Your Quizmaster — Home of the Quizmaster of Sudwerk Brewing Company in Davis

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Name That 50 million population Country. What country borders Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru?

France. What does the French equivalent of the British Parliament call itself? Is it A) French Arrondissement, B) French Congress, C) French Parliament, or D) French Tuilerie.

Science. What M word do we use for the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the face?

The Progenitive Liars Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on June 12, 2017

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Last week at the Pub Quiz I asked a question about Senator Al Franken’s book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Al Franken has explained in several of his 200 recent interviews for his new book, Al Franken: Giant of the Senate, that lying makes him particularly incensed and outraged. Franken has talked about how it was his questioning the veracity of his former colleague and friend Jeff Sessions that led to Sessions perjuring himself about his various unreported meetings with Russian officials. The Russians seem to be tripping up everyone in the president’s cabinet, as if they were all marks, eager to be conned by expert con artists. The fragile “take” from this con, its purpose and prize, if you will, would be the ideals that undergird American democracy.

There is one con artist who is even more sinister than Vladimir Putin, and who lies much more than the stars of Franken’s “Liars” book, whom Franken has in retrospect since called “quaint.”

I am thinking of a liar who lies habitually, automatically. He offers small lies and large, watching to see how his audiences respond, adjusting the tenor and scope of his lies accordingly.

Sometimes he lies incidentally, practicing his lies the way that one of us might practice a second language. He practices his lying for larger cons, for longer cons, for cons with higher stakes.

He lies ruthlessly in order to hurt others, to maim them. He lies to undercut their character, to ridicule their dreams. He shows no mercy.

People spend a lot of time responding to his lies.

He lies to beguile, leaving willful misimpressions with the recipients of his lies. Such lies often comfort the gullible, making them eager for the security provided by the subsequent lies. Sometimes he makes us laugh at his lies. Some even cheer. The need for illusion is deep.

Sometimes he lies to men and women the same, hoping for the same result. Sometimes he lies to men and women differently, hoping for differentiated results. He is often successful.

If his followers catch on, they usually do so too late. His first lie kills their faith in the truth. His second lie kills their hope. He is known to be the master of the second death.

He contradicts shared truths, undermining our core beliefs. He uses lies to separate us into groups. He finds us new enemies. He teaches us not to trust. According to the plan, we soon don’t know what to believe. He bonds uncertainly to fear; the eventual result is despair.

Charismatic people attract his special attention; he tells them his best lies. Often he can convince such people to lie for him while he stands back, watching them remotely, and with a slight smile. Sometimes people don’t even know that they are doing his work.

These days, he is our consummate liar, our expert liar, our progenitive liar. He is a producer of lies, a director of lies, a trailblazer of lies, a father of lies.

He is called many names. As you have guessed by now, most people know him as Satan.

In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on the following: Jason Alexander, plural nouns, new records, names in the news, first class treats, ungulates, Gene Wilder, unusual behaviors, big rewards, the recipients of famous letters, the question of currency, female heroes and villains, nautical architecture, really old things, people with their own planets, the control over recent rains, old ladies named Sarah, flutes, moisteners, time-travel, plots redux, favorite dances, people born in the 1970s, Jason and Joshua, that which survives to the present, second place, lovely directives, rules for hosts, cocktails, unusual reluctance, fathers, maroon thieves, the meddling French, border lands, retreads, 1969, resolutions, tenths, evolution, and Shakespeare.

Some prefer to watch TV rather than hang with friends. Some can even do both. Make your choice, and we will see you this evening.

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Newspaper Headlines. In addition to The U.S., name one of the two other countries that do not participate in the Paris Climate Change Accords.

Bachelorettes. The thirteenth and current season of The Bachelorette features Rachel Lindsay, a 32-year-old professional from Dallas, Texas. What is her occupation?

Pop Culture – Music. Last week the re-issue of what 50-year-old album sold 75,000 total copies to reenter the Billboard 200 at number three?

P.S. Thursday is Poetry Night in Davis. Please join us at the Natsoulas Gallery for poetry by Wendy Williams and Jen Vernon. We start at 8 PM.

Wendy Patrice Williams is a writer, educator, and poet. Williams is the author of two chapbooks, Some New Forgetting and Bayley House Bard, and, in 2016, an actual “first poetry book with a spine”: In Chaparral: Life on the Georgetown Divide (Cold River Press).

