Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
My wife Kate got to see David Sedaris at the Mondavi Center last night. If I had gone, you could probably expect five questions on the author and his stories. I remember that in a short story survey class that I taught about five years ago, I asked students to write down a favorite book they had read for pleasure. More than 25% of the class had chosen a Sedaris book, making him more popular than even J.K. Rowling (though the choices might have been affected by the knowledge that they’d have to share their choice with Dr. Andy). Sedaris offers humor, wit, poignant reflections, and great stories, just the right recipe to fill all 1,800 seats at our premiere center for the arts.
Last week I interviewed the celebrated author Pam Houston on my radio show, and we talked about how, as with Sedaris, her career as an author and speaker was significantly boosted by public radio. For Houston, it was a radio show called “Selected Shorts,” where the recognizable voices of established authors performed short stories, usually by contemporary authors. Oscar-nominated actress Debra Winger performed “The Best Girlfriend You Never Had,” the first story in Pam’s collection Waltzing the Cat. America seemed to be listening to that performance, for it raised Pam’s visibility significantly, so much so that John Updike chose that story as the final selection of The Best American Short Stories of the Century.
Some voices make us think, while others make us laugh. The recent passing of Tom Magliozzi saddened even those who had not listened to his infectious laughter on the National Public Radio automotive advice show Car Talk for a number of years. I heard an early version of their show on WBUR when I was an undergraduate at Boston University, for Tom and Ray recorded their show in the same Communications building where I took a version of the fiction class that I ended up teaching 20 years later at UC Davis. Tom’s infectious laughter reminded me of all the laughing that can be heard during my conversations with my own brother, though almost never about cars.
Listening to Car Talk, I had the impression that Tom and Ray took that extended radio gig because of how much they enjoyed each other’s company, as well as the interactions with the callers and occasional celebrity guests (such as Geena Davis, who had also attended BU). I believed then that no one could make a living working on public radio, and over the last 14 years in the host’s chair, I’ve proven myself correct, just as you would expect from a Quizmaster who feigns infallibility for a couple hours a week.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on endless ingredients, the FCC, African American culture, cabbage and carrots, China, the algebraic formulae necessary to solve equations with two variables, new states, major league baseball, supervisory duties, heavy metal, four-syllable verbs, people born in Italy, snakes, people named Shelton, medieval tortures, lush generosity, mud bricks, architecture, American genesis, patents, overhangs, big weekends, the City of Davis, Russian plans, mnemonics, basketball, Othello and Macbeth (by comparison), Arkansas and (obviously) Shakespeare.
Thanks to everyone who joined us last week, including members of the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble; the prominent British actor, director, and scholar Fidelis Morgan; and Davis Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning. All told, we had about 45 teams participate last week. If you join us tonight, and make sure that you do, come a bit earlier than you usually do to secure a table. See you then!
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
- Mottos and Slogans. As of 1983, who calls itself “The world’s favourite airline”?
- Internet Culture. With an Alexa rank of 46, what site is categorized into “subreddits”?
- Newspaper Headlines. Dismantled sections of what structure can now be viewed in 30 countries?
- Four for Four. Which of the following four US states, if any, have the word “commonwealth” in their official titles? Indiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia.
- Veterans Day. Following the trench warfare which took place in the fields of Flanders during the 1st World War, what kind of P flower has become a symbol of remembrance of soldiers who have died during wartime?
P.S. Poetry Night is this coming Thursday night at the Natsoulas Gallery. Join us at 8 PM for traveling poet Betsy Rosenberg and Aggie alumni Judith Rose!
P.P.S. Thanks to John Iacovelli and Theatre and Dance at UC Davis for providing tickets to their new show, The Gambling Lady, as part of the swag prizes. Congratulations to The Moops, winners of last week’s swag.
