Monday, January 31, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) In colonial America, people in this profession were the ones called upon to make flags. What profession was it?

2) This post WW2 era trombonist was renowned for his renditions of "Laura" and "Misterioso" as well as for his own composition, "Blue Trombone." Who was he?

3) A vexillologist is an expert on what?


1) Upholsterers

2) J.J. Johnson

3) flags

Friday, January 28, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia

1) Which famous author once said of "Huckleberry Finn"; "All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since"?

2) How many presidents have been impeached?


1) Ernest Hemingway
2) 23 Two U.S. presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth chief executive, and WIlliam J. Clinton, the forty - second.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) What was Count Basie's best known hit?

2) Who was the girl singer for Gene Krupa's band?

3) What was the extent of Mark Twain's formal education?


1) "April in Paris"

2) Anita O'Day

3) He never graduated from elementary school.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) This bandleader was famous for always asking the audience, "Is everybody happy?". Who was he?

2) Who played the "sweetest music this side of heaven"?

3) Which Apollo space mission was the first manned mission to the moon?

4) Who was known as "the Waltz King"?


1) Ted Lewis

2) Guy Lombardo

3) Apollo 11

4) Wayne King

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) Who is considered Brazil's George Gershwin?

2) On this date, during his administration, this president was the first to hold a live television and radio broadcast of the presidential news conference. When and who?

3) This Harlem nightclub was made famous by Duke Ellington. What was its name?

4) What instrument did Gerry Mulligan play?

5) Irving Berlin was a hugely prolific songwriter. In all, how many songs did he write?


1) Antonio Carlos Jobim, who was born on this date in 1927.

2) 1/25/1961; JFK

3) The Cotton Club

4) baritone saxophone

5) more than 900 songs, 19 musicals and 18 movies

Monday, January 24, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) This state both raises and consumes the most turkey. Which state is it?

2) Which U.S. founding father said, "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"?

3) Ancient Egyptians trained their highly revered cats to do what?

4) This novel was the first to have been written entirely on a typewriter.


1) California

2) Benjamin Franklin

3) retrieve waterfowl

4) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Friday, January 21, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) This president said that historians would not be able to properly assess his presidency until 50 years had gone by. Who was he? (Note: Alan just did this question 1/18. See January 18th entry.)

2) The front of the Veterans Affairs Administration's headquarters displays this quote: "to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan." Who first said these words?


1) Nixon

2) Lincoln

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) This Disney movie was the first full-length animated feature. It was released in 1937. What was the movie's title?

2) Name the four presidents whose likenesses are carved on Mount Rushmore.

3) Lorenzo Lamas is the son of Lorenzo Lamas and what actress?


1) Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

2) Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and T. Roosevelt

3) Arlene Dahl

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) Duke Ellington's biggest hit was #1 for 5 weeks in a row in 1964. The song was so popular that Spike Jones's parody of it became a #4 hit in 1945. What was the song's name?

2) Benny Goodman had a hit with this 1936 song by Billy Hill that advised, "you've got to give a little, take a little, and let your poor heart break a little." What was the song?

3) This 1941 song was #1 for 10 weeks, making it the Jimmy Dorsey Band's biggest hit. What was the name of the tune that compared the singer's sweetheart to a "pretty little poppy"?


1) "Cocktails for Two"

2) "Glory of Love"

3) "Amapola"

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) Every president since FDR, except one, has had both an official memoir and a library. Who's the exception?

2) Born Ruth Lee Jones, this singer was comfortable in jazz, pop and R&B genres. Her breakout hit was "What a Difference a Day Makes." Who was she?

3) This president said that 50 years had to elapse after a presidency before a historian could write objectively about that administration. Who was he?


1) John F. Kennedy has a presidential library, but never wrote a memoir.

2) Dinah Washington

3) Nixon

Alan Rock's Trivia!

(for 1/17/11)


1) Where was Martin Luther King, Jr. born?

2) How old was MLK when he was assassinated?

3) What year was he assassinated?

4) Which Civil Rights protest was the first for Dr. King?


1) Atlanta

2) 39

3) 1968

4) Montgomery, AL Bus Boycott

Friday, January 14, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) On this date in 1914, Henry Ford introduced the assembly line method of manufacturing cars, allowing completion of one Model-T Ford in what amount of time?

