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

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Internet Culture. Recently Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook gave an overseas 30-minute speech in a language other than English. What was that language?

Newspaper Headlines. People this week are talking about a newly released song, “Hello,” from someone who is not named Lionel Ritchie. Name the singer-songwriter.

Norwegian Slang. What U.S. state with a lower case first letter is now a slang term in Norway for “crazy” or “out of control”?

P.S. Lynn Freed, twice winner of the O. Henry Award, our nation’s highest honor presented to writers of the short story, will be reading from recent work at the John Natsoulas Gallery this coming Thursday evening. Find details at http://www.poetryindavis.com.

The Airplane Passengers with a Watchful Incredulity Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on October 26, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Late yesterday evening I stood at the end of a really long walkway watching deplaning Sacramentans reuniting with those they love. Happy to escape the cramped seating of coach class, several people took selfies to offer social proof that they had arrived at this new city (or had finally arrived home). To my left, a portly man in his 30s stood with a bouquet of 24 roses, waiting for his beloved. She came down the gangplank, smiling, holding the hand of a yawning six year-old girl with ringlets of brown hair and a frilly dress. He bent down on one knee to look her in the eye, saying, some of these flowers are for you.

Was it his daughter? His future step-daughter? I couldn’t tell, but a bunch of young women who had traveled on the same plane with the ringletted girl slowed their walks to a sluggish stroll, smiling broadly and staring unabashedly at this reunion of three. While the man handled the matching Hello Kitty backpack and rolling suitcase, the division and dissemination of roses was negotiated on the tram from the security checkpoint to the baggage claim.

As I walked with my own daughter – arriving home from a cousin’s bat mitzvah in Seattle – I considered the relative majesty of Sacramento International Airport’s Terminal B. Unless one works at 555 California Street or the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, one is unlikely to spend time in a building larger than our Sacramento Airport. Like one of our posh California supermalls, the airport’s marble and cleanliness gives the building an air of regal ascendancy. And like Arden Fair Sacramento or, even more opulent, the Westfield Galleria at Roseville, our airport now offers many of the shops of a standard tony mall, and most of the food options.

But as I gathered last night with the other greeters and huggers, I was focusing on the emotional resonance of the airport. As explored by the film When Harry Met Sally, some of us assert our worth as friends or as partners by providing a ride to the airport. It’s a symbolic benchmark in a relationship. As I saw last night, some people stage reunions at the airport. Others still see beloved friends or relations for the last time at SMF, giving a last hug before sending that person off to a faraway life, and perhaps a distance of years of virtual check-ins, the absence finalized by a regretful phone call, or, more likely today, a Facebook post by proxy.

In The Last Tycoon, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote meaningfully about the different functions that airports have for us, saying that “airports lead you way back in history like oases, like the stops on the great trade routes. The sight of air travellers strolling in ones and twos into midnight airports will draw a small crowd any night up to two. The young people look at the planes, the older ones look at the passengers with a watchful incredulity.”

As Fitzgerald suggests, we might be distracted by the novel aviation technologies – the invasive x-ray machines, the floatation seat cushions, or the impossibly complex array of dials and readouts that await the captain behind the secure door of the cockpit – or we might, if we are willing to watch carefully and silently, see the poetry that leaps from traveler to traveler, each of us embracing a moment of adventure, or wishing that we were.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature no questions on airports. Instead expect to be asked about all of the topics suggested by these abstruse and enigmatic “hints”: Gutian, young talent in California, Des Moines political gossip, lanterns, heroes named Peter, partially submerged homes, presidential reigns, welcome rain, retired boxers, famous doctors who have returned from their adventures, long poems, The Tonight Show, British immigrants who take our jobs, late night television, Christians, actors who dress in scantily cute clothes, eight-letter words with but two vowels, network television, coffees, Edmund’s questionable choices, discontent, ponies, bonding, California cities, Irish culture, noisy punks, the supernatural, dads like us, languages other than English, MOOCs, happy breathing, and Shakespeare.

I hope you can join us tonight.

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Books and Authors. The widely-regarded Man Booker Prize-winning book Life of Pi was not written by a manly tern, but it was written by a man whose name is an anagram of A MANLY TERN. Name him.

Film. The new Spielberg-directed film Bridge of Spies stars a 59-year-old Oscar-winning actor whose films have grossed over $8.4 billion internationally. Name the actor.

Irish Culture. What is the name of the national flag carrier airline of Ireland?

The Remembering Larry Vanderhoef Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on October 19, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

I was scheduled to introduce Larry Vanderhoef on the evening that he passed away.

When Battle of the Books organizer Shelley Dunning and I were deciding a few months ago who would introduce whom at her wonderful October 15 fundraiser for the Hattie Weber Museum, I jumped at the chance to introduce former UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. I knew the other three authors (John Lescroart, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Naomi Williams) better than I knew the former Chancellor, but I chose Larry because he is one of the reasons that today I call myself a Davisite. To speak for a few minutes about the long-serving Chancellor of your favorite university requires that you speak about the university itself. During Larry’s time, the university grew in size, grew steadily in the estimation of competing sports teams and the U.S. News and World Report, and grew by millions the research and endowment dollars that poured into UC Davis coffers, giving our faculty more opportunities, and making the UC Davis experience more accessible for underrepresented students.

