Dave’s Gone By Interview (1/19/2013): LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III

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Dave Lefkowitz chats with singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III.

Topics include: his career and latest CD, “Older than My Old Man Now.”

Segment originally aired Jan. 19, 2013 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)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 #408 (1/19/2013): WAIN’S WORLD

click above to listen to the episode (audio only)

Here is the 408th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Jan. 19, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Dave chats with singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III. Plus: Rabbi Sol Solomon offers his Rabbinical Reflection Lance Armstrong’s confession, Inside Broadway (The Other Place), and Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (copyright).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guest: singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:12:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Loudon Wainwright III
00:43:30 INSIDE BROADWAY (news (00:44:00) & The Other Place (01:03:00)
01:14:00 GUEST: Loudon Wainwright III
02:00:00 Sponsors
02:06:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (copyright)
02:46:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #53 (Lance Armstrong)
02:59:30 DAVE GOES OUT

Jan. 29, 2013 Playlist: “The Swimming Song” (00:12:30; {BBC Sessions version}), “People in Love” (00:15:30), “Carmine Street” (00:18:30), “No Knees” (00:21:00), “Unhappy Anniversary” (00:23:30), “You Can’t Fail Me Now” (00:26:30), “This Song Don’t Have a Video” (00:30:00), “School Song” (00:32:00), “Dead Skunk” (00:35:00), “the Here and the Now” (01:10:30), “Over the Hill” (01:19:30), “Daughter” (01:32:00), “Liza” (01:35:30), “I Remember Sex” ({w/ Dame Edna} 01:46:00), “Strange Weirdos” (01:53:30), “Pretty Good Day” (03:04:30) (Loudon Wainwright III). “One Normal Night” (00:47:30; The Addams Family (Broadway cast)), “Mixed-Up Confusion” (02:12:00), “Kingsport Town” (02:14:30), “Hero Blues” (02:18:00), “No More Auction Block” (02:19:30), “Corrina, Corrina” (02:22:30), “Rambling Gambling Willie” (02:25:00) & “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance” (02:29:00; Bob Dylan). “Google” (02:39:30; Art Paul Schlosser). “Heroes” ({live “Stage” version}, 02:53:00; David Bowie).

Loudon Wainwright III then
Loudon Wainwright now
Lance Armstrong & Oprah Winfrey
Laurie Metcalf and Daniel Stern in The Other Place (photo by Joan Marcus)
Dylan’s decades
Rabbi Sol Solomon

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #052 (1/13/2013): Al Gorezeera

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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #52 (1/13/2013): Al Gorezeera

Aired January 12, 2013 on Dave’s Gone By.  Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKNhqPjnANY. https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29258

Shalom Dammit!  This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of January 13th, 2013.

I never liked Al Gore.  Something about him – the smugness, the silver spoon, the hypocrisy – (we’ll get to that).  And for all his left-wing democratic ideals, he married a woman whose claim to fame was begging Congress to put warning labels on record albums.  Because in 1985, the greatest threat to our country was not Russia or the Middle East or poverty or famine but the Ramones.  So there was always something shifty about Albert Arnold Gore, Jr.  Lord knows, his jet-setting lifestyle seems a little out of sync with his altruism about sustainable energy, but okay, it’s not as if we expect him to live in a hut.  Neil Young can build electric cars, but he’s still tooling around in a `56 Crown Victoria.

Anyway, most of what skeeved me about Al Gore I couldn’t put my finger on.  I think a lot of liberals felt that way when George Bush stole the presidency out from under him.  After eight good years under Bill Clinton – we didn’t know how good we had it – people still couldn’t bring themselves to pull the lever for Mr. Internets.  True, the former vice president scored brownie points by making a movie about global warming.  It left most people global sleeping but still, it was the right message that should have been listened to then and now.  And with a whole TV network at his disposal, Gore had the chance to make a real difference in the content and dissemination of news around the world.

That his network, Current TV, failed financially is no shame.  But his response was mind boggling – he sold it to Al Jazeera.  That’s right, ground zero for Arab propaganda, Al Jazeera, now gets a bigger hoofhold in America.  Al J paid Al G 500 million dollars for the privilege of reaching Comcast, Dish Network, Verizon and your local Etch-a-Sketch.

