Topics include: The Happiest Song Plays Last, Adult World, Oliver Stone, Steven Soderbergh, Puerto Rico.
Segment aired March 8, 2014 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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #94 (3/2/2014): Kiev
aired March 1, 2014 on Dave’s Gone By. Watch on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87QQA37F1oY&feature=youtu.be
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of March 2, 2014.
You say you want a revolution? Well, you know, we all want to change the world. But we’re too fearful and set in our ways to do anything. I’m too lazy to change my cable company let alone start a political movement. At my age, I’m lucky if I can start a bowel movement.
But revolutions do still happen. Bloodless ones, like Czechoslovakia. Political ones, like South Africa. Unstable ones, like Egpyt. Musical ones, like Prince and.
It seems every month, some country in the middle east is having a coup, or a march or a toppling or a something. And now, Ukraine is getting in on the action. Its own country since breaking off from Russia in 1991, Ukraine was under the thumb of corrupt Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was a yanuka-bitch to the opposition. What really frosted the Ukranians’ blinis was Yanukovych moving toward closer ties with Mother Russia, whereas the people wanted to throw in with the European Union. Because that’s done so well for Greece and Iceland.
But seriously, how can one not be encouraged when the people of a repressed country want to be more like us – and they get up the courage and organization and bottle rockets to do it. After days of rioting and cease fires – where everyone fired and no one ceased – the instability pulled Yanukovych from power and popped his opposition from prison. It wasn’t a bloodless coup – a couple dozen protestors paid the ultimate price. Well, no, the ultimate price would be having to spend a Siberian winter locked in a room with the hosts of “The View,” but still, blood was shed for the sake of the people’s will.
Meanwhile Vladimir Putin, who pulled off a bloodless Olympics, isn’t taking any chances with his grip on power. He’s having the military run drills along the border with Crimea, because people in the Southern Ukraine, many of whom were ethnic Rooskies, are split between liking Sister Europe or loving Mother Russia. The west is afraid Putin will climb into Crimea, which could lead to a civil war or a re-annexation.
This would be a great loss for the region because Crimea is a noted vacation spot – the Ukrainian Aruba, as it were. Because it’s got mountains and the Black Sea, grassland and caves, there’s something for everybody. It’s like an all-natural Epcot. In fact, back during the Soviet era, this is where workers used to come for R&R, where they could enjoy the salt-sea air and the therapeutic mud. I’m not kidding. You’ve heard of people bathing in hot springs? Crimea is where people go to slather themselves in volcanic mud. If you think that’s a crazy way to attract tourists, just remember, we have Dollywood.
President Obama is taking a wait-and-see approach with Kiev, which could go all sweet and democratic, or turn into a war zone. Kind of like what’s happening with Detroit. Since the Cold War is over, we don’t really have a beef with Russia, and one of the three opposition parties that brought down Yanukovych is anti-Semitic, so who knows if we’ve jumped out of the samovar and into insanity?
All I know is, the way Jews were treated in that part of the world for most of the 20th century makes me wary and somewhat unsympathetic to the plight of the Ukranians. If they become a shining example of freedom? Great. If they have to suffer a bit along the way? Well, Crimea river.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from: me Rabbi, U-kraine, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
Here is the 460th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, March 1, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews editor and producer Sherry Eaker (Bistro Awards, Backstage). Plus: Inside Broadway, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (march), Saturday Segues (Robyn Hitchcock, Lou Reed), Rabbi Sol on Kiev.