These are perhaps the most impressive accomplishments of Larry Vanderhoef, though none of them is the most important to me. When I think of Larry Vanderhoef, I admire the man the most for these four qualities:

Larry’s commitment to the arts. Who would expect that a biochemist from Perham, Minnesota, population about 1,500 when Larry was born there, would be responsible for the grandest center for the performing arts this side of the Kennedy Center in my former home of Washington DC? I would love to see more of our campus scientists follow Larry’s lead and pledge themselves to the arts that feed our souls.
Larry’s commitment to students. As a Chancellor, Larry was visible, accessible, and present for UC Davis students. A constant attendee to sporting events, a silent and affirming presence at the Undergraduate Research Conference, and a tireless proponent of student scholarships, Larry considered students in every decision he made. One of my star students from 2003 was nominated for a number of undergraduate scholarships and awards, and thus got to attend a number of award ceremonies with the Chancellor. For years thereafter Larry would ask me about Melissa, and I would always have an update to share that would make him smile.
Larry’s humanity. I attended the Chancellor’s fall retreat a week after the events of September 11^th, 2001, and at that event and thereafter I heard Larry speak often about his empathy for the students who, like all of us, were trying to make sense of the new challenges we were facing as a nation. More personally, the summer after he stepped down from his position as Chancellor, Larry attended all the talks I gave at the Summer Institute on Teaching and Technology, and during the lunch break asked me curious and sympathetic questions about Jukie, my son with special needs.
Larry’s humility. I had many conversations with Larry Vanderhoef, but my favorite Larry memory involved no words spoken by either one of us. A number of years ago Larry biked over to the Voorhies Hall courtyard to stand in the back of a crowd that was hearing celebratory talks about the 20 year anniversary of the lauded University Writing Program journal Writing on the Edge. Larry laughed when we laughed, applauded when we applauded, and then, just before we broke for refreshments, mounted his bike to head off to the next event in his busy schedule. Larry supported the writing program faculty by listening and by admiring the success of his campus colleagues, but without ever needing to take his turn behind the microphone, or even to be noticed that he was there.

What a fine man. I agree with Joseph Campbell, who said, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” I am grateful to have known Larry Vanderhoef, and I stand with all UC Davis affiliates who will remember him as we long benefit from his extraordinary gifts.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions about patience, Andy Garcia and others of his ilk, animals in elevators, the cod diet, a household of daughters, that which pleases, loser jackets, people named Lucy, electromagnetics, the Spirit of rapid diminishment, important cities, modern-day zombie infestations, Oscar-winners, books you have heard of by authors you haven’t, contemporary politics, Alabama, BCS, foolish feuds, Juliet hailing Romeo, music facts pulled from the New York Times, Italian words and phrases, that which surrounds, American heroes killed by American authorities, conductors, coaches, people named after favorite professional wrestlers, cars in Connecticut, Californians, beverages, animal species, and Shakespeare.

I hope you can join us this evening for some raucous fun. An even better microphone has been ordered and tested to ensure that we can celebrate trivia without restrictions.

Your Quizmaster

Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. What Republican candidate for U.S. President has been using the political slogan “Heal. Inspire. Revive.”?

Internet Culture. What popular tower defense video game has both a V and a Z in its title?

Batman. Bob Kane first called one of Batman’s vehicles the Batmobile in the first year of what decade?

P.S. There will be a special guest at Kate’s table tonight. Her brother Andy is visiting from Chicago. Feel free to stop by to welcome him to Davis!

The Dark Passage Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on October 12, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Thanks to the History Channel, we now have another reason to watch the films Escape from Alcatraz and Dark Passage once again. A recent re-examination of the history of Alcatraz suggests once again that three men escaped the island.

According to the website (and iphone app) Alcatraz History, John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Lee Morris are the only names left unaccounted for after all these years. Clint Eastwood played Morris in the film Escape from Alcatraz, so it was through his eyes that we got to explore the challenges of digging tunnels with spoons and creating fake dummy heads from prison wall cement.

At the 50^th anniversary of their “escape,” sisters of John and Clarence Anglin asserted that they must have escaped, say, to Brazil, for why else would the U.S. Marshalls and the History Channel still be looking for them?

Meanwhile, Bogart’s escape from San Quentin in the beginning of Dark Passage is intriguing for a couple reasons. One, it takes place not far from here on Marin County and San Francisco streets that we may have driven ourselves. Secondly, Bogart’s face is not shown in the beginning of the film, with many scenes shot from his point of view. There is a plastic surgery twist that I think you will enjoy.

As a poet, and as someone who has taken and taught film theory classes, I read such movies metaphorically. What prisons do each of us live in, and how do we escape them? William Blake asserted in his poem “London” that we establish needless limitations in our own minds:

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear,

In every voice: in every ban,

The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.