Now, let’s be fair.  Most of the time, Al Jazeera functions as an objective journalistic outlet that covers the Arab world more directly than Rupert Murdoch or Reuters ever could.  But make no mistake: Al Jazeera was founded and financed by people very close to the ruling family of Qatar.  Yes, the network is privately owned – by the cousin of the Emir.  And American journalists who have worked for Al Jazeera have complained that everything on it has an anti-American or anti-Israel slant.  Remember – this was the place Osama bin Laden would mail his Mp3s to.

“Oh Rabbi,” I hear you say, “if the Zodiac killer sends his messages to the San Francisco Chronicle instead of to the cops, do you blame the paper?”  No, and you can’t fault Al Jazeera for running with the story, even if their superstar was a mass-murdering lunatic that they could have helped bring to justice.  As such, you can be wary of a network that lives to pish on the Western world.  And if I want to watch Israel bashing in the guise of news, I don’t need Al Jazeera; I’ll just put on Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now.”

Al Gore did not have to do business with these people.  If there can be entire networks devoted to game shows or old soap operas, surely Gore could have found a buyer with a 24-hour skateboarding channel, or a new MTV that actually plays music videos.  And hey, Tipper’s now history, so you can even leave the obscenities in.

The biggest obscenity is that Mr. Gore, who has spent 30 years warning the world about oil being so scarce, how drilling depletes our natural resources and changes the weather, how pollution is melting the arctic, how there are so many cleaner and more efficient ways to make energy – this Al Gore just pocketed half a billion dollars from a company founded on the profits of oil drilling, consumption, fake shortages and price fixing.  Not to mention a country governed under family dictatorship and Sharia law.

For years, I felt bad that I didn’t vote for Al Gore in the 2000 election. I went with Ralph Nader, because I believed his rap about Democrats being just as lousy as the Republicans – that both parties are owned by the same mega-corporations and drug companies.  Nader was right, but eight years of Dubya also proved him wrong.  I used to wonder how different America would have been had Al Gore been president instead of Bush.  Now I know.  He would have sold New Mexico to Saudi Arabia and made Mahmoud Ahmedinejad chairman of the B’nai Brith.

I am not one to advocate censorship. I’m not saying, “Hey everyone, call your cable provider and threaten to go back to rabbit ears if Al Jazeera gets a channel.”  But the price of freedom is vigilance. If Current TV now morphs into wall-to-wall Intifadeh, with the most popular show being “Two and a Half Men Blowing Up Three and a Half Synagogues,” you know what to do. After all, the Arabs have spilled rivers of American blood. Must they now have blood and Gore?

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

(c) 2013 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29258

Dave’s Gone By Interview (1/12/2013): PETER MARSHALL & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with entertainer and “Hollywood Squares” host Peter Marshall.

Topics include: “Hollywood Squares,” cabaret and yesteryear.

Segment originally aired Jan. 12, 2013 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)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 #407 (1/12/2013): CIRCLE GETS THE SQUARE

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Here is the 407th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio Jan. 12, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with entertainer Peter Marshall (“Hollywood Squares”) and offers his Rabbinical Reflection on Al Gore selling out to Al Jazeera. Plus: Inside Broadway (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Last Seder, My Name is Asher Lev), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later, and Saturday Segues (birthdays, fingers).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guest: entertainer Peter Marshall

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:08:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – birthdays
00:35:30 INSIDE BROADWAY (news (00:36:00), Glengarry Glen Ross (00:42:30), My Name is Asher Lev (00:47:30), The Last Seder (00:51:30), “Broadway Musicals – A Jewish Legacy” (00:54:30)
01:06:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with Peter Marshall
01:51:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later
02:27:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #52 – Al Gorezeera
02:33:30 Weather & Friends
02:37:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Fingers
03:03:30 DAVE GOES OUT

