VFW: A Fish Story

This happened the day after the deluge of '06. We had probably the closest game in the history of VFW trivia, when only one point separated the top four teams. The Posse tied Room Two for first, but then fell victim to the Captain Jack tie-breaker. Then, tied for third, only one point behind the top two teams, were In-Zane in the Membrain (featuring my arch-enemy Doug from McCaskey) and 2 + 1 - (D & M) (that sounds like an algebra equation, but it signifies that Rob and Louise were missing Dennis and Melanie, who were busy bucketing their basement). 2 + 1 lost and chose "It Happened in 1776" as thier theme for next week, since it will occur on the Fifth of July. In fifth place was Kathy and Her He-Bitches, who decided to keep it all in the 70s by chosing 1970s trivia as their theme.

Bube's: All Time High?

14 teams parted the Red Sea and drove to Bube's during a torrential downpour. Those teams witnessed what is the highest score in several years, which was attained by the beast with three heads known as the Fool Monkey. 91 points! Two perfect rounds! Unfortunately, Charles bolted before he could get his victory portrait taken. So John and Bill are holding up their "Dad" pen in lieu of Charles. Or is that in charles of lieu? (Sidebar: Charles makes no claim to fathering either of them.)

They are also holding up their prize for winning the special World Cup-themed second round: it's a box of $1.59 Little Debbies. None of those cheap $1.09 boxes I normally give out. A special occasion calls for breaking the budget!

In honor of the monsoon we had endured, the second-place Joe and company called themselves "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Nutsack." Other names included Nimbochromis Fuscotaneatus, Team Colorado and Hide Your Wife, Here Comes Brent Myers.

Don't Put Kryptonite in Your Undies, Especially If You Wear Them on the Outside is happy, despite losing the third-place tie-breaker to the Tesla Death Rays. They chose "Russian history" as their theme, knowing full well that they can't make it next week. Since they did so well in the Cup-inspired round, TDC chose the timely "World Cup" as their theme for finishing fifth.

Cafe Chuckles: A New Era

Sunday night was my inaugural show at Cafe Chuckles, and everyone made me feel very welcome. Chuckles has had trivia on Sunday nights with a different host for many years, so it was with some trepidation that I began. But all the teams were friendly (and being trivia-starved helped, too). I debuted my crappy flashless camera-phone - if you look real hard, you might see the Talents Scouts in the pic above. They came in second, bested by three points by the Rainmakers. Freedom Vac 5000 came in third (thanks to Fritz for helping me set up, btw); the eagle-eyed Skirtland team came in fourth and chose the Civil War as their theme for next week. And We Are Still the Lethal Amoebas came in fifth, despite their horrible picture round. They chose the 1939 World's Fair as their theme. Thanks to everyone for a great debut, especially Jenna, Lori, Cindy, Adam and the rest of the staff. See you all next Sunday!

Cafe Chuckles This Sunday!

Through the wonders of modern technology, Fritz sent a cameraphone pic of this sign in Chuckles' lobby to my phone, then I forwarded it to my e-mail address, downloaded it, then uploaded it to the blog. I'm getting a cyber-nosebleed! Anywho, I hope you can make it to the debut of my new weekly Sunday show at Lancaster's Cafe Chuckles this Sunday night (June 25th). It begins at 8 P.M. and will feature all the regular Earth Trivia bits that you know and dread: questions, trashbags, a picture round and two hours of trivial goodness. (now with a marshmallow creme center!)

VFW: The Longest Day

It was the longest day of the year, but the trivia contest flew by. Chicks and Dicks had their last shot at "King of Queens" trivia, but they had an off night. The B52s took fifth and chose "cars" as their theme. Tom of Nix Lix faced Sheila of the cleverly-named M and S team for the first time in the Captain Jack tie-breaker and got chomped twice quickly. He chose "fishing lures" as his theme. D and M + 2 took second and the whiz kids of Room 2 only missed half of one question in the fourth round. Alice in Wonderland's name change to Alice in Wonderlust didn't help. Lexie of the Posse made a rare appearance. And Ron will never let his teammates forget that he was right about Playdough.

Bube's: We Miss Tabitha Already!

It was a night of transitions as we had some staffing changes at Bube's. Our new man behind the bar is Mike (which should be easy for me to remember), backed up by Shannon, who is experiencing life on the other side. We also welcomed Derrick as our host and had music trivia host Kerry as a player. (Don't forget that Kerry's Wednesday music trivia show is on hiatus for the month of June, but will return in July).

Sadly, tonight was Tabby's last night as a trivia server, since she is all packed up and ready to move to Florida. We will truly miss her warm friendliness and excellent service! Tabby stayed afterwards and shared some Bube's stories.

On the action front, the Tesla Death Rays, abetted by some guest visitors, took first place. The Fool Monkey Is Pleased to Announce That He, Too, Will Not Be Indicted did one of their patented comebacks and placed second (Charles is now an official Voltron fan). The Vernal Equinutsacks led most of the night, but stumbled a bit in the last round and took third. Team Discovery Channel were not in their usual front room spot, but still managed fourth place. They chose the TV show "Scrubs" as their theme for next week. Not Worth Cheating Off Of, led by the superb guessing of Paul took fifth and chose "choral music" as their theme (courtesy of songbird Jordan).

Laura attempts to cement her head to Tabby to prevent her from leaving.

Joe, Joanne and Nick welcome their newest member, Sebastian to "The Vernal Equinutsacks." (Alternate photo caption: The Nutsacks got crabs)

And, speaking of crabs... Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the newly-renamed team "The Crabby Dicks Found Some New Sweaty Balls." (Tracie, who named the team, was in the loo at the time of this pic).

Eat It Raw shares a tender moment.

Trashbag winners were treated to a complimentary piece of unwashed cilantro tonight.

