Now if there is one topic I am expert at, it is dance. Therefore it is only natural that I am hosting a fundraiser for Alchemy Dance Studio this Saturday night at Oh Shea’s at 19th and Sansom. $10 a player, with all of the money raised going toward the non-profit dance company. Quiz starts at 8 p.m., and winners get a VISA $100 gift card. Expect questions on everything from the origins of the waltz to Dancin’ Queen to Dances with Wolves. Gonna be a fun quiz. Hope you can make it.
French Fry Face-Off Tonight!
Hey gang, got an awesome audio round tonight, and of course we’ll be giving away some fries in a new edition of French Fry Face-Off. $2 Lagers at Ugly American at 8 p.m. $2.50 Lagers at Bards at 10:15 p.m. Hope to see ya tonight!
Question of the Week
What 1959 film was directed by Tom Graeff and had the amazing tagline of, “Thrill-crazed space kids blasting the flesh off humans!”?
Want To Stop City Council from Raiding City’s Coffers? Help Get Steve-O Elected.
Anyone who has played my quizzo regularly for the past few years knows Steve Odabashian. He is not only a member of 3-time Quizzo Bowl winners Lambda, he is also an Andy Reid impersonator and a terrific piano player. Steve has decided to throw his hat into the ring and run for City Council this year, and I can’t think of a better person to run for office.
Anyone who knows me knows that I do not identify with Republicans on most if not all social issues, but if it helps get Steve on the ballot, I am happy to switch my affiliation for this election. Many of the city’s Democrat leaders have become complacent, and the only way to shake them out of their complacency is for the people of this city to let them know that they are willing to look at the other side of all issues instead of just blindly voting D. Here is an interview with Steve about his campaign, how he wants to elimate wasteful spending in the city, and whether he’d run on a Milton Street ticket. -ed
Steve-O, what inspired this run for City Council?
Over the last 4 years, Philadelphia government has found itself in the news more frequently. Sadly, it is rarely for anything good. I feel like Philadelphia leadership has developed a real sense of complacency. Hundreds of millions of dollars in accounts receivable go uncollected or even worse, turn up “missing” way more than should be tolerated.
Meanwhile, elected officials take advantage of loopholes which allow them to raid the city’s coffers. DROP is a program that allows city employees to set a retirement date 4 years in advance. During those 4 years, they continue to collect salary, while their pension payments draw interest (at a ridiculously generous rate of 4.5%) over the next 4 years. They then collect that lump sum on retirement date. Elected officials have been retiring for one day, and then unretiring and running for reelection. If you ask me, this is nothing short of raiding the bank account of a city that is in a serious budget crunch. It is unconscionable that any council person (including my opponent, Frank Rizzo, Jr.) would break a promise to retire and take advantage of a financial sinkhole of a program when the city needs that money more than ever. No more, I say. If I am going to complain about the city’s complacency, then I can’t just watch it happen and be complacent myself. Even if I lose, at least I am drawing attention to some of our biggest problems. Philadelphia is quickly on its way to becoming the next Detroit if the city doesn’t stop spending beyond its means. And that scares and saddens me.
I don’t know your personal politics that well, but I will admit I was a bit surprised when I found out that you were running as a Republican. Why are you running as a Republican?
I am very independent thinking. My platform is mostly centered on Philadelphia’s fiscal irresponsibility, and that message will tend to fire up the Republican party more (especially when the one incumbent Republican, Frank Rizzo Jr., is enrolled in DROP and will collect a nice 6-figure lump sum payment and break his promise to retire).
Have you ever considered running on a Milton Street-Steve Odabashian ticket?
No, but if Philadelphia were ever to host a celebrity boxing type event, I think I could take him.
What kind of change do you, a political outsider, really think you can bring to City Hall?
You just answered the question yourself. I am a political outsider, and that’s a good thing in this era of corrupt Philly politics. The public is dying to get a new guy in there. I am learning this by canvassing the various neighborhoods of Philadelphia. They are sick of politics as usual, just as I am. Many council members have been in there for over 10 years. They have gotten way too comfortable with their old (and non-efficient) ways of not getting things done.
What can people do if they want to help the campaign?
My most urgent need is for people to register to be Republican. It takes about 5 minutes if you go down to 520 N Delaware Ave (near Delilah’s, I kid you not). They are open from 8:30 to 5 on weekdays. Several lifelong Democrats I know have done this, and I am humbled. They tell me that they vote for candidates and not for parties. It sounds like message is resonating strongly with people on both sides of the political spectrum.
