Gone Canceling (Joni Mitchell), Inside Broadway, Today/Yesterday (June 27).
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (cancel culture, racist cops, Covid continues, thermometer, new toothbrush!) 01:25:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:50:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 02:17:00 TODAY/YESTERDAY (June 27) 02:53:00 DAVE’S GONE CANCELING (Joni Mitchell) 03:03:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:09:30 THE WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY #74 (tornado) 03:13:00 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED (Prowers) 03:16:00 DAVE GOES OUT
June 27, 2020 Playlist: “You’ve Been Canceled” (03:00:00; Dan Bull).
Here is the 750th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook, Saturday, June 13, 2020. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Greeley Crimes & Old Times, Today Yesterday (June 13), Inside Broadway, Dave Goes Off on Black Lives Matter, Wretched Pun of Destiny (Hawaiian Vacation), Dave’s Big Dictionary (Oxlip)
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (new Facebook, student films, back to work, first show) 01:15:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:38:00 TODAY YESTERDAY (June 13) 02:12:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 02:33:00 DAVE GOES OFF (BLM) 03:21:00 WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY (Hawaiian Vacation) 03:24:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:31:00 DAVE’S BIG DICTIONARY (Oxlip) 03:46:00 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED (Fruita) 03:48:00 DAVE GOES OUT