T.S. Eliot spoke of a similar mental prison in The Waste Land:

We think of the key, each in his prison

Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison.

While Thoreau argues that our desperation imprisons us:

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”

He argues in that same section of Walden that “Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them.”

So I hope you that tonight you will break free from the prison of television, or of thoughtless and glassy-eyed surfing, and instead join your friends and me as we pick from life’s finer fruits.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on doctors with borders, aggressive plants, Shakespeare movies, sporting villains, the dreams that we have the courage to pursue, contracts, book battles, novels by women, scientific notebooks, cornfields, little furry creatures that almost kill franchises, growth leaders, walking dumplings, the guy who gets the girl, famous characters invented by Irishmen, poor little angels, freedoms of choice, days of the week, long Wigs, Boston University faculty, urban neurotics, 8^th passengers, breath jells, South America, shot deputies, retail warehouses, banalities, the undead, famous mansions, the studies of Professor Plum, people born in the 1970s, extra hints on the website, riveters, Grammy-winners, famous shoes, Batman, Dark Passages (the actual movie), mermaids, and Shakespeare.

The First Annual Battle of the Books takes place this Thursday, and four of the authors represented are frequent (or constant) Pub Quiz attendees. Maybe I will see you Thursday night at 6 at St James Hall. Even though it’s Thursday, there will be no Poetry Night that night. Join us instead for the BOTB fundraiser for the Hattie Weber Museum.

See you soon!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. What sort of breakfast cereal, if you can call it that, purports to be “magically delicious”?

Internet Culture. Presented just last week, the twelfth major release of OS X was named after a large two-word rock formation that begins with the letter E. Name it.

Newspaper Headlines. South Carolina is being battered by a series of serious storms, and parts of the capital are still being evacuated. What is the capital of South Carolina?

Four for Four. Which two of the following species of oak are native to California? Cork Oak, Engelmann Oak, Scarlet Oak, Valley Oak.

Find the Commonality. What word that refers to a robot and an operating system is also the name of a Green Day song and a 1982 science fiction film starring Klaus Kinski?

P.S. I have been assured that the mic will be working this evening.

The Literary October Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on October 5, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Sir Winston Churchill purportedly said, “Success is the ability to move from one failure to another without loss of enthusiasm.” I say “purportedly,” because although the quotation is widely attributed to Churchill, scholars can’t find the phrase anywhere in the estimated eight to ten million words found in his speeches, books, and newspaper pieces. Like President Obama, and, say, Hillary Clinton, writing for Churchill was his primary source of income (though I am sure that all three did well on the lecture circuit).

As someone who has taught writing at UC Davis for 25 years (as of this month), I myself haven’t figured out how to make living from what I publish. The Sacramento Bee has paid me for a few pieces, and I once earned $250 for a long essay on Allen Ginsberg and the Beat Generation for the journal Art, Ltd. I don’t know that I ever broke even on my first book of poetry, Split Stock, and my most recent book, Where’s Jukie?, represents part of my charity work: all profits from books sales are donated to medical research.

Nevertheless, as Churchill didn’t say, I push on from one “failure” after another with no loss of enthusiasm, in part because of all the people I get to meet at book events, and because of all the literary and theatrical performances I get to enjoy resulting from my work as a writer. More specifically, I get to participate in seven literary events over the coming two weeks, all of which are worth recounting here:

October 9th – Sandra McPherson reads at the Wardrobe, 206 E Street, beginning at 7 PM. Expect refreshments.

Sandra McPherson, professor emerita and founder of Swan Scythe Press, will be reading new poetry at The Wardrobe, across the street from de Vere’s Irish Pub. I would consider this an event not to be missed. In addition to authoring about 20 books, McPherson’s honors and awards include three National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, a Guggenheim fellowship, two Ingram Merrill grants, an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and letters, and a nomination for the National Book Award. She could be called the most decorated poet in Davis.

October 10th – Dr. Andy Jones and Kate Duren Perform from Where’s Jukie? at Stories on Stage, Davis, at the Pence Gallery, 212 D Street starting at 7:30. $5 cover.

Kate and I will PERFORM poems and essays from our book Where’s Jukie? on Saturday. Also, Capital Public Radio personality Devin Yamanaka will read an excerpt from Brenda Nakamoto’s memoir, Peach Farmer’s Daughter. Cookies and wine will be available, as will an expanded edition of our latest book (which I pick up on Thursday). One almost never gets to see Kate at the microphone – that’s what I am most excited about.

October 15th – Battle of the Books at St. James Memorial Center, 1275 B St., starting at 6 PM. $10 cover. A fundraiser benefiting the Hattie Weber Museum. Note that there will be no Poetry Night on this evening.

Top Davis Authors will be present, speaking about their books and having fun in a quiz show format, hosted by beloved Davis Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning. Which books? The Fall by New York Times bestselling author John Lescroart; Aurora by acclaimed science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson; Indelibly Davis by UC Davis Chancellor Emeritus Larry Vanderhoef; Landfalls by first-time author Naomi Williams; and the aforementioned Where’s Jukie? by Andy Jones and Kate Duren. I hope to have Naomi’s book finished by the 15^th, and I’ve already read two and a half of the others.