Jenifer Rae Vernon’s first book of poetry Rock Candy was published by West End Press in 2009. Rock Candy received the Tillie Olsen Award as the best book of creative writing that insightfully represents working class life and culture from the Working Class Studies Association, SUNY, Stony Brook, in June of 2010.

The Pints for First Responders Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on June 5, 2017

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

On the afternoon of September 11^th, 2001, I spent some time remembering how in the early 1980s, alone and at dusk, I stood between the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan and beheld their unfathomable height. On June 12^th, we will note the one-year anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since September 11, the mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando. When I heard the news, I remembered the night in 1992 that my then fiancée Kate and I spent with her brothers in a gay nightclub in Houston. Inspired by our discovery of the new song “I’m Too Sexy,” we danced with abandon.

Kate and I met in London, a city whose resolve is famous, whether it be the determined responses to the Blitz bombings during World War II, to the Republican attacks during the Troubles, to the fire at the Kings Cross tube station (while we were living two miles away), the transportation bombings of July 7, 2005, or the attack Saturday night on London Bridge. There is some discussion in the press now as to whether Britain is “reeling.” Mostly the Brits just seem ticked off, and have shown an unwillingness to give in to panic, or to refrain from favorite activities, such as enjoying a pint at one’s local pub.

I feel the same way about our Pub Quiz. You might notice that I don’t share a lot of “bad news” on the Quiz, unless you discount inevitable questions about electoral and federal politics. We need our own respite from terrorism, domestic or foreign, and from alarmist (some would say “catastrophist”) responses to terrorism, whether via television broadcast, newspaper headline, or tweet.

I invite you to join me tonight, and to raise a wine glass or a pint to first responders everywhere. Their everyday bravery ensures us the (public) space, physically and psychologically, to go about our daily business, and to spend time with our dearest friends. Those of us not on the front lines can confront terrorism daily with our free expressions of resiliency, democracy, camaraderie, and comedy, all allies in the ongoing elevation of humanity.

In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on penguins and other little animals, John Cleese, one film per decade, black vs. blue, China, renewable energy, legal documents, glory, slams, unfinished final novels, The Great Wall, comedians, continental crust, Pixar movies, world capitals, deplorable containers, liars, Agents of Shield, television studios, bonus pythons, Horace, twins who overhear trivia contests, Lawrence of Arabia, dangerous minds, redheads, homophones, Japanese animation, climate, avatars, all the single ladies, cuckoo’s nests, groups of balloons, friends of Captain America, bones, old people, England, Irish pubs, and Shakespeare.

See you tonight!

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Food and Drink. Which typically has more liquid, soup or stew?

Pop Culture – Music. Starting with the letter B, what was the last name of the composer of the lullaby sung most often by parents of babies?

Science. Copra is the dried meat, or dried kernel, of what C fruit?

The Poppies in May Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on May 30, 2017

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Happy Memorial Day. This morning I was honored to take part in a ceremony honoring the war dead of the City of Davis, of Yolo County, and of California. Songs were sung and played, names of the Davis fallen were read, and I read a poem from my book In the Almond Orchard: Coming Home from War (available for purchase at the Avid Reader on 2^nd Street). Everyone’s favorite part of the morning ceremony was the remarks prepared by Imelda “Mel” Russell, the local historian who works out of the Davis branch of the Yolo County Library. Russell told stories about her own connection to World War I (as someone born in London), and our city’s connection to The Great War. One hundred years ago 900 people of a population of about 14,000 were chosen to serve. Many didn’t return home.

Ms. Russell read a poem that is familiar to those who have studied WWI literature, as I have, “In Flanders Fields” by John McRae:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

As you reread this poem, please join me in reflecting on the lives and deaths of those who have sacrificed for our country.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on some of the above topics, but also on dried meats, spirits, distracting crashes, that which is unknown, identical twins, first-timers, weekly morning philosophers, a brigade of secretions, courage, hazards in New Zealand, addressing ADHD, the place for women, important treaties, Metacritic raves, thoughts on hope, judges, qualifications for peace, OJ, country music stars whom I can stomach, horrid soups made with adverbs, renewable energy, falling trees, The Bible, west wings, odd legs, first-person, anniversaries, ancient Greeks, sleep aids, and Shakespeare.

Having rested this holiday, I bet you will be ready to join us tonight before 7! See you then.

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Internet Culture. What does the acronym IoT stand for, where the O is lower case?

Feeling Prideful. In what year did the United States Supreme Court rule in that state-level bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional?