Jan. 12, 2013 Playlist: “Wishing on Telstar” (09:00:00; Susanna Hoffs). “Sway” (00:13:00) & “Ventilator Blues” (00:21:30; The Rolling Stones). “I’m a Band Leader” (00:17:00) & “Golden Birdies” (00:25:00; Captain Beefheart). “Beware of Darkness” (00:18:00; Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs). “Tell Me” (00:26:30; The Bangles). “Hollywood Squares Final Episode” (excerpt; 01:03:30; “Hollywood Squares” w/ Peter Marshall). “And Then She Wrote (Trailer)” (01:39:00; And Then She Wrote w/ Peter Marshall). “Isis” (01:53:30), “North Country Blues” (02:00:00), “Hazel” (02:05:00), “One Too Many Mornings” (02:07:30), “If You See Her Say Hello” (02:10:00), “Something There is About” (02:15:00) & “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” (02:19:30; Bob Dylan). “Linger” (02:47:00; The Cranberries). “Different Finger” (02:51:00; Elvis Costello). “Cross Your Fingers” (02:53:00; Laura Marling). “Magic Fingers” (02:55:30; Frank Zappa). “Magic Finger” (02:59:30; James Kochalka). “Powderfinger” (03:06:30; Neil Young).

Peter Marshall
Ari Brand & Mark Nelson in My Name is Asher Lev
Al Pacino and Bobby Cannavale in Glengarry Glen Ross
The Last Seder
Al Gore and the company he keeps
anonymous finger

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #051 (12/30/2012): 2012 Farewell

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #51 (12/30/2012): 2012 Farewell

Aired December 29, 2012 on Dave’s Gone By.  Youtube clip:
http://youtu.be/cUcwje08tB4

Shalom Dammit!  This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of December 30th, 2012.

Well, you certainly can’t say it was an uneventful year.  It started with a bang, and went out with a bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, unfortunately.  In between, we had our ups and downs, our tears for fears, our cheers for queers, and our jeers for emirs, but at least we’re here at the end of the year.

2012 was all politics, politics, politics.  From January on, all you heard was, “Who will be the Republican frontrunner?”  “How long will this week’s Republican frontrunner stay on top?” and, “How do you try to elect a new Republican president when the last Republican President was the worst thing to hit America since Eddie Murphy’s movie career?”

So the G.O.P. finally picked Mitt Romney, a man of the people – if your people happen to make 30 gazillion dollars.  And he gains traction in the first debate, where Barack Obama had about as much charisma as my last podiatrist.  Still, America went to the polls and showed that they believed in slow, steady recovery; social services and human rights, as opposed to: let’s give all the big corporations bigger tax breaks and hope they hire more part-time cashiers at ten bucks an hour.  And wasn’t it fun watching Fox News on election night, seeing Karl Rove stare into the pit of a volcano and say, “Hey, feels chilly to me!”?

Also big in the news, the Arab spring quickly turned into Anarchy autumn.  Syria’s having a blood-soaked civil war, Egypt’s on the brink of one, Iran is playing a game of chicken with nuclear weapons – and let me tell you, when it comes to nuclear weapons, I’m chicken. Al Qaeda decided to celebrate the 11th anniversary of 9/11 by killing American diplomats in Libya – really, towelheads, you could’ve sent a cake.  And, of course, Israel and the Palestinians have been doing their little tango, which nearly led to full-out war with Hamas.  Israel did over-react to the United Nations decision to grant the Palestinians “non-member observer status” in the organization. That’s pretty much like being invited to dine at the local Chinese take-out hovel – and they still give you a table next to the kitchen and make you use the gas-station toilet across the street.  Israel built more settlements, but hey, it’s their land.  They won the wars, they took the land, they can build condos.  If the Arabs ever prove ready for true and lasting peace, and the Israelis are forced to trade for it, then you can knock down the settlements.  Or at least take away their HBO.

Of course, at the end of the year, the news was dominated by psychopaths with semi-automatics.  First some joker, who thought he was The Joker, walks into a Colorado movie theater and starts blasting.  I mean, I know the popcorn was stale, but there are better ways.  And then you had that animal in Newtown, Connecticut, firing a hundred rounds of ammunition into an elementary school classroom.  He killed six teachers and twenty little angels.  Well, they weren’t all angels.  I have it on good authority that two of them were bullies and one of them had aspirations of becoming a lawyer – but still… What, too soon?  Anyway, immediately, cries went up for reasonable gun control on assault weapons, and the National Rifle Association responded by saying we need more good guys and fewer crazy people.  Wow.  And we thought the NRA lived in a fantasy world.

I’m happy to say, though, that 2012 was a good year for the LGBTQPNMY community, as many elections proved favorable to the idea of same-sex marriage. I dunno what the big deal is; I’ve had the same sex in my marriage for twenty years. A few states also voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. I, myself, have never tried it, but I do think legalization is a good and long overdue idea. I just feel bad for cancer patients; they get one lousy perk, and now everybody’s in on it.

