Recap: Vote with your mind

Happy Presidents' Day! Oh, what a jolly time we had, as President George Van Roosevelt came down from his house at the top of the Washington Monument, to slide down our chimneys and leave stump speeches under the Electoral Tree for all the good boys and girls. This is how I feel about this special day, friends.

And thanks for come out, you legions of quiz fans you, for the Hail to the Trivial Presidential Quiz Spectacular. Good job, everyone—heavy heavy competition, good sportsmanship (for the most part), and of course, awesome questions. (If I do say so; I've been a presidential-quiz junkie since before I could vote for President. Perhaps it was in the stars—I was born on the birthday of the guy who was President at the time. So this was some kind of bizarre, insane destiny.) Re: the audio round, Made-Up Presidents, you may be surprised to know that I had a little trouble reaching ten. Despite the seeming proliferation of fictional Presidents in our culture, the vast majority are way too obscure for BQT purposes, in my opinion. Am I wrong? Who do you think should have been there (other than the great Bartlet, of course)?
Housekeeping: I forgot my traditional shout-out to the world's greatest door girl, and my brilliant jacket designer, Ms. Sherry Smith (whose Jefferson Davis Starship squad made a fair showing tonight, considering that they're self-proclaimed deficient in the presidential department). Ask her nicely and she'll even make you a sparkly jacket, though perhaps not as sparkly as mine.

Perhaps my favorite element of tonight was the surfeit of great team names. Check it out:
Watson for Prez in 0110110
Hulk Hogan for President (what an idea, but it's not new)
We'd Barack Your World
William Howard Shaft (already on my list of presidential porn star names)
A Pony Named Macaroni (I though it was a "Yankee Doodle" reference, but turns out, there was such a creature at the White House once)
Fuckface Delano Roosevelt
A Tricky Dick Fill(s)more Bush but a Johnson Polks Bush Too
John Quipcy Adams (the "Quips" team that dominates the Boston editions of the BQT)

That's right: We had ourselves some crashers from up Massachusetts way. In fact, the buzzerlectable Three-Way Finale was a real Big Quiz Thing dream match: returning champs Cash Cab for Cutie vs. John Quipcy Adams (four out of six victories in the history of BQT Boston) vs. Fuckface Delano Roosevelt (a permutation of the Clash of the Trivia Champions winners, represented this time by the genius behind my favorite Martin Van Buren blog, American Talleyrand). The buzzers were in solid working order. And we began.

The gimmick: I gave a period time, you tell me who was President that long ago in the past. 150 years ago? Not Lincoln—presidential inauguration in those days happened in March, so it was Buchanan. 10,000 days ago? Nope, not Carter—that shakes out to about 27 years ago, so it was Reagan. 175 years? We come to Andrew Jackson, and victory for our wicked-awesome Boston friends, the Quips. Second place for Cash Cab, third for Fuckface (American Talleyrand told me he's an ace at Presidents, not so much at math).

The standings:

1. John Quipcy Adams: No booing—it's not like the Supreme Court appointed them champs.
2. Cash Cab for Cutie
3. Fuckface Delano Roosevelt
4. Inalienable and Incontinental Rights
5. Jefferson Davis Starship/Strippers for Warren G. Harding (tie)
7.William Howard Shaft
8. Gerard Depardouche
9. A Tricky Dick Fill(s)more Bush but a Johnson Polks Bush Too
10. Watson for Prez in 0110110

Next: We're back with a cavalcade of general quiz delights, returning to Drom, in two weeks: March 7; in fact, we're going to be there steadily for a little while—March 7, March 21, April 4. Before that, February 28, we return to World Cafe Live in Philadelphia for another all-music quiz. And we go back to Boston's Oberon, for another free show, on April 5. Check out the calendar, or like us on Facebook. It's all coming together, friends.