October 16th — The Jack Kerouac Poetry Prize Revelation Ceremony and Reading at the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street. 8 PM

Like the Oscars, but for Poetry. Cash prizes will be given out, and the runners-up and winning poets will read their selected works before a jazz trio. A night of poetic adventure and fun, and a kick-off of the 2015 Jazz Beat Festival. I will be hosting this free event.

October 17th – Beat Poet and San Francisco Legend Michael McClure Reads in Davis. John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street. 7 PM

The evening finale of the Jazz Beat Festival is a performance by the canonical Beat poet, playwright, and lyricist, Michael McClure. At the age of 22, Michael McClure gave his first poetry reading at the legendary Six Gallery event in San Francisco, where Allen Ginsberg first read Howl. He has been called the role model for Jim Morrison, and for a generation of literary radicals and rebels.

Thanks to organizers such as Heather Caswell, Shelley Dunning, and John Natsoulas, in October Davis rivals San Francisco with its literary prowess. I hope to see you at some of these events. If you attend them all, I will buy you a drink at the October 19^th Pub Quiz. If you attend none of them, one day you may wrestle with regret.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on various and sundry politicians, including questions on where they live and congregate. Expect also questions about good cops and bad cops, successful sequels, tender affections, biodiversity, Saturday Night Live, breezy homonyms, monumental authors, Michael Dukakis, mighty oaks, rock formations, consumable acids, words that start with E, the luck of the Irish, South America, math facts, success stories born in 1934, Canadians, Emily Blunt, 89 and 93, Arab countries, Martian contests, front runners, approaches to appealing to activists, U.S. states, former job titles, “successful” marriages, blind heroes, the state of a family, leftists and progressives, metaphysics, rich ladies, gradual development, Green Day, fashion design, and Shakespeare. I haven’t even written the anagram question yet, for I am teaching a Writing in Fine Arts class on Monday mornings. First things first.

Congratulations to the Moops who won last week’s quiz with a score of 28 points out of 30. See you tonight.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. TV commercials for what brand of antacids asked us how we spelled relief? Regrettably, my knowledge of this fact leaves less room for other more worthy facts. I’m sure you know this feeling.

Internet Culture. The nickname of Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, CA also starts with the letter G. What is that nickname?

Newspaper Headlines. What three main American cities did Pope Francis visit last week? I wonder if Francis will be canonized in my lifetime.

Four for Four. Which of the following H cities, if any, are found in Northern California? Hawthorne, Healdsburg, Hercules, Hesperia. Of these, I’ve only visited Healdsburg.

Presidential Candidates. Of the shrinking number of Republicans running for U.S. President, which one is a 57 year-old former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania? Both he and I hope you won’t have to Google this one (but for different reasons).

The Avid Reading Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on September 28, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

How lucky are we to have independent bookstores in our city of Davis! When I first moved to Davis in 1990, I reveled in my visits to the half-dozen or so independent bookstores we had to choose from. As I biked from store to store 25 years ago, I was reminded of why I had previously chosen to study in Boston, London, and Berkeley: the intellectual stimulation of bookstores!

Back then I was also a bit of a book hoarder. As a graduate student, I displayed a superfluity of stocked bookshelves in every home where I lived, and many more books boxed away in the garage or closets. Having recently read about “The Private Book Collections of 10 Famous Readers,” I feel that tinge of desire to start collecting all over again, especially when I discover that Charles Darwin owned intriguing titles such as The Physiology or Mechanism of Blushing by Thomas Henry Burgess and The American Beaver and his Works by Lewis H. Morgan. Imagine the illustrations!

Eventually the floorboards of our various homes creaked with the weight of all that learning, the commodification of the world’s ideas. And then came Jukie, our son who as a toddler had the same attitude towards books as the Emperor Aurelian had towards the now lost library at Alexandria. The most precious books, many of them signed, were boxed up, and gradually I gave the rest away to my undergraduates and friends, as well as to the Davis Branch of the Yolo Public Library and the Sacramento Poetry Center. My wife Kate reminded me that if I ever wanted a book in the future, I could just buy it.

My favorite place to purchase books in Davis is The Avid Reader, the bookstore on 617 2^nd Street that stocks so many fresh titles, hosts a number of readings and talks by local and traveling authors, and co-sponsors so many literary events in town. Although I have seen literati speak in bookstores in all the aforementioned cities, as well as DC and New York, by now I have seen the most live book events at our own Avid Reader.