In October 2012, the East coast of the United States endured Hurricane Sandy, a punishing mix of wind and torrential rain that caused billions of dollars in damage.  I remember telling my dear wife, Miriam Libby, “My God, look at how Sandy’s blowing.”  And she replied, “Are you watching porn again?”

Speaking of sex, 2012 also saw a few men laid low because they were getting laid on the down-low. When football coach Jerry Sandusky would send his child athletes to the showers, it was punishment for them, but soapy fun time for him.  I imagine he’s still having sex in the shower, but now it’s with 300-pound black men who use his tuchas for a garage.  An Orthodox Rabbi of the Satmar sect, Nechemya Weberman, was also jailed on multiple counts of sexually abusing children.  Which is horrible and despicable and sickening – and still preferable to listening to a children’s choir.  And then there was General David Petraeus, who tanked a four-decade career because he took the woman who was writing his autobiography and made her the best chapter.

Meanwhile, women everywhere were devouring every chapter in “Fifty Shades of Grey” [insert Gilbert Gottfried audio clip].  Who knew every woman in America wanted to be submissive, and dominated and ordered what to do?  So why the hell do I have to beg mine to clean the dishes?

In 2012, we also said farewell to Neil Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Ravi Shankar, Levon Helm, Robin Gibb, Davy Jones, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston, Etta James, Nora Ephron, Phyllis Diller, Andy Griffith, Ernest Borgnine, Mike Wallace, Gore Vidal, Hal David, Marvin Hamlisch, Horschack and Juan Epstein, George Jefferson, and, of course, George “Goober” Lindsay.  And, as we approach the new year, we say goodbye to the eternal teenager, Dick Clark, who will have a New Year’s Rotting Eve.  Too soon?

Yes, it was a tumultuous year, but far from the worst.  And we approach 2013 with some optimism. A still-popular president, unemployment numbers and gas prices going down, the Rolling Stones are still rolling, Snooki’s a mom, and whichever 47 percent you are, let us all take heart that the most popular singer in the world right now is not an airbrushed babe or an “American Idol” or a navel-gazing rap star.  It’s an overweight ethnic goofball with no discernible talent.  So there’s hope for me!

In fact, there’s hope for all of us, because we survived the dreaded twelve/twenty-one/twelve – doomsday!  The Mayans were looking at one of those cheap, knock-off sundials.  It was a few minutes fast every day, so we’re safe for now; I wouldn’t take bets on 2017.

So I wish a most merry holiday season and much health, happiness and love in the coming year.  As Gandhi said, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.”  Or, if you don’t have change, be the whole dollar bill.

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

 (c) 2012 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29263

Dave’s Gone By Interview (12/29/2012): MICHAEL KANTOR & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with documentary filmmaker and theater expert Michael Kantor (“Broadway: The American Musical,” “Make `em Laugh”).

Topics include: the Jewish influence on Broadway musicals, banjos.

Segment originally aired Dec. 29, 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
More information on Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com

Dave’s Gone By #406 (12/29/2012): WHAT’S UP, DOCU?

click above to listen to the episode (audio only)

Here is the 406th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Dec. 29, 2012. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with filmmaker Michael Kantor (“Broadway: The American Musical”; “Make `em Laugh”) and offers his Rabbinical Reflection on the year gone by. Plus: Inside Broadway (Jack Klugman), Farewells to Roy Collins and Charles Durning, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (namechecks), and Saturday Segues (birthdays, last year’s man).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guest: filmmaker Michael Kantor

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:10:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – birthdays
00:52:30 INSIDE BROADWAY
01:25:00 DAVE SAYS BYE to Ray Collins
01:30:30 Sponsors
01:39:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Michael Kantor
02:25:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later – namechecks
02:58:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #51 – 2012 Farewell
03:07:30 Friends
03:10:00 SATURDAY SEGUE
03:31:30 Weather
03:33:00 DAVE GOES OUT