Pop Culture – Music. What is the mononym of the rapper and actor who had a role in the film for which he won an Academy Award for Best Song, titled “Glory”?

P.S. Poetry Night this coming Thursday features Lawrence Dinkins, one of my favorite Sacramento poets. He will be taking a train to Davis to perform for you, but only if you show up to the John Natsoulas Gallery on June 1 at 8!

The Viral Snark Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on May 22, 2017

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

In his film To Rome With Love, Woody Allen presents a vignette about an Italian clerk named Leopoldo who wakes to find himself inexplicably famous, with paparazzi tracking his movements on the streets of Rome, and reporters asking what he had had for breakfast.

I had this film in mind Friday afternoon when one of my tweets about that day’s Trump administration scandal (this once concerning Jared Kushner being named a person of interest in a criminal investigation by the FBI) started to go viral. For some reason, dozens of people I didn’t know were liking my insight, and others were retweeting me, including actual celebrities such as Bill Prady, co-creator and producer of The Big Bang Theory.

When I got home Friday, people on Facebook and via Twitter message had alerted me as to what was going on. My 25-word tweet had been shared in the lead article on the top story by British newspaper The Independent, and thus I was drawing a lot of attention from both people who agreed with me (more than 375 retweets and more than 600 likes) and people who objected. When I asked “Who’s the nut job now?” some of the more than 40 people who responded to the tweet answered that in fact I was the nut job. People throughout Davis will agree.

It is not too late for you to comment upon or object to my tweeted snark. Find out more at https://twitter.com/andyojones/status/865680298939367424, and if you would like to see the original article in The Independent, please visit http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/jared-kushner-russia-investigation-trump-song-in-law-probe-person-interest-a7745916.html.

Now I am left to wonder if the number of people who saw that tweet — more than 32,000 people – will forever trump the number of people who see every poem I publish in every media over the course of my lifetime. If you have a Twitter account, remember that you can follow Your Quizmaster at http://www.twitter.com/yourquizmaster, and that you can follow Dr. Andy, snarky commentator, at http://www.twitter.com/andyojones.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on the topics you have come to expect, as well as the following: Closed theatres, unclose elections, Tenleytown, Kings of Brooklyn, paychecks, elections, rushed scientists, organ binders, exalted songs, seats, poets named Michael, public playhouses, prominent scientists, questions of Christianity, enthusiasm, where we love, small hills and tall, larceny, estimated revenues, temporary appetite, software, rainfall drinks, DNA, three dimes, Emmy winners, video games, the jobs of notable people, the music of the spheres, beer blanks, Italian heroes, baseball, collateral, the internet, and Shakespeare.

I hope you can join us this evening. I will ask the staff to monitor temperatures in the Pub tonight. Your comfort is our priority. See you at 7!

Dr. Andy

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Books and Authors. Author Maya Angelou was born the same year that the book The House at Pooh Corner introduced us to Tigger. Name the decade.

Sports. For what NFL team is two-time league MVP Aaron Rodgers the quarterback?

Shakespeare. Which of the following is closest to the number of lines that are spoken by court jester Yorick in the play Hamlet? 0, 10, 100, or 1000?

P.S. Poetry Night is coming up on June 1!

The My Daughter Needs a Summer Job Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on May 15, 2017

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Happy Mother’s Day! Just as a grocery store near a hospital knows to stock ample flowers for people who wish to bring a gift during visiting hours, so do Whole Earth Festival retailers know to stock extra earrings before traveling to Davis for Mother’s Day Weekend. I bought Kate some gorgeous purple recycled glass earrings from aan artisan jeweler named Maggie George.

May 15^th is also important in the echoing recesses of my poetry-reciting subconscious for my favorite stanza, stanza five, of my favorite ode, John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale.” Here’s the stanza:

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,

Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,

But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet

Wherewith the seasonable month endows

The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;

White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;

Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;

And mid-May’s eldest child,

The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,

The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.

Writing this newsletter on Sunday evening, I find it difficult to maintain the delightful enjambed rhythm of Keats perfect lines while enduring the aggressive grunge in the café speakers above my head. Luckily, I once memorized these (and the rest of the) lines of Keats’ ode while walking though Boston and Cambridge about 30 years ago. Just as some things cannot be unseen, some things remain in our memories, ready to be called up for poetic emergencies, or for pub quizzes and newsletters that must be written when the café WiFi fails, as was the case this time. It’s always something.

