Sometimes we rediscover the value of our friends when we encounter them in unexpected places. 

In about 1971, My mom and I first started running into my future classmate Tito at the Safeway in north Georgetown. Once we encountered Tito and his mom in the frozen meat aisle (back when I used to eat meat), and I remember delighting in the company of this new friend by acting silly, telling stories, asking questions. My mom commented that I had momentarily abandoned my shyness. Tito and I started at the same Washington Waldorf School at the same time (we were born a week apart), and I saw him every school day and many Saturdays for the next eight years.  

As much as I loved having Tito as a classmate, I remember best our atypical adventures, whether it was swimming with really big fish in the pond at his family’s farm, secretly climbing a ladder to the top of the unfinished St. Paul’s Tower in the National Cathedral during the lunch break of the stonemasons, or hearing Tito speak at my wedding to Kate, 33 years ago this Sunday, just a year before he died. 

Regrettably, I have forgotten thousands of the school day memories I shared with Tito, but I’m grateful for the unusual moments that my head and heart can summon up as if they had happened last week.

Sometimes geographic improbability will root an encounter in our memories. Once at the Art Institute of Chicago I encountered an artsy UC Davis grad who greeted me with gusto because I supported a GoFundMe that secured him a high-end camera. He told me, “Look what I am holding, Dr. Andy. I am still using that camera today!” As much as I appreciated his gratitude, the first thing I did was find Kate so I could impress her with this photographer’s thankfulness, a lifelong goal. 

Other encounters, across oceans, have stayed with me as well. Once in late June of 1996, while I was working on my dissertation, I flew to Stirling, Scotland, on a travel grant arranged by one of my departmental colleagues. We were to give research presentations at a poetry conference where my literary heroes Sandra Gilbert, Helen Vendler and Seamus Heaney were also giving talks. 

A Harvard professor and the foremost poetry critic of her generation, Helen Vendler and I happened to have lunch together; she talked to me about the subject of my doctoral dissertation and told me and other conference attendees stories about her teenage love for opera. Later at the conference the Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney signed my books and asked me to say hello to our mutual friend in Davis, Jim McElroy.

Anyway, during the long, long flight from San Francisco to Heathrow Airport in London, I stood up to use the restroom, telling the stranger sitting next to me that I hoped to read scholarly books about T.S. Eliot and Robert Lowell during the entire flight. Surprisingly, I encountered my graduate school classmate Kathryn Koo in another section of the plane, so I sat down in the empty seat next to her, and we proceeded to have a four-hour conversation, mostly about literary topics, including the UC Davis English Department.

Finally excusing myself, I returned to my seat and immediately told my row mate that he had better plan ahead, for the line for the bathroom was especially long. And then I went to sleep, smiling to myself over my good fortune. As Oscar Wilde said, “Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.”

Speaking of Scotland, one of my favorite people to encounter unexpectedly in Davis is Catriona McPherson. The Scotswoman first started attending my pub quizzes soon after she moved to Davis in 2010, and she and her VIP team have been my strongest supporters on Patreon.  Outside of the quiz, I have encountered Catriona at Stories on Stage, Davis; at writers conferences; at her book events at the Avid Reader bookstore; and on my KDVS radio show. I think she has published about two books a year since I’ve known her, many of them award-winners, so we’ve had plenty to talk about during interviews.

But my favorite place to encounter Catriona is out on the street. Like the aforementioned Oscar Wilde, Catriona always has something witty, insightful, or hilarious to say. Unlike Oscar Wilde, who once told a New York customs agent that “I have nothing to declare except my genius,” Catriona is also self-deprecating, a quality that contributes to her charm and her empathy. In her novel Dandy Gilver and the Unpleasantness in the Ballroom, we learn that “The young are ever so; unable to believe that the decrepitude before it was ever firm young flesh or that they themselves will ever crumble.”

Catriona not only excels at my pub quizzes, but also at her craft as a novelist. The author of 38 novels so far, Catriona has won two Agatha Awards for Best Historical Novel, three Anthony Awards, six Lefty Awards, and two Macavity Awards. Clearly she has no reason to be humble, but she intimidates no one: other authors just adore her. Even those who compete against her for these important literary awards that she keeps winning still treasure her wit, humor, and company.

Unexpectedly, Catriona McPherson and her husband Neil McRoberts, the Scottish equivalent of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce in Davis, will be the featured authors at the Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis on September 4 at 7 PM. Perhaps you would care to join us?

While I can no longer encounter my best friend Tito in the local grocery store, and while I no longer present at poetry conferences in the United Kingdom, I can orchestrate my own serendipitous encounters by featuring America’s foremost Scottish novelist at the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis. I know what to anticipate from Catriona at the podium, but my poetry regulars, and perhaps you, will be treated to an evening of surprise and delight, two reasons why we value our friends.

---

Happy September! The weather will be pleasant tonight. One thinks of Henry David Thoreau who said “Happily we bask in this warm September sun, which illuminates all creatures.” I invite you to join the regulars and irregulars outside our favorite brewery tonight, perhaps in the shade, for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. Last week we focused on the west, while today we will look to the south. Today’s pub quiz has just 865 words. Slender!

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: mallow plants, levels of friendship, disasters, telekinetics, explorers, puffs of air, celebrated thieves, popular places, straight laces, Canada, thrillers, disaster aftermaths, inventors, dynamite and other tools, American cities, platforms, jungles, kicks, activists, navigation strategies, perils, rides, satellite photos, pretend pickaxes, cities that are literarily intercontinental, recalled airports, requiems, Alabama exports, indeterminacy, vampires, frank talk about labor and prices, transit authorities, ears, scissors, YA novels,, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 75 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of the aforementioned avocado. I appreciate the Mavens’ kind words to me in the newspaper. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. My new paid Substack Subscriber is Anne Da Vigo. Check out her mysteries!

