Category: Happenings

Here Are All the Scores from Last Week

unnamedNORTH STAR:

  1. Tempura House 88
  2. Inkspot 85
  3. Happy Birthday to the Ground 84

SIDECAR

  1. Hand it To Blind Prostitutes 99
  2. Shady Babies 94
  3. Cherry Poppins 93

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O’NEALS

  1. Savage Ear 115
  2. Mapother 85
  3. Snow Days 72

CITY TAP HOUSE

  1. Jesters of Tortuga 100
  2. Lick my Snowballs 82
  3. Pressure Police 74
  4. Jingle Balls 74
  5. Baby Goodtimes 74

LOCUST RENDEZVOUS

  1. The Jams 93
  2. Synchronized Trampoline 83
  3. Superfluity 78

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BLACK SHEEP 

  1. Duane’s World 93
  2. jitney spears 90
  3. Blazing Sea Nuggets 65

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THE INDUSTRY 

  1. Healthcare.gov 89
  2. L. Ron 77
  3. Boo-Urns 76

BARDS 

  1. Jawns of Tortuga 119
  2. Vortex of Scottish Charm 78
  3. Group of Death 75

All Turkey Trivia!

Let’s Talk Turkey Round

1. What is the flap of skin under a turkeys chin (it rhymes with “bottle”)?

2. What ACC college football team’s official team name is the Fightin’ Gobblers, with a turkey for a mascot (though they go by a different nickname)?

3. What is a male turkey called (other than a gobbler)?

4. Male turkeys gobble. What sound do female turkeys make?

a) clicking b) chirping c) whooping d) nagging

5. What lady, famous for her Christmas cards, created a painting called Thanksgiving Turkey that is currently at the Metropolitan Museum?

6. What is a female turkey called?

7. According to Butterball, when the breast is at what temperature should you take a turkey out of the oven?

a) 145 degrees b) 165 degrees c) 185 degrees d) 205 degrees

8. What founding father wanted the turkey to be the national bird, writing that the Eagle was a coward?

9. What dish, often prepared with turkey, is cooked in a parmesan sauce and is named after an Italian opera star?

10. Who was pardoning a turkey while another one behind her was being executed in 2008?

11. On what 1970s sitcom would you have heard the famous line, “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly?”

12. What brand has called itself “America’s leading turkey alternative since 1995”?

13. Triptophan is one of the 9 of these that humans must consume in their diets.

14. This was one of Stuart Little’s best friends, voiced by Don Knotts in a 2005 film.

15. What is the capital of Turkey?

Continue reading “All Turkey Trivia!” →

Interview with Dealey Plaza Conspiracy Theorist

SchoolbookDepository

In 2006, I took a cross country trip and did a blog about it for Traffic.com. That blog has long since disappeared, but I was able to find the cache online, and was able to locate one of the highlights of that trip, an interview I did with a conspiracy buff named Sherman, a scraggly 50-something man who hung around outside the Book Depository building to give “unsanctioned” tours to tourists wandering around Dealey Plaza.  After I did both the museum tour and his tour, I spoke with him about the job and about JFK’s assassination. With the anniversary upon us, I thought a few of you might enjoy that interview. (The cache didn’t save the photos of him, sadly. He was a sight to see.)

It’s hard to miss Sherman Hopkins if you go down to the Texas Schoolbook Depository.  He’s about 6’7″ and maybe 170 pounds soaking wet.  He wears a camouflage hat over his grey mullet, and his dark eyes could pierce concrete.  His bottom teeth are worn down from years of smoke, and the only clue that he might be anything other than just another person hanging around Dealey Plaza in the afternoon is an apron and a loud, smokey, southern drawl that he utilizes to gather people around him as he tells tales of gunmen lurking all around Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.  Sherman talks about the witnesses and reporters who have been killed, the last minute turn the limo took, and how it would have been impossible for Oswald to do all the things the Warren Commission claims he did.  All the while, he is scoping the scene, making sure his tour hits places where there are people, so that they might hear what he’s saying and tag along. 

After the JFK movie came out, I did a fair amount of research on the assassiation, but Sherman was able to provide numerous antecdotes that I had never heard and which, incredibly, check out.  For example, Woody Harrelson’s father does claim to have something to do with the assassination, and a lady who interviewed Jack Ruby in 1965, Dorothy Kilgallen, died soon after her interview under mysterious circumstances. 

So is Sherman a sidewalk charlatan, trying to make a quick buck by spouting off crackpot theories?  Or is he a purveyor of truth, trying to tell you what the government doesn’t want you to hear?

JGT:  Where ya from, Sherman?

Sherman:  I’m from Florida.

JGT:  When did you move to Dallas?

Sherman:  I’ve been here about 23 years.

JGT:  Why did you decide to move to Dallas?

