Rabbi Sol Solomon – Page 105

Dave’s Gone By Interview (6/22/2013): ALAN MENKEN & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Broadway and film composer Alan Menken

Topics include: Little Shop of Horrors, Leap of Faith, Newsies, Howard Ashman.

Segment originally aired June 22, 2013, 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)2013 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 #428 (6/22/2013): HONORABLE MENKEN

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Here is the 428th episode of the long-running radio show, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, June 22, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with award-winning composer Alan Menken. Plus: Rabbi Sol on Michael Karkoc, Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (Folk Years, Slim Whitman), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (folk years).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guests: composer Alan Menken, Dave’s wife Joyce

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce
00:31:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – The Folk Years
00:58:30 Sponsors
01:06:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Alan Menken
02:05:00 INSIDE BROADWAY
02:33:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later – folk years
03:00:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #71 – Michael Karkoc
03:20:30 Friends & Thanks
03:23:30 DAVE GOES OUT

June 22, 2013 Playlist: “Walk Right In (00:31:30; The Rooftop Singers). “Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (00:34:00; The Kingston Trio). “Green Green” (00:37:00; The New Christy Minstrels). “Sit Down, I Think I Love You” (00:39:00; Mojo Men). “My Old Man (live)” (00:41:30; The Smothers Brothers). “The Whistling Gypsy” (00:44:30; The Clancy Brothers). “Red Rubber Ball” (00:48:30; The Cyrkle). “For Lovin’ Me” (00:50:30; Gordon Lightfoot). “There’s a Meetin’ Here Tonight” (00:53:30; The Limeliters). “I Can Show You a Thing or Two” (Weird Romance 1992 off-Bway cast). “The Broadway Alien Song” (01:13:00; 2013 “Neighbors” TV show episode). “Dentist!” (01:17:00; Little Shop of Horrors 1982 off-Broadway cast w/Franc Luz). “Under the Sea” (01:26:00; The Little Mermaid 2007 Broadway cast w/Tituss Burgess). “The World Will Know” (01:42:30; Newsies 2012 Broadway cast w/ Jeremy Jordan). “Beauty and the Beast” (02:00:00; “Beauty and the Beast” 1991 film soundtrack w/ Angela Lansbury). “Little Girls” (02:29:30; Annie 1977 Broadway cast w/ Dorothy Loudon). “All I Really Want to Do” (02:35:00; Cher). “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (02:38:30; Johnny Cash). “Love is Just a Four-Letter Word” (02:41:00; Joan Baez). “Boots of Spanish Leather” (02:45:00) & “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” (02:51:30; Bob Dylan). “Mr. Tambourine Man” (02:49:30; The Byrds). “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” (03:06:30), “Rose Marie” (03:15:00), “Rhinestone Cowboy” (03:17:00) & “It’s All in the Game” (03:25:00; Slim Whitman).

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #70 (6/16/2013): Michael Douglas

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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #70 (6/16/2013): Michael Douglas

Aired June 15, 2013 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNNbhdtkQgw

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of June 16th, 2013.

How much do we really need to know about the private lives of celebrities? Everything – these days, it seems. We know what Gwyneth Paltrow eats for breakfast, what Kirstie Alley eats for dinner, and now, what Michael Douglas eats in bed.

No one forced him. No one put a gun to his head – I don’t mean the eating part, I mean telling the world about it. Three weeks ago, Douglas told the Guardian magazine of London that his throat cancer probably did not come from his smoking or his drinking. He said, hint hint, you can also get the Big C from doing the little C: cunnilingus. Until last month, I had no idea what the hell that was. Cunnilingus. I thought it a was low-cost Irish airline.

But it is not. Cunnilingus is when a man, or a woman, or, on certain internet sites, a German shepherd, performs oral sex on a lady. Please don’t get me wrong; muff munching is a normal, enjoyable, intimate part of the sexual experience, providing the woman doesn’t smell like a trench, and the man has muscles in his jaw that don’t lock up after three minutes, or five minutes, or, well, honestly, after ten minutes, the woman should either fake it or lie back and think of Jerusalem.