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Three questions from last week:

1. Commonalities in Films. What do the following films have in common: 2012, The Hunger Games, The Messenger, No Country for Old Men, Triangle of Sadness, and Zombieland?  
2. Trains. Living from 1948 to 2025, what English singer, songwriter, and media personality charted dozens of hits, the best-known being “Crazy Train”?  
3. Pop Culture – Music. The Beatles released five songs whose titles were made up of a single two-syllable word. One was the cover “Matchbox,” and another was the Abbey Road song “Because.” The remaining three are even better known. Name one of them.  

On Sunday mornings I used to wake to the sound of howler monkeys in Adams Morgan.

My dad and stepmom lived on Adam’s Mill Road in a neighborhood of Washington D.C. that adjoined The National Zoo. Some people living close to the Zoo heard the lions – the stomach-shaking roar that shocked and frightened our mute ancestors on the savannah – but we lived close to the monkey house, so we heard the howler monkeys.

The howler monkey, one of the largest New World primates, is distinguished not only by its prehensile tail and thick, shaggy coat, seemingly too warm for the DC summers, but also by the unmistakable sound that gives the howler its name. Native to the forests of Central and South America, howler monkeys spend their days high up in the canopy, where their resonant calls can travel for miles at dawn and dusk, serving as both territorial warnings and social communication. Even though the Zoo moved these majestic beasts into DC, I still felt like I was in their territory, rather than the other way around. I would not find my voice until many years thereafter.

As I learned when I visited the outside of their enclosures when we would walk over after breakfast, the howler monkey’s enlarged hyoid bone looked somewhat resembled ours, but in monkeys this oversized, horseshoe-shaped bone acts as a natural amplifier, producing a guttural roar that is among the loudest sounds made by any land animal. Their howls can reach around 110 decibels (at close range), comparable to a jackhammer or a rock concert. 

Despite their fearsome voices, howler monkeys don’t bother with others and didn’t deserve to be uprooted thus. They spend much of their time quietly feeding on leaves, fruit, and flowers, moving deliberately through the treetops in cohesive social groups – families of tropical treetop grazers. To my sleepy ears on a Sunday morning, unmitigated by the typical DC car traffic, the howlers embody a striking paradox: They are creatures whose daily life is slow and almost meditative, like we all wish we could be, yet whose presence is announced with extraordinary, almost primeval intensity.

Six times a month I also get to interrupt the calm of others to announce that I have something to say. The cowbell and the PA system secretly show my appreciation, my imitation, and my emulation of the howler monkeys of D.C.’s National Zoo. Long may they sound their alarms.

---

Happy late-August to you! The weather will be pleasant tonight. One thinks of Wallace Stevens who said “The summer night is like a perfection of thought.” I invite you to join the regulars and irregulars outside our favorite brewery tonight, perhaps in the shade, for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. 

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: volcanos, views of the west, city visionaries, car manufacturers, catch phrases, directors, tall mountains, Triangles, twins, horses, people who actually enjoy the law, days of the week, pride in the color yellow, data centers, local theaters, enemies, authors who were born in one country but who now represent a different country, British actors, predicted disasters, real estate, warm temperatures, healthy lives, muscles, August obituaries, boxes, big breakfasts, hoods, paintings, talking robots, Warcrafts, new principals, cable cars, phones, gangsters, juices, The Beatles, messengers,, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 70 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of the aforementioned avocado, which I prefer over onions on my weekly salad. I appreciate the Mavens’ kind words to me in the newspaper (details on that soon). Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. My new paid Substack Subscriber is Anne Da Vigo. Check out her mysteries!

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Thanks to Dan who filled in for me last week. Here are three questions he asked:

1. Retail in South Davis. Starting with the letter S, what seller of outdoor apparel and camping gear is now found in the old Office Max location?   
2. Daylight Saving Time. Does a majority or a minority of the world’s population observe Daylight Saving Time?  
3. Pop Culture – Music. Only one singer has his name on two top ten hits in America this week. His first name is Morgan. What is his last name? 

P.P.S. What should I buy Kate to celebrate our 33^rd wedding anniversary?

This fall I am teaching one of my favorite first-year seminars: “Journaling Our Long Walk Together.” On Tuesday mornings, I will be meeting my students in eight outdoor locations, take my students for a walk during which time I will offer facts and stories about the sights we encounter, encourage the class participants to talk with one another, and leave time at the end of each class for us to write in our hardback journals.

As much as I enjoy talking with my students about my 35 years of (hopefully relevant) experiences at UC Davis and in the City of Davis, I take the most delight in spotting a friend or colleague, introducing this unsuspecting local to my eager students, and then ask the “mark” to give a five-minute lecture on a campus or city-related topic of their choosing. Actual readers of this newsletter have been asked to speak to my students, as have a retired Spanish professor and jazz musician, a former Mayor of Davis who is a bicycling enthusiast, and the local artist who wrote the song of the City of Davis, which she volunteered to sing for my students.

I first offered this class during the pandemic. Students had returned to the dorms (everyone had a single), but not really to our classrooms. An outdoor class was deemed to be safe to teach, so my students were thrilled to be in the presence of their peers, even if in those early days we kept our social distance from one another.

The assigned readings concerned journaling, enjoying the outdoors, and walking. With that in mind, and to offer another text that I can assign my students, I present to you ten health-related reasons why I, they, and you should all go for a walk.

1. Walking strengthens the heart and circulatory system

Because I walk with my son Jukie, I could be accused of “moseying” or “meandering,” rather than walking quickly, but my students will be encouraged to pick up the pace. Walking briskly increases heart rate and circulation, reducing cardiovascular disease risk. Research also shows brisk walking significantly reduces cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol

2. Walking improves endurance and energy levels

Regular walking builds stamina without the strain of high-impact exercise. Hippocrates allegedly said that  “Walking is the best medicine,” anticipating what modern sports medicine confirms. I walk so much that I feel that when I set out on a weekend morning, I could walk all day. On rare occasions, and with pit stops at Jukie’s favorite restaurants and grocery stores, I actually do.

