July 26, 2010

The New York City Clash of the Trivia Champions UPDATE


So registration for the New York City Clash of the Trivia Champions is live, and we already have a handful of the BQT's most competitive teams signed on. Teams of four, $100 per team to play—Monday, September 27 at the Highline Ballroom. But I've also had a couple of specific questions that I figure I'll cover here:

Is there a deadline to register? Not officially. There's a 60-team limit, so as soon as we've reached that number, registration will be closed. We're nowhere near there yet, and if we are approaching the magic number, I'll warn you through the usual channels. But still, don't freak me out and wait till the last minute.

$1,000 for first place? What else? As advertised, the winning team will also receive a really sweet trophy. And yes, they will keep that trophy, even if we do a championship again next year. How's that for magical? Second place will get $400, third place is getting a super-secret but very valuable prize, and we're planning for a lot more: We're canvasing for sponsors, so we hope to have plenty of worthwhile goodies. (Not official yet, but after last Friday, I got a good lead on a season pass for the Coney Island Cyclone.) If you rep someone who might have something worth giving away in exchange for promotion, e-mail info@bigquizthing.com.

Is it just going to be BQT regulars? Of course not. We're hard at work spreading the word throughout the city, and we're seriously hoping to get the top teams from the city's bottomless well of bar trivia nights. Want to help spread the word? E-mail info@bigquizthing.com and earn free admission to a non-Championship BQT.

Another question that Quizmaster Noah can't anticipate here. Visit here or e-mail info blah blah blah, and I'll fill your brain. Deal?

July 23, 2010

TONIGHT: T-Shirt Contest & Fashion Show is ON!


A reminder/update about tonight's Coney Island Cyclone T-Shirt Design Contest and Fashion Show. It is indeed on, despite the rain, although the location is being shifted slightly: It'll now be at the near-legendary Ruby's Old Tyme Bar & Grill, 1213 Boardwalk on the Coney, a short jaunt from the Stillwell Avenue subway stop. It has tons of great, greasy food, and is conveniently located just steps from the Shoot the Freak concession. Most of the details here still apply: It's still 6 to 8pm, I'm still hosting and doing a little local trivia, we'll determine what the new official T-shirt design for the Cyclone will be, and burlesque dancers will be baring all (or most).

The one time I rode the Cyclone in the rain, it felt like I was taking a shower in a beehive. But fuck it, I'm doing it tonight no matter what. In case you aren't…




July 20, 2010

Backwards messages seggasem sdrawkcab


I just discovered this excellent Web page: Jeff Milner's Backmasking Site. I have no idea who Jeff Milner is, but I applaud him for doing our culture a valuable service. As a kid, I was way into stories of backward messages in records; my friend and I even messed up his parents' turntable trying to hear the "turn me on, dead man" in "Revolution No. 9." Later, at camp, some guys and I figured out how to crack open a cassette tape and switch the reels so that you can play it backward; we spooked ourselves hearing "It's fun to smoke marijuana" in "Another One Bites the Dust." It didn't occur to me at the time that a supposed love of smoking weed was probably the least weird thing about Freddie Mercury.

So enjoy. I think my favorite is "Break on Through." I hate the Doors; I consider Jim Morrison one of the most unintentionally hilarious characters in history, so it's fun to think that maybe, just maybe, he was actually the personification of evil.

July 18, 2010

Friday: Coney Island!

I have to confess, I have committed a heinous crime to my most cherished principles: I have yet to visit my homeland, Coney Island, this summer. Back in the good old days, I cruised the train out to the Coney five or six times a summer, where I'd really fuck shit up. I'd get my fortune told, make out on the Wonder Wheel, stare at the ocean. Dude, I once ate the frog legs at Nathan's.

And, of course, I'd ride the Cyclone roller coaster, my darling Cyclone. I've written in this space about my love for roller coasters, but the legendary Cyclone is special. I long ago made a promise to myself to never visit Coney Island without riding it at least once, and I have never broken that vow.

