Month: July 2009

Off to the Franklin

I’m off to take the kids from the summer program to the Franklin Institute, where they’ll whine about the fact that they have friends who get to take field trips to Six Flags. But then I’ll say, “Well those friends won’t have an opportunity to spend time in a planetarium then, will they?” which will be followed by the rolling of their eyes and a muttering under their breath of, “You corny, Coach Rome.” Nonetheless, I’ll be out of commission until this afternoon, when I’ll get your stinking photos up on the site. In the meantime, our good friend the Lovely Ginger will be guest editing at Foobooz, as Trivia Art is kicking it in Portland, Maine this weekend. And you can read about the time I got dunked on, if you haven’t done so already. I’ll catch ya this afternoon.

Interview with Grammy Award Winner Aaron Levinson

aaron2I met Aaron through a CD exchange club I belong to, and really dug his musical selections. Then I got to talking to him, and he’s one of those guys you can listen to for hours because he has a vast wealth of musical knowledge that spans from rock to jazz to hip hop to merengue. He works in the music biz as a producer (He won a Grammy for his work on the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Ruben Blades “Across 110th Street” Album in 2005) and also spins occasionally, and tonight will be at Chifa starting at 10 p.m. spinning a wild mix of Salsa, bossa nova, cha cha cha and much more in a show he calls La Maquina del Tiempo. I’m gonna try to make it there after quizzo if anybody wants to go. 

JGT: What does La Maquina Del Tiempo mean?  

AARON: La Maquina Del Tiempo means The Time Machine. Tonight you will be hearing the past of Salsa, Mambo and Cha Cha Cha from Puerto Rico, New York and Cuba from the 60’s & 70’s with a couple of licks of Latin Jazz, Boogaloo and Cumbia thrown in for good measure. Hector Lavoe, Willie Colon, Sonora Poncena, Bobby Valentin, Ruben Blades, Pacheco and Celia Cruz. This is Golden Age Salsa for dancers and listeners alike. Expect dance floor fillers, classics and rarities that will have you dancing on the lawn.

JGT: When did you decide you wanted to get into the music business?

I always wanted to be in the music business but my first real gig was as a dj/engineer on WRTI when I was in high school. I’ve never looked back. My first record label job was with Inner City records in NYC as a Freshman in college at The New School For Social Research

JGT:  When you’re not Deejaying, what kind of music related enterprises are you involved with?

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Scoreboard from Last Week, Brought to You by Mastershake

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O’NEALS

  1. Don’t Vote for Pedro 114
  2. Why is John’s Rum Gone 106
  3. Savage Henry 105
  4. Dork Sided 92
  5. Let’s Not Finish Last 86

BARDS

  1. Stimulate Your Prostate 96
  2. Team Angus 78
  3. Wise Latina Females 77
  4. Strong, Durable, Dyke 76
  5. Lazy and Lucky 72

LOCUST RENDEZVOUS

  1. The Jams 92
  2. Quiz on Your Face 91
  3. 1022 86
  4. I Drink Blood 82
  5. My Mom Says I’m Cool 81

BLACK SHEEP

  1. Hurtin’ Bombs 100
  2. Satan’s Minions 99
  3. Duane’s World 98
  4. Let’s Hope Pedro Did Steroids 89
  5. Baron Munchausen 88

UGLY AMERICAN

  1. L. Ron Hubbard’s Diabetics 113
  2. The Axis of Evil Knieval 107
  3. Urban Achievers 103
  4. Duane’s World 99
  5. ??????

BARDS

  1. Brain Nachos 91
  2. Colon 83
  3. Pedro Martinez & the Astronauts 75
  4. Vinit Drinks Bad Santas 66
  5. Stimulate Your Prostate 66

Toughest Questions From Last Week

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  1. William Shakespeare’s wife has the same name as what actress?
  2. What 1992 film was written by, directed by, and starred Bobcat Goldthwaite?
  3. In what Austrian city did the Von Trapp’s Live in The Sound of Music?
  4. Adelie, Chinstrap, and Gentoo are all types of what animal?
  5. What is the 2nd largest city in France?
  6. This French WWI fighter pilot’s name is known all over the world, thanks to a sporting event. Who was he?
  7. What Frenchman with a funny name wrote the Human Comedie?
  8. In what state will you find the secretive Area 51?
  9. Enoki and and chantarelle are both types of what?
  10. Madonna made her acting debut in this 1985 film, which took its name from a Native American rite of passage.

Click “more” to see answers. .

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Anniversary of Amazing Plane Landing


One problem with checking wikipedia almost every day is that nearly every day is the anniversary of some frickin plane crash, which convinces you that planes are constantly falling out of the sky. But today is the anniversary of an amazing near crash, in which a quick thinking pilot landed the plane despite no engine power and very few working instruments. This is downright incredible, and the fact that they landed the plane in the midst of a family day celebration on the runway is almost humorous in a dark way.

At 1:21 GMT, the forty million dollar, state-of-the-art Boeing 767 had become a glider. The APU, designed to supply electrical and pneumatic power under emergency conditions, was no help because it drank from the same fuel tanks as the main engines. Approaching 28,000 feet the 767’s glass cockpit went dark. Pilot Bob Pearson was left with a radio and standby instruments, noticeably lacking a vertical speed indicator – the glider pilot’s instrument of choice. Hydraulic pressure was falling fast and the plane’s controls were quickly becoming inoperative…Only Gimli, the site of an abandoned Royal Canadian Air Force Base remained as a possible landing spot. It was 12 miles away…Unknown to him and the controllers in Winnipeg, Runway 32L had become inactive and was now used for auto racing. A steel guard rail had been installed down most of the southeastern portion of 32L, dividing it into a two lane dragstrip…Drag races were perhaps the only auto racing event not taking place on July 23rd, 1983 since this was “Family Day” for the Winnipeg Sports Car Club. Go-cart races were being held on one portion of runway 32L and just past the dragstrip another portion of the runway served as the final straightaway for a road course. Around the edges of the straightaway were cars, campers, kids, and families in abundance. To land an airplane in the midst of all of this activity was certain disaster…The 767 silently leveled off and the main gear touched down as spectators, racers, and kids on bicycles fled the runway. The gigantic Boeing was about to become a 132 ton, silver bulldozer. Pearson stood on the brakes the instant the main gear touched down. An explosion rocked the 767’s cabin as two tires blew. The nose gear, which hadn’t locked down, collapsed with a bang.. The nose of the 767 slammed against the tarmac, bounced, then began throwing a three hundred foot shower of sparks. The right engine nacelle struck the ground. The 767 reached the tail end of the dragstrip and the nose grazed a few of the guardrail’s wooden support poles. Pearson applied extra right brake so the main gear would straddle the guardrail. Would the sports car fans be able to get out of the way, or would Pearson have to veer the big jet off the runway to avoid hitting stragglers? The 767 came to a stop on its nose, mains, and right engine nacelle less than a hundred feet from spectators, barbecues and campers. All of the race fans had managed to flee the path of the silver bulldozer.

RELATED: Quizzo Regular BMT survives similar plane crash.