Dave Lefkowitz is joined in-studio by University of Northern Colorado theater school music director Richard Shore to chat about the Rabbi’s show, Shalom Dammit! and productions at UNC and Little Theater of the Rockies.
Topics include: Shalom Dammit: An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon, University of Northern Colorado, Little Theater of the Rockies.
Segment originally aired March 3, 2012 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Note: Interview 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)2012 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
Dave Lefkowitz interviews author Michael Seth Starr
Topics include: Redd Foxx, comedy.
Segment originally aired March 3, 2012 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Note: Interview 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)2012 TotalTheater Productions. More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
Here is the 377th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Feb. 25, 2012. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Dave chats with actor John Grady (Fear Factor: The Canine Edition). Plus: Inside Broadway, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (“deth” songs), a Saturday Segue (Canada), Rabbi Sol Solomon, and a musical farewell to Mike Melvoin.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guest: actor John Grady Notes: Musical segue edited out of final segment.
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN 00:10:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Canada 00:52:00 INSIDE BROADWAY (part one) 00:59:30 GUEST: John Grady 01:37:00 INSIDE BROADWAY (part two) 01:44:00 Sponsors 01:52:30 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection – Shalom Dammit in NY 02:01:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (“deth”) 02:36:00 Friends 02:39:30 DAVE SAYS BYE – Mike Melvoin 02:55:00 Thanks & Weather 03:01:30 DAVE GOES OUT
Feb. 25, 2012 Playlist: “I Feel it All” (00:13:00; Feist). “Into the Fire” (00:17:00; Sarah McLachlan). “Blame Canada” (00:20:30; South Park – Bigger, Longer & Uncut, soundtrack). “Snowbird” (00:22:00; Anne Murray). “Lovin’ Cup” (00:24:00; Jane Siberry). “The Mummer’s Dance” (00:27:30; Loreena McKennitt). “Blue Guitar” (00:33:30; Cowboy Junkies). “All the Ways I Want You” (00:39:30; Bruce Cockburn). “A Case of You” (00:44:00; Joni Mitchell). “Fear is a Man’s Best Friend” (00:56:00; John Cale). “Falling Slowly” (01:33:00; “Once” film soundtrack w/ Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova). “Masters of War” ({live from “Real Live”}; 02:01:30), “Seven Curses” (02:07:30), “What Can I Do for You” (02:11:30), “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” ({live}; 02:17:30), “Blowin’ in the Wind” ({live}, 02:24:00) & “Death is Not the End” (02:28:00; Bob Dylan). “Stand By Me” (02:40:30; John Lennon). “Eggs and Sausage” (02:44:00; Tom Waits). “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” (02:50:00; The Beach Boys).
John GradyPierre JuneauMike MelvoinRabbi Sol Solomon
Dave Lefkowitz interviews actor and monologist John Grady.
Topics include: Fear Factor: Canine Edition, theater, one-man shows, Blue Man Group, Spalding Gray.
Segment originally aired Feb. 25, 2012 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Note: Interview 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)2012 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of February 19th, 2012.
(sings, to “Molly Malone”)
“Alive, alive oyyy… Alive, alive oyyy Come see me, I’m acting Alive, alive oyyy.”
Remember a few weeks ago, I did my one man show at the University of Northern Colorado? Of course you don’t; nobody remembers anything anymore. But I’m reminding you. I did a workshop production of my show, Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon, in Greeley, Colorado, just to get an idea whether people would tolerate it.
Well, not only did most audiences tolerate it, some even endured it! Which is why I am bringing my show, Shalom Dammit!, to the next step. I’m gonna do it off-off-Broadway for a week in March, and I’m inviting you all to come.
Shalom Dammit! is a one-man, two-person show with comedy, music and a lot of yelling. It’s my sermon on the problems and joys – but mostly problems – of American-Jewish life in the twenty-first century. I teach the audience some words in Hebrew and Yiddish – words like schmuck and tuchas and pastrami! Ahhhh… pastrami.