Guests: producer Sherry Eaker
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN (snow again) 00:24:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Robyn Hitchcock 00:53:30 Weather 00:57:00 INSIDE BROADWAY (News 00:57:30) / (Review (Jugged Rabbit Stew) 01:14:30) 01:30:30 GUEST: Sherry Eaker 02:37:30 Sponsors 02:42:00 Friends 02:51:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (march) 03:17:00 Sponsors 03:22:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #94 – Kiev 03:27:30 DAVE SAYS BYE – Harold Ramis 03:30:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Lou Reed 03:58:30 DAVE GOES OUT
March 1, 2014 Playlist: “Saturday Groovers” (00:28:00), “I Feel Beautiful” (00:30:30), “You and Oblivion” (00:34:30), “I Saw Nick Drake” (00:39:30) & “Old Man Weather” (00:47:30; Robyn Hitchcock). “Human Music” (00:43:00; The Soft Boys). “A Tired Old Cliche” (01:28:00; Jugged Rabbit Stew 2010 Buntport cast). “Abandoned Love” (02:52:30), “Pretty Peggy-O” (02:57:00), “Little Maggie” (03:00:00) & “Caribbean Wind” (03:03:00; Bob Dylan). “The Walls of Red Wing” (03:10:30; Joan Baez). “Stethoscopist” (03:26:30; Second City Television w/ Harold Ramis). “Nowhere at All” (03:34:00), “Burning Embers” (03:37:00), “How Do You Think it Feels” (03:44:00), “Hangin’ Round” (03:47:30) & “Ride Into the Sun” (04:07:30; Lou Reed). “Starlight” (03:40:30; Lou Reed & John Cale). “Guess I’m Falling in Love” (03:51:00; The Velvet Underground).
Segment scheduled to air March 1, 2014 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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
Here is the 459th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Feb. 22, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews musician Jack Casady. Plus: Dave’s dad, Philip Lefkowitz, Inside Broadway, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Washington), Saturday Segues (George Harrison, Washington), Rabbi Sol on RadioShack.
Guests: musician Jack Casady, Dave’s wife Joyce, & Dave’s dad, Philip Lefkowitz
Note: Apologies for the hiss in the background during parts of the first hour
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (sound machine, local news, movies-to-musicals) 00:53:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – George Harrison 01:23:30 Sponsors 01:27:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:53:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Jack Casady 02:57:00 Sponsors 03:01:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Washington) 03:24:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #93 (RadioShack) 03:31:30 Friends 03:44:00 GUEST: Philip Lefkowitz 03:58:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Washington 04:18:00 Weather & Thanks 04:22:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Feb. 22, 2014 Playlist: “Don’t Bother Me” (00:54:00) & “The Inner Light” (01:10:30; The Beatles). “Try Some Buy Some” (00:56:30), “Behind That Locked Door” (01:00:30), “Awaiting on You All” ({live Bangladesh version}; 01:03:30) & “Stuck Inside a Cloud” (01:06:30; George Harrison). “Falling Into You” (01:47:00; The Bridges of Madison County (2014 Broadway cast w/ Steven Pasquale & Kelli O’Hara). “White Rabbit” (01:51:00), “Crown of Creation” (02:11:30) & “Somebody to Love” (02:50:30). “Things That Might Have Been” (02:01:00) & “Water Song” (02:41:00; Hot Tuna). “Voodoo Chile” (02:28:00; Jimi Hendrix). “Gypsy Lou” (03:02:30), “Hard Times in New York Town” (03:06:00), “The Ballad of Donald White” (03:08:00) & “Thunder on the Mountain” (03:12:30; Bob Dylan). “Men are Back in Style” (03:41:00; The Gold Brothers). “Washington Street” (03:58:00; Laurie Anderson). Otis & Marlena (04:02:30; Joni Mitchell). “Washington County” (04:06:30; Arlo Guthrie). “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady” (04:08:30; Groucho Marx). “Young Americans” (04:23:00; David Bowie).
Topics include: Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, Woodstock, Jorma Kaukonen, bass.
Segment aired Feb. 22, 2014 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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com.
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of February 23rd, 2014.
I can understand why some people like to bash Justin Bieber or Kim Kardashian, because they’re famous for being famous, and their lifestyles are flaunted before us on every webpage, magazine cover and police blotter in America. And I can understand why some folks hammer Barack Obama, because all Democrats are evil communists who don’t like country music. What I don’t understand is why are so many pundits kicking RadioShack while it’s down?
RadioShack: a place to buy wires and couplers and splitters – if you’re into that sort of thing. A local store where you can grab what you need to hook up a TV, solder your speakers, snag a flashlight or a flash drive, or pick up batteries or a clock radio or a spare mouse – in case your cat is bored. And yet people are taking schadenfreudic glee at the problems RadioShack has been having in the marketplace.
With everyone listening to music on iPods and Bose boxes, the public demand for transistor AM radios in perforated leather cases has been admittedly waning. And with televisions all hooked up to one giant cable oligopoly or other, nobody’s using rabbit ears except…rabbits. RadioShack also sells higher-ticket items, like TV’s and cell phones, but there they have to compete with Target and Wal-Mart, which, at this stage, is like little David going up against not just Goliath, but his friends, the Green Goblin and Mothra.