Even though high-school health teachers, aka gym teachers, taught us that you can certainly contract VD from oral sex, I don’t think people take that as seriously as the other kinds of nookie. A girl on a date figures, “Ehhh, I don’t wanna go all the way with this guy, and Biff doesn’t like to deal with condoms. But if I give him a little mouth love, maybe he won’t dump me for Darlene with the bangs, the boobs and the booty.”

When we think of venereal disease in this country, we think of . . . the Kardashians. But we also think of regular penetrative sex or, perhaps, tushie sex. The more intolerant among us would point to the gays during the AIDS crisis and say, “If you can’t stop doing that, at least wear a condom. And stop writing bad Broadway musicals.” As a culture, we all modified our behavior as a way to stem the plague of HIV, as well as gonorrhea, herpes, and Sunday afternoon phone conversations that started with, “Yes, we did have fun last night. But I noticed this rash…”

In his own paradoxically embarrassing and self-aggrandizing way, Michael Douglas has reminded us that HPV isn’t just a high-definition sister channel of HBO. It’s a disease you can get from licking someone in the place that they pee. Such as the Penn Station men’s room.

Much the way Angelina Jolie made breast-cancer prevention a national conversation when she bid tah tah to her tah-tahs, Michael Douglas may be doing us the same service by telling us where he put his tongue, and where his tongue has put him. How does Catherine Zeta Jones fit into all this? That’s a private conversation for the Douglas home. I certainly don’t see her putting her name on a line of douches anytime soon. Unless they start making them with penicillin. Or industrial-strength Raid.

But I do wish Mrs. Douglas good mental health; we know she’s been struggling with mood disorders. Well, who hasn’t? And I hope Mr. Douglas has licked his cancer. God knows, he’s licked everything else. And I advise all my listeners to be sensible and careful in all your carnal endeavors. If you meet a girl who smells like a petri dish, find another way to stuff her knish. Carry condoms, use dental dams – or, as I like to call them, dental goddamns. In other words, if you can’t eat `em, groin `em.

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

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=28952

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Dave’s Gone By Interview (6/15/2013): JAMES SHAPIRO

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Dave Lefkowitz interviews Shakespearean scholar James Shapiro

Topics include: Columbia University, William Shakespeare, King James I.

Segment originally aired June 15, 2013, 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 #427 (6/15/2013): SHAKESPIRO

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Here is the 427th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, June 15, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring Dave’s chat with Shakespearean scholar James Shapiro. Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (Joyce, McCartney/Wilson), Rabbi Sol Solomon on Michael Douglas, and Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Shakespeare – he’s in the alley)

Guests: Shakespearean scholar James Shapiro, Dave’s wife, Joyce

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce
00:14:00 SATURDAY SEGUE: Joyce’s Birthday
01:03:00 Sponsors
01:13:30 GUEST: James Shapiro
02:04:00 INSIDE BROADWAY
00:26:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Shakespeare – he’s in the alley)
03:06:00 Sponsors
03:11:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #70: Michael Douglas
03:16:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – McCartney/Wilson
03:52:30 DAVE GOES OUT

June 15, 2013 Playlist: Jai Sita Ram (00:14:00) & “Shedding Skin (Beloved Friend)” (00:20:30; MC Yogi). “When I was Your Man” (00:17:00; Bruno Mars). “Teachers” (00:23:00; Leonard Cohen). “Academia” (00:26:00; Sia). “The Message” (00:29:00; Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five). “Hallelujah” (00:36:00; Rufus Wainwright). “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” (00:41:30), “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” ({“Hard Rain” live version}; 02:37:00), “Po’ Boy” (02:43:00), “Highway 61 Revisited” ({alternate take} 02:46:00), “Floater” (02:49:30), “Desolation Row” ({“MTV Unplugged” live version; 02:54:30; Bob Dylan). “Heroes” ({“Stage” live version} 01:06:30; David Bowie). “Talk to Me” (01:12:30; Joni Mitchell). “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” (Kiss Me Kate 1948 Broadway cast; 02:02:00). “They Were You” (The Fantasticks, 1960 off-Broadway cast w/ Kenneth Nelson & Rita Gardner; 02:26:30). “Cuckoo Cuckoo” (03:21:30), “You Still Believe in Me” (03:25:30), “In My Room” (03:31:00), “Heroes and Villains” (03:35:00) & “I’m Waiting for the Day” (03:41:00; The Beach Boys). “I’ll Follow the Sun” (03:23:30), “For No One” (03:33:00) & “Things We Said Today” (03:38:30; The Beatles). “Man We was Lonely” (03:28:00) & “Monkberry Moon Delight” (03:44:00; Paul McCartney). “Never You Change” (03:56:00; Toots & the Maytals).