In addition to grading essays, preparing entertainments for my pub-crawling friends, and checking in on my convalescing wife Kate, I also have to consider strategies for finding summer employment for my freshman daughter, home Friday from her first year at the oldest college in Wisconsin. If you have suggestions or a position for a peanut-allergic liberal arts student with excellent writing, teaching, and art-studio skills, please drop me a line. I know that she doesn’t want to be stuck writing Pub Quiz questions all summer.

In addition to issues raised above, tonight expect questions about the following topics: the Russians, geography, cyber politics, American states, Quinnipiac polls, dreams, punctuation, people who first needed help, jesters, Wisconsin, inaugurations, famous corners, cells that eventually differentiate, big prizes, Canada, film geography, the Russians, symbolic flowers, lead singers, hymns, mothers, the Russians, varieties of okra in Oklahoma, Lil Wayne, boats, surviving crewmates, comparisons to Watergate, astronomy, Serbs and Croats coming together, party time, and Shakespeare.

If you recruit a brand new Pub Quiz team of four or more all first-time players to join us this evening, I will arrange for them to dine on some delightful and complimentary pub chips. You could also tell them Poetry Night is Thursday.

See you this evening!

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Countries of the World. Katmandu is the capital of what country?

Star Wars. Starting with the letter D, to what planet does Yoda flee during his self-exile?

Science. Of the two large bones in the human forearm, one is the radius. What is the other?

P.S. The founder of Copper Canyon Press, William O’Daly, will be our featured poet at Poetry Night Thursday at the John Natsoulas Gallery. O’Daly is also the foremost translator of Pablo Neruda’s (adorable pun!) late poetry. We start at 8, and you are invited. Here are the details:

The Poetry Reading Series is proud to feature the poet, essayist, and novelist William O’Daly on Thursday, May 18^th at 8 P.M. Opening for O’Daly will be widely-published poet and fiction writer Madeline Gobbo. They will be performing at the John Natsoulas Gallery at 521 1^st Street in Davis.

William O’Daly is a poet, essayist, novelist, professor, editor, and translator whose work has been widely published and honored. His novel, This Earthly Life, was selected as a finalist in Narrative magazine’s 2009 Fall Story Contest. O’Daly was also selected as a finalist for the 2006 Quill Award in Poetry. His other published works include the poetry chapbook The Whale in the Web, The Road to Isla Negra, and eight books of translations of the poetry of Pablo Neruda. A longtime proponent of creativity and literary excellence, William O’Daly is the co-founder of Copper Canyon Press.

Madeline Gobbo is a poet, fiction writer, and widely-acclaimed artist and illustrator. Originally from Hood River, Oregon, Gobbo has worked recently as the store artist at The Booksmith in San Francisco. Her stories have appeared in Queen Mob’s Teahouse and Black Candies: Gross and Unlikeable, for which she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is the illustrator of Loose Lips, an anthology of erotic fanfiction, and her collaborative fiction with Miles Klee has appeared in Joyland, Hexus, Another Chicago, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.
An open mic will follow the readings by our featured poets. Please bring your poems, short stories, and songs. Participants will be asked to limit their performances to five minutes or two items, whichever is shorter. The Poetry Night Reading Series is hosted by Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate of Davis, and is run by his assiduous army of interns.

Upcoming Poets include Wendy Williams, Indigo Moor, and Mary Moore.

The Herminio the Hero Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on May 8, 2017

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

This morning my wife and I met with the man who last month saved her life. An accomplished surgeon, the man in question is exceedingly humble, thanking Kate repeatedly for letting him serve her by removing her ruptured appendix. Dr. Herminio Ojeda of Sutter Davis Hospital is a personal hero of mine. Kate spent a week in the hospital, having come home this past Tuesday, and is now resting comfortably. She has been forbidden from lifting anything over 15 lbs, including our children.

On the same day that she came home from the hospital, our beloved Auntie Merlyn passed away. Merlyn Potters was a longtime staff employee at UC Davis, a mother and grandmother, a friend and an artist. She knew the work of my Dad and step-mom from her days in Las Vegas (where my Dad taught at UNLV and my step-mother was a DJ at KNPR), so Merlyn and I had many long conversations about family and other topics. She was also unaccountably devoted to our daughter Geneva, born just a couple days before Merlyn’s granddaughter, Haley. Never before had Kate or I met someone who was so instantly in love with a tiny baby, a love for and obsession with Geneva that we heartily shared. Merlyn will long be loved and missed, for she brightened the worlds of everyone who had the pleasure to know her.