Dec. 29, 2012 Playlist: “Papa Gene’s Blues” (00:10:00), “Cuddly Toy” (00:14:00), “You Just May Be the One” (00:34:00; The Monkees). “This Little Bird” (00:12:00) & “Sister Morphine” (00:21:30; Marianne Faithfull). “Mr. Radio” (00:16:30; Electric Light Orchestra). “Dancing Barefoot” (00:27:00) & Amerigo (00:36:00; Patti Smith). “Rattled” (00:31:00; The Traveling Wilburys). (01:04:00; Gypsy, 1959 Broadway cast w/ Ethel Merman & Jack Klugman). “Jack Klugman Discusses The Odd Couple (01:15:00; Jack Klugman). “You’re So Vain” (01:19:00; Jack Klugman and Tony Randall). “You Didn’t Try to Call Me” (01:22:00; Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention). “You Can’t Succeed on Broadway” (01:39:00; Spamalot Broadway cast w/ David Hyde Pierce). “It Ain’t Necessarily So” (01:50:30; Porgy and Bess 2012 Broadway cast w/ David Alan Grier). “Edelweiss” (02:16:00; The Sound of Music Broadway cast w/ Theodore Bikel). “Oisgetzaichnet (Out of this World)” (02:20:30; The Zulu and the Zayda Broadway cast w/ Menasha Skulnik). “The Seeker” (02:26:00; The Who). “Coming Up Close” (02:29:30; `til Tuesday). “Like Dylan in the Movies” (02:34:00; Belle & Sebastian). “Yer Blues” (02:38:00; The Beatles). “Song for Bob Dylan” (02:41:00; David Bowie). “Diamonds and Rust” (02:45:00; Joan Baez). “Taking New Bob Dylan” (02:49:30; Loudon Wainwright III). “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?” (03:10:30; Fairport Convention). “Last Year’s Man” (03:15:30; Leonard Cohen). “Another Year’s Gone By” (03:21:30; Hootie & the Blowfish). “What are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” (03:25:30; Vonda Shepard). “New Year’s Eve” (03:35:00; Tom Waits).

Michael Kantor
Charles Durning
Jack Klugman
Farewell 2012

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #050 (12/23/2012): Gun Control

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #50 (12/23/2012): Gun Control

Aired December 22, 2012 on Dave’s Gone By.  Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iRX8beuhkU

Shalom Dammit!  This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of December 23rd, 2012.

Anything can be a weapon.  A scissor.  A tire iron.  A baseball bat.  If I hit you in the face with a hardcover copy of Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead,” your head will spurt like a fountain.  If I drop two pennies off the roof of the Empire State Building, whoever is walking below will lose their cents.  You don’t need a gun to hurt someone.

No, I’m not spoiling the plot of the next “Final Destination” movie; I’m offering the motto of the National Rifle Association, the N.R.A.  Why ban guns, they say, when they’re just one kind of weapon?  Two radio hosts killed a woman by making her drink too much water.  Do we ban faucets?  Another pair of deejays helped kill a woman by making believe they were the royal family.  Do we ban phone calls?

That is the logic the N.R.A. uses to defend guns.  Crazy people will always find ways to kill, sometimes with box-cutters on an airplane, sometimes with a loaded gas tank and a 1.2 blood-alcohol level.  Guns don’t kill people, they say; people kill people.

The problem as I see it, is that people kill people…with guns.  Adam Lanza did not walk into Sandy Hook Elementary School carrying a sharpened broom handle.  He didn’t fire off a hundred rounds of ping-pong balls.  He had his mother’s guns – three of them.  And the N.R.A. says the blame is hers.  She should have kept them locked up, safely stored, away from her child.  But her child was 20 years old.  Which means back when Adam Lanza was sane – presumably – and he turned 18, he was old enough to be shown where the guns were and how to use them.  He could have gone to Walmart and gotten his own guns.

And the other cry of the N.R.A. whenever there’s a massacre – which is every couple of weeks in this fakakteh country – well, if one of the good guys had a gun, this wouldn’t have happened.  Or the carnage would have been less, because the teacher, or the movie-theater usher, or the flight attendant could whip out a .45 and blast the psycho before he starts running a tally in double digits.

There is some logic to this, if all these pistol-packing good Samaritans have amazing aim, have recent and constant practice, and happen to be just at the wrong place at the right time.  I admit, there are times I would love to carry a gun.  I also admit that in a dangerous, do-or-die situation, I would reach for the gun, my hand would slip, and I’d shoot myself right in the balls.  Just because everyone can own a gun doesn’t mean everyone should own a gun.