Yet here we are, mid-July, and I've yet to visit in 2010. An especially egregious crime considering that this year, Luna Park has been revived, and is supposedly well equipped for a new age of glory. But I'm headed out there this Friday, July 23, to assist in that glory, as I'll be hosting the Coney Island Cyclone T-Shirt Design Contest and Fashion Show! Visit the Cyclone's official site right now to vote for one of 11 potential designs for the coaster's new official T-shirt. On Friday, some of the designers, joined by a complement of Brooklyn's finest burlesque talent, will be displaying the goods, and the winner will be revealed. I'll be your MC, punctuating the proceedings with Coney Island–appropriate trivia and prizes (count on free rides, which is nothing to vomit at, mind you). It all takes place practically under the Cyclone, 834 Surf Avenue at 10th Street (right across from the W 8th St–NY Aquarium subway stop), 6–8pm. Stick around afterward to try some rides with me (this article got me excited) and watch the Friday night fireworks, and maybe—maybe—I'll have a Nathan's hot dog. I still like to party.

To get you excited…



July 17, 2010

Live from Union Square

On yet another sweltering Saturday, here's a little something to fit the modd: With the help of the brilliant William K. Scurry (sometime member of Team! The Musical), B-Cutie Nicki and I spent a marinatingly hot afternoon in Union Square, quizzing New Yorkers on all things trivial. The results were pleasingly mixed. Watch:


July 16, 2010

Thoughts on Cheap Trick and Squeeze

A few thoughts about the Cheap Trick/Squeeze concert I went to Tuesday night at Radio City Music Hall ($50 ticket off Craigslist, went alone, treated myself for my birthday):

— Radio City Musical Hall is a sick venue. That place is just awe-inspiring, from every angle: The architecture, the decoration, the stage. For a time, I said that my ultimate goal in life was for the Big Quiz Thing to play Radio City, but then I realized it has fixed row seating. I'll have to settle for Carnegie Hall.


-- I'd seen Squeeze a couple times before, but never Cheap Trick, so I was more interested in the madmen from Freeport, IL, legendary for their live act. (How many bands can you name whose most beloved release was a live album?) I assumed—I don't know, maybe because New York magazine and a couple other places suggested it—that the Trick was headlining, so I arrived at 8:15 for an 8pm show, figuring at worst I'd miss a couple Squeeze tunes. Nope: Took my seat just as Robin Zander was finishing the a cappella climax to "I Want You to Want Me," my karaoke standby.

Anyway, they were fucking great. Cheap Trick is really a unique band: They struck this weird balance between half a dozen forces going on in rock in the late '70s/early '80s: glam rock, emerging metal-pop, new wave, arena rock. Right now I'm listening to the Cheap Trick channel on Pandora, and it's the best thing I've heard from this program; plug in most bands, and it gives you a pretty narrow range of sound-alike acts, but apparently Cheap Trick is at the sonic center of the classic-rock universe: I can do without Aerosmith, and it's a little too heavy on Queen, but otherwise there's the Beatles, Van Halen when they were good, the Who, the Cars, CCR, the Romantics, Tom Petty, Journey…hell, Tommy Tutone. It's like a really good classic-rock station, the kind that made me a rock fan to begin with.

More of my thoughts about the concert in this review; I didn't write any of the bits about Squeeze, I was just helping out a colleague who arrived seriously late.

— The crowd was very working-class; lots of rough-looking old rock & roll fans wearing Mets caps and holding plastic cups of beer. I say this with no intended condescension. But it was a little surprising, and heartening. Squeeze is an unabashedly London working-class band (think "Up the Junction"), so it's nice to see the sentiment communicated across the Atlantic.


-- Speaking of which, while Cheap Trick T-shirts were not in short supply, this crowd was definitely there for the headliners, which surprised me but shouldn't have. Squeeze was (is) an excellent band—Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford were the new-wave Lennon and McCartney—and while they never met tremendous mainstream success in the U.S., they for some reason have maintained a huge amount of goodwill in the NYC area. Growing up in New Jersey, under the aegis of New York rock radio, I was under the impression that Squeeze was one of the biggest bands in the world; they were in heavy rotation on WNEW, and it seemed like owning a copy of Singles 45's and Under was a prerequisite for getting a driver's license. In 1989, I saw them play a packed Madison Square Garden.