I also talk about world religions in a deeply introspective and insulting way. I delve into the middle-east conflict and come up with my hands dirty. Filthy actually. Extremely unsanitary And I touch on such touchy topics as the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, Jews for Jesus, assimilation, alienation and constipation. As you can see, some content is not suitable for children, or anyone for that matter, but hey, it’s New York, so I have to be edgy.
My onstage musical director will be Richard Shore, a talented man who actually went to Harvard and got a doctoral degree from Boston University. See mom? I don’t have to BE a Jewish doctor . . . I got one working for me!
And just in case funny songs and intellectual content and comedy aren’t enough for you, there’s multi-media – I do a PowerPoint. There’s improvisation – I answer your stupid questions. And there’s love, because goddammit, that’s what I’m all about.
Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon plays March 13 to 17, at the Richmond Shepard Theater, a sweet little playhouse at 309 East 29th Street near 2nd Avenue. If you blink, you miss the place – so don’t blink!
My show plays only one week, starting March 13th. Tuesday at 2, Thursday-through-Saturday at 2, Wednesday at 7:30. Tickets are only $18. Chai! And if you’re in school or old enough to wear dignity pants, you get a $3 student or senior discount.
Buy your tickets now at brownpapertickets.com. Go figure we’d have a ticket service that sounds like used toilet tissue. Brownpapertickets.com.
And visit ShalomDammit.com for more information about my wonderful show. See it before it gets to Broadway and the only ones who can afford it are goyische anti-Semites with corporate charge accounts.
Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon at the Richmond Shepard Theater. It’s the next-best thing to Moshiach.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches and off-off-Broadway star!
Here is the 376th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Feb. 18, 2012. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Dave chats with legendary songstress Judy Collins and Tony-winning actress Alice Ripley. Plus: Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on his stage show in NYC, Inside Broadway, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Collins covers), and a 75th birthday chat with Dave’s dad, Philip Lefkowitz.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guests: singer Judy Collins, actress Alice Ripley, Dave’s dad Philip Lefkowitz
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN 00:04:00 GUEST: Judy Collins 00:53:30 Sponsors 01:01:00 INSIDE BROADWAY (news, Dancing at Lughnasa (01:07:30)) 01:16:00 GUEST: Alice Ripley 02:08:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Collins covers) 02:30:00 Weather 02:34:00 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection – Shalom Dammit in NY 02:38:30 GUEST: Philip Lefkowitz 02:55:00 Thanks & Friends 03:01:30 DAVE GOES OUT 03:05:00 Promo – Shalom Dammit! in NY
Feb. 18, 2012 Playlist: “The Blizzard” (00:32:00), “So Early, Early in the Spring” (00:39:30), “Send in the Clowns” (00:42:00), “Cactus Tree” (00:46:30), “Pity the Poor Immigrant” (02:08:30), “Tomorrow is a Long Time” (02:12:30), “Just Like a Woman” (02:16:30), “Dark Eyes” (02:21:30; Judy Collins), “Daddy, You’ve Been on My Mind” (02:25:30; Judy Collins). “I Miss the Mountains” (Next to Normal orig. Bway cast w/ Alice Ripley), “Beautiful Eyes” (02:01:00; Alice Ripley), “If We Never Meet Again” (03:03:00; Emily Skinner & Alice Ripley).
Dave Lefkowitz interviews his father, Philip Lefkowitz on the occasion of his upcoming 75th birthday.
Topics include: birthdays, aging.
Segment originally aired Feb. 18, 2012 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Sad Note: Our father of the Daverhood, Philip Lefkowitz, passed May 5, 2021.
Note: Interview 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)2012 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
Dave Lefkowitz interviews Broadway actress Alice Ripley
Topics include: Next to Normal, Side Show, Broadway.
