Dave’s Gone By #383 (4/21/2012): MAN OF LA MANCH

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Here is the 383rd episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired April 21, 2012. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Dave chats with actress Catherine Russell (Perfect Crime) and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester. Plus: Saturday Segue (Levon Helm tribute), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (in the Wind and in The Band) and Inside Broadway (Shrek and Marion Blumenthal-Lazan).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guests: singer Melissa Manchester & actress Catherine Russell

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:11:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Levon Helm
00:35:30 GUEST: Melissa Manchester
01:19:00 Sponsors
01:33:00 GUEST: Catherine Russell
02:05:00 Weather
02:07:30 Dave on Shalom Dammit on Youtube
02:16:30 INSIDE BROADWAY (Shrek (02:17:00) & Marion Blumenthal-Lazan at UNC (02:28:00)
02:47:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (in the Wind & in The Band)
03:02:00 Friends
03:05:00 DAVE GOES OUT

April 21, 2012 Playlist: “The Shape I’m In” ({live}; 00:13:00) & “Anna Lee” (00:21:00; Levon Helm). “We Can Talk” (00:18:00), “Get Up Jake” (00:25:00) & “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (03:07:30; The Band). “Looking Through the Eyes of Love” (00:29:30), “Rainbird” (00:33:00) & “Don’t Cry Out Loud” (01:14:00; Melissa Manchester). “The Perfect Crime #2” (The Decemberists; 01:27:00). “Perfect Crime” (02:01:30; The Story). “Morning Person” (02:25:00; Shrek Broadway cast w/ Sutton Foster). “Blowin’ in the Wind” (02:47:30), “Dontcha Tell Henry” (02:56:00) & “Under That Apple Suckling Tree” (02:58:00; Bob Dylan). “Blowin in the Wind” (Joan Baez; 02:50:30). “Blowin’ in the Wind” (Peter, Paul & Mary; 02:53:00).

Catherine Russell in Perfect Crime
Melissa Manchester
L
Marion Blumenthal-Lazan

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #39 (3/25/2012): Rave Review!

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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #39 (3/25/2012): Rave Review!

Aired March 24, on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AONO3DfOp1k&t=141s

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of March 25th, 2012.

Well, I am back in Colorado after doing my big, whopping, $1.98 off-off-off-off-off-off-Broadway show: Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Me, Rabbi Sol Solomon.  We did five performances at the Richmond Shepard Theater, a playhouse so off the beaten path, the Bermuda Triangle goes there to vacation.

But somehow, people made it to the theater on East 26th Street.  They came to see me talk about Jewish life, religion, the middle east, assimilation, the Holocaust and other hilarious topics for a night at the theater.  My musical director, Richard Shore, and I, had a marvelous time rehearsing, playing, cutting, trimming, making the best show we possibly could for the least amount of money we could possibly get away with.

Well, my friends, there is no accounting for taste, which is why I am shocked but delighted to say that Shalom Dammit! the stage show received its first review – and it’s a rave!  And not like one of those raves where teenagers lick yellow decals and then start shtupping the walls – no! Our show in New York got a review so good, I’d like to cover it with sour cream and eat it with a soup spoon.

It’s by Elizabeth Ahlfors, of CityCabaret.com, and it’s published on TotalTheater.com.  Now: full disclosure – Dave Lefkowitz, the host of this show, also works for TotalTheater.com and he edits the writing of Elizabeth Ahlfors for publication. Their dealings are purely professional, so apart from some bribery money changing hands, her review is absolutely heartfelt and legitimate. Which is more than I can say for my show.

If you don’t believe me, read the full review of Shalom Dammit! at TotalTheater.  In it she says things like – and I quote – “A comedy, a passionate sermon, a witty diatribe, a musical. It’s all of the above – in full-volume yelling.”  Me?  Yelling?  She must have me confused with . . . every other middle-class Jewish man in the world.

Ms. Ahlfors also says about me that I’m “ebullient, angry (because why shouldn’t I be?), opinionated, outspoken, supremely self-confident and hilarious!”  No one’s called me hilarious since that time I farted on the bimah during Yom Kippur.  And let’s face it, that’s an easy gag for a captive audience.

