Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
This has been an Easter weekend full of magic. Saturday I taught my first-grader Truman how to ride a bike. No one was more surprised than he was, laughing out loud while pedaling wildly along the greenbelt, yelling “I’m doing it” over and over. As the afternoon skies darkened, two Mormon Elders came by to watch Truman do figure eights in our cul de sac, drawn to the simultaneously precarious and dreamlike quality of what they were watching, as well as to their mission to talk to me about my post-life plans. When I told them that I was a Buddhist, one of them blurted out that that was “awesome.” Evidently these particular Elders were not taught in proselytizing class how to deal with Buddhists, so we just went back to watching Truman. Nice fellows.
And then yesterday afternoon I convinced the kids to pause the DVD they received from the Easter Bunny and instead watch the thunderstorm that I’m sure you also noticed shaking the town od Davis. We think it was Truman’s first daytime thunderstorm, and he kept us all updated on what he was seeing and feeling. At one point, after a flash of lightning lit up the living room, to the delight of the spectators, I asked Truman if he knew what came after lightning. He thought for a beat and then responded, “Frankenstein?” Ours is a home full of stories, new and old.
My outreach and performance adventures next week will keep me from hosting the Pub Quiz (there will be a sub). I will be participating in the Sacramento Poetry Center 4th Annual Autism Benefit Reading: Poetry and Art at the MIND Institute. As some of you know, I’m an advocate for autism research and awareness, and like to support local efforts in any way I can. I will be performing poems with the amazing poets Michelle Bitting, Rebecca Foust, and Connie Post, all of whom have written blurbs for my next book of poetry. If you are inclined, you are invited to join us at 2825 50th Street in Sacramento next Monday at 7:00 PM. Dennis Hock will be the host.
Our substitute Quizmaster on April 8 will be Nat Sternbergh, the local teacher and regular Pub Quiz participant who likes to dress up like Gandalf and loudly recite Percy Shelley poems at the Louvre (though not necessarily at the same time). He also has a background in theatre, so he should be able to keep up. Expect to learn more about him in next week’s newsletter.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will features questions on sports apparel, books, internet culture, vengefulness, café culture, art, classical music, quarterbacks, American presidents, take-aways, judges, sea battlers, television, avoiding motels, musical honorifics, bike thieves, words that start with the letter G, crusts, comic book characters, pop music, films with Oscar-nominated actors in them, Irish people, constitutions, chocolate, people who love maps, well-worn phrases from poems, Germany, commerce, and Shakespeare.
Joe Wenderoth and Oliver Jones (yes, a blood relative) will be performing adult-themed essays at the John Natsoulas Gallery this coming Thursday. You should join us! We’ll probably visit de Vere’s both before and after this event, because Oliver can’t get enough of the Irish Pub phenomenon.
Last week the Pub Quiz spilled out onto the patio, so I advise you to come early to claim a table tonight. I’m not joking.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
1. Mottos and Slogans. If you are told to “Taste the Rainbow,” what are you actually tasting?
2. Internet Culture. The best-selling PC game throughout the 1990s started with the letter M. What was its name? Hint: It’s not “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.”
3. US States and Emancipation. The number that is the earliest age in years that the emancipation of minors can occur in the U.S. is also the number of US States that do not have the letter A in their names. What is that number?
4. Sports – Baseball. What baseball player born in 1934 holds the record for the most RBIs, and the most total bases?
5. Science. What chemical element with the atomic number of 27 is also a color and a compact car introduced by Chevrolet?
P.S. I’m listening to KDVS online this week via Soundtap at http://soundtap.com/kdvs. If you sign into the site and keep your virtual radio on KDVS, our beloved local radio station will reap all sorts of benefits. Everyone loves a bracket!