3. Walking aids in weight management

Walking burns calories steadily, especially if practiced daily, the way I practice it, and the way I hope will inspire my students to do the same. A 2015 study summarized by CBS News reported that “good old‑fashioned brisk walking on a regular basis may trump gym workouts and other types of exercise when it comes to managing weight.” Although I use the verb “supersede” rather than “trump,” I still agree with these findings.

4. Walking boosts immune system function

A Harvard Health article titled “5 Surprising Benefits of Walking” cites a study involving over 1,000 men and women (the original study is found in Archives of Internal Medicine from 2008). It reports that individuals who walked at least 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week had approximately 43% fewer sick days than those who exercised one day per week or less. I have yet to take a sick day at UC Davis (at least for my own illness), but it has only been 35 years. We’ll see.

5. Walking lowers blood pressure and supports cholesterol health

I hope this is true. Because my good cholesterol is a bit low, I have started requesting two orders or avocado on my salads, rather than just one. I could eat avocado with every meal.

6. Walking enhances balance and coordination

Especially in older adults, walking strengthens muscles and engages proprioception. Tai Chi master Cheng Man-ch’ing wrote of walking as “a discipline of balance in motion.” When I am out walking, I try to balance myself on curbs, walls, and parapets, my arms outstretched like those of a child.

7. Walking supports joint health

Contrary to myth, walking lubricates joints, improves flexibility, and helps those with arthritis, according to the Arthritis Foundation. At what age did I start talking about arthritis in my newsletters?

8. Walking helps regulate blood sugar

Post-meal walks can lower glucose levels. A 2013 study published in Diabetes Care, led by Loretta DiPietro at George Washington University, found that three short post-meal walks (15 minutes each) were as effective for reducing 24‑hour blood sugar levels as one continuous 45‑minute walk, especially among older adults at risk for impaired glucose tolerance. I’m definitely engaging in more health research than usual this week. Look at all these links!

9. Walking provides fresh air

Fresh oxygen intake improves alertness and well-being. The Romantic poet Wordsworth, who walked thousands of miles in his lifetime, claimed his imagination was “sharpened on the road.” Meanwhile, Canadian physician William Osler said, “Patients should have rest, food, fresh air, and exercise – the quadrangle of health.” Disappointingly, my doctor never brings up quadrangles.

10. Walking provides you opportunities to notice plants, trees, animals, and seasons

Biologist E.O. Wilson called this connection “biophilia,” or our innate affinity with life. A walk is a daily lesson in ecology. It’s also an occasion to write lesson plans and various sorts of assessments.

Enjoy this week’s bonus assigned readings! I’m sorry for your sake that the enrollment cap in my walking first-year seminar at UC Davis has already been reached.

---

As Kate is out of town, I’ve asked a substitute quizmaster, named Dan, to take the reins this evening. He has been training for years, mostly by wearing his beard like mine. I am sure he will do a rousingly good job. Thanks, Dan!

Happy mid-August to you! The weather will be hot tonight, hotter than we deserve, as one media personality might say. I invite you to join the regulars and irregulars outside our favorite brewery tonight, perhaps in the shade, for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. 

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: elevators, Times Square and other popular places, disappearances, ghosts causing fires, abandoned places, expensive spices,mountainous regions, complex arrangements, laureates, burrows, Oscars for playing real people, popular names last year, breakfast, Mongolians, alternatives to Cyprus, equator concerns, camping gear, bumpers, football clubs, people named York, powerful claws, Canadian birthplaces, cable fails, Neills, lowlands, conductors, passes, unpopular choices, poignant music, heavy makeup, nuclear research, Jedi mind tricks, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 70 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of the aforementioned avocado. I appreciate the Mavens’ kind words to me in the newspaper. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. My new paid Substack Subscriber is Anne Da Vigo. Check out her mysteries!

Best,

Dr. Andy

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

1. Pop Culture – Music. What funk band had hits with “Jungle Boogie,” “Get Down On it,” and “Ladies Night”? 
2. Great Americans. The Apollo 13 commander recently died at age 97. What was his name?  
3. Unusual Words. What L word means “relating to a transitional or initial stage; in between two states”? 

P.S. Poetry night on August 21 will feature new work by Rhony Bhopla and Mariam Ahmed. Join us at 7 PM at the John Natsoulas Gallery.

On the afternoon of August 13, 2025, I recall something Henry James wrote in his 1911 memoir The Middle Years: “Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

Even when teaching a summer writing class at UC Davis, I relish the slower pace of August. On this afternoon, for example, I got to talk with my daughter Geneva during a long walk home from campus. As she is also a teacher, a paraeducator at Patwin Elementary, we love sharing stories about our experiences in the classroom, and the funny things our students say.

I love that Geneva lives in Davis – we get to see her often, and I don’t take that for granted. Eager to be parents, but facing obstacles, my wife Kate and I had completed the international adoption proceedings when we learned of her pregnancy. We were so grateful to be parents late in 1997 that we paid close attention to every blessed moment with our cute and colicky baby. Reflecting on my first night shifts in those early days of parenthood (I did knee bends with the baby in my arms until late into the evening so Kate could slumber), I can think of few times when I was simultaneously so sleepy and so present.

Because of that, part of my cultural memory remains rooted in the era of the late 1990s and early 2000s when I would watch with wonder as my daughter took in a curated media diet of books, music, film, and even TV shows. If you were to ask, I could tell you all about the characters from Dragon Tales, Blue’s Clues, andCaillou, everyone’s favorite bald Canadian (other than Howie Mandel).

