Really, really excited about this one: we’re doing a Big Lebowski quiz, followed by bowling as we watch the Big Lebowski. We’ll have prizes for Best Dressed, rattiest bathrobe, best bowling score, and much more. Furthermore, $10 of every ticket sold goes towards The Dude Hates Cancer. So get your team together (up to 8 players) and buy your tickets here. They include the quizzo, bowling shoes, and all you can bowl. There will be a lotta ins, a lotta outs, and a lotta what have yous. For more info, check out the facebook event page. And also wanna send a shoutout to our sponsors, Love Your Block (who are quizzo regulars). Fuck it, dude. Let’s go bowling.

Hey folks, been working on a project lately that I’m really excited about: the Philly Blunt is a new podcast hosted by yours truly, Reef the Lost Cause, and longtime O’Neals quizzo regular Violations Greg. The goal is to do interesting interviews with Philly’s most fascinating people, and we’re off to a good start: our first few guests have all been terrific. Below are the links to each of our first three guests:

Author and activist Feminista Jones talks about what she means by “I’m not interested in white allies, what I want are co-conspirators.”

Documentary filmmaker Tigre Hill talks about corruption at City Hall and the blowback he faced from his Mumia film.

Controversial Philly Mag scribe Victor Fiorillo talks about the Swiss Cheese pervert, the article that resulted in the most hate mail, and his brief time running a swingers club.

If you could do me a HUGE solid and subscribe to the podcast and rate it on itunes, that would be TRE-MEN-DOUS. And if you want more exclusive content (exclusive, folks! These are things I will NEVER reveal to you at quizzo!) please be sure to follow us on the following:

The Philly Blunt on Facebook.

The Philly Blunt on Twitter.

The Philly Blunt on Instagram.

 WHO: Anybody who wants to play. Teams of up to 8 players.

WHAT: Quizzo Bowl XIV, the longest running quizzo event of it’s kind in the Universe. It is a celebration of nerd awesomeness, great music, and a vaudeville spirit. In the past we’ve had breakdancers, glam rock bands, Motown bands, human pretzels, Black Elvis, dancing, singing, Fastball Bob, Chip Chantry, Jeopardy champions, and Johnny Flamethrower. This year we’ll be welcoming the Wallace Brothers, an outlaw country band that you guys will love, and Financial Guru Gregg Gethard.

WHEN: Saturday, January 27th, 2018. Doors open at 7 p.m. Event starts at 8.

WHERE: World Cafe Live. 3025 Walnut Street.

WHY: Why not?

PRIZES: Yes, there will be $1400 worth of prizes for the winning teams (and new this year: a 14th place prize!). There will also be raffles and prizes given away throughout the evening. In the past we’ve given away raffle tickets…this year, inspired by our shithead trash President, we will charge a nominal fee for the tickets, with 100% of money raised being sent to a charity called Hope for Haiti.

IS THERE A THEME? Of course there is. The theme is “Outlaw Country? Best dressed “Cowboy” team wins a gift certificate.

IS THIS THING GOING TO BE ON A BOAT AGAIN THIS YEAR? No, this year’s event will not be on a boat. It will be at the World Cafe Live.

GOOD, BECAUSE WE DON’T DO BOATS. I am well aware.

WHERE DO I SIGN UP? You can currently purchase tickets online here. I also have them at my quizzes. Tickets are $25 a pop (plus fees). If you haven’t been before, trust me, it will be well worth it. But do not wait until the last minute. This has sold out in 12 of the previous 13 years.

THE BOAT DIDN’T SELL OUT. No it did not.

NOT EVEN CLOSE. Stop it.

WILL THERE BE AN AFTERPARTY? Yes, it will be held at 24 Cafe, the Garces restaurant just a couple of blocks down Walnut from the World Cafe Live.

QB14 from Johnny Nottingham on Vimeo.

WHERE CAN I GET UPDATES AS WE GET CLOSER TO THE EVENT?The Quizzo Bowl Facebook page is live. It will be filled with previous Quizzo Bowl performances, ticket info, old questions, and all sorts of tomfoolery. So be sure to sign up there, and that’ll keep you informed.