She closes her big review with the best line of all: “Shalom Dammit!, with all its fervor and fury, is a good time.”  That’s a money review, ladies and gentleman.  And I paid good money for it.

So now we shall see the next step in the commercial path of Shalom Dammit!.  We may come back in April and do a couple more shows.  We may hit a fringe festival or two . . . because my tallis has award-winning fringes.  Or who knows?  We may play the occasional Jewish center, nursing home or women’s prison.

If you saw Shalom Dammit! in New York and you agree with this review, do your part!  Tell family and friends and people you no longer want to be your friends that you can’t wait to see Shalom Dammit! in your bedraggled town or village.  You must know people with money – you’re Jewish!  Tell them a couple of hundred dollars they can be investors and gain the satisfaction of knowing they’ll never see that money again, but they’ll have helped spread yiddishkeit, love and possibly herpes to theatergoers all over America.

My thanks go out to Elizabeth Ahlfors, the brilliant, insightful critic; to Richard Shore, to Richmond Shepard, to Bill the stage manager and Jeff the box-office boychick, and to everyone who visited the Richmond Shepard Theater to partake in Shalom Dammit! the show.

Not to paraphrase Hitler but: today East 26th Street, tomorrow West 26th Street!

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches and off-off-Broadway hit!

Note: here is the review: http://www.totaltheater.com/?q=node/4470

 (c) 2012 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.

Dave’s Gone By #378 (3/3/2012): REDD HEADS

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Here is the 378th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, March 3, 2012. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Dave chats with authors Eric Lefcowitz (“Monkee Business”) and Michael Seth Starr (“Black & Blue – The Redd Foxx Story”), and Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews musical director Richard Shore. Plus: Inside Broadway (news), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Mr. Jones), a Saturday Segue (the Monkees).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guests: authors Michael Seth Starr and Eric Lefcowitz, musician Richard Shore

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:15:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – the Monkees
00:29:30 GUEST: Michael Seth Starr
01:21:00 Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection – Shalom Dammit in NY
01:29:00 GUEST: Eric Lefcowitz
01:48:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon & Richard Shore
02:10:30 Sponsors
02:17:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Mr. Jones)
02:43:00 INSIDE BROADWAY
02:54:30 Thanks & Friends
03:01:30 DAVE GOES OUT

March 3, 2012 Playlist: “Daydream Believer” (00:18:00), “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” (00:21:00), “Cuddly Toy” (00:23:30), “Valleri” (00:26:00), “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)” (01:25:00), “(Theme from) The Monkees” (01:45:30) & (“You and I”; 03:04:00; The Monkees) “Lucky Guy” (00:36:00) & “Live Excerpts” (01:16:00; Redd Foxx). “The Wake-Up Call” (01:47:30, New Orleans Klezmer Allstars). “Ay Ya Bibi” (02:06:30; Klezperanto). “Ballad of a Thin Man” (live, 02:17:00), “Million Dollar Bash – Version 1” (02:21:00), “I Shall Be Free No. 10” (02:23:30), “Angelina” (02:28:00), “On the Road Again” (2:35:00) & “Buckets of Rain” (02:37:30, Bob Dylan).

Eric Lefcowitz
Michael Seth Starr
Starr’s book
Richard Shore
Rabbi Sol Solomon

Dave’s Gone By Interview (3/3/2012): RICHARD SHORE & Rabbi Sol Solomon

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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’s Gone By #377 (2/25/2012): GRADYWIT SCHOOL

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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 Grady
Pierre Juneau
Mike Melvoin
Rabbi Sol Solomon

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #38 (2/19/2012): Shalom Dammit Live in NYC!

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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #38 (2/19/2012): Shalom Dammit Live in NYC!

aired Feb. 18, 2012 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgs2DrV7tN4.

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!

(c) 2012 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29405

Dave’s Gone By #376 (2/18/2012): GO ASK ALICE ABOUT JUDYISM

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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).

Judy Collins
Philip Lefkowitz
Rabbi Sol Solomon

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #30 (11/27/2011): Questions

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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #30 (11/27/2011): Questions

aired Nov. 26, 2011 on Dave’s Gone By. youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODe2DzzTDMI

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of November 27th, 2011.