Today in my advanced writing class, I was riffing on student essayists’ obsessions and what they reveal. Before I could stop myself, I brought up the late 1990s TV show Teletubbies as an example of an obsession, trying desperately to wrench an insightful thesis from an improbable scenario. I imagined that a collector might someday empty his shelves of Teletubbies collectibles, but place them in storage for the day when he might have children. Then on one day, revealing his gifts for the lucky toddler, he could show as much precious love for this child as the baby in the sun did when shining down on Tinky Winky, LaaLaa, Dipsy, and Po. Seeing a few lifted eyebrows, I’m sure my students wondered what sort of class they had registered for.

With regard to films, I told my students that I believed Shrek was one of the only cultural touchpoints we had in common, Shrek and the MCU movies. Today I taught my students that deploying vulnerability in an essay shows your readers that the author is not an OPMC (overpowered main character). For example, the penultimate Avengers movie teaches us lessons about loss, while Endgame teaches us that, even against difficult odds, we must continue to struggle towards our goal, even when doing so with only half a metaphorical shield.

During our long talk on the phone today, Geneva told me that in 5^th grade she once wrote a two-page letter to Santa Claus from the point of view of the Monsters, Inc. villain Randall Boggs, and then shared it with her teacher, Ms. Sandoval. Why? As a way of using all her vocabulary words in a (mostly) functional way.

As I write this, Geneva texted me an image of the entire Santa letter, one where Boggs does not hide his nefarious inclinations. For instance, because one of Geneva’s  vocabulary words was “smug,” I learned from this ancient missive that “[Randall Boggs] would like to give that clown Sullivan and that smug little cyclops Wazowski a good kick in the rump.” I wonder if that sort of talk tested the DJUSD anti-bullying ordinances. I can see why we didn’t take three-year old Geneva to that film about hidden monster nightmares when it was released in theaters. Instead, she (and the rest of us) watched it many times on DVD.

Looking through her elementary school effects, Geneva also shared with me that one of her (and everyone’s) favorite teachers, Barbara Neu, responded with written comments on every one of her first-grade diary entries, and then wrote a long comment at the end. Mrs. Neu also delivered our family a home-cooked meal when Geneva’s brother Jukie had ptosis repair surgery in March of 2004. I’m sure the writing work of that devoted teacher and her love of early Pixar classics were eventual reasons why Geneva majored in creative writing in college.

One Emily Dickinson poem proclaims that “There is no Frigate like a Book / To take us Lands away.” When we are ready and especially receptive, favorite films can also transport us back to a time when we experienced an awakening, a revelation, or just a sustained sense of awe. Because of my parents and my Waldorf school, my childhood was full of these qualities. And because of our much-loved Geneva, my wife Kate and I got to revisit such a sense of wonder whenever we (finally) got to sit down on the couch and laugh with our delightful daughter.

---

Happy mid-August to you! The weather will be cooler than we have grown used to this evening. I invite you to join me outside our favorite brewery tonight, perhaps in the shade, for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about.  At least one local reporter will join us for the fun tonight.

Because Kate will be out of town visiting family on August 20, a substitute quizmaster will be running the show that night. Thanks for your continued support!

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: time travel, Soviet visitors, insects, African nations, S plays, the function of war, governing bodies, common multiples, American heroes, California geography, fancy shirts, metaphorical bridges, jungles, odd pairings with Alfred Hitchcock, UC Davis, competition with China, camel directions, hits awareness, lists, long lines, western locals, famous problems, coaches, Sacramento exits, platforming decisions, cities that sound German, kindred spirits, halls of fame, outrageous statements, scaly creatures, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 70 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of avocado. Thanks in particular to Ellen and to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. My new paid Substack Subscriber is Anne Da Vigo. Check out her mysteries!

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. From last week, three questions on calendars!

1. What was the job title of the person who introduced the world to the calendar we use today?  

2. Who introduced the Julian calendar?  

3. Co-starring Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, what 2008 Indiana Jones movie references the Mayan Calendar? 

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

We have more family visiting, and I have started teaching a new writing class at UC Davis., so I don’t have time to write you an expository or discursive newsletter, as I typically do. Instead, enjoy this poem, full of oblique indications of topics that I have been considering during my walk back and forth to campus.

Suggestive Fragments

1.

A plaintive voice fades — 

urgent, falling,

long since silenced, —

still echoing in basements.

2.

Never interested in productivity,

a quiet notebook

dreams alongside machines.

3.

A mountain speaks in Cyrillic

After a long silence.

4.

Two portals opened

in a year the cosmos snapped—

now we don’t cough

to attract attention.

5.

A language roams deserts,

not shopping malls.

In one word, it reigns.

In another, it waits.

It does not wait for you.

6.

Pinned at the top:

not a butterfly,

but a fragment of voice

from the one who lit the screen.

7.

A ship sails,

its sails stitched from harmony,

its name lost

in a curling wave of harmony.

8.

The son raised fists.

The father taught silence.

Together, they broke something

nobody could hold.

9.

Five bones

beneath your breath.

They bend,

but have no time to beg.

10.

She studied flight

in kernels and stems—

while her shadow

served bills and boundaries.

11.

Three dots

walk into a word,

seeking to be decoded.

They leave no footprints.

They are not eyes.

12.

It comes again,

this twisted Friday—

older,

the scandals forgotten

like unopened fortune cookies

13.

He landed

in polyester dreams—

in a garage

with a family named for fabric.

14.

She moved higher

than most choirs,

a crown resting

not on gold

but spirit.

15.

Asked of tragedy,

he replied in time.

His name rearranges

the play’s demand.

There’s a dog in this play.

16.

A man in robes,

numbered in popes,

reset the clock

with the tilt of a ringed hand.

17.

