Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Back in the early days of “Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour,” the KDVS (90.3 FM) radio show that I began hosting in 2000, I paid special attention to obituaries and anniversaries, hoping that they would give me enough material to string together the sort of fascinating commentary, recorded poems, and read poems for my listeners to enjoy. These days, because of the work of my producer and assistant, Pia Baur, my show is overrun with guests who themselves are promoting projects or books. I’m guaranteed at least two engaging conversations a week: the one I have with a table of Pub Quiz aficionados before the Quiz begins, and another on the radio Wednesday afternoons at 5 with the guests that Pia finds me.
Because the show is no so busy, I will barely have time this coming Wednesday to say more about the passing of the great feminist poet and Stanford Professor, Adrienne Rich, who died last week at the age of 82. I saw Rich read at UC Davis in about 1991 – it was fascinating to hear the crowd’s murmuring voices at a higher octave than a more typically mixed-gender throng of poetry fans. She was an excellent craftswoman, as you can see by reading and hearing some of her poems at her page at the Academy of American Poets website. The other great loss last week was that of the world’s foremost banjo player, Earl Scruggs. My wife Kate happened to be listening to some banjo music (by or influenced by Scruggs, no doubt) in the hospital on the day that Truman was born, and she remarked that banjo music always made her happy. (Pete Seeger once said of the banjo that “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.”) Anyway, Truman was soon born, aaand Banjo was his middle name (O).
But mostly I want to take a moment to remember Rex Babin, the editorial cartoonist of the Sacramento Bee who passed away this weekend at the much-too-young age of 49. Babin was a member of the Manly Man Movie Club of Davis (which I happen to run), as well as a consistent and spirited friend to KDVS, your local free-form radio station. Just about every year Rex would donate original drawings to the KDVS fundraiser, drawing everyone’s attention to one of the last independent voices in radio. I didn’t know him terribly well, but he always made me smile when he came to one of our dinner and movie nights, and when he would take on then Governor Schwarzenegger in the Sacramento Bee. My thoughts are with his family. If Rex were still with us, he’d probably also ask me to remind you that the KDVS fundraiser begins April 22.
In addition to poetry and music, tonight’s Pub Quiz at de Vere’s Irish Pub will include questions on prominent Republicans, somnolence, US news, superheroes, drugs and more drugs, Glee, dreams, basketball players, youth, food and drink, colors other than silver, religiosity, thieves, island residents, magic, American composers, cookbooks, those tiny fitted dresses that starlets wear at LA nightclubs, zoos, The Nobel Prize, other things I learned in LA this weekend, Frisbees, college basketball, Roman Polanski, Africa, baseball, Telly Savalas movies (not again!), Barry Manilow, second-favorite planets, rich people, absurd people, closed doors, famous Europeans, Los Angeles, problem plays, the rain, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to editor Justin Cox and the folks from Davis Patch for providing the swag last week, prizes for fourth and a rare fifth place. Davis Patch also shares this newsletter with its growing number of readers.
See you this evening!
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
10. Textiles and Clothing. What do we call the soft woven fabric that is commonly used to make tartan clothing, blankets, bed sheets, and sleepwear?
11. Unusual Words. What five-letter monosyllabic verb starting with the letter P and with a Scrabble score of 10 means “to render peevish, that is, to annoy”?
12. Pixar. Which Pixar film features the greatest number and variety of mentions of food?
13. Pop Culture – Television. Who anchored the ABC television program World News from 2006 to 20009, at which time he was replaced by Diane Sawyer?
14. Another Music Question. Released in 1971, what is the three-word title of the most requested, and the most played album-oriented rock FM radio song?
P.S. Scot Siegel and Laurie Glover are reading their poetry this coming Thursday night at the John Natsoulas Gallery. See http://poetryindavis.com/ for more details.