WHAT HAPPENS IF MY TEAM WINS? You win $800, but that’s not the best part. The best part is that you’ll join the ranks of the immortals. Is your team good enough to become the 7th different winner in our 14th year? There’s only one way to find out.

Some big news on the Quizzo Bowl front…our first band had to back out due to some unforseen circumstances, but don’t worry, we’re keepin’ it outlaw with my favorite country band in Philadelphia, the Wallace Brothers Band. These guys are truly terrific. I’ve been trying to get them in an event for awhile now and I’m excited that we were able to make this happen.

As far as tickets, we’re at 50 sold, which is fairly typical for having two weeks to go. I will have tickets on sale on me next week at quizzo. If you’d like to attend, get your crew together…once again it’s $200 for a table of 8 or $30 per person. I’ll have both varieties of tickets on me next week, payable in cash. If you can’t get them at quizzo, fear not, they are available online (with a $6 surcharge).

In response to this trash president making us as Americans look like stupid assholes, we’re also going to change the game a little bit on raffle tickets this year…instead of free raffle tickets, we’ll have a minimal charge for each one, with 100% of the proceeds going to Hope for Haiti.

Be sure to follow the Bowl on Facebook, and be sure to use the hashtag #Quizzobowl on twitter and facebook.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who donated to our annual toy drive. We were able to get gifts for EVERY child on the list, which was just awesome. In fact, Cheri said they actually added a few kids to the list because we got such an awesome response! To everyone who contributed: I can’t thank you guys enough. It really is awesome to be surrounded by so many giving people.

Plenty of other things to talk about as well:

Date is set for Quizzo Bowl XIV. It will be on January 27th at the World Cafe Live. I will have more info next week and tickets will go on sale next week as well. Be sure to check back then.

Pics of last week’s winners are up on the Facebook page. If you wanna see me scream about politics, follow me on twitter.

In addition to Quizzo Bowl on the 27th, Geek Bowl will be in Boston this year, so it would be awesome to have several of our Philly teams there. It’s an incredible event, with over 1000 people playing quizzo. Hit me up if you want more details. We’re going to have at least two teams from Philly attending, but the more the merrier.  

Thursday was our last quiz at Industry. Sad to say, they are closing their doors on December 31st. It’s a shame, truly one of my favorite bars in the city. Dave and Lisa are not only great bar owners, they’re great people, and it’s been awesome working with them for over 10 years between Good Dog and Industry. I do not have any solid leads at this point for where I’ll do a new quiz, but I’ll start looking right after Christmas. We’ll be somewhere new in either January or February.

As for next week, here is how our schedule is looking. Note that Birra will start half an hour earlier than usual:

TUESDAY

• O’Neals 8 p.m. (with Jumping Joe Moore)
• Sidecar 8 p.m. (with Boots Boccuti)

WEDNESDAY

• Locust Rendezvous 6:15 p.m. (w/ Boots)
• Founding Fathers 8:30 (w/ Boots)

THURSDAY

• Birra 7:30 p.m.
• Bards 9:15 p.m.

The last time we hosted We Have Fun, we had Philly hip hop legend Reef the Lost Cauze rapping over yacht rock songs. This time we’ll have the hilarious Mary Radzinski (who recorded her first comedy album Wednesday at Helium), the insane Financial Guru Gregg Gethard (author of Cash Dad Trash Dad), and musician Dan Bruskewiecz from TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb. If you wanna see a late night talk show that focuses on Philly’s best comedians and musicians, then I heartily encourage you to come on out on Monday. You can buy tickets here or at the door. For a mere $5, I am guaranteeing a lot of fun. Action starts at 9 p.m. To learn more, go here.

Here ya go, the latest JGTAI scores. The Invitational will take place on November 19th, so still plenty of time to make a move but I would certainly get your team out next week. You can also score points on the JGT Facebook page. So lots of time to make things happen. As far as places to get a win, City Tap House, Fishtown Brewpub, Industry, and Birra are by far your best bets. None has a dominant team. So get your crew together and make the magic happen. See ya next week!