Media types have been laughing at RadioShack, especially their Super Bowl TV commercial, which was a nostalgic throwback to the 1980s. “Brilliant,” the pundits said, “You’re a store that consumers think hasn’t had new merchandise since 1983…and you’re making them think of 1983!” The stock price of RadioShack is so low, Mexican day laborers could buy a thousand shares and have money left over for pizza. And the truly tragic thing: 500 RadioShack stores will be closing by the end of 2014. That’s a lot of geeks out of work, so if you’re walking down a dark alley next year and find yourself being mugged by a 60-year-old with bad asthma and a pocket protector, you know where he used to work.
I have to say, my recent experiences at RadioShack have been most pleasant. I didn’t buy anything, but the employees were very nice, and I liked looking at the mini-tape recorders, the plugs, the iPhone cases, the hand-cranked victrolas… I’m kidding, and honestly, 8-track tape players took up only two shelves way in the back.
But seriously, cheering the downfall of RadioShack is like a guppy in a fish tank going, “Yay, the bubble-making clam broke.” The fish may still have a pirate treasure chest and a coral tower, but there’ll be one less item providing oxygen in his aquasphere. If Radio Shack goes the way of Loehmann’s, Robert Hall, the dodo and the American middle class, we’ll be one step closer to Wallyworld owning the world. Sure, you can buy everything on the interwebs now, but are we really at the point where you buy a TV or an iPad or a smartphone without ever actually seeing it first? Instead you just watch some homemade instruction video on youtube and hope for the best. Who knew that American enterprise would ultimately follow the same business model as mail-order brides?
For all the people who are mocking radio shack and scolding them for not changing with the times – what do you suggest they do? Sell cars? Put in a coffee nook? Hold singles nights by the walky-talky aisle? What good is changing your marketing when you’re moribund? I mean, Blockbuster could give away all the free popcorn in the world, it wasn’t gonna bring VCRs back.
Scuttlebutt is: the only way RadioShack can save itself is by going – not bigger, but smaller. Cater to a niche market of hobby people, folks who tinker with robots, electronics and 3-D printing. They’re your best bet to compete with Best Buy. Even in this day and age, when everything’s been thought of, patented and plugged in an infomercial, crackpot inventors are still out there, touching the red wire to the blue circuit while the hydrogen compound bubbles on the stove. Yes, that’s also the way to make Hot Pockets, but mainly, it’s how we became the greatest, most ambitious country in the world. Eggheads with messy garages; they still exist. Radio Shack just needs to rope them in – or at least sell their older brothers airplane glue, `cause with heroin getting such a bad rap, you know that stuff’ll come back.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #92 (2/16/2014): Sochi
aired Feb. 15, 2014 on Dave’s Gone By. Watch on youtube: http://youtu.be/gkJUPHw8uGY
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of February 16th, 2014.
Is there anything less interesting in the world than the Winter Olympics? I’m sorry, but everyone in this half of the hemisphere is sitting at home, running the oil burner, looking at the grim skies and just waiting for the first signs of spring. The last thing we wanna do is turn on the TV and see more snow. If I’m on the couch in my footy-pjs, sipping a cocoa and skimming the Talmud, and I wanna take a break, I’m gonna put on “Baywatch,” maybe the Golf Channel, the 80th re-run of “Point Break.” What I don’t want to see is athletes bundled up from head to tuchas, zhoozhing down mountains of snow, and then talking to reporters where you can see their breath coming out of their mouths and congealing in the air. If breath could spell, it would spell out, “Help! Hypothermia! Why didn’t I take up parasailing?”
Still, winter or otherwise, the Olympic idea is ideal: have countries from all over the world, even ones with political differences, put their very best amateur athletes on an international stage, and let’s all enjoy playing and watching. How can you beat it? Of course, the distance between the Olympics’ idealization and its ideation is like the distance between Democracy and Congress. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
The Olympics were supposed to be an oasis from the world’s evils. But half the time it’s become a petri dish where the bad guys hog the microscope. In 1936, Hitler hosted the Olympics in Munich as a way of proving the superiority of the master race. Yes, it was wonderful that the American schvartze Jesse Owens ruined his day, but the fact that they held the Olympics at all was a decision so questionable, even the guys who designed the Titanic had to be shaking their heads going, “What the fick were they thinking?”
