As threatened below, Tony Hightower and I hosted trivia at the Baggot Inn last night.  It was my first time doing it (friggin' n00b!), and I had a blast.  It was a crowded room; we had sixteen, count 'em, 16 teams.  Our favorite team names were "Paula Abdul Said My Movement Was Excellent" and "NASTLA -- The North American Student-Teacher Love Association." 

As always, trivia consisted of five rounds -- general knowledge, current events, a Top Ten List, audio, and visual rounds.  Questions (and answers!) after the jump.

We led off with our general-knowledge round.  Since this is the last Tuesday in April, we decided on "April Showers" as our theme.  (Mouse over the parentheses at the end of each question to see the answer.)  Here we go:

1. According to the National Weather Service, from 1869 through today, in New York City, which month of the year on average is the wettest?  (May, at 4.69"/month)
2. I will recite the lyric of a song; you tell me the movie in which this song appears:    Here I stand, the goddess of desire / Set men on fire / I have this power. / Morning, noon and night, it's dwink and dancing / Some quick womancing / And then a shower.   (Blazing Saddles, in which Madeline Kahn appeared as the Dietrich-esque Lili von Shtupp.)
3. If you're experiencing Lyrids, Draconids, Orionids and/or Perseids, what kind of shower are you standing under?  (A meteor shower)
4. It's obvious to even the most tone-deaf non-listener of music that the greatest song ever written was Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, as performed by the insanely underrated boy-genius B.J. Thomas.  However, unbelievably as it may sound, the as-yet-uncanonized Mr. Thomas did not actually write this song.  What duo did actually write the song Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head?  (Burt Bacharach & Hal David)
5. Speaking of bridal showers (and we're not, yet), who directed the 2001 movie Monsoon Wedding?  (Mira Nair)
6. Speaking of bridal showers (and we are, now) Liza Minnelli's fairytale wedding to the ultra-manly role model and champion of the poor David "The Chest" Gest was preceded by a lavish and swanktacular bridal shower thrown and hosted by which songwriter and Presidential pardon recipient?  (Denise Rich)
7. When Alfred Hitchcock shot the shower scene in the 1960 movie Psycho, what liquid did he use as a substitute for blood?  (Chocolate syrup.  (Bosco brand.))
8. The soundtrack to Prince's 1984 fetish movie Purple Rain was a great achievement, considering the fact that it was for the first ego-snuff film ever made.  Despite the sheer awfulness of the movie, we gleefully admit that the album is full of many decent little ditties.  Which song leads off Side 1 (or Track 1, for those of you under a certain age) of the album Purple Rain?  ("Let's Go Crazy")
9. Speaking of ego-snuff films (and we were), Rain Joan of Arc Phoenix comes from a show-business family pedigree that rivals the Barrymores, the Fondas, the Spellings, and the Partridges.  She has four siblings who have also made forays into the magical world of talking pictures.  Name three of them.  (Summer, River, Liberty, and Joaquin)
10. What punk band's greatest-hits compilation was entitled Golden Shower of Hits?  (The Circle Jerks)

We followed the general-knowledge round with a current-events round.  (The questions were all drawn from yesterday's Times.)  Here they are:

1. A Japanese commuter train was running 90 seconds behind schedule yesterday.  To make up for the delay, the 23-year-old driver was speeding, and the train crashed into an apartment building, killing at least 81 people.  In what city did this occur?  (Osaka...but we also accepted Amagasaki, the suburb where the accident occurred.)
2. What foreign leader met with President Bush yesterday at his ranch in Crawford, TX?  (Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah)
3. According to the Department of Defense, how many American servicemembers have died since the start of the Iraq war?  (Within 100.)  (1,565)
4. What British knight and pop musician has announced plans for a civil wedding to his partner of 11 years?  (Sir Elton John)
5. What NYC-born Republican is mulling a run for governor of New York State, if George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani both decide not to run?  (former Massachusetts Governor William Weld)
6. On May 24, CBS will broadcast the wedding of Rob Mariano to which other "Survivor" alumna and current "The Amazing Race" contestant?  (Amber Brkich)
7. A former iron ore mine (and current state park) in northern Minnesota houses a cavern 45 feet high, 50 feet wide, and 270 feet long.  Inside this cavern are 486 octagonal steel plates, each an inch thick and 30 feet wide.  This $55 million apparatus is designed to detect what subatomic particle?  (Neutrinos, fired at the detector from Fermilab in Illinois, 450 miles away)
8. On Saturday at JazzFest in New Orleans, what soul-funk quartet reunited for just the third time since the mid-1970s?  (The Meters)
9. In the current Angolan epidemic, 244 out of 266 who have contracted the Marburg virus have died of viral hemorraghic fever.  What better-known virus is closely related to the Marburg virus and also causes hemorraghic fever?  (Ebola)
10. Yesterday, scandal-plagued Dick Murphy announced his resignation as mayor of what U.S. city?  (San Diego)

Next up was the Top Ten round, and this one was simple.  We were looking for the first ten official federal holidays in chronological order.  (Answer here.)

Then was the audio round, which consisted of ten different recordings of the classic traditional song "Stagger Lee."  Teams were asked to identify the artist.  We had versions by Beck, Dave Van Ronk, Dr. John, the Grateful Dead, Huey Lewis & the News, Ike & Tina Turner, Nick Cave, the Clash, Professor Longhair, and Woody Guthrie.  (Click each artist to hear an MP3 of their version.)

Last was the visual round, where we presented ten pictures of various artworks in the subway.  Teams were asked to identify the station in which each picture was taken.  (This is why I spent about seven hours on Saturday and Sunday running around Manhattan.)  Hover over each picture to see the answer:

Prizes included Heineken hats, Amstel Light T-shirts, bar tabs, snacks, and books:  an ever-so-slightly-out-of-date Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election, The Multi-Orgasmic Woman (claimed with pride by the fourth-place team, NASTLA: The North American Student-Teacher Love Association), and How to Hire and Retain Household Help (which, for most of us trivia habitués, is more of a guide to how to keep our jobs.)  Tony and I had a great time, and we look forward to hosting again.  (I'll be hosting trivia with the lovely and talented Janet Rosen at Dempsey's Pub at 7:30 on Wednesday, May 25 -- save the date!)

Comments

[Chico]

You put more effort into this one post than I did in everything. Man.

[Vidiot]

I'd like to thank my good friends, Ms. Ctrl-C and Mr. Ctrl-V.

[Ayelet]

Didn't Neil Diamond also record a version of "Stagger Lee?" (Oh, I'm sorry, am I revealing my Jewness too blatantly?)

[tizzie]

This is the most educational post I've ever read, Vidiot! I may need to go back to bed, now.

[Isaac B2]

Like the trivia, love the subway pix (but want to make sweet love to your picture of Darth Lego and the saberspoon).

[jonmc]

Didn't Neil Diamond also record a version of "Stagger Lee?" (Oh, I'm sorry, am I revealing my Jewness too blatantly?)

Ayelet, bubeleh, you may enjoy this mp3 blog.