One upcoming event that the Avid Reader is cosponsoring has been organized by Shelley Dunning, and the beneficiaries include all of us who read local authors, and especially the Hattie Webber Museum. To quote a recent article in the Davis Enterprise about the October 15^th “Battle of the Books,” the books to have been read will include the following: “’The Fall’ by New York Times bestselling author John Lescroart; ‘Aurora’ by acclaimed science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson; ‘Indelibly Davis’ by UC Davis Chancellor Emeritus Larry Vanderhoef; ‘Landfalls’ by first-time author Naomi Williams; and ‘Where’s Jukie?’ by popular husband-and-wife authors Andy Jones and Kate Duren.” Of these books, I have read and enjoyed The Fall and am now reading and loving Landfalls. Both are highly recommended.

Landfalls author Naomi Williams is a regular substitute on the Pub Quiz team The Mavens, while John Lescroart has attended a number of pub quizzes with his friend Glenn and their wives. Kate Duren attends every week, and of course I follow her wherever she goes. Bob Dunning will be MCing this Battle of the Books event, with all the authors present, and a number of “softball” questions to be asked about the books and authors, and about the city of Davis. You should visit http://thedavisstore.com/events/battle-of-the-books-2015/ to register your intent to participate in this event. The entrance fee is a mere $10, and I think all of us who participate plan to consume more than $10 worth of food and drink at the event. Local businesses such as The Davis Store and The Avid Reader will be donating prizes, and all the money raised will support the Hattie Webber Museum.

Speaking of which, I hear that Avid Reader owner Alzada Knickerbocker and a team of book-lovers and bookstore employees will be attending tonight’s Pub Quiz. As one can discover at Davis Wiki, in 2006 “Alzada Knickerbocker was named state Small-Business Champion of the Year by the National Federation of Independent Business,” so she sticks up for all us who would prefer to shop locally in stores by local business owners. She also runs a number of contests and outreach events to encourage a broader knowledge and understanding of the U.S. Constitution. Schoolchildren across the United States are pleased that our constitution is the shortest of just about any country’s in the world. Nevertheless, much can be learned from its momentous words, originally penned on parchment.

I hope you will also join us tonight. Expect questions on the following topics: animal lovers, people who say “Bravo,” lunchbox favorites, impudence, associated with The Great Gatsby, trials, furry animals who are never spotted in tea stores, Germany, conservative and progressive rock, fiction, candidates for U.S. president, hailing Romeo, cities in California, the nicknames of buildings, relief, book collecting, competition for Cleopatra, questionable sports, dinosaurs, bookstores, whiskey, actors who are also dancers, castles, Greek philosophers, first words, founding fathers, numbers that are divisible by 9, parchment, menu items, and Shakespeare.

In addition to our friends from The Avid Reader, we will be joined tonight by one of the all-star teams of yesteryear, The Penetrators, named thus because of their penetrating stares and their minds. Will you score better than the Penetrators? Bring your team by tonight to find out.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Internet Culture. As of 2014, which of the following top-ranked colleges has the most alumni working for Apple, Inc.? Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UC Davis.

Film. The new Whitey Bulger biopic titled Black Mass takes place primarily in what U.S. State?

Pop Culture – Music. In 2003 Rolling Stone named what 71 year-old Canadian singer-songwriter and painter the 72nd greatest guitarist of all time, the highest-ranked woman on the list?

Four for Four. Which two of the following are among the top three banana exporters in the world? China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, India.

Sports. Among the general population of the United States, the most popular competitive sport (and fifth most popular recreational sport) is a pastime of more than 43 million people. Name the sport.

P.S. This coming Thursday the musician, poet and fiction writer Christian Kiefer will be joined at Poetry Night by San Francisco novelist Janis Cooke Newman. You should Google them both and then plan to join us Thursday at 8 at the Natsoulas Gallery.

The Autumnal Merriment Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on September 21, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

What an exciting time of change we are experiencing. The new and returning UC Davis students have arrived, Davis Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning is heading to the east coast to cover the current Pope’s first ever visit to the United States, and this Wednesday is the Autumn Equinox.

Some people face Autumn with regret for the lost summer. The musician Nick Cave once said, “If you look around, complacency is the great disease of your autumn years, and I work hard to prevent that.” Similarly, the poet Robert Browning once said that, “Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay.”

I myself prefer the attitude of the Paul Laurence Dunbar, who at Pub Quiz we recently discovered authored “Sympathy,” the poem that begins with these recognizable lines:

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;

When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,

And the river flows like a stream of glass;

When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,

And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—

I know what the caged bird feels!

I favor the far less well-known Dunbar poem celebrates the Autumn of temperate Davis rather than, say, the mountainous and rainy Lake District of northwest England, a poem titled “Merry Autumn.” Here it is, in its entirety:

Merry Autumn by Paul Laurence Dunbar

It’s all a farce, — these tales they tell

About the breezes sighing,

And moans astir o’er field and dell,

Because the year is dying.

Such principles are most absurd, —

I care not who first taught ’em;

There’s nothing known to beast or bird

To make a solemn autumn.

In solemn times, when grief holds sway

With countenance distressing,

You’ll note the more of black and gray

Will then be used in dressing.

Now purple tints are all around;

The sky is blue and mellow;

And e’en the grasses turn the ground

From modest green to yellow.