A week ago, I was able to premiere my one-man, two-person show, Shalom Dammit!, an Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon, at the Norton Theater of the University of Northern Colorado.  It was a magnificent experience with audiences laughing, asking questions and treating me with undisguised bitterness and hostility.

I doff my yarmulke to all the technical and creative people who helped Shalom Dammit! take the biggest leap at the university since that fat Asian kid jumped off a fraternity roof last summer.  It was a tremendous amount of work, but I think the results speak not only for themselves, but for people who shouldn’t speak until they’re spoken to.  It was that kind of show.

During the process of putting Shalom Dammit! together, I was asked many questions, not all of them anti-Semitic. I thought I would share some of the answers with you so that you might understand what went into this experience, which I hope to bring to New York, Miami, Sheboygan – anywhere with Jews and a sewer system.

I was asked why would I share – or inflict – this show on an audience.  First of all, it was cold outside and tickets were free, so who’s complaining?  Also, it is confusing being a Jew in modern America.  We are tied to our family traditions and ancient values, but we are also tempted by everything from X-Box on Shabbos to the triple-X boobs on Sasha Grey. Every Jew makes his own decision as to how much to follow and how much rings hollow. My show is a glimpse into what goes into making those choices. How are modern Jewish Americans pulled towards crazy rules drawn up 400 years ago, how do we interact with our Christian, Muslim and Republican brothers; how do we get past the Holocaust without getting over the Holocaust; and how do we convince the goyim that Bernie Madoff, David Berkowitz and Paulie Shore are Jehovah’s Witnesses?

I have also been asked whether Shalom Dammit!, which includes a few naughty words and a smattering of adult content, reflects badly on my people and even fosters anti-Semitism. The answer to that charge is: I don’t have to encourage anti-Semitism; there’s enough of it without my help.  If Jews feel bad about themselves, well, ambivalence and unease are part of the modern Jewish psyche.  We’re never completely comfortable and never 100 percent happy.  Because we don’t have the ready means of support that non-Jews can always turn to, like alcoholism and professional hockey.  That said, no one watching my show will have any misconceptions about where I stand as a Zionist, a proud Jew, a secular humanist, and a victim of chronic prostate pain.

“Dear Rabbi,” writes another fan, “Do you ever get stage fright?”  Absolutely.  In fact, when I performed the show last Monday evening, the stage manager was shocked because I peed seven times in a half hour.  And I don’t know how many times before I got onstage.

And finally, an audience member asked me whether my frank words about Christianity and Jesus might rub goyim the wrong way.  I can only reply that I tell the truth as I see it, and that if Jesus Christ has a problem with it – I’m here, he can hit me with lightning, he can drop a meteor on my head, he can send me into cardiac arrest – come on, I’m waiting.  If he’s really the savior, he can make a miracle, show me the error of my – Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!!!  I have hangnail on my pinkie; wow, I didn’t see that before.  I need to soak that.

Well, anyhoo, it is on to the next step with my show, Shalom Dammit!. If you think my hilarious evening of comedy would be right for your local theater, community center or mortuary, please get in touch.  Or if you are a producer with much more money than taste, this is your chance to bring my thoughts to the thoughtless.  Email me: Shalomdammit_at_aol.com, that’s shalomdammit_at_aol.com.

It doesn’t have to be Broadway.  It can be like Mickey and Judy in a barn saying, “Hey, let’s put on a show!  A really dark and offensive show with a lot of Yiddish in it.”  But, come on, what do you expect in a barn, Jersey Boys?  Greedy bastards.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches.

(c) 2011 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.

—> https://wp.me/pzvIo-2mb

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29828

Dave’s Gone By #368 (11/26/2011): SCHICKELE MIX

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Here is the 368th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Nov. 26, 2011. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guest: Peter Schickele

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with musicolologist Peter Schickele and offers his Rabbinical Reflection on his own stage show, Shalom Dammit!. Plus: Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (classical music), Inside Broadway, Book Reviews (Patti Smith & Bob Mould), Saturday Segue (shopping).

