Humor Par Excellance

Which is the heading you will see if you click over to THE ALMOST DAILY ROOSTER here on the link at the right. Suffice it to say you can read and see all about it there---and it relates to standards and Amos and Andy (as well as The Goldbergs).

Seems comedy is accepted on that site and this is surely comedy with a great point---one that seems to be being avoided in recent ===dare I say it---decades.

THURSDAY--Another Edition of......:

And the weekly flip of the fedora to Jimmy Cannon







Nobody Asked Me But:

1) People sometimes say too much on those social networking sites thinking it is a conversation with some real friends---they are only virtual.


2) I doubt that virtual friends would give you anything except a virtual hug, virtual loan, and any other virtual thing around---you could starve on a virtual visit because virtual food is not very nourishing---only virtually nourishing.


3) Mad Men has had its season finale on a perfect note and has shown that basic cable is doing programming superior (at times) to the ailing networks.


4) I am delighted that Theodore Bikel, The Capitol Steps (Elaini Newport—she is the alpha female), Buskin & Batteu, and myriad others (OK quite a few others) of great talent are stopping by on both SUNDAY SIMCHA & TRADITIONS.

5) Since Agassi has written a book of memoirs, Serena Williams has written a book of memoirs, and other athletes have done the same the question arises----why? They had a great and profitable career but are their personal lives really of any interest?

6) Veteran’s Day is over and we remembered the brave (and sometimes needy souls) who have served us in wars that were right and also wrong.

Bill Clinton and Geo. W. Bush will be participating in a conversation at The Radio City Music Hall for big bucks. Glad that GWB ---as Laurel of Laurel and Hardy said, “...fine mess you have gotten us into”--- will be making big bucks while the soldiers die in a misguided war that profited a lot of contractors who are friends of our own Darth Vadar.

Trivia question now: Who was the last President not to capitalize on the office with high priced speeches and endorsements?

7) N E R F A (Northeast Regional Folk Alliance) annual get-together starts today and I wish all a good and fruitful weekend and while I shall miss seeing many of you I will breathe easy in my incense scented home thinking of all the creativity that you are all producing and I will be happy to air when you contact me.

8) Why is anyone surprised with hidden bribery allegations surrounding the former Blackwater Group since everything the do pertains to clandestine activities? Surely our own ex-VP and caricature of Darth Vadar would understand.


9) I am looking forward to seeing Theodore Bikel in his newest work---Sholom Aleichem—Laughter Through Tears in the forthcoming week. Also The Capitol Steps in their performances in Morristown, NJ in December and again at The Town Hall in NYC in April.

10) Did you know that some fish are re-named to make them more appetizing---Orange Roughy is really Slimefish and you can check around for other anomalies such as the nice name for Sting Rays?


11) The case of the female astronaut who attacked her competitor in a love triangle has been adjudicated. She gets time served and probation and has to write a letter of apology. It seems that the excitement of space travel is still second to the excitement of sexual interludes.

12) Maureen Dowd is right---it is Goldmine Sachs and not Goldman Sachs. Their CEO actually claims they do things for the greater good while receiving millions (or is it billions) in bonuses. Who’s good are they serving? They do, however, donate to the NY Times Neediest---- I hope.


13) Archbishop Dolan criticized the Times (and M Dowd in particular) for the comments and coverage of the Anglican/Roman Catholic situation along with the coverage of priestly pedophilia (you have to love alliteration) and feeling not enough coverage on that subject was focused on the Orthodox Rabbis. Seems like guilt, to him, comes in degrees and conversion comes with the fact that his church is against homosexuality and the Anglicans are not.

14) A wonderful tribute to Mary Travers with a panoply of greats---music, politics, and humanity were there to speak and sing—at The Riverside Church. I only wish that I could have attended---a wonderful and idealistic person with a great talent fully deserving of such a wonderful tribute. If only she could have been there to appreciate it.


15) We are truly in a perilous time when wars (which we wish would not occur again and had hoped a U N would help us avoid) are now fought by zealots who do not value life as most civilized societies do. They are fought more like street fights with common thugs (with weaponry) in the name of some misguided 10th Century (for want of a better time frame) value in a 21st Century environment. They bring us back to the stone ages---and the sad part is that our weaponry—when push comes to shove---can blow us back to an even earlier Paleolithic time.

LOU JACOBI---A Rememberance

I have to preface this by saying that in hosting two programs there are, sadly, myriad artists from different genres that need to be remembered. Folk, Yiddish, and more.

Those of you who listen to SUNDAY SIMCHA know that Lou Jacobi has, many times, been a mainstay of the COMEDY CORNER segment. He will still remain the same mainstay since that is the beauty of radio and recordings---no one ever really leaves us.

Lou Jacobi who's given name was Louis Harold Jacobovitch was born in 1913 and left us on October 23 this year residing, I believe, in an assisted living facility in The Bronx. In the span of 95 years he was featured in Film, Stage, Television, Recordings and, I would suppose, Radio was in there somewhere.

