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 17th 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
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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 4th 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.