The next year, I moved to Canada, and was surprised to discover that Squeeze did not stride the earth like a colossus; most of my classmates didn't know the band, they were a cult act at best. Same thing when I got to college in the Midwest; sure, everyone knew "Tempted" (the Reality Bites soundtrack had reached campus saturation levels), but otherwise the band was one many in the sub–Elvis Costello hipster-'80s-rock loam.

But last Tuesday's show proved that New York hasn't forgotten. It was fun to watch the crowds varying reactions—hanging on every word when Difford, Tilbrook and their current crop of hired hands (including an irritatingly jumpy keyboard player) played a song from the Singles collection (even if there's no way most of those people knew what Difford is talking about in the über-British "Cool for Cats"), and subdued when the band indulged in an excellent obscurity like "It's So Dirty" or a latter-day single like "Loving You Tonight."

—By the way, shame on them—they played every song from Singles 45's and Under, with the exception of their absolute best song, "Another Nail for My Heart." Instead, watch it here:




This oversight renewed a promise I made to myself once upon a time: If I ever become filthy rich, I will pay to coax all my favorite bands to perform just for me, with a set list of my choosing. I just hope my favorite bands are still alive by then.

July 15, 2010

Special offer: 39 Steps tickets CHEAP!

Worth repeating again: If you're a BQT regular, you've heard me shill for the The 39 Steps (the stage comedy-thriller adapted from the Hitchcock film, formerly on Broadway, now at one of the best venues Off), both because I thought it was really, really good, but also because its marketing team very generously keeps providing us with prize tix.

I'll have yet more at the next public Big Quiz Thing (a ways away, August 16), but in the meantime, they're extending to the BQT faithful a special offer: tickets as low as $39 (usually $69.50–$89.50), now through September. Plus, the theater has that newfangled air-conditioning all the kids are crazy about.

The breakdown: $39 for all seats on Wednesdays (3pm matinee or 8pm show), through 9/1; $55 for rear mezzanine seats at any show, through 9/5; or $65 for orchestra/front mezzanine at any show, also through 9/5. It so happens I'm listening to Pandora right now, and it just dialed up the Pixies' "Gouge Away," and that pretty much defines the general attitude of theater producers in NYC these days, so this is an excellent offer.

Click here to take your unfair advantage. Or, go to BroadwayOffers and enter
code TNLS510. Or, call 212-947-8844 and mention code TNLS510. Or, or or!…print out this offer and bring it to the New World Stages box office at 340 West 50th Street (between Eighth and Ninth). OR! if you're a big shot, click here for premium tix.

Performances happen at 8pm Monday and Wednesday–Saturday, with 3pm matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Go to 
39stepsny.com for more pertinent info, and more professionally polished praise than I can offer here.

July 13, 2010

Recap: Harvard Square roars for the BQT, again


Dare I say it? Last night was the best Big Quiz Thing yet at our Boston-area venue, Oberon. I wasn't sure it would work—Cambridge apparently clears out a bit in the summer, and I was sans EDP, but the crowd certainly came through, and my special guest, DJ Tanner (get it?), provided able support. (Thanks, too, to the return of B-Cutie Jessica.) I even recovered from my horrible mangling of the name of the Latin American cake includes three varieties of a single ingredient.
High-five.

Round 1 stunned me a bit, as these trivia geeks did very well—three perfect-score teams, I believe, and several within spitting distance. For example, this question was a backbreaker when I asked it NYC-side—"What animal, which has never existed in the wild, is the largest cat in the world?"—but nearly everyone came through in Mass. I attribute it to a strange fascination with this film.