Sherman:  I came here to visit my sister and my brother-in-law and met my wife.

JGT:  Now, where were you when JFK was assassinated?

Sherman:  I was five years old, sittin’ on my dad’s knee, watchin’ tv, and Walter Cronkite came on the tv.

JGT:  Do you remember what your family’s reaction was when they heard what had happened?

Sherman:  It was the only time I ever saw my father cry. I’ve been interested in it ever since.

JGT:  Do you think that has something to do with it?  The emotion you saw as a youngster, do you think that got you interested in doing something like this for a living?

Sherman:  Sure.  Because when you’re young, something like that really gets your attention.  For that to be the only time I ever saw my father cry, it had to be something pretty important.

JGT:  When did you decide that you wanted to do these tours outside the Book Depository?

Sherman:  About 11 years ago, my wife talked me into doing it and I’ve been doing it ever since.

JGT:  Where do you do most of your research?

Sherman:  I’ve done a lot of research in the archives, and hands on.  I’ve met pretty much everybody involved in the investigation.  Eyewitnesses, police that were here, I’ve talked to Oswald’s wife.

JGT:  What did Oswald’s wife say?

Sherman:  Well, she said she doesn’t think her husband did this.  And I believe her.

JGT:  Who do you think did it?

Sherman:  I think that the Mob had Kennedy shot.

JGT:  Why would they have done that?

Continue reading “Interview with Dealey Plaza Conspiracy Theorist” →

Blazing Sea Nuggets Win Autumn Invitational

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The Blazing Sea Nuggets knocked off the Jesters of Tortuga, 149-139, to take the 2013 Autumn Invitational Sunday night at the City Tap House. Duane’s World came in third, and Boo-urns, relative newcomers who made it in as a wild card team, made their presence felt with an impressive 4th place finish. The Nuggets aced rounds 3 and 5 to take the crown.

Johnny’s dope rapping skills made for a fairly interesting Round Four, where JGT rapped the lyrics to famous soundtrack songs, and teams had to write down the name of the artist and the soundtrack the song was heard on.( The biggest cheer of the night went out when Goodtimes announced that he would NOT be rapping while giving the answers.

Between round performances by the Tom Waits band The Drunken Pianos added to the gaiety of the evening. Many thanks to all teams who participated. Scores are listed below, with bars of each team next to them.

  1. Blazing Sea Nuggets (Black Sheep) 149
  2. Jesters of Tortuga (City Tap House) 139
  3. Duane’s World (Black Sheep) 133
  4. Boo-urns (Industry) 129
  5. Careless Fister (North Star) 127
  6. Tempura House (Sidecar) 127
  7. L. Ron Hubbard’s Diabetics (Industry) 125
  8. Popesack (North Star) 122
  9. Synchronized Trampoline (Locust Rendezvous) 117
  10. Why Can’t Us? (Industry) 115
  11. Inkspot (North Star) 109
  12. Get Big Get B***es (Sidecar) 107
  13. Ruby Tuesday (Bards) 107
  14. Underground Bard (City Tap House) 91
  15. Sidecardigans (Sidecar) 90
  16. Always Finish 4th (North Star) 88
  17. House Band 66

Quizzo Doubleheader on Sunday?

thSome of you have attended Noah Tarnow’s Big Quiz Thing at the World Cafe Live in the past, and know that it can be a lot of fun. Well, get this: he’s doing one this Sunday at 8 p.m. At the World Cafe Live, which is a mere 10 blocks from City Tap House. I talked to him recently and told him we’d be wrapping up around 8, so if he could hold off until 8:30, we’d probably get a couple of teams there. He said, “Sure.” So if any of you junkies want to double up on exciting quiz action on Sunday night, I wanted to make sure you knew about this, taking place right after the Invitiational. He runs a very good quiz.

Final JGTAI Standings

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Here ya go. Our final scores after 8 weeks. Savage Ear gets the regular season win. Teams in blue are eligible for bonus prize. Teams in red also make the cut. Teams in green are on the bubble: if teams ahead of them cannot make it on Sunday, they will get the invite. Invites will go out tomorrow for the event, which will take place this Sunday at the City Tap House at 6 p.m.

If you didn’t make the cut, fear not. This is wild card week. Any team that wins this week earns an automatic invite. So I’m saying there’s a chance.

Savage Ear 45
Blazing Sea Nuggets 37
Underground Bard 36
L Ron Hubbard 35
Jesters of Tortuga 35
Inkspot 33
Mapother 31
Duane’s World 30
Careless Fister 28
Ruby Tuesdays 27
Hooter and Chuff 26
Sidecardigans 22
Popesack 21
Tempura House 21
Synchronized Trampoline 19
Exhausted Nihilists 19
Finish 4th 18
Why Can’t Us 17
Always Fifth 17
The Champs 15
#2ndplace 15