A dagger’s calendar,

red with reforms,

carries no apologies.

18.

They searched the temple,

that crystal whisper—

but what they found

was time itself breaking.

19.

Many months marched straight.

One was crooked,

holding days like teeth.

20.

Born of coil and hush,

this year returns

like a red menu,

every dozen steps.

21.

He wrote of kings

who barked philosophy,

of men in bathrobes

on fire with thought.

22.

The jungle returned—

not once,

but again,

birds in disguise.

23.

The dried chameleon 

wore cowboy dust

and drank mirages.

24.

A nation of edges,

stitched in shoreline.

Within it,

snowmelt forgets its name.

25.

Power spoke

through three voices

from one compass point,

cold as prison bars.

26.

Salt stings.

But in sweetness,

the air lingers longer.

27.

With an unrushed 

Midwestern hush,

the  told stories sufficed

when the answers ran out.

28.

Crowns may change,

but favor genuflects

toward gentleness.

29.

He bloomed 

beneath backboards,

floated,

spun petals into records.

30.

The blind, the  fool,

And the faithful are gone.

Note what remains.

31.

Blake never saw

This many square teaspoons

Of sand.

---

Happy August to you! Today is a scorcher! I’m glad we have misters on the patio. I hope you will join us for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. 

 Find your hints, above.  

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 70 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of avocado. Thanks in particular to Ellen and to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. I have almost 300 Substack subscribers!

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are three questions from last week:

1. Hotness. An all-time European high temperature record was set this past Friday in Silopi, Turkey. Was the Celsius temperature closest to 30, 40, or 50 degrees?  

• Books and Authors. Taking place in Florida, which 1937 novel with a female protagonist tells us that “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board”?  

• Film: One-Star Reviews of Great Movies. What film received this one-star review: “Hot dog fingers? This is what won Best Picture??” 

P.P.S. August 7 is Poetry Night. We have Robin and Keith Ekiss! I earn a mention in Robin’s bio. I hope you can join us at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis.

Dear Friends,

Today I told my son Truman that King John of England is his 22^nd great-grandfather. Therefore, Truman and I are also descended from John’s son, King Henry III and his son, King Edward I, though those last two did not warrant plays by Shakespeare.

I once discovered that, unlike myself, most people were not required to memorize the year of the signing of the Magna Carta by King John. Some lessons that I learned from David Kerrigan in 9^th grade history class have stuck with me forever. Sometimes these lessons only contain a private importance, whereas sometimes history’s inclination to repeat itself (or to “rhyme,” as Mark Twain allegedly said), revives some long past conflict or lesson.

Speaking of conflicts, in the play The Life and Death of King John, Shakespeare  explores John’s wars first with the French and then with the Pope. The lives of his direct descendants Henry III and Edward I offered fewer political conflicts and court intrigues to dramatize, so Shakespeare did not portray them on stage.

In his essay “Shakespeare and the Doctrine of Monarchy in King John,” Philip D. Ortega examines how Shakespeare’s King John reflects and reinforces Elizabethan political doctrine, particularly the Tudor doctrine of monarchy, which discouraged any limits on royal authority, such as those implied by The Magna Carta.

New historicism co-founder and Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt has pointed that the play King John“conspicuously avoids the most famous aspect of the historical King John’s reign.” We think of The Magna Carta as a foundational document for constitutional democracy, and a precursor to our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, but Shakespeare didn’t want to anger Queen Elizabeth I (my second cousin, twelve times removed), so he left it out.

He was likely right to do so. Responding to documents regarding the Shakespeare play Richard II (a play about the forced abdication of a British king), in 1601 Queen Elizabeth famously said, “I am Richard II, know ye not that?”

If we are to learn lessons about responses to autocratic political threats to entertainers, whether they be William Shakespeare or Stephen Colbert, we might consider the 2017 book On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder. Yale historian Snyder famously coined the term “anticipatory obedience” in the face of expected threats from tyrants.

Here are some sample lessons and quotations from On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Centuryby Timothy Snyder:

1. Do not obey in advance.

“Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. Individuals offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

2. Defend institutions.

“Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning.”

3. Believe in truth.

“To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so.”

4. Stand out.

“Someone has to. It is easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom.”

5. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives.

“Modern tyranny is terror management. When some act of political violence occurs, the authoritarians exploit it.”

6. Be reflective if you must be armed.

“If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evildoers in the past have used uniforms and guns to justify criminal acts.”

7. Listen for dangerous words.

“Be alert to the use of words like ‘extremism’ and ‘terrorism.’ Be especially wary of any invocation of ‘emergency’ or ‘exception.’”

8. Make eye contact and small talk.

“This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society.”

9. Practice corporeal politics.

“Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people.”

10. Be a patriot.

“A patriot wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best selves.”

I appreciate historians, literary scholars, and playwrights who all seek to understand all the ways we have sought to express our humanity, especially the sort of kindnesses that resist cruelty and assert human dignity as they respond to the human condition.

That last Snyder quotation reminds me of what James Baldwin says in Notes on a Native Son (1955): “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

As we approach the 250^th anniversary of America, I will reflect on how our country got its start when we chose to live up to democratic ideals, and when we chose disobedience over obedience, anticipatory or otherwise.

---

Exciting news! I adapted on of my weekly newsletters, about walking the greenbelts of South Davis with my son Jukie while reflecting on Ralph Waldo Emerson and nature, and submitted it to The Sacramento Bee. It was published today! I invite you to check out “Learning from nature: The wild delight of slow walks through Davis with my son.”

Also exciting: My brother Oliver will be joining us for pub quiz tonight. Oliver and I know many of the same things, and he knows about ten times as much about film and television as I do, so I have been joking that I’ll have to ask questions tonight about obscure science topics and the metric system. Two of my kids will also join us for the fun tonight.