So I turned up the heat, showing them the video round ("Three Degrees of Celebrities"—I love how Crazy Harry the Muppet counts as a celebrity) one time only. That brought the skill level back down to earth, and everyone did particularly well in the rest of the game. Afterward, one of my area regulars commented that Boston breeds a hardier race of quiz nerd, which I denied, then challenged him to prove it by crashing the New York City Clash of the Trivia Champions. C'mon, you know you want to!

And in case you were wondering, that guy yelling about Joey Chestnut and "the warm season of mutual oral stimulation" was indeed my father. He's very proud. I was praying his team would make it into the Three-Way Finale, just so I could have a little fun with (read: take revenge on) him onstage, but sixth place was the best they could do (would've tied for fifth if they'd listened to my mom for "'What’s your favorite color?': What’s the most common answer to that question among Americans?
").

Speaking of, the Finale was longer than most—six questions—but the more, the tensionier, as I always like to say. Returning champions Bob Sheppard Kicks Ass (né Jackie Robinson Kicks Ass), plus verified BQT hardcorites Monstrous Humanoid, plus upstarts Quips Ahoy took the stage. Six questions (three of which no one got—really, no one knows the genre of music that shares its name with the Latin for “to learn"?). But Quips Ahoy (mm…cookies) pulled through on "Existent since ancient times, what was the first human invention to break the sound barrier?" And here they are:
Man, that stage looks huge.

Hope to be back at Oberon sooner rather than later, although the venue is booked out the wazoo, so it might take some time (also, their staff—the best staff team in BQT history—is in heavy training). There are a multitude of methods of keeping up with us online, via bigquizthing.com, so please do if you want to do this again and again and again (and again).

July 10, 2010

The NYC Clash of the Trivia Champions: REGISTER NOW!

YES! It is here! As I've been hyping for some time, on September 27th, the Big Quiz Thing presents the first ever New York City Clash of the Trivia Champions! Taking place at the palatial Highline Ballroom—teams of four, with a $1,000 grand prize, plus $400 for second place and tons of other impressive prizes. This is it, people—the moment when your geekery truly, finally pays.

The game will be mostly typical BQT format, albeit a level or two more challenging, and a extra few surprises thrown in. We're hoping to have representatives from all four corners of the NYC trivia universe (and perhaps beyond), so tell your most insufferably know-it-all associates. Click here for more details and to register.

July 9, 2010

This Monday: Back in Boston!


Er…sort of. As I've discovered spending time in the metropolitan Boston area, Cambridge, Massachusetts is only sort of Boston. Often I find it easier to just say, "We're back in Harvard Square," since that is accurate. (And no, Gund Hall is not relevant.)

This will be the third Big Quiz Thing at Oberon, an extremely impressive venue mere steps from that august institution of higher learning. The first two (this one rocked hard, this one rocked harder) were stupidly successful, and we've managed to develop our own core of regulars in the area, still growing—Boston is a city of geniuses, and they recognize the world's greatest live trivia when they see (and play) it. And hey, will April's champs, Jackie Robinson Kicks Ass, be returning to defend their crown? Time will tell.

And to quiz them this Monday, one of my favorite BQT video puzzles from the past year or so, "Three Degrees of Television Separation." For each question, name all three TV shows, whose names are phonetically linked. For example: Charlie Rose, followed by Roseanne, followed by Andy Richter Controls the Universe. See what I did there?

Plus, the "Big Ending" audio round, Smart-Ass Points, the whole rigmarole. It's Monday, July 12, 8pm at Oberon (2 Arrow Street in Harvard Square, Cambridge). $200 grand prize, naturally, plus tickets to Oberon's multimedia Shakespeareanesque disco musical, The Donkey Show; passes to the July 14 show by Rogue Burlesque; and gift cards from the eminently delicious b.good. Buy your tickets now, now, now!

July 7, 2010

Recap: Summer. Fun. And yes, spectacular

Aloha! Thanks, everyone, for being part of the summer fun that was tonight's Summer Fun Spectacular. 92yTribeca is a lovely venue, and we had a great time there, though I agree, the sight lines aren't the greatest in BQT history. (But I was right about the lemonade, wasn't I?) Maybe tossing around the beach ball wasn't the best idea ever, but I continue in my goal to make the Big Quiz Thing more like a Phish concert.