Those of you who listen to SUNDAY SIMCHA will mostly recall him from the comedy recordings. They were many in addition to the You Don't Have to Be Jewish series. There was also Al Tijuana and His Jewish Brass on Capitol Records. But, and more importantly, he was a first rate dramatic actor who appeared in such films as Irma La Douce, Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (etc;), and, to me, his great performance in AVALON.

His stage performances started in his birthplace---Canada at a very tender age and later appeared in such wonderful plays as, Come Blow Your Horn, Don't Drink The Water, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Tenth Man, and much much more.

The golden age of Television showed us his talents in some of the landmark programs of the time---Playhouse 90, The Man From U N C L E , and, I don't know if it is considered a landmark--probably not---The Dean Martin Show.

Since the commercials were myriad they won't be mentioned here. Suffice it to say---you never forgot that great face and the unique voice.

Lou Jacobi was pre-deceased by his wife by some 5 years and one has to believe that his demise at this time was a blessing to him.

For those of you who want to see some of Lou Jacobi in performance click over to THE ALMOST DAILY ROOSTER. Seems the reception to comedy there has been good so I shall post them there since Google has a bit of a bug in my putting them up on the side as has been done before. SO---to see Lou Jacobi in action---scoot on over and remember a great talent.

Some Other Things You Might Find On This "Blog".

This site is predominantly for the 2 programs I host---TRADITIONS & SUNDAY SIMCHA . More about them in a moment. Right now I would like you to click over to the link on the right side for The Almost Daily Rooster---or better yet just click HERE. The subject is comedy which is something dear to my heart when it makes a point and what you will see there does. Read more about it there and if you want more commentary on that subject let me know on that site.

NOW--TRADITIONS --You have heard Richard Berman many times on the program and we shall finally have him live in the studio---in just a very few weeks. Stay tuned to find out when. Other great guets coming---including Elaine Newport of The Capitol Steps---after all does folk not spoof and report current events. She and her group are brilliant.
SUNDAY SIMCHA -- Cannot be left out in the cold since we have some wonderful new CDs that arrived and also, shortly, and honest review of Theo Bikel's latest presentation.

NOW---back to comedy---you know where.

Some Other Things You Might Find On This "Blog".

OK---Thursdays we do the Nobody Asked Me But... piece which, hopefully, opens up some thoughts that you might agree with or not agree with. Predominantly it is focused on the radiio programs---TRADITIONS & SUNDAY SIMCHA. More on that in a moment.

Right now the subject is comedy and, basically, comedy that makes a point or is just damned good. So, check the right side of the page and click on the link---or, better yet, just click www.thealmostdailyrooster.blogspot.com.

THURSDAY--Another Edition of:

And the weekly flip of the fedora to Jimmy Cannon

Nobody Asked Me But:

1) One has to wonder why people run for public office and yet people try to avoid Jury Duty.

2) There was a time when you had a problem with a company you contacted them but now Google just tells you to contact their forums to communicate with other people with problems. Gives new meaning to “blind leading blind”.

3) If the nation has grown to where it is with unity and team spirit it is strange how segmented it has become on issues like Medical Insurance and abortion that could, possibly, tear it asunder and that would certainly delight certain groups.

4) Henry Ford, not a nice guy, started the first auto manufacturing company and it is still there while the others have come and gone and---golly, after the stockholders got screwed (GM)—come again. Almost a sexual experience.

5) Al Gore is doing nothing different than Bill Clinton. Speeches make money and so do good ideas ala Al Gore. Chris Smither was right---Harry Truman where are you now (when we need you again)? We do have the budget bargain blowhard---GWB giving bargain basement lectures on “motivation”.

6) Mary Travis will have a tribute on Nov. 9 at Riverside Church. It’s always sad the recipient of the tribute cannot be there to participate---my daughter is right in her hopes for me---why not have a Funeral Rehearsal. Hell, they have Wedding Rehearsals.

7) I surely do hope that people recall when Jimmy Cannon was with the NY Post it was a “good” newspaper---a tabloid version of the NY Times. Now to get my caught fish ready for wrapping for shipment in the latest incarnation of Alexander Hamilton’s newspaper.

8) The series is finally over and the newest shopping mall in the Bronx—aka Yankee Stadium—is now closed for business (except for rentals) and I wonder why people root for “home” teams that are just big businesses. How about rooting for GE, Ford, Goldman Sachs---the real winners.

9) The cleverest lines on TV are delivered on shows like Family Guy and Married With Children (which lives on in re-runs) but should not be viewed by impressionable kids.

10) People enthuse after every election and the “pundits” read great meaning into it all---from all sides. Next year they do it all over, and incorrectly, again.

11) It is still the best system in the world---and we don’t have to color our fingers purple. Who thought up that nonsense?

12) Most new technologies are great improvements and then you find there are also downsides. Take Cell Phones. Perfect example.