Occasional pub quiz participant Andy Fell shares some good news about UC Davis: “National Science Foundation Awards UC Davis $5 Million for Artificial Intelligence Hub.”

Happy mid-July to you! The weather will be cooler than we deserve this evening. I invite you to join me outside our favorite brewery tonight, perhaps in the shade, for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. 

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: American heroes, transportation alternatives, Japanese statistics, secondary video, Turkey, news anchors, fast cars, slow bicycles, European pioneers, drudgery, cartoonists, capitals, oily surgeons, commencement addresses, anticipatory craziness, American wars, King John of England, medals, velvety goodness, languages notably spoken at home, friendliness, gerrymandering, stars, pillars, straw, revolutionaries, nepotism, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 70 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of avocado. Thanks in particular to Ellen and to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion.

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are three questions (purportedly about train travel) from last week’s quiz:

1. Which of the following French painters was born in 1869, the same year that the transcontinental railroad’s final golden spike was driven by Leland Stanford: Georges Braque, Edgar Degas, or Henri Matisse?  

2. Operated by Amtrak, what is the name of the 168-mile passenger train route between San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Auburn, with a stop in Davis?  

3. Kingman, Arizona is home to the closest Amtrak train station to what vacation destination city of over 600,000 people?   

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

My wife Kate and I took our children Geneva, Jukie, and Truman to Monterey this past weekend. About our experience, Kate wrote this:

“I am finding that one antidote to living our current dystopian reality in the U.S. is to spend as much time as possible with my people, creating joyful memories in nature. 

When we put our feet in the Pacific Ocean, we feel grounded. When we breathe in the salty mist of sea air, we feel both calm and invigoration. When we look out at the majestic rocky coastline of Monterey Bay, we experience awe and wonder. 

Over the last few days in Monterey Bay, we also connected with people we met along our walks. One favorite interaction included multiple visits on Spanish Bay beach in Pebble Beach by a 20-month-old girl named Evie who was so taken with Margot that she couldn’t resist returning to us for more Frenchie kisses. Her mom and I discovered that we were in similar lines of work and discussed nursing our toddlers, parenting older kids, and wistfully noting the way too fast passage of time. Interactions such as these feel so much more meaningful to me now: they fuel a sense of community we all so desperately need.

We are stronger when we come together. 

One of the important voices getting me through the darkness is Heather Cox Richardson’s, the American historian and professor of history at Boston College. I find this particular quotation of hers particularly helpful: “One of the really important things to remember going forward as we fear the rise of authoritarianism in the United States is that authoritarians cannot rise if there are strong communities and people are acting with joy. That is, you need despair and anger in order for an authoritarian to rise. Whatever those things are that you bring to the community, do them, and do them with joy. And don’t stop doing them because you are scared, because that is actually a form of resistance. Showing up and doing things you love says to an authoritarian you have no place to root here, and that’s going to be really important going forward.”

Any Californian can walk along the beach, get lost in the horizon, and smile at the other beachcombers, or even start up a conversation. Even short vacations in nature will remind us of our mutual humanity, of our unspoken solidarity, and of those awe-filled moments of joy that remind us how easily we can inoculate ourselves against the fear and estrangement that fuel despotism everywhere.

I hope you have also been inoculating yourself against despotism, and I’m glad that patriots such as Kate continue to civil leaders accountable for their actions. As Patrick Henry said, “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.” Patrick Henry

Thanks to Kate for writing most of this week’s newsletter.

---

I always look forward to Wednesdays and hope that you can join me on the patio or in Sudwerk tonight starting at 7. Arrive early for the best choice in tables! I invite you to join me outside our favorite brewery tonight, perhaps in the shade, for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. 

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: American heroes, vegetables, video games, the MCU, royalty, halls of fame, obstacles, corridors, literature in the streets, California bands, USA in 4th place, repeated catchphrases, eyes, Scandinavia, unhappy beginnings, heartbeats, phones, exchanges, trains, Monterey, twins, all stars, lungs, French creative professionals, pitches, spiders, summits, furious cornmeal, San Francisco, good scores, mothers, unhelpful fixations, fast birds, UNESCO, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 70 Patreon members now, and almost 30 paid, including the new paid subscribers Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of avocado. Thanks in particular to Ellen and to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

This month the great Sacramento poet Frank Dixon Graham made a generous donation to the Jukie Jones Duren Endowment of the Smith-Lemli-Opitz Foundation. Thanks, Frank!

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion.

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. From last week’s quiz, three questions on revolutions:

1. Starting with a B, whom did Lenin lead during the Russian Revolution of 1917? 
2. What Caribbean nation became the first independent Black republic after a successful slave revolt? 
3. John Lennon penned the White Album song “Revolution” soon after media coverage in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive spurred increased protests in opposition to the Vietnam War, especially among university students. Name the year.  

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

This week marks the ten-year anniversary of the Facebook group “Events in Davis” with its more than 11,000 members. I founded the group for the same reason that I started the Poetry Night Reading Series more than 18 years ago – I wasn’t finding the sort of events in town that I had found in other cities I’ve lived.

I’ve loved living in cities that have featured theatrical performance, poetry readings, classical music concerts (such as the Baroque violin and harpsichord concert that my son Jukie enjoyed at Davis Community Church this past Sunday), and stand-up comedy performances. Have I left out your favorite genre of performance? I guess I should include trivia nights, or what we call pub quizzes.

Speaking of comedy, one of the best one-liner comedians working today is Andy Huggins, the 72-year-old comedian who mostly mocks himself for presenting as being so old while performing before hip young audiences in comedy clubs. Here’s an example of his work: “As far as social media goes, you can follow me on the bulletin board at Kroegers, or MyChart.”

