Dave’s Gone By Interview (11/3/2018): WILL DURST & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with comedian Will Durst

Topics include: politics, radio, Lenny Bruce, Donald Trump.
Segment aired Nov. 3, 2018 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)2018 TotalTheater Productions
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com

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Dave’s Gone By Interview (6/30/2018): KAREN FINLEY & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with performance artist Karen Finley

Topics include: performance art, theater, politics, #MeToo, Grabbing Pussy.
Segment airs June 30, 2018 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)2018 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
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Dave’s Gone By Interview (2/17/2018): TREVOR OKESON

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Dave chats with University of Northern Colorado student Trevor Okeson

Topics include: gun control, AR-15, radio, Christianity, music, 21 Pilots.
Segment aired Feb. 17, 2018 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)2018 TotalTheater Productions.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
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Dave’s Gone By Skit: Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #152 (1/1/2018): Farewell 2017

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #152 (1/1/18): Farewell 2017

(Aired Dec. 31, 2017 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube: https://youtu.be/LZok1OAX8Gk)

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Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of January 1, 2018.

Hard to believe, but the tumultuous, ridiculous year of 2017, or, as I like to call it, 5777-5778, is coming to an end. We’ve made it through 365 days without a nuclear war, an ice age, and a new Renny Harlin film, so why grouse?

As I did last year, I have chosen to summarize the events of the past annum in a poetical-artistical form, so I hope you will bear with me as we bid shalom to the current year and, well, shalom to the next. Seriously, whoever invented Hebrew really dropped the ball on word coinage. Anyhoo, here goes:

`Twas the night before New Year’s and throughout this great land,
Americans took about all they could stand

The country was split between blue states and red
And folks on each side wished the other side dead

The Democrats never imagined they’d lose
To a man who refers to the truth as “fake news”

A man who will speak without filters or grace
Though he could not repeal and he could not replace

And so, onto migrants Trump’s temper did fall
But Mexico said, “We won’t pay for your wall!”

“Now, folks,” said The Donald, “I’m just getting warm!
I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll do tax reform!”

And just before Christmas, the bill it did pass.
It’s great for the rich, not the poor and middle-class.

The stock market soared, the jobless claims fell
And still we all feel like we’re going to hell

Big hurricanes drowned with their winds and their waves
And statues came down `cause their subjects owned slaves

The national anthem brought teams to their knees
While Hollywood drowned in an ocean of sleaze

Oh Spacey, oh Keillor, oh Lauer, oh Franken
A few should get jailtime, the others a spankin’

The Democrats grinned when Fox News canned O’Reilly
Till the axe fell on Schwartz, Hockenberry, and Smiley

And suddenly hashtags were filled with “Me Toos”
Against a whole passel of rich, horny Jews

Yet Hollywood shlock remained vegetative
“Star Wars” 26 – how innovative!

But at least cinema took our minds off our woes
Prince Harry did, too, when he chose to propose

But still there were shootings by Muslims and crazies
With Jason Aldean fans all pushing up daisies

Now, that Vegas massacre was not by a Muslim
But they sure got mad at a Jewish Jerus’lem

And speaking of mad, how about North Korea
Which seems like it’s ready to start World War Threea

The pundits were urging our chief to stay calm
While Rocket Man threatened to liquidate Guam

But Trump was no Scrooge, no fiend out of Dickens
Why, he tossed paper towels at wet Puerto Ricans

He railed against Clinton, he’s threatening DACA
He kisses hot women but won’t use Binaca

He seated Neil Gorsuch upon the high court
To make it much harder for girls to abort

He praised Neo-Nazis so white folks were mollified
And all his appointees were ultra-unqualified

That said, he bombed Syria for murder by gas
So why does he Tweet and kiss Putin’s ass?

O.J.’s a free man until his next trial
And Mary Tyler Moore turned off her smile

This year we lost Domino, Berry, and Petty
And Allman and Cassidy and enough already.

2018 is just up ahead
With midterm elections to fill us with dread

The Winter Olympics will bore us with thrills
So doctors, please don’t ban our opioid pills

We’ll need them to get through each day and each night
Happy New Year to all, and to all a “La-La-Land.” I mean, “Moonlight!”

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, New York. Shana Tovah!

(c) 2017 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.

Dave’s Gone By Interview (12/2/2017): RICHARD NELSON & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with playwright Richard Nelson

Topics include: playwriting, The Gabriels, Illyria, Public Theater, Rhinebeck, politics, Judaism.

Segment airs Dec. 2, 2017 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)2017 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
VIDEO

Dave’s Gone By Skit: Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #149 (8/13/2017): TRUMP AND TRANNIES

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #149 (8/13/17): Trump & Trannies

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Aired Aug. 13, 2017 on Dave’s Gone By.  Youtube: https://youtu.be/fioFKTD0v34

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of August 13, 2017.