Some behind-the-scenes details: The video round, the Trivia Color War (various traditional color-war games, each adapted into a trivia question), took a lot of work, and while I think the end product was a touch convoluted, I was happy with it. The integrity of the structure held, all the facts were appropriately factual, and everyone humored me during the Team Cheer question by singing the theme song to Cheers (we didn't have to levy anyone with the -1,000 points demerit). As for the general color war we played throughout the evening, congratulations to Team Blue on the somewhat meaningless victory. Behold their prize; we'll be giving away more at future BQTs, for future reasons.

The audio round, Sounds from the Beach, was slightly plagued with technical glitches (fine, more than slightly), so it fell to me, Quizmaster Noah, to sing some of the clips. I did my best, though I apologize to any Katy Perry loyalists out there for being unable to sing "California Gurls" and resorting to merely a string of insults. Like she cares.

Finally, the big Three-Way Finale: We had perennial champs Gerard Depardouche, perennial not-so-champy Fat Kids, and apparent newcomers (though their Three-Way rep, Chris, had been with us before) Bobbi Eden's Twitter Followers. It was tense, since Buck of the Douche blazed into the lead with the figuroutable "Q: The Houston Astros play their home games at Minute Maid Park, which was renamed in 2002, from what suddenly unfortunate name?" But then the Fat Kid cruised to victory on two straight right answers, finishing with "Q: What 1986 summer movie was featured the final performances of both Orson Welles and Scatman Crothers?" And that's how we play it.

Standings:
1. Fat Kids Lower the Bar
2. Gerard Depardouche
3. Bobbi Eden's Twitter Followers
4. Jefferson Davis Starship
5. The Enola Gay Agenda (Now with Less Gay!)

That's it for July, folks (except for a crapload of private parties, and this). We're back at Crash Mansion August 16, then (probably) (Le) Poisson Rouge August 30. Keep up with the calendar. And definitely get ready for September 27, when we'll be at the Highline Ballroom for The NYC Clash of the Trivia Champions. Registration will be happening any day now here. Stay cool.

July 3, 2010

Yes, there is a NOT-SO-SECRET SECRET CLUE

Oh no, it is not limited to Mondays, no, sir. We do have a Not-So-Secret Secret Clue for tonight's Summer Fun Spectacular. (And while the clue itself has nothing to do with summer, the question—as are all the questions tonight—is summerrific.) Here we go…

"Block Sender"?

A-ha! 7:30 tonight at 92YTribeca, just below Canal on Hudson Street. Buy tickets now!!!

Massive live-comedy prize haul this Wednesday!

That's an awesome title, isn't it?

As I've told you again and again, this Wednesday is a special Big Quiz Thing, the Summer Fun Spectacular, at 92YTribeca (buy advance tix here). When we booked the date, the venue generously agreed to kick in for the prize stash, and they weren't kidding: We'll be giving away a pair to each July show in the venue's "Comedy Below Canal" series. Fourteen tickets, people!

The complete details are here, but that's two tickets each to two editions of the News Distillery (like a live Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, starring friend of the quiz Alison Rosen), two nights of RISK! (a great storytelling series, one episode featuring another FOQ, Christian Finnegan), three Comedy Below Canal stand-up showcases (one features Leo Allen, a criminally underrated stand-up), and one Channel 101 (fake-pilot screening series, produced by yet another FOQ, Tony Carnevale; I think you can tell by now that I use the word friend in a somewhat loose sense, but they have all at least played the Big Quiz Thing at some point, so there). The dates vary from July 8 through 29, but it's well worth coming back to 92YT—the all-dairy café has some damn fine lemonade.

Plus, we have the standard $250 cash jackpot, and various summer-themed treats, books, DVDs et al. Plus the first ever Trivia Color War! And, and, and…we're giving away a super-secret very special surprise, just finalized plans. I can feel the tingle of the zinc oxide already…