Nov 19 Recap / Request for Contributors

Here are your winners from Sunday night. By virtue of 4 missing players, there was an alliance-of-convenience between Team Sparks and the Fuss Frucks for one night, resulting in a narrow 1-point victory.

The topics were:
1. Thanksgiving
2. Head/torso/feet album covers (photo round)
3. Distinctive album beginnings revisited (audio round)
4. New Releases

There was some controversy (shocking!) about the background theme, since it was basically the same as a theme we'd done before with a slight twist. it was "First Songs on Albums", but almost all the songs were related to "radio", so we asked "What do these songs have in common BESIDES being about radio?" In any case, a number of people said they wouldn't have guessed "First Songs" since we had used that before, so lesson learned*. We won't repeat a theme again.

Also, the winners of the Domino's Early Bird Special were Geoff Leopard, who won a free medium pizza. So it pays to show up early!

Here are some of the questions we asked:
1. "Thanks for Nothing" was the only album Rosemary Clooney recorded for Reprise Records, which was owned by what singer?
2. Which former British invasion band leader released the "Thanksgiving Day" EP in 2005 as a preview for "Other People's Lives", his first new collection of songs in nearly 13 years?
3. "Dr's Advocate" is the new release by The Game, who is the rival and former employee of what artist?
4. "The Road to Escondido" is a new collaboration between Eric Clapton and this artist, who also penned Clapton's hits "After Midnight" and "Cocaine".
5. "I'm in the Mood for Love" is the new release by what artist, who Bill Clinton once claimed was his favorite jazz musician?
[Answers below]

For the next trivia we're going to try something new on our end. Glenn, Jeff, and I usually collaborate on each topic, but next time we're going to do them completely separately, partly because we'd like to see what it's like to be a competitor. I'll have no idea what Glenn's questions are, and he won't know mine, etc. We're also doing this so that we can get you guys involved in doing a round. It would be great to have a guest round each trivia night, so if you think you'd like to do that, please send me an email at xlate[at]yahoo.com. You can do it on any topic you like, but if it's super-obscure and everyone hates you afterwards, you have only yourself to blame!

See you on December 3rd,
-Phil
*By the way "Lessons Learned" by Dan Fogelberg is a horrible song that gets stuck in my head every time I utter that expression. I blame my mother, who played his "Nether Lands" album ad nauseum in the Summer of '78 or so. The burdens we children have to bear!

[Answers: 1. Frank Sinatra; 2. Ray Davies; 3. 50 Cent; 4. J. J. Cale; 5. KENNY G]