Huggins’ joke about Kroegers reminds me how, even in 2025, the humble bulletin board still thrives, as long as we visit it. Before online community forums, we used to depend on thumbtack-and-flier bulletin boards to find out anything, and people still depend on fliers in 2025. When my son Truman was showing me around his home campus of Ithaca College, we encountered a flier recruiting (paid) actors for a student movie he had made in the spring. He pointed out that, as that particular flier served its purpose back in mid-April, he could take it down.

Ithaca, New York has a strong bulletin-board culture, likely stronger than what we have in Davis. While walking around town during my visit last month, I photographed a few bulletin boards and then asked ChatGPT to categorize and summarize the offerings. Below you will find the results. You can tell that ChatGPT created this extended list, for only this large language model uses emojis as bullets.

🎭 EVENTS & PERFORMANCES (ITHACA / REGION)

🎶 Music & Dance

• Great Blue Heron Music Festival 2025

July 4–6 music festival featuring various regional acts.

• REV Theatre’s “Barnum”

A circus-themed musical running July 9–26.

• The Notorious Stringbusters

Live bluegrass performance on July 5.

• Pineapple Punk Party

Music event held June 29.

• Burly Bingo

Drag or burlesque-themed bingo night on July 18.

• Bluegrass Jam

Recurring acoustic jam sessions.

• Drag Me to the Discotheque!

Dance party for queer and allied communities.

• Community Square Dance at Stone Bend Farm

Folk music and dancing with live music.

• MicrTones

Electronic music and DJ show with multiple performers.

---

🎭 Theater, Literary, & Performance

• Musical Theater Open Mic

Recurring public event for live musical performances.

• The Wedding Show

Interactive theater event at The Cherry Arts in Ithaca.

• Spring Writes Literary Festival

40+ free literary events with 100+ artists.

• Extended Stay Theater Series

Theater event featuring short plays and staged readings.

---

💃 Other Events

• Dance Party on the Patio (June 28)

Open-air community dance.

• Peace Trot (June 15)

5K and 10K run/walk for community solidarity.

• FLX Calendar Events

Includes local music, crafts, classes, and fairs.

• Hardware Demo Day

Hands-on event for trying tools and equipment.

---

🧠 EDUCATION & CLASSES

🎓 Academic & Skill-Based

• 2-Week Free Language Programs (Chinese & Japanese)

Intensive summer courses open to all.

• Wild Mushroom Identification Classes

Field and classroom instruction.

• Astrology Meetup

Monthly community meeting on astrology topics.

• Chess for Kids

Private chess lessons and peer coaching.

• Creativity Connects Us

Art program focused on healing and self-expression.

• Creative Reuse Art Supplies Drive

Art supply collection for community reuse.

• Information Literacy Campaign

Poster encouraging information sharing and fact-checking.

---

🤝 Parenting & Youth

• Virtual Childbirth Education

Remote childbirth preparation classes.

• Summer School of Rock

Free youth music program.

• LGBTQ+ Youth Events
  • UNIQUY: LGBTQ+ youth group with weekly meetings.
  • Activate! Youth Summit (June 14): Activism and empowerment event.

---

🧘 SERVICES & WELLNESS

• Jillian’s Cleaning Services

Local professional cleaning offerings.

• Creativity Coaching

Sessions with a local coach for artistic support and expression.

• Yoga Classes at Mighty Yoga

Promotion includes $10 first visit offer.

• Rejuvenate at the Ithaca Children’s Garden (June 20)

Wellness event with kombucha and sunshine.

• Vitamin D Awareness Campaign

Health education on deficiency prevention.

---

📢 ACTIVISM & POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

• Living Wage Town Hall

Public forum on fair wages.

• Stop Starving Gaza

Political awareness and action campaign.

• Glory to the Fallen & Day of Healing

Revolutionary political remembrance event.

• No Kings: Nationwide Day of Defiance (June 14)

Rally held at Washington Park.

• Voting Engagement & Info Booths

Posters encouraging voter participation and education.

• Pride Booth Outreach

Community info distribution tied to local LGBTQ+ events.

• Doomsday Messaging Poster

Anti-capitalist and social justice commentary.

---

🛍️ MISCELLANEOUS / COMMUNITY RESOURCES

• Onigiri Food Days

Weekly food-related cultural event.

• Transportation Scout

Possibly a survey or outreach effort about local mobility.

• Grow Your Own Organic Garden (Coplant Gardens)

Gardening resource with promotional materials.

• Local Event Roundups

Multiple boards feature compiled lists of arts, culture, and civic events.

So, does the progressive college town of Ithaca have more going on this summer than your hometown? Would you avail yourself of any of those events or services if they were offered to you? I’m doing my part locally by hosting poetry readings, pub quizzes, and Stories on Stage performances in Davis, but I think more of us should put our cultural shoulders to the wheel, at least as audience members if not as organizers and performers.

Walt Whitman’s famous proclamation about poetry can apply to many fields of cultural creativity and performance: “Poetry (like a grand personality) is a growth of many generations — many rare combinations. To have great poets, there must be great audiences too.”

Thanks to all of you who read about Ithaca offerings, and who continue to contribute to such generational cultural growth!

---

Happy mid-July to you! The weather will be cooler than we deserve this evening. I invite you to join me outside our favorite brewery tonight, perhaps in the shade, for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. My man Bill at the bar may be taking on all of you, solo.

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: American heroes, amendments, transportation contrivances, horror stories, candy, robots, heinous behavior, royalty, winds, pleasant walks,  the Appalachians, vaccinations, champions,  doctrines, swimmers, patriarchies, dukes, nuts and fruits, republics, birthplaces, tuxedos, movies for children, castles, offensives, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.

Two teams tied for first place on July 16 with 27 points each. Congratulations to the team Menace to Sobriety for besting Inforwhores on the Mars tiebreaker question.