Treasure and hug the people who are close to you.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on the following topics: Getting in trouble for what you like, European leaders, people named Nancy, knives, welcoming guests to America, big boxes, histories, executive advice, spooky bonnets, bones, exile, world capitals, buddy films, library science, American cities, opera, mendacity, games of chance, metrics, Palin imitations, Chinese trees, the Joshua who did not fit the battle of Jericho, church sayings, the down under, and Shakespeare. I haven’t yet written the anagram question.

I hope you can join us tonight. I sat outside at the Pub twice this past weekend, and found it to be refreshing and lovely. All of us should try to spend more time outside doing the things we love.

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Unusual Words for X-rays that take detailed pictures of structures inside a patient’s body. The C in CT scan stands for “Computed.” What does the T stand for?

British History. With a two-decade margin of error, in what year was slavery abolished throughout the majority of the British Empire?

Pop Culture – Television. As announced this morning, who is Kelly Ripa’s new co-host on her TV show Live?

P.S. Happy Birthday to the late Davey Marlin-Jones!

The IV-Dripping with Gratitude Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on May 2, 2017

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

The Pub Quiz is ready for tonight, and the Quizmaster himself is filled with gratitude. Here are a few of my favorite gratitude quotations:

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” Thich Nhat Hanh

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.” Alphonse Karr

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” Maya Angelou

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” Voltaire

Tonight’s quiz will include questions on the following topics: tennis, tall pinnacles, attempted unseatings, small couriers, elegant sorrow, electronics, vast educated expanses, peas, flaps, nuisances, not lions, chanteurs, concrete roses, lightnesses, springtime, opera (finally!), tilted axes, an untold dirtiness, humility, slavery, x-rays, complex molecules, DNA, Venice, Oh Clark, U.S. presidents, foolish adverbs, T words, British honor returned, and a couple other topics that are yet to be determined.

I look forward to benefiting from all the community and camaraderie that you can muster this evening. See you at 7!

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Science. We use what T word for a large, herbivorous mammal, shaped like a pig, with a short, prehensile snout?

Books and Authors. The author of the best-selling book on Amazon.com is a British novelist born with the name of Erika Mitchell. What is her pen name?

Current Events – Names in the News. What notable musician, upon having been asked if he then still lived in Minnesota, responded, “I live inside my own heart, Matt Damon”?

P.S. Thanks to everyone who donated during the KDVS Fundraiser! With your help, we raised over $800 for the station during the hour of my show.

P.P.S. This coming Thursday is Poetry Night. We will feature a one-time substitute Quizmaster named Chris Erickson. A strong storyteller, Erickson is also the best absurdist comedian in Yolo County. Join us Thursday night at 8 at the John Natsoulas Gallery.

The Obligatory KDVS Donation Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on April 25, 2017

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

I ran into two Pub Quiz regulars late last night at one of my favorite coffee shops. Admitting that they’ve never known the winners’ circle, they asked for any help I could offer. I told them that the Pub Quiz had been written, and that they could expect five questions on actors and actresses. Bug eyed, they expressed their gratitude. I smiled, wondering how much help I had really just given them.

When the barista brought me my large orange-carrot juice, he told me how cool he thought it was that I run the Pub Quiz at de Vere’s, but that he wasn’t sure that he approves of my collusion with the Pub Quiz regulars whom I had just encountered on a Sunday evening. I told him that my “hint” would not make a difference in the final score, and he said that he was just “busting my chops.” “I’m not even 21,” he confessed, “so I won’t be there.” I informed him that we have teams of high school students who join us most weeks, and that de Vere’s doesn’t become a bar until 10 PM. He seemed intrigued, and told me he would start work on forming a team.

Here’s another hint that I didn’t offer this purveyor of juices: this week’s newsletter would reveal question #3, word for word:

Newspaper Headlines: Events Coming Up Wednesday. This coming Wednesday at 5 PM marks the 17^th annual fundraiser show for “Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour.” Do you plan to make a tax-deductible donation to KDVS of $5 or more Wednesday at 5 by calling 530 754-KDVS or visiting fundraiser.ucdavis.edu?

If your team’s answer is yes, you get the point. If it’s no, you don’t.

Is that fair? It’s all for a good cause, your local campus and community radio station that has been offering underground, youth, and non-mainstream musical culture for more than 50 years. Home to one of the largest vinyl collections in the country, KDVS could keep me busy for the next few decades if I were to focus on hosting a jazz show, with no songs repeated from now until retirement. And because the station is run primarily by volunteers, some of our best community DJs join the station after retirement. It’s a sweet gig.