In much of mainstream media, Donald Trump is maligned—left, right, and sideways—for everything he says and does. A lot of times he should be, but other times, it’s just knee-jerk obstructionism as payback for the way the Republicans cock-blocked Obama for eight years. Is it really wrong to put America first, or to be extra careful about immigration from hostile countries, or to think your daughter’s kinda hot? No. These are defensible ideas, whether you ascribe to them or not.

However, since Donald Trump can’t get his own agenda started, his whole presidency has been about reversing whatever the last administration did. And about saying, “Hey, you think I’m a liar and a meanie? Hillary’s even worse!”—which is such a helpful ideology six months after the election.

Still, Trump wants to junk the Iran deal? I don’t blame him. He wants to hold Arab countries to a higher standard of behavior before selling Israel down the river? I’m all for him. He wants to fire everyone he appointed? Eh, he did that on TV, so why should we expect different? He wants to reverse policy about transsexual people joining the military? No. Just no. What the hell is it to Donald Trump if a soldier’s uniform fits a little differently between the hips and the knees?

Republicans say they’re not being homophobes; the reason to keep Trannies out of the service is cost–for building separate bathrooms and showers. And since the army is known to spend $400 on a toilet seat, putting up an entire stall must cost millions. The military also fears that transgenders will stay closeted until they get through basic training, then ask for surgery and expect Uncle Sam to pay for it. I mean, where’s the money going to come from if we’re pouring all that dough into building empty schools in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Another excuse to ban the Trans is mental instability. Right-wingers say that if a person can’t decide whether to be a boy or a girl, that points to confusion, which can be deadly on the battlefield. And, of course, bible-thumping goyim see gender fluidity and homosexuality as mental illnesses to begin with. We can’t have crazy people in the air force and navy, they say. We need to save those slots for colored folks who have no other way to get a leg up in this economy than to be cannon fodder.

I think what Trump is most worried about is the downtime. You’ve got Marines, pumped up on testosterone and killer instincts, waiting around for an excuse to release their aggression. With no battle to charge into, they go out to drink and pick up a female cadet. Now, there’s a private, taking a woman back to his tent, groping around her privates, and finding a ding-dong where her ying-yang should be. That’s a homicide waiting to happen. But it’s not a trannie’s fault if a cadet can’t control himself, any more than it’s Burger King’s fault if I take extra ketchup packets and put them in my cupboard for later. They may be tempting me by displaying free condiments, but it is my weakness that makes me stuff my pockets. Damn you, H.J. Heinz.

But back to the AC/DC’s. If you’re in a foxhole fighting a war, do you care whether the person next to you has a penis, a vagina, or a mixmaster between the legs? No. You just want them to fire when ready and send your dog tags home if you don’t make it. And the bitching about transgenders in the military is no different from the griping about women in the military, and gays, and blacks, and Jews, and anyone who isn’t white, Christian, and 100 percent brain-washable. Donald Trump has bought into this prejudice to the point where he won’t even allow trannies in the office pool, let alone facing combat.

Of course, the silver lining is that transgender people who can’t serve in the military also can’t get killed in the military. When we have to start sending bombers over North Korea, it’s the tow-headed, Sunday-school Andy Hardys who’ll be flying top-secret, while the Caitlin Jenners will be shopping in Victoria’s Secret. But it is not the President’s place to declare that people of any sexuality are unfit to defend their own freedom. After all, 66 million Americans voted that Donald Trump wasn’t fit to be President, yet here he is in the job. Hmm, maybe that’s not the best example.

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

(c) 2017 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.

Dave’s Gone By Interview (7/22/2017): PETER YARROW & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with musician Peter Yarrow

Topics include: Peter Paul & Mary, politics, Judaism.
Segment airs July 15, 2017 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Note: Farewell to our Friend of the Daverhood, Peter Yarrow, who passed Jan. 7, 2025 at age 86.

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)2017 TotalTheater Productions.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com

Dave’s Gone By Song (11/19/2016): SHAVING CREAM 2016

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Dave’s Gone By Song: SHAVING CREAM 2016

Election-year excreta. 

This song first aired Nov. 24, 2012 on the “Dave’s Gone By” program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz. Full episodes also available on youtube, Facebook (davesgoneby), Spotify, and on DavesGoneBy.com. 

All content (c)2012 TotalTheater Productions.   

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

SHAVING CREAM 2016

(Lyrics: David Lefkowitz. Music: Benjamin Samberg’s (aka Benny Bell’s) “Shaving Cream.”) 

I have a sad story to tell you

It may hurt your feelings a bit

The USA held its elections

And stepped in a big pile of 

Shaving Cream

Be nice and clean

Shave every day and you’ll always look keen.

Ted Cruz was a loser and then some

He’d always get into a snit

The Democrats thought he was garbage

His own party thought he was 

Shaving Cream

Be nice and clean

Shave every day and you’ll always look keen.