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon, where you may find bonus pub quiz hints, at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 70 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of avocado. Thanks in particular to Ellen and to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. I appreciate you backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion.

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are three questions on musicals from last week: 

1. On the cover of the album of the soundtrack to The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews is carrying a suitcase and a what? 

2. Near the beginning of one soundtrack, we learn that “Here in Anatevka, we have traditions for everything.” Name the play. 

3. According to the title of a song sung by Willy Wonka, “Count to three, / Come with me and you’ll be / In a world of” WHAT two words?  

P.P.S. Join us July 17 at 7 for Poetry Night!

What do my favorite film critic, a mountain man Portlander self-taught guitarist, and a D.C. punk icon have in common? Find out below.

Today is the birthday of my brother, Oliver Jones—film critic, journalist, and college professor, and once, believe it or not, a founding member of a D.C. punk band. Happy birthday, Oliver!

Oliver writes film reviews for The Observer and teaches journalism and popular culture classes at the Los Angeles campuses of both Emerson College and Syracuse University. While writing for a variety of magazines, including People, he has interviewed hundreds of notable people, many of them actors. He is a smooth communicator, a quick wit, and an encyclopedia-like film buff. Although I am more than four years older than him and have been grading the essays of UC Davis students for 35 years, he has likely written more words than I have.

But there’s another side to Oliver that his film industry colleagues might find surprising: his past as a fleeting participant in D.C.’s Carter-era music scene. In 1979, Oliver co-founded a proto-punk rock band, The Headaches. Made up of three members: Oliver Jones, Chris Ternes, and Amanda MacKaye, The Headaches brought a raw, chaotic and stylistically rough energy to their unfiltered sound and frenetic performances. To The Headaches, spirit mattered more than scales.

The Headaches also did not let their lack of prowess with actual instruments keep them from pursuing their punk rock ambitions. At 29, our beloved cousin Chris Ternes, the oldest member of the group (by about 20 years), did know how to play the guitar, being largely self-taught. Ternes, a multi-sport athlete who admired and emulated baseball players, professional wrestlers, and lumberjacks, was also the strongest member of the group. One of his jobs was to hoist young Oliver into retail store dumpsters so that Jones could pick out the cardboard boxes whose pitch and timbre best approximated the sound of drums. Wooden spoons that the day before might have ladled some of our mom’s stew stood in for drumsticks. The Headaches drum set looked like recycling and sounded like rebellion.

Amanda MacKaye, now the frontwoman of the D.C. art punk band Bed Maker and a respected concert booker, grew up in the most influential musical family in the District punk scene. Amanda’s brother Ian MacKaye co-founded Dischord Records as well as the hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and Fugazi. Her brother Alec has been a member of the DC hardcore bands Untouchables and the Faith. The MacKayes were our neighbors and our closest friends in our Glover Park neighborhood, so I looked up to Alec as he guided my early appreciation of rock music, including by introducing me to many excellent bands, such as Queen.

While Chris brought the muscle and Oliver the rhythm to The Headaches, Amanda brought her singing chops and a Shaun Cassidy plastic guitar that had the 1970s heartthrob’s face painted over with black paint. The DIY ethos of this band (as they created even instruments from available materials) anticipated the spirit of Ian’s bands who traveled to gigs in used vans, refused to sell merchandise, depended on community promoters to find gigs, and charged only $5 for their shows, even though they could have raked in much more cash by charging the higher ticket prices that their loyal community would have happily paid.

Having attended all of The Headaches shows, I remember fondly how each performer brought a distinctive heart, soul, and spirit to this unlikely musical experiment.

It could be argued that The Headaches were a “manufactured” band in the best sense: they lovingly imitated their musical heroes the way that the made-for-TV band The Monkees were formed to echo The Beatles. One memorable song by The Headaches parodied the “(Theme from) The Monkees,” with The Headaches singing “Hey, Hey, We’re the Headaches! / People say we headache around!” Ian MacKaye, attending one of the first Headaches performances in 1979, complained of the perceived plagiarism. We laugh about this today.

Decades later, my mom indirectly got the band back together. A couple weeks ago, in a cabin in Beavertown, Pennsylvania, The Headaches enjoyed their first reunion since the 1980s. Amanda still lives in DC, Chris lives in Portland, and Oliver lives in Los Angeles. All three of them were deeply loved by my mom, Mary Ternes, and all three gathered to remember her and tell stories about their earliest explorations of artistic camaraderie and scrappy, makeshift music-making. Time spent with our closest family members, including our adopted sister Amanda, is the best birthday gift my brother Oliver could have hoped for.

---

Because of a concert on the patio, tonight’s (July 9) Pub Quiz will meet indoors, including in the full beer hall (which I still stuffily call the banquet room). Some of you may want to bring masks as you join competitors and me for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about.  

In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: soundtracks, remakes, factories, TikTok, networks, name changes, hospitals, horses, names that are also occupations, Viola Davis, rivers, famous problems, opportunities for relaxation, manners of talking, excitability, poems that start movements, playlists, fish, dissent, owls, national parks, designation changes, video clips, quality, oils, human impersonators, people who stick around, African countries, London, swimming holes, fletchers, traditions, cases, birthday parties, pop telecasts, water sports, airports, headaches, sluggers, layoffs, contrived acronyms, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare. Did you know that Patreon members sometimes encounter more hints than those who are not?

For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.

Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have 70 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Damian, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of avocado. Thanks in particular to Ellen and to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion.

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are three questions from last week, this time about Rays!

1. Whose second and third most famous books were titled The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes?  

• It was not a manta ray that stung Steve Irwin. What stung him?  

• Ray Charles recorded three number-one pop hits in three years: “Georgia on My Mind” was followed by “Hit the Road Jack” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” Name the decade.  

P.P.S. “Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance… poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music.” Ezra Pound