2) What was the original tile of NBC's The Today Show?

3) Who was the first host of The Today Show?


1) One Model-T every 90 minutes

2) The Rise and Shine Revue

3) Dave Garroway

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) What was one of the first foreign wars for the U.S.?

2) Virtually all of us have been bothered by the Musca domestica. What is the common term for this creature?

3) What determines the starting date of Chinese New Year?

4) Which U.S. city contains the world's railway bridge?


1) The conflict was the Tripolitan or Barbary Wars (1800 - 1815). It was precipitated by piracy.

2) Housefly

3) After the winter solstice, the second new moon decides the starting date.

4) New Orleans' Huey P. Long Bridge is the longest railway bridge.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) Since 1907, the Times Square ball has dropped to signify the New Year every year with two exceptions. What years did the ceremony get skipped?

2) Where is the world's largest railway station?


1) 1942 and 1943

2) New York's Grand Central Station is the largest railway staion.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) Ella Fitzgerald is often referred to as the Queen of Scat (singing). Who was the "King"?

2) Translated into English, "Auld Lang Syne" means what?

3) On what day does the fiscal year for the U.S. federal government begin?


1) Mel Torme

2) "old long ago"

3) October 1st

Monday, January 10, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) Which city hosts the first major New Year's Eve celebration each year?

2) What is the name of the calendar for the Chinese New Year?

3) On this day in 1946, the first General Assembly of the United Nations assembled in what city?

4) Who else played with Miles Davis on Kind of Blue?


1) The city of Gisborne, New Zealand kicks things off with their three day "Rhythm and Vines Music Festival." Gisborne boasts that it is the first city in the world to greet each new day.

2) The Chinese adhere to the Lunar calendar. In the West, we observe the Gregorian calendar.

3) London

4) Cannonball Adderly on alto sax, John Coltrane on tenor, Paul Chambers on bass, and Bill Evans on piano.

Friday, January 07, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) This insect comes in 3,500 varieties, carries 100 different kinds of bacteria and can spread food poisoning. Which insect is it?

2) Which city boasts the world's longest railway bridge and what is its name?


1) The cockroach

2) The Huey P. Long Bridge is the world's longest railway bridge. It's in New Orleans.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) As a teenager, Miles Davis got his first big break for this jazz giant. Who was he?

2) This famous sax player was once arrested for robbing a drug store. Who was he?

3) The long-shuttered jazz club, The Blackhawk, was located in what city?

4) Every Monday night in the 80s, this veteran player performed with the Monday Night Orchestra in New York's Sweet Basil. Who was he?


1) Charlie Parker

2) Stan Getz

3) San Francisco

4) Gil Evans

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Big Band Wednesday Bonanza!


1) "Sentimental Journey" was the theme song for which Big Band?

2) "Take the 'A'Train" was the theme song for whose Big Band?

3) Whose Big Band had "Bubbles in the Wine" as its theme?

4) Whose Big Band had "One O'Clock Jump" as its theme song?


1) Les Brown

2) Duke Ellington

3) Lawrence Welk

4) Count Basie

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) Who said this regarding the difference between man and animals: "Man is the only animal who blushes -- or needs to."?

2) What was the name of the New York City political machine led by William "Boss" Tweed in the 1880s?

3) Jazz musicians are often associated with a particular style or school of jazz. Some are, like Mingus or Coltrane, genres unto themselves. There was one musician, however who was an essential figure in multiple styles. Who was he?


1) Mark Twain

2) Tammany Hall

3) Miles Davis

Monday, January 03, 2011

Alan Rock's Trivia!


1) In 1963, this male singer recorded with John Coltrane. Who was he?

2) Which Andrew Lloyd Webber musical features a train called "Rusty"?

3) This female singer was one of the great vocalists of the Swing Era, singing for Duke Ellington and as a performer at the Cotton Club. Who Was she?

4) May 10, 1869 is known as National Train Day. Why so?


1) Johnny Hartman

2) Starlight Express

3) Ivie Anderson

4) On May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, the "golden spike" was driven into the final tie that joined 1,776 miles of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways, transforming America by creating the nation's first transcontinental railroad.