They thought Marco Rubio perfect 

Hispanic and friendly and fit

But then he behaved like a robot

And Trump came and dumped him in 

Shaving Cream

Be nice and clean

Shave every day and you’ll always look keen.

Republicans needed a leader

And they thought that Jeb Bush would fit

But then they remembered his brother

Who gave us all eight years of 

Shaving Cream

Be nice and clean

Shave every day and you’ll always look keen.

So Donald and Hillary battled

They sniped back and forth quite a bit

But she assumed people were cattle

Which mired her ground game in 

Shaving Cream

Be nice and clean

Shave every day and you’ll always look keen.

The media sneered at the Donald

They called him a Twittering twit

They told him the polls had him losing

He told them to eat their own

Shaving Cream

Be nice and clean

Shave every day and you’ll always look keen.

And now, folks, this country had ended

I think it is time we should quit

The civilized world is upended

And stuffed in a barrel of

Shaving Cream

Be nice and clean

Shave every day and you’ll always look keen.

© 2016 David Lefkowitz

Dave’s Gone By #568 (7/30/2016): BECK AND CALL

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Here is the 568th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, July 30, 2016. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guest: press agent and playwright Beck Lee

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with theatrical press agent Beck Lee. Plus: Greeley Crimes & Old Times, Saturday Segues (Jerry Garcia, Brazil), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Olympics), Inside Broadway, Dave Goes Off on Sesame Street.

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN (iliopsoas, the DNC)
00:40:30 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES
00:52:00 Sponsors
00:55:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Jerry Garcia
01:14:30 Sponsors
01:20:30 INSIDE BROADWAY
01:52:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Beck Lee
02:48:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (The Olympics)
03:07:30 Friends
03:18:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Brazil
03:36:00 DAVE GOES OFF – Sesame Street
03:40:30 Weather & Thanks
03:45:00 DAVE GOES OUT

July 30, 2016 Playlist: “Box of Rain” (00:57:30), “Eyes of the World” (01:03:00) & “China Cat Sunflower” (01:08:00; The Grateful Dead). “Fantasies Come True” (Avenue Q 2003 Broadway cast). “Property of Jesus” (02:51:00) & “Country Pie” (03:01:30). “Restless Farewell” (02:56:00; Joan Baez). “Brazil” (03:19:00; The Coasters). “Fotografia” (03:21:30; Astrud Gilberto w/ Antonio Carlos Jobim). “Ponta de Lonco Africano (Umbarabauma)” (03:23:30; Jorge Ben). “Um Canto do Afoxe Para o Bloco do Ile (Ile Aye)” (03:27:00; Caetano Veloso). “Time for August” (03:47:00; Julie London).

Beck Lee
Jerry Garcia
The Olympics

Dave’s Gone By #567 (7/23/2016): AUSTIN CITY LIMITS

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Here is the 567th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, July 23, 2016. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guest: actor-director Austin Pendleton, Dave’s wife Joyce

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actor-director Austin Pendleton. Plus: Inside Broadway, My Sick Mind, Saturday Segues (conventions, Snooty’s birthday!), Greeley Crimes & Old Times, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (political places)

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (Snooty’s birthday!, crows)
00:31:30 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES
01:19:00 Sponsors
01:26:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Manatees
01:50:00 INSIDE BROADWAY
02:23:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Austin Pendleton
03:03:00 Reader Mail
03:12:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (political places)
03:28:30 Friends
03:38:00 MY SICK MIND
03:42:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Conventions
04:07:30 DAVE GOES OUT

July 23, 2016 Playlist: “Snootie Little Cutie” (01:29:00; Manhattan Transfer). “I’m a Manatee” (01:32:30; Jim Gaffigan). “You and Me and a Manatee” (01:34:30; Ty Curtis). “Horny Manatee” (01:37:30; Conan O’Brien TV excerpt). “On the Highway of Love” (02:16:30; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change 1996 off-Broadway cast). “A Transparent Crystal Moment” (02:20:30; The Last Sweet Days of Isaac 1970 off-Broadway cast w/ Austin Pendleton). “Miracle of Miracles” (02:57:30; Fiddler on the Roof 1964 Broadway cast w/ Austin Pendleton). “Wanted Man” (03:13:30; Johnny Cash with Carl Perkins). “Cry a While” (03:16:30; Bob Dylan). “Quit Your Low Down Ways” (03:21:30; The Hollies). “Enter the Convention” (03:43:00; Professor Elemental). “Politicians – Republican Party Convention” (03:46:00; Will Rogers USA w/ James Whitmore). “Conventioner” (03:50:00; Shelly Berman). “Lobachevsky” (3:58:30; Tom Lehrer).


(Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention)

Austin Pendleton
Snooty the Manatee