And then in 1972, it was back to Germany – because what better place to espouse peace and racial equality, right? And what a perfect worldwide stage for Arab terrorists to go kill all the Israeli athletes. Olympic officials were confronted with a decision: stop the games, do a big funereal tribute, and hunt down the animals responsible – or wear black for a day and keep the games going. Guess which one they chose?
And so, ever since then, the Olympics have proved a lightning rod for political disputes and threats from groups that put religion before human rights – which is pretty much the entire Muslim world. As of this writing (and speaking), the winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, have been on high-terrorism alert. The Islamists were kind enough to give us an early heads-up on the violence – by bombing a train station and a trolley in Volgograd back in December. So thoughtful of them. They murdered only 34 people – which for them is an appetizer – and a week later, the Russian police killed the guy responsible. But no question, this was a yellow stickie posted on the calendar of the Olympics reading, “Hello. We’re Jihad. We drank your orange juice and broke a lamp. We’ll be back soon with the destruction of the entire Western World. Your pal, Mohammed.”
So we want to commend the Russians and Vladimir Putin for taking a no-tolerance, “we will bury you” approach to security at the Sochi games. Unfortunately, the pat on Putin’s back has to stay above the waist, because he is also responsible for a recent Russian law that bans the promotion of non-traditional lifestyles. In other words, you can’t teach kids under 18 that it’s okay to be gay, or lesbian, or transsexual, or a furry. Russia’s deputy prime minister defended the law saying it’s a way to protect children. But then why not simply make a law that says, “Don’t touch children?” If you have trouble with the wording, ring up Dylan Farrow. But Putin’s law is more insidious, it’s branding the lifestyle of 10-to-15 percent of the population as abnormal, unhealthy and dangerous to you – unlike such healthy activities Russian teens are exposed to at a young age, like vodka shots, smoking and poverty.
After the glory years of Gorbachev, sadly, Russia has moved backwards towards its old police-state days, but so did we under Dubya Bush. The church’s last Pope was in the Hitler youth, but the new guy is preaching love and tolerance. Kind of like the four – er, five Olympic circles, the world turns and turns, so maybe the next dictator after Putin will keep his shirt on and his hands off.
Until that time, it is with mixed feelings that I wish the 2014 Winter Olympics well, with good sportsmanship, fair judging, no terrorism and lots and lots of curling – oh, I love curling. As far as homosexuality, well, the opening ceremonies featured thousands of toned athletes in tight costumes with bright rainbow colors, waving flags and parading around to loud thumpy music and confetti. What could be more gay than that?
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
Topics include: Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds, Marnie, Charlie Chaplin, animals, ROAR.
Segment aired Feb. 15, 2014 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)2014 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com
Here is the 458th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Feb. 15, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actress Tippi Hedren. Plus: Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection on the Sochi Winter Olympics, Inside Broadway, Saturday Segue (Nina Simone), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Tips).
Guests: actress Tippi Hedren, Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (noise machine, comedy radio, weather bubbles, bullet-proof coat, angry birds, tippy-toes, Nina Simone, festish-wear) 01:20:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Nina Simone 01:44:30 INSIDE BROADWAY 02:05:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Tippi Hedren 02:56:00 Sponsors 03:02:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Tips) 03:30:00 Sponsors 03:34:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #92 – Sochi 03:41:30 Friends 03:54:00 Weather 03:56:30 Upcoming & Thanks 04:00:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Feb. 15, 2014 Playlist: “If You Knew” (01:21:00), “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got That Swing” (01:23:00), “Nobody” (01:25:00), “Take Care of Business” (01:30:00), “I Loves You, Porgy” (01:32:00), “I Put a Spell on You” (1:37:30; Nina Simone). “I Love You” (02:03:30; Little Me 1962 Broadway cast w/ Sid Caesar). “Tell Me, Momma” (03:03:30), “I Threw it All Away” ({Another Self Portrait version}, 03:08:00), “Jim Jones” (03:10:00) & “Visions of Johanna” ({No Directions Home version}, 03:19:00; Bob Dylan). “Gates of Eden” (03:14:00; Arlo Guthrie). “Dante’s Prayer” (04:02:30; Loreena McKennitt).