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:37:30 INSIDE BROADWAY – News
00:50:00 DAVE’S GONE CULTURAL – Book Reviews (Patti Smith (00:50:30) & Bob Mould (01:01:30))
01:24:00 GUESTS: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Peter Schickele
02:19:30 Sponsors
02:27:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (classical music)
02:53:00 Friends
03:09:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION on Questions about his stage show
03:14:30 DAVE GOES OUT

Nov. 26, 2011 Playlist: “Window Shopping” (00:14:30; Hank Williams). “Window Shopping” (00:17:00; Lisa Loeb). “Shopping” (00:20:00; Pet Shop Boys). “Shopping” (00:23:30; The Jam); “Shopping” (00:27:00; Barenaked Ladies). “Shoppin’ for Clothes” (00:30:00; The Coasters). “Shop Around” (00:33:00; Smokey Robinson & the Miracles). “Bonnie and Clyde” (00:40:30; Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot). “See a Little Light” (01:05:00; Bob Mould). “Fuga Meshuga” (01:21:30), “Howdy There” (from “Oedipus Tex”) (01:50:30) & “Iphigenia in Brooklyn” (02:08:00) & “Love Me” (Peter Schickele/P.D.Q. Bach; 03:16:30). “Saigon Bride” (01:36:00; Joan Baez). “Tombstone Blues” (live; 02:30:00), “Hard Times in New York Town” (Witmark demo version; 02:34:00), “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” (“No Direction Home” version; 02:36:00), “Handy Dandy” (02:42:00) & “If Dogs Run Free” (Bob Dylan; 02:46:00). “You’ve Got Possibilities” (02:55:00; Linda Lavin). “Wedding Vows” (Karon Blackwell; 03:03:30).

Peter Schickele

Rabbi Sol Solomon and David San Miguel on the set of Shalom Dammit!
Dave

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #29 (11/13/2011): Shalom Dammit! Live

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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #29 (11/13/2011): Shalom Dammit! Live

Aired Nov. 12, 2011 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: Shalom Dammit! Live

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of November 13th, 2011.

I would like to invite you all to my show, Shalom Dammit! an Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon, which is getting a workshop production next week at the University of Northern Colorado. We call it a “workshop” production because then it doesn’t have to be any good. If it IS good, mazel tov, tell your neighbors; if it stinks, hey, it’s a workshop; we’ll fix it when we get to New York.

Shalom Dammit! is a one-man, two-person show with comedy, music and a lot of yelling. It’s my sermon on the joys and tribulations of American-Jewish life in the twenty-first century. I’ll teach the audience some words in Hebrew and Yiddish, I’ll talk about different religions and how each one is more meshuggeh than the next, I will delve into the reasons Israel has endured 60 peaceless years with her Arab neighbors, and I will touch on such touchy topics as the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, assimilation, alienation, and Barbra Streisand.

There’ll be music, courtesy of my keyboardist, David San Miguel, a nice, churchgoing boy – I know, I know, but YOU find a Jewish piano player in Greeley Colorado. And there’ll even be a question-and-answer session with members of the audience who will have a once-in-a-lunchtime opportunity to “Ask the Rabbi.” Of course, this being the great plains, I’m sure the first question will be, “What’s a Rabbi?” But we’ll cross that cross when we come to it.

And speaking of questions, you might be asking why you should bother to come see me in person if you can hear me every week on the radio? The answer is…well, I don’t really have an answer to that, but I will say tickets are free, so there’s incentive right there. Also, there’s a shape to Shalom Dammit!, an arc that takes two-plus hours to mold, contextualize and present as a unified entertainment. In other words, it’s free – so what the hell do you have to lose?

Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon plays November 21st and 22nd, the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, at the Norton Theater of the University of Northern Colorado. Seating is first-come, first-disturbed. On both nights doors open at 6:30 for the 7 o’clock show.

For more information, visit ShalomDammit.com. Don’t bother calling the University, they’re trying to keep as low a profile on this as they possibly can. Just come to the Norton Theater, Tenth Avenue near 19th Street, and prepare to be challenged, tickled and surprised. And that’s just by the coeds in the sororities across the street, heh heh.  But don’t bring the kids! Because of language and content, my show is not suitable for children. Or anyone really, but by God, I’m doing it anyway.

Who knows? In a year or two I could be on Broadway charging $150 for tickets. I won’t get it, but I could charge it. So see my show now, November 21st and 22nd at UNC, and be Solomized.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches. Unwrap your candies now.

(c)2011 TotalTheater