Dave’s Gone By Skit: Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #69 (6/9/2013): THE TONYS 2013

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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #69 (6/9/2013): The Tonys 2013

Aired June 8, 2013 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kY7pP-rSoQ

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a special theatrical Rabbinical Reflection for the week of June 9th, 2013.

It is that merry time again when the Broadway community – those special people who sing and dance and check their voicemails twenty times a day – Broadway pats itself on the tuchas and gives out the Tony Awards.

For folks like me who love the theater, it is a time to celebrate the artistry of show business. Even in this age of Netflix and X-Box and downloaded apps and uploaded crap, something about Broadway still causes relatively sane individuals to reach into their depleted bank accounts and pony up the bills for an hour or two of live stage magic.

This season’s Tony Awards feature an array of stars, genres and talents. But as I always ask this time of year: Where are the Jews? Where do my people fit in – as they always do – in the fabric of 42nd Street. Look no further than the Best Play category, where nice Jewish boychik Richard Greenberg has a show called, The Assembled Parties, all about a New York family on the Upper West Side. It’s an annoying play, frustrating and not worth the effort. Why? For one thing, the Jewish family in The Assembled Parties is so assimilated, they celebrate Christmas! No explanation is given for that, so I’ll simply ascribe it to the playwright having a few too many at Joe Allen’s before tackling rewrites.

I much preferred Lucky Guy, a lively look at the newspaper business from the pen of that late Jewess, Nora Ephron. Played by Tom Hanks, the lead character is a hard-bitten, hard-drinking, morally suspect loudmouth – but he’s Irish, so that’s fine. Lucky Guy is up against The Testament of Mary, a one-woman show about Jesus Christ’s mother – ughhhhh – and Christopher Durang’s wonderful comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and Irving and Leopold and Morris the Cat. The play doesn’t have any Jews in it, but it feels like good Neil Simon, so we’ll give it our blessing.

Broadway musicals up for the Tony are a distinctly goyische bunch, so we’ll skip those, although Harvey Fierstein did write the book for Kinky Boots, and Benj Pasek co-wrote the songs for A Christmas Story. I know, I know. The things Jews will do for money.
Not surprisingly, the category – Best Revival of a Musical is hopping with Hebrews. Annie has a score by Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse. It also has a Christmastime finale. Again with Jews and that farshtunkeneh holiday! Honestly, how many Mormons are writing about Kwanzaa?

Also in Musical Revivals you’ve got Pippin by Stephen Schwartz, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood written by Rupert Holmes. You know what his real name was before he changed it? David Goldstein. God forbid Rupert Holmes should keep his original handle. I guess he wanted to pass and not get beaten up by the other English boys, because, you know, “David” is such a funny, exotic name. Much better to go with Rupert. I hope he got his tuchas kicked. Oh, and filling out the Best Revival category: Cinderella, by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Oscar was brought up Episcopalian – but he had a Jewish grandfather, which explains why so many characters in R&H musicals are wracked with guilt.

Returning to our Jew-spotting: special Tony Awards this season are going to producers Bernard Gersten and Paul Libin and set designer Ming Cho Lee – well, two out of three ain’t bad. And considering how much Jews love Chinese food, Ming’s borderline anyway.

A special Tony will also be awarded to Larry Kramer, who wrote The Normal Heart and founded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. He’s not only a Jew, and not only a gay Jew, but he’s an angry, kvetching, sentimental, in-your-face Jew – that’s like five Jews in one!

But no matter what your religion, the Tony Awards are about healthy competition and the elevation of entertainment into an art form. If that doesn’t sound like a big deal, remember: other organizations give out awards for things like advertising and, God help us, country music. So hooray for the theater and blessings to Broadway. Just like the Jews, it’s a tiny little subculture, but how poor the world would be without it.

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

—> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=28961