The seed burrs all with laughter crack

On featherweed and jimson;

And leaves that should be dressed in black

Are all decked out in crimson.

A butterfly goes winging by;

A singing bird comes after;

And Nature, all from earth to sky,

Is bubbling o’er with laughter.

The ripples wimple on the rills,

Like sparkling little lasses;

The sunlight runs along the hills,

And laughs among the grasses.

The earth is just so full of fun

It really can’t contain it;

And streams of mirth so freely run

The heavens seem to rain it.

Don’t talk to me of solemn days

In autumn’s time of splendor,

Because the sun shows fewer rays,

And these grow slant and slender.

Why, it’s the climax of the year,—

The highest time of living!—

Till naturally its bursting cheer

Just melts into thanksgiving.

It will be a while before our days melt into thanksgiving. Today students moving into the dorms will do a different sort of melting. Perhaps they will join us tonight as we all cool off with a refreshing beverage and the company of good friends at the Pub Quiz. See you then.

And were you expecting hints for tonight’s quiz? Tonight on the Pub Quiz expect questions about female standouts, criminal masterminds, China and Costa Rica, alliterative names, representing war, UC Davis competing with the Ivies, hairs, Donald Trump, Canadians in show business, competitive sports, the three layers, horses, the Aggies, winners and losers, Ernest Hemingway, reservoirs, 1970 studies on Rhesus monkeys, memories of Austria, lovely places, notable visitors, kingpins, democratic push-back, men and women (five questions), biographies, insoles made of wheat, Marvel comics, record-breakers, the arts and such, space travel, science, and Shakespeare.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. “Must-see TV” referred to shows on what TV network?

Internet Culture. What company has the largest market share in the streaming media box industry, accounting for 34% of all streaming devices sold in the United States in 2014?

Gargoyles. Grotesque beasts perched on the sides of old buildings should technically only be called gargoyles if they perform what function?

Glenn Close. Oscar nominated actress Glenn Close plays Nova Prime in what 2014 film?

Great Americans. Who was born in 1786 in Tennessee and died March 6, 1836 in San Antonio, Texas?

P.S. Happy birthday today to Bobby Nord, the New Hampshire musician and philosopher who inspires autumnal merriment wherever he goes.

P.P.S. If you attend the 50% off sale at Logos Books on 2^nd Street today, consider purchasing something fancy that could be given away as swag at a future pub quiz. At some point swag-winners will tire of going home with my Bruce Willis DVDs.

The “what do we make of the wind?” edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on September 14, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

The strong winds from this morning suggest change, most immediately a welcome change to fall-like temperatures.

With two raging and destructive fires burning homes and forcing evacuations in northern California, we think of what the winds mean to the firefighters, scrambling to dowse the tinder-dry fuel that our desiccated state has become. To many, favorite places are burning. Lake County’s Harbin Hot Springs, for example, a clothing-optional resort and workshop center, was known for its tranquil pools and wooded pathways. It was a place to escape the noise and rush of work responsibilities.

But no more. Today’s SFGate presents evidence of the worst-possible news for fans of this retreat: “the classic 19th-century springs and New Age healing retreat was leveled when the fast-moving Valley Fire tore through here Saturday.” The accompanying photographs are dispiriting.

Examine the fickle wind. Every birthday we blow out candles, but we also know that a blacksmith uses bellows to grow intensify his fire. As Roger de Bussy-Rabutin once said in a different context, “Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it inflames the great.”

Each of us must decide how to face the winds of change. Some of us might consider ourselves modern Elizabeths. Elizabeth I said, “Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak, you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no wind.” Soon thereafter a storm helped destroy the threat of the Spanish Armada, as if Elizabeth herself could wield the winds, Storm-style.

Bruce Lee looked at the wind differently, saying, “Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.” Bruce Lee believed that we should train ourselves to have a “mind like water.”

As a poet and a rapid bicyclist who finds myself inspired by a cool breeze on a September morning, I stand instead with William Butler Yeats: “Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame!”

There’s that flame again. Like our brave firefighters, that thin red line standing between us and new and ever more destructive conflagrations, we have trouble escaping the wind, and the symbiotic flames that accompany them. I invite you to choose your own metaphor: what sort of wind are you, or do you face, on this squally day?

Although it will not include the word “squally,” tonight’s Pub Quiz will touch on one of the topics raised above, as well as the state of being among schoolchildren, Sacramento, common greetings, boxes, UC Davis, grotesque beasts, streams, snow days without snow, people born in Greenwich, attributes of old buildings, Corinth, automobiles, MVPs, names that many prefer not to speak, starters, patient wives, metaphorical trains, astronomy, former Episcopals, archipelagos, famous rear admirals, the west (to some), castaways, big cities, Oscar-winning actresses, blarney softeners, three-letter acronyms (or TLAs), robots, world leaders, cathedrals, journeys from Tennessee to Texas, apparati, Kanye, blockbusters, early novelists, Irish culture, geography, and Shakespeare.