Segment originally aired Feb. 18, 2012 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Note: Interview 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)2012 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
Dave Lefkowitz interviews singer-songwriter Judy Collins
Topics include: music, concerts, Bohemian.
Segment originally aired Feb. 18, 2012 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Note: Interview 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)2012 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of February 5th, 2012.
Well, on Tuesday, Mr. Groundhog poked his tuchas outside the ground and declared that we’re stuck with six more weeks of winter. A gloomy prediction, especially since three days later, Colorado got its first snowstorm in a month and a half.
So in order to brighten your damp and precipitative week, I thought I would share some jokes with you – jokes of a Jewish nature.
The first concerns Sadie, an old Jewish woman, working for fifty years in the garment district in New York.
One evening she’s coming home from work, she’s on the subway, and a tall, rather strange-looking man in a long raincoat comes over and stands in front of her.
Suddenly, he opens his coat and flashes her, showing her everything God gave him.
Sadie looks, and looks, and looks, and finally she sighs and says, “You call this a lining?”
Now, what do we learn from this joke? We learn two things, both of them contradictory – which is par for the course with virtually everything Talmudic. First, we learn that concentrating, and focusing on what you know best can sometimes protect you from harm. Sadie zoning in on the raincoat instead of the man’s puckel might have spared her embarrassment or shock or even rape. And so, when we are at work and trying to finish a task, if we apply ourselves to that – instead of getting caught up in office politics and gossip and bad advice – we are more likely to complete the job in front of us.
On the other hand, the joke also tells us there is something sad about Sadie. Here’s an old woman, so beaten down by life and work that she doesn’t even notice a naked man poking his peter at her punim. We must not get so wrapped up in our daily burdens, or, for that matter, our hobbies and addictions, that we become oblivious to the wangs in front of our eyes.
Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. To quote Walt Whitman, “I am large. I contain multitudes.” I just wish I could contain my urine better but, that’s my problem. On to another joke – this one about an old man.
He’s in the hospice, he’s dying, and his 60-year-old wife is by his bedside.
“Rivka,” he says. “Tell me the truth. In our forty years of marriage, were you ever unfaithful?”
Rivka remains silent.
“Rivka? Did you hear me? I asked if you’ve ever been with another man?”
“Chaim,” she says, “I don’t understand the question.”
“Don’t understand the – ? Just tell me. I won’t be mad. I’m dying. I would just like to know. During our marriage, did you ever schtup another man?”
Again, Rivka says nothing.
“Rivkie, Rivkie, what’s the problem?”
His wife looks at him and says, “I’m worried. What if I tell you, and you don’t die?”
This is a charming little joke about sex and death, two things that obsess most Jews and gave Woody Allen a career. Perhaps we learn from this joke that we all have to answer for our actions at one point or another. If not today, maybe in a month. If not in a year, maybe in our final days. Maybe in olam haba. So it’s a caution that whenever we embark on doing something that maybe we shouldn’t – maybe we shouldn’t.
Okay, last joke, perfect for the season. Little Yussi is a Russian immigrant, and he’s sitting in grammar school and trying to keep up in English.
The teacher says, “Class: it’s vocabulary time. Can anyone here use the word `cultivate’ in a sentence?”
Nobody raises a hand.
Again, the teacher says, “Come, somebody must know this word. Cultivate. Use it in a sentence. Anyone?”
After another minute, Yussi raises his hand.
“Great, Yussi. What’s your sentence?”
Yussi says, “Vell, in the vinter, ven it’s snowing and you’re vaiting for the school bus, you should go indoors because it’s too cul-ti-vate.”
I didn’t say it was a good joke, I just said it was a joke. One could even say it’s a kosher spin on that old line about the weather in Mexico: chili today and hot tamale. Also, it’s a reminder that puns, although specific to a language and dialect, are universal in their power to trick us and make us go, “ohhhhyy, I hate puns.” And if we can all be brought a little closer together through our hatred and disgust, wouldn’t that make the world a better place?
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches.
