The Lennon in a Cape Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

Lennon in a Cape

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

 

One of my favorite Beatles songs is the first track on their first album. Paul McCartney wrote most of “I Saw Her Standing There” when he was about the age of one of my college sophomores. There is actually a photograph of him working on the song that had been written in a high school exercise book, with John sitting next to him. Lennon helped to clean it up a little bit adding the second of the first two lines.

 

Well she was just 17

You know what I mean.

 

McCartney was dating a 17-year-old at the time and had originally rhymed the word “17” with beauty queen, as in she “had never been a beauty queen.” John made him change that to what we recognize today.

 

Now that my daughter Geneva has turned 17, I look at this favorite song differently. I want to say, “No, Mr. McCartney, I don’t know what you mean about my 17-year-old daughter. Could you please explain yourself, sir?”

 

Bill Mahr on his weekly TV show has recently complained about ageism and the extent to which youth culture dominates popular culture. Badly written pop songs with specious lyrics, insufficiently revised animated films, and the obsession with unaccomplished celebrities fill the pages of US Weekly and the website TMZ.

 

By definition, all of these topics are trivial, so you would expect them to be found as the correct answers to questions in a trivia contest. For me, as a quizmaster, I also see my role as educator, so I need to present that apt mix of substance, history, and the high points in world culture, and not just a faddish mix of video games and superheroes. That said, I do love superheroes. In my mind, when I was just 17, John Lennon wore a cape.

 

Today’s Pub Quiz will cover a number of topics, including Veterans Day, which we commemorate tomorrow. Expect also questions about high-ranking Alexa websites, disparate structures, the names of states, favorite flowers, Elizabeth Taylor, the Beatles, big cats, basketball, foreshadowing, ancient cities, comedians, platinum reflections, canes, turtles, superheroes, super villains, rainfall, South American animals, the absence of narrowness, Italy, Star Wars, tyrants, Geoffrey Chaucer, sports topics that I haven’t decided upon yet, the Harlem Renaissance, and Shakespeare.

 

I expect it to be really busy tonight, for we have a rare Tuesday holiday. Everyone is encouraged to stay out late tonight, and to sleep in tomorrow. But don’t sleep in too late, for you will be able to hear the Davis Madrigal Singers if you stop by the Davis Cemetery tomorrow starting at 11. This is what the Cemetery website says: “Our annual Veteran’s Day ceremony will begin at 11 AM on Tuesday November 11th and will last approximately one hour. Our keynote speakers will include Supervisor Jim Provenza, Supervisor Don Saylor and Supervisor Oscar Villegas. The Davis High Madrigal Singers will be on hand for a musical tribute to veterans and their families. This is a free event. Please join us!”

 

Also, join me this evening for an appropriate mix of the specious and the fabulous!

 

Your Quizmaster

https://www.yourquizmaster.com

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yourquizmaster@gmail.com

 

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

 

  1. Mottos and Slogans.   Leo the Lion roared inside a frame in which was written “Ars Gratia Artis” (or Art For Art’s Sake) before the start of many old movies. Name the film studio.

 

  1. Internet Culture. Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey has been quoted saying “Call of Duty: Advance Warfare” is likely to become the first video game he ever plays. Why would he start with this game?

 

  1. Newspaper Headlines.  We learned this week that Channing Tatum will star in the title role of Marvel superhero movie about a onetime X-Man from Louisiana who is an expert at throwing cards. Name the X-Man.

 

  1. Four for Four.    Which of the following counties, if any, are among California’s three least-populous? Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Mono.

 

  1. German Festivals. What city of 1.4 million people is home to the largest Oktoberfest in the world, lasting for 16 days?

 

 

P.S. Thanks to Chuck Snipes from the Pub Quiz team Portraits for providing the swell swag last week. The gauntlet has been thrown – who shall provide future weeks’ swag (other than yours truly)?