Come out of the wind, escape the smoke, and join us tonight at the Pub Quiz. At times of change, we need rituals to keep us centered, and our Monday night ritual works best when you participate.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. The company Smashbox has used the slogan “We Only Test on Party Animals.” What C word best describes the product or industry of Smashbox?

Internet Culture. The iPad was first released the same year as the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Name the (even) year.

Newspaper Headlines. Sarah Palin said in a recent interview that immigrants to the U.S. should learn to speak what “language” that starts with the letter A?

Penguins. Dreamworks is responsible for penguins that are most associated with what country?

Sports. Klay Thompson scored a record 37 points in the 3rd quarter of a game against the Sacramento Kings on January 23, 2015. For what team was Thompson playing?

P.S. Please come join us at Poetry Night Thursday. We will feature poet Josh Fernandez and storyteller Jodi Angel, both with recent books, and both with outrageous and meaningful stories to tell. Esquire Magazine called Angel’s book You Only Get Letters from Jail a “book of the summer.” And people who don’t know him follow Josh Fernandez on Facebook to take delight in his outrageous posts.

Poetry Night meets on first and third Thursdays at 521 First Street, the John Natsoulas Gallery, at 8 PM. The after party returns to the Irish Pub at 10 that night.

The Labor Day Wedding Anniversary Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on September 7, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Kate and I got married on a Monday, a Labor Day, way back in 1992, at the beginning of a new political era in our country, and a new and particularly lucky era in my personal life, one that has lasted 23 years so far (and one that will surely outlive one of us). We chose Labor Day because of our progressive roots and inclinations, and because we wanted to spend as much of that long weekend as possible with our far-flung friends and family. They descended by car and plane (one of them self-piloted) upon the tiny Illinois village of Hinsdale, 20 miles outside Chicago, most of them to meet those from the other side of the wedding aisle for the first time.

Kate’s father officiated. My brother Oliver was my best man. My uncle Chuck was our back-up photographer. Run like a Quaker meeting, the ceremony featured short speeches and poems (and one epic poem) by members of the congregation, including five of our seven parents, Kate’s grandmother, and about half-dozen friends. The momentousness of that day hung in the air like the low storm clouds, threatening rain above Katherine Legge Memorial Park, and those assembled knew that this was their one chance.

It was also my one and only chance. Never in high school, and never in my first years of college, had I found cause to hope to date, live with, and/or marry someone so beautiful, or so disarmingly funny and kind. A chance encounter in London, where we regrettably never attended a pub quiz, dramatically improved everything about my life, and a mere five years later, I was dancing to the music of the B-52s in a Hinsdale lodge like a madman with joy, or slow-dancing with Kate with relief and devotion, surrounded by all who were important to us.

I am grateful to have had Kate beside me, and usually in my arms, during the challenges that life has thrown our way, and to have had her inhabit our continually shared discovery and laughter. My best decision ever was to marry Kate, and our second-best was to have our children. Beyond that, as I look into Kate’s eyes, the rest of my decisions fast-fade into history. For me, on September 7^th, this yearly day of celebration and remembrance is a benchmark of my life’s joy and gratitude.

Happy anniversary, Kate!

Tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on one of the topics I raised above, as well as party animals, languages, beavers, spilled oil, flightless birds, machetes, the British Royal Nancy, sweet showers, former Harvard professors, cracking eggs, an inspector named Columbo, sluggers, important visits, Hogwarts, snakes amid the rocks, the Olympics, Ptolemy, productivity, tamability, my soul that has grown deep like the rivers, New Year’s Eve, unrealized promise, Academy Award nominees, carbohydrates, reality TV, state capitals, davenports, commercial law, Ireland, world cities, and Shakespeare.

I hope you can join us tonight. September marks a new season of the Pub Quiz, and you really shouldn’t miss a single Monday.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. Starting with the letter C, what Danish brewing company, now the fifth largest brewing group in the world, abandoned the slogan “Probably the Best Beer in the World” for its original, “That Calls for a BLANK”?

Newspaper Headlines. President Obama formally announced today that the tallest mountain in North America is being renamed “Denali.” What has been the official name of the mountain since 1917?

Actors and Actresses. The man who had second billing in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, considered by many to be the greatest American film ever, had first billing in The Third Man, considered by many to be the greatest British film ever. Name this American actor whose last name starts with C.

Our Border with Canada. The U.S. Border with Canada is the longest in the world. Is it closest to 1,500 miles, 3,500 miles, 5,500, or 7,500 miles?

Math. Counting the driver, there are seven people in a Greyhound bus traveling at 67 miles per hour from Davis to Portland. Each of the people in the bus, including the driver, has seven cages. In each cage, there are seven large cats. For each large cat, there are seven kittens. Here’s your question: How many legs are there in the bus?