Glad to get the word out about a tremendous initiative this week at quizzo, Men Can. I’ll have some postcards to give away about their upcoming event on October 11th, and some koozies to give away as prizes this week as part of name that tune. I did an interview with Toby Fraser, a community educator at Lutheran Settlement House and an integral part of the Man Can Initiative, to tell us more about who they are and what they do.

JGT: What is Men Can all about?

TOBY: Men Can is about having more men take action against intimate partner violence (IPV). We know that while most men are not violent or abusive in their relationships, most violence is committed by a man. Men Can spaces are created to be a place to encourage that non-abusive behavior, to build skills in spreading that message, and to come together and support each other to get beyond some of the messages we’ve been taught as guys that might lead us to choosing violence in the future.

JGT: How did it start? What was the impetus?

TOBY: Men Can started about 10 years ago as a coalition between many non-profits in Philadelphia. It has stayed true to the mission of encouraging and building with men in the movement to help prevent IPV. Unfortunately with 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men experiencing IPV in their lifetime this is happening all the time, and there is not always a big flashy news story accompanying this violence. What keeps us going now is knowing that most men are not violent and that we can take it upon ourselves to make sure that more and more men are choosing non-violence moving forward.

JGT: What can men do specifically to help victims of domestic violence?

TOBY: People can do a lot to help survivors of IPV. From actively choosing to not use abuse in relationships, to talking to kids, friends and neighbors about that choice, to volunteering with Lutheran Settlement House or making a donation. We have many Men Can events that help build skills to have those hard conversations, and are going to be crafting ways to take action together starting later this fall as well.

We also encourage those who know someone who is being abused to not blame that victim. Never ask “why do they stay”, always ask “why do they abuse”. If you know someone being abused you can tell them that help is available 24/7 for free at the Philadelphia Domestic Violence Hotline 866-723-3014. Even if they choose to not accept your help does not make future abuse their fault. Let them know you are there for them whenever they do want help. It’s their life and their decision.

JGT: Are there any specific goals you guys are trying to reach?  

TOBY: Broadly we are working to end Intimate Partner Violence. Along that long road there are some smaller goals, but the most important thing for us to stay an inviting and welcoming space for people to come together and learn whatever skills they need to be part of this movement. Our goal is to engage people of any gender in stopping violence.

JGT: Tell us more about the event on October 11th.

TOBY: On October 11, from 11am to 1pm we will be hosting the Men Can rally at Paine Plaza (1401 JFK Blvd) in Center City. The rally is a fun time to meet folks who are involved, get some new info about Men Can, hear speakers, music from a dj and live band, and see some spoken word performances. The rally always features free food, resources and shirts to spread the Men Can message. Everyone is invited to attend regardless of gender, and we always make it a good time. At this year’s rally we are honoring Dr. Mario Cruz of Philadelphia FIGHT for his work to help end IPV in Philadelphia.

After three weeks of the JGTAI, here are our scores. Still a lot of time left to get on that scoreboard, but I wouldn’t waste much of it. Here’s how we look at each bar:

SIDECAR: Double Stuffed Oreo has been the best team so far, but there is certainly room for other teams to make a run.

O’NEALS: Jawn of the Dead and Hooter and Chuff have been slugging it out at the top, with Jerk and a Squirt building up some points through Facebook challenges.

CITY TAP HOUSE: Wide slam open. It’s absolutely anybody’s ballgame…and a $100 gift card on the line.

LOCUST RENDEZVOUS: Hurricane Nancy has been wreaking mayhem, destroying everything in its path. Will this continue, or will perennial powerhouses Synch Tramp and #1 Team Competitor step their games up?

FOUNDING FATHERS: Duane’s World has been completely dominant lately. Want to get your name on the quizzo map? Come to FF and knock those guys off.

INDUSTRY: Governor Quiz Quiztie has been solid so far this season, with 2 wins and a 3rd, but there’s still plenty of opportunity here.

BIRRA: Different top 3 finishers pretty much every week. Just wide slam open.

BARDS: Things have started to pick up now that kids are back in school, but no one team has really separated themselves from the pack yet.

Hope to see ya this week!