These are the people who chose "Choral Music" as a theme. Memorize their faces.

Bad blogger, bad, bad blogger!

It's time for my semi-monthly "I've been a bad blogger" post apologizing for lack of this week's commentary.

For those of you who come here looking for themes, this week are:

Bube's - college team nicknames and Voltron.
VFW - the Civil War and the King of Queens (which is officially being retired as a theme after this week)

Annual Newcomm picnic

The gang at Newcomm had me back for the third time for their annual company picnic north of Lititz. This year the picknickers were in for a real treat, since the event was catered by Tim Carr, the owner of Carr's Restaurant. We feasted on prime rib and crab cakes and chocolate-dipped strawberries (when I worked at TV Guide we would be lucky to get anchovy pizzas) before we settled down to some serious trivia. The rankings see-sawed between the five teams, but it was Chloe's Crew (pictured) that took this year's crown. Thanks to all for having me, and see you next year!)

Lancaster Relay for Life Raises One Million Dollars!

This year our goal for Lancaster's Relay for Life was one million dollars in donations raised. Early Saturday morning it looked like an impossible dream, but then more and more moolah came in. At the end, the total was over one million, 27 thousand bucks! Congratulations to all who participated!

For the second year in a row I hosted a trivia contest at the Relay. Once again we had to jumpstart our brains, since it was held at 7:30 a.m. (yes, that's a.m., not p.m.). 16 teams cleared the cobwebs from their minds and played. Kelly's team "Combing for a Cure," must have been the most caffeinated, since they became the 2006 trivia champions by beating Fulton Bank Penn Square by one measly point! They won some very nice Relay paraphenalia, provided by the American Cancer Society, including Jordan's nifty umbrella.

Here we see last year's defending champions, Fulton Bank Penn Square. They were disappointed that they didn't repeat, but had a fine time, nonetheless. The Comet Coasters took third, Roaring for a Cure fourth, Skittles fifth, and Anita Cure sixth. Thanks to all the early players and to Entertainment Chair Daryl Bloom for having me back.

VFW: New Start Time Next Week

Important News! Starting next week, June 14th, the VFW show will start at 8 P.M. It will remain at 8 P.M. until the late fall (when the clocks change). We now return you to your regular blog...


Thanks again to Chris Ivey for subbing at the VFW last week, despite his nagging cough. As I announced at the show Chris later had to have an emergency appendectomy. After a couple of days in the hospital, he is now recuperating at home. so our thoughts and prayers go out to him for a speedy recovery (besides, he still owes me a sub day at Bube's!).

Tonight was the first night for the VFW Kitchen to meet the trivia show. It was also Joy and Tiffany's first night as raffle coordinators. They even played along for the first time. All in the Family stayed long enough to claim some Trashbag of Deelite prizes. The Posse took fifth and chose Hogan's Heroes as their theme. Dennis and Melanie took fourth and chose American horse breeds as their theme. Then it was The Snicker Bars, Chicks and Dicks and Room 2, in that order.

Look out, Laura! The Birthday Monster is sneaking up on you!

Bube's: A Plott a-brewing

Here'a pic of the Plott team (minus their smartest member), who took Bube's by storm on the night of the Beast, 6/6/06. In honor of that date. most of the questions had a devilish theme, causing questioning looks on latecomers. In fact, The Two Bubes Brews Blues crew got a Satan bobblehead (see pic below).

The Nutsacks finally came up with a name that had me squirming in my seat. They took fifth and chose the real names of rappers as their theme. Shari faced birthday girl Laura, since their teams had tied for third. The Rays ended up in fourth, with David Bowie as their theme. The Olives took third, the Monkey second and the aforementioned Plott first.

Devil Dog, Hound of Hell.

Two Bubes Brews Blues, Part Dieux

Brendee's: New Kid in Town

Earth Trivia has officially branched out to a new location: Brendee's Tavern, on the corner of Lemon and Mary Streets on Lancaster's northwest side. And we have a brand new host: J! You might recall J from such films as "Dial J for Jiggyness," "A Keg Too Far," or his most recent role as Rocky in York Little Theater's production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." (Janet! Brad! Dr. Scott! J! >grunt!<)

(Okay, enough pop references...)

J is best remembered as the bar manager at Bubes, where he artfully tended Tuesday nights since the last millennium. He's been through the gregarious grace of Curtis Earth, the bouncing bubbliness of Michelle Moon, the sardonic stylings of Chris Ivey and the minimalist musings of me. So he knows his way around the trivial path. Now he's ready to come from behind the bar and twist your brains (in a good way).
The Brendees format will be different from other Earth Trivia shows. There will be two shows on Wednesday nights, one at 8 and another at 9. A $25 Brendees gift card will be awarded to the winning teams of each show. I've eaten at Brendees (it's close to where I work) and the food is excellent. Steve the owner used to be a chef at the Holiday Inn years ago when Curtis started this whole shebang (or, should I say personbang? - probably not)

Prizes for second and third place to be determined, but J has an active imagination, so beware!

So, hopefully some of you can make it out to J's inaugural show this Wednesday (June 7th) at Brendee's to welcome him into the trivia family!

Trivia at Relay for Life

Please consider supporting the Relay for Life. We're all gearing up for this year's event. Once again I'll be participating in the Lancaster Relay, to be held this weekend from Fri. 6 P.M. to Sat. 6 P.M. at Catholic High's football field. I'll be hosting a trivia show at 7:30 A.M. on Saturday, in case you're up that early (it will probably feature some classic questions). Or you may come to the kickoff at 6 P.M. which features an inspiring Survivors' Lap, where you can see the many, many people who have kicked or are surviving the ravaging disease known as cancer. We are attempting to raise one million dollars this year, so every donation helps!