The Whimsy and Bicycling Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on August 31, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Although he grew up in Indiana, and thus played lots of basketball as a youth, bicycling was my father’s “sport” of choice in the 1970s. He owned a black, steel Raleigh bicycle with a raised seat to account for his unusually long legs. There was a leather bike bag attached to the back of his seat, and, behind that, a tiny bike seat. I’m sure that seat would not be legal today, and frankly now that I think of it, I don’t remember my dad or me wearing a helmet during those years. Despite the fact that the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) would have taken away my dad’s bicycling license if they were to see us rumbling down 35^th Street, past one of former president Kennedy’s Georgetown mansions, we spent many weekend mornings on that route, the best way to Fletcher’s Boathouse. That’s where we would catch the towpath along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, a vestige from an earlier age before locomotives when mules would tow freight boats along the canal.

Just today I learned that “Most freight boats on the C&O Canal were approximately 95 feet long and 14.5 feet wide while most locks were 100 feet long and 15 feet wide. This left boat captains little margin for error as they steered their boats into the locks, trying to avoid the $5.00 fine for damaging lock masonry.” The National Park Service website with this important information also reminds us that “All hikers and bikers must yield the right of way to horses and mules.” (Our bike paths in Davis can sometimes get crowded, but usually mules are not among the hazards we face.)

My dad and I spent hundreds of hours together biking along those 185 miles of Maryland and Virginia towpaths, which is still one of the largest biking trails in the country. Towards the end of his life dad would tell the story of how, towards the conclusion of an overly-ambitious ride, I would reach out my four or five-year-old hand and rest it on his back, giving him a bit of comfort and strength just at the moment when he strength was flagging. If I still lived in DC, I would investigate how I might arrange for a brick or plaque to be put up along one of those paths: “Davey Marlin-Jones biked past everything you see here, and his son was grateful for every mile.”

Fast forward more than 40 years, and today everyone in my “new” hometown Davis is riding a bicycle, or should be. The city has been named the most bicycle friendly town in the United States by the League of American Bicyclists, and we are home to the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame. Obviously this is the city for me, for I have adopted my father’s sport (though with his casual attention to recreation, rather than, say, competition).

Our city’s most dynamic proponent of bicycling, Peter Wagner, was celebrated by the Davis City Council on the occasion of his 60^th birthday (in 2012), and Wagner’s Whymcycles are to be seem in every important Davis parade or event, most famously in the Picnic Day Parade. I find it strange, then, that the same City of Davis that celebrated Peter Wagner’s bicycles just a few years ago has now sent him a formal request to remove those bikes from his property. Doesn’t this local inventor, substitute teacher, and celebrated Davis bicycling champion deserve some consideration in this matter? I left a message with Code Enforcement Office Amy Juarez this morning, asking that some accommodation could be found. Certainly we as Davisites should consider how we might come to Peter Wagner’s defense. I invite you to review some of the primary documents in this unfortunate matter on the Peter Wagner page on Davis Wiki.

I almost approached Peter Wagner to ask him for some help with a particular biking challenge. My 14 year old son Jukie, now 115 pounds heavy, has been busting the tires on the ride-along bikes that we have attached to mine so that he could join the family on bike rides. Ken of Ken’s Bike and Ski correctly called Jukie “differently-abled”: he’s a kid who loves bicycling but doesn’t have the wherewithal to pedal, much less steer, a bike. And he’s too big now to sit on a “third wheel” behind my two wheels. So far this year, we have taken family bike rides in shifts, with Jukie watching wistfully from the window.

Well, this past weekend we stopped by one of our city’s many bike stores to check out a cargo bike fitted with a soft seat behind mine, and a securely-fastened steel ring to hold on to (I never had a steel ring on my Dad’s old Raleigh). As soon as Jukie figured out what we were considering, Jukie ran into the bike store and came out with a helmet, his way of saying that he wanted again to feel the freedom and exhilaration of a bike ride in Davis.

We bought a bright red Yuba Boda Boda 8 cargo bike, and I spent much of the weekend riding that boy around town. Saturday we explored South Davis, and Sunday we rode it out to the Unitarian Universalist Church to see my colleague Dr. Karma Waltonen provide the sermon: “The Sacrilicious Spirituality of the Simpsons.” For this family of bicyclists, all sorts of adventures are again available to us, and I am getting just the (intense) workout I need, especially hauling Jukie up to the top of the Pole Line Road Overpass, one of the best places in Davis to watch a summer sunset from the seat of your bicycle.

Tonight expect questions on the Statistic Brain Research Institute, maidservants, gridiron standouts, elective office, regrettable transitions, magma, China, ocean cities, Northern Irishmen, the Olympics, distinctive hats, SportsNet, shows I’ve never watched, small maritime disasters, the uncanny, high-power nachos, beer choices, blogging, the major, southwestern states, math problems involving animals on Greyhounds, basketball, pretty flowers, presidents, marine life, U.S. Geography, movies about toys, makeup cabinets, Oscar nominees, instant classics, hot topics, Maya Angelou, sports, Star Wars, and Shakespeare.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz comes at a time of transition. Many leases end tonight, and about an equal number of new ones start tomorrow. The beginning of the new Pub Quiz “season,” tonight we can start work together to find new teams and new players to replace those who, regrettably, are moving away from Davis.

I hope to see you this evening!

Your Quizmaster