What makes me mad about the N.R.A. is their absolute inability to compromise.  The Democrats say, “We don’t want to ban guns.  We want sensible gun control.”  The N.R.A. says, “You can’t ban guns.”  The Democrats say, “No, listen.  We don’t want to ban guns.  We just want more background checks and the banning of semi-automatic weapons.”  The N.R.A. says, “You can’t ban guns.”  Right-wing Republicans are like autistic children; you can’t reason with them, all you can do is hope to distract them with something shiny.

The second Amendment of the United States Constitution was adopted in 1791.  It was created so that people could hunt for food, defend themselves and mainly to protect the former colonies from foreign invasion. If it seems a little silly in 2012 to worry about British redcoats wanting to sleep in your garage, it wasn’t quite so hilarious in late 2001, when you didn’t know when or where the next turban was gonna drop.

So I am not one of those people who thinks only police and the military should have guns. They’re already in power, they don’t need more firepower.  It’s perfectly understandable why a rural farmer would want a shotgun, or a Jew carrying merchandise in the diamond district might need a pistol, or a schvartz NFL player in a nightclub might want three colts, a glock and a snub-nose .38.  But none of those people needs an AK-47. Nobody needs to fire two dozen uninterrupted rounds unless you’re making Swiss cheese and you’re really pressed for time.

Is it opportunistic of people who are pro-gun control to use a national tragedy for political gain?  Sure, just as when Ernest Borgnine died, I lobbied Congress to release the entire “McHale’s Navy” series on Blue-Ray.  It was just the right thing to do.

Sensible gun control is also the right thing to do, and it’s a lot smarter than banning midnight movies, elementary schools and high-school cafeterias. Although, banning high-school cafeteria food  . . . not the worst idea.

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

 (c) 2012 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29266

Dave’s Gone By #405 (12/22/2012): APOCALYPSE NOT

click above to listen to the episode (audio only)

Here is the 405th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Dec. 22, 2012. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Dave celebrates the world surviving Mayan Doomsday with a Saturday Segue on Endtimes. Plus: Inside Broadway, News Gone By, Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on gun control, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (John Wesley Harding 45th anniversary).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:08:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Endtimes, part 1
00:49:30 Thanks & Sponsors
01:00:00 INSIDE BROADWAY
01:20:30 NEWS GONE BY
01:39:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’s RABBINICAL REFLECTION #50 – Gun Control
01:46:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (John Wesley Harding 45th Anniversary)
02:25:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Endtimes, part 2
02:49:30 DAVE SAYS BYE – Larry L. King
02:59:30 Thanks & Weather & Friends
03:05:00 DAVE GOES OUT

Dec. 22, 2012 Playlist: “The Last Night of the World” (09:00; Bruce Cockburn). “End of the World” (00:14:00; Herman’s Hermits). “The End has Begun” (00:17:00; Loudon Wainwright III). “Sweet Apocalypse” (00:21:00; Moby). “End” (Peter Case; 00:25:00). “(I’ll Love You) Till the End of the World” (00:28:30; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). “Time Waits for No One” (00:32:30; The Rolling Stones). “It’s Over” (00:39:00; Tom Waits). “Master of the House” (01:15:00; Les Miserables Broadway cast). “Jet Song” (01:24:00; West Side Story; film soundtrack). “Coffee Homeground” (01:32:00; Kate Bush). “John Wesley Harding” (01:50:00) & “As I Walked Out One Morning” (01:53:00; Bob Dylan). “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” (01:56:00; John Doe). “All Along the Watchtower” (01:59:00; Bryan Ferry). “Dear Landlord” (02:02:30; Joan Baez). “I Pity the Poor Immigrant” (02:05:30; Judy Collins). “Wicked Messenger” (02:10:00; The Black Keys). “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” (02:13:30; Barb Jungr). “I Found the End” (02:26:00; Broadcast). “It’s Over” (02:28:00; The Smiths). “It’s Over” (02:34:00; Aimee Mann). “Time Out from the World” (02:37:30; Goldfrapp). “The End” (02:42:30; The Doors). “The Galaxy Song” (02:44:30; “Monty Python’s Meaning of Life;” film soundtrack). “Hard Candy Christmas” (02:54:00; “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” film soundtrack). “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” (03:06:30; R.E.M.).

Dylan’s John Wesley Harding
Larry L. King
gun control
Rabbi Sol Solomon