With tightening budgets at ASUCD, and a potential move from Lower Freeborn, the station is facing some financial challenges. Changes in media consumption also mean that the station is trying new ways to reach its audience at fundraiser time. If you value independent, free-form, community radio, consider making a pledge this coming Wednesday at 5 (set a reminder on your calendar now), or anytime this week. The station hopes to raise $55,000 during the weeklong fundraiser, and I myself hope to raise $1,000 between 5 and 6 on Wednesday. Care to help? Operators are standing by now!

Tonight’s Quiz will feature questions on topics raised above, as well as the following: gratitude to Shakespeare on his birthday, dragons and eyes, Ryan’s hope, immersion, blue devils, shoes and tails, minute additions, old pals, pyramids, colorful whips, assists, elemental names, conflict in Virginia, common languages, eclipses, fallen captains, chambers of the heart, pen names, unusual snouts, the film Pinocchio, housing in Montreal, marvelous kisses, KDVS, countries of the world, sons and daughters, reconsidering earth on Earth Day, trees that sway in the wind, show business jobs, moms and dads, the letter K, poets named Bhopla, the noodling of anthems, Cleopatra, compositions, favorite Sacramentans, revolutions, Hollywood legacies, and, as has been stated, Shakespeare.

We will have fun tonight, and teams will score even higher than they did last week! I’m hoping KDVS will also score.

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Science. How often do sexually active scorpions lay eggs? Once a year, twice a year, once a quarter, or never?

Books and Authors. Born on this day in 1897, what American playwright and novelist won three Pulitzer Prizes—for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and for the two plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth?

Sports. The most valuable soccer team in Spain is also the most valuable soccer team in the world. Name it.

P.S. May the 4^th is around the corner, and this year it will also be a Poetry Night with Davis avant-garde novelist, performance artist, and comedian, Chris Erickson, the pride of Decatur, Illinois. Are you ready for Star Wars Day? There is so much to commemorate. Happy National Poetry Month.

The Vegan Marathoners Are Leaving Us Behind Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on April 18, 2017

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Hollywood screenplay author Brian Koppelman once said, “Resilience is a writer’s best friend. Train like a marathon runner. Move a little further each day, despite the pain.” Abraham Lincoln likewise said, “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” I think of these accomplished writers on Patriots’ Day, the holiday set aside for Bostonians to cheer those who participate in the Boston Marathon.

I used to watch the Marathon go by from my Warren Towers dorm room during my freshman year at Boston University. In later years, I would stand along the route with the other impressed fans, cheering as people would race past us, faded from a few hours’ intense effort. A runner myself, I enjoyed exploring Boston and Cambridge neighborhoods, alone with my thoughts or with my running mixtape on the Walkman. For me it was more meditation than competition.

Now that I bike every day, I feel like I am doing my part, that I needn’t run in the evenings and on weekends as I used to do when I was younger. But of course, that’s a lame excuse. What Koppelman and Lincoln say running and walking, above, need not be merely metaphorical.

Take, for instance, my friend and former student Josh Fernandez. Less than a decade younger than I am, Josh flew to his once-native Boston this week to compete in the Boston Marathon. A review of the searchable results reveals that he ran at about a 7.5-minute mile for more than 26 miles, finishing with a time of three hours, 20 minutes, and eight seconds. Now-vegan Professor Josh teaches us all that intense training, patience, and an exploration of the relationship between discomfort and accomplishment could help any of us realize our athletic and creative dreams. Do you have any lame excuses that you would like to re-evaluate?

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on some of the topics raised above, as well as on Studs Terkel, the ways a crow flies, the great cities of London and Dublin, a morning coffee, second to social media, Welsh exports, bards, the great depression, Julius Caesar, futball, Easter memories, navy jobs, precarious bridges, sexually active arachnids, people who want their money, elegies, Phillip Larrea and Barbara West, the first practical lead-acid battery, hilarious and scary, aquatic transformations, the good of notebooks, international poetry, really old carbine anagrams, plagiarism, more than Oprah, shells, high angles, geological speaking, waiting for a move to be made, shaking with what might be called ageism, Bismarck and Jamaica, international poetry and poets during National Poetry Month, and Shakespeare.

As is the case with the Boston Marathon, the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz pushes us to our best performance when more competitors bring their game. See you tonight.

Your Quizmaster