I need well over 1000 signatures by March 8, and we are at about 600. Once you are registered Republican (and a Philly resident), people can help me get signatures from other Philly resident registered Republicans. If we can get about 20-30 people that each get about 20-30 names (that takes about 2-3 hours), it will get me on the ballot for the primary.
If you are a Republican, please contact me (odabashian@yahoo.com) so that I can get you to sign the petition. This campaign is as grassroots as it gets, and each and every signature counts. I need to get about 600 more signatures in the next week, or my hope of making Philly’s fiscal irresponsibility a major theme in the upcoming campaign will not come to pass. Thank yo
u!
A mere one week after declaring his candidacy and entering the field as a virtual unknown, Steve recently came in 6th out of 10 candidates in a straw poll of Philadelphia Republican Committee members that attended a candidates forum this past Saturday. The top 5 Republicans will advance from the primary. Steve has a real shot of advancing, but he has to get signatures. Please contact he or I if you are interested in either switching parties for this election or are a Republican and want to sign the petition to get him on the ballot. Please click “Like” below to help spread the word. Grassroots, folks! Let’s do this!
All-Star Quiz on Sunday
Mike Minion is gonna be geeking out hard on Sunday, and he hopes you’ll join him. He’s gonna be hosting a Star Wars, Star Trek, and astronomy quiz that is sure to get some of you Vulcans out of your mom’s basements for the evening. Here’s the details from Kirk Minion:
The Fault, dear Quizzers, is not in our stars …
… but in ourselves, if we stay home this Sunday night and miss the ALL STAR EXTRAVAGANZA! Yes folks, if you’ve ever donned a set of pointy ears, this quiz is for you. We’ll have a quiet place in the back where you can work on your Klingon pronunciation and not bother the rest of us. But if you just enjoy the voyages of the Starship Enterprise and/or The Millennium Falcon, this Sunday will be a lot of fun. We’re gonna go 5 rounds, covering the following topics:
ROUND 1: Captains Courageous — This round will be devoted to the intrepid men and woman in charge, and the craft they called their own
ROUND 2: Twinkle, twinkle little star — Ten questions on the lesser-known roles by the stars of the series
ROUND 3: Hey buddy, let me see your green card — This round is all about alien races and the planets they inhabit
ROUND 4: She blinded me with science — A round saluting all the truly terrible “science” in the shows and movies
ROUND 5: There are more things in Heaven and Earth… — The impossible round. A hodgepodge of difficult trivia.
I’m going to try to include some audio questions in each round to make it interesting. Remember, the quiz starts at 2100 EST on 2 March 2011. (That’s 9 PM this Sunday for the less-geeky, more well-adjusted quizzo fan. Wait, scratch that: there is no such thing as a well-adjusted quizzo fan)
Hope to see you there. On Wednesday, I’ll be putting hints, a list of prizes, and some other info on this site and my Facebook page. For now, Kirk out.
Great Comedy Show Tonight!
We’ve got a stacked lineup tonight for the Johnny Goodtimes Comedy Spectacular. Three of the funniest comics in Philadelphia will be at the Plough and the Stars tonight starting at 8:30 p.m. Steve Gerben and Chip Chantry were both featured in this recent piece from Philly Mag, and Dennis Horan is a comedian’s comedian, a man whose wordplay and comedy writing skills are admired by both audiences and other comics. You are going to have a lot of fun at this show, and tickets are a mere $5. In fact, we’re making it an Old City Quizzo/Comedy Doubleheader. Koob and Kristy are doing quizzo at 7 across the street (see below). Hope to see ya tonight!
Koob and Kristy Kick Off Quiz at Khyber Tonight
Koob and Kristy had a great turnout at the Raven on Wednesday night for their Pop Culture quizzo. Tonight they debut at a new spot: the legendary Khyber Pass. The Khyber Pass Pub reinvented itself a few months ago, and I’ll be honest, I haven’t been back since they reopened. Looking forward to seeing what they did with the place tonight. They already had a great beer list, now it’s apparently even better, and the food is getting rave reviews. Quizzo starts at 7 p.m., and there are rumors of lots of Oscars related questions. After quizzo we’re headed over to Plough and the Stars for a post-quizzo comedy show. Gonna be a very fun night. Hope you can join us.
OTHER QUIZZES: Mike Minion’s quiz for tonight has been cancelled, but details about his upcoming Star quiz for this Sunday are coming soon. If you’re in West Philly, can’t make it out to Old City, and wanna play quizzo, there is also a Big Quiz Thing show at the World Cafe Live tonight.
Quizzo at Westbury Cancelled for Tonight
Here’s a note from Mike Minion: Hey folks, the Westbury is making some improvements (they got a new bar top and have to install it), so tonight’s quiz is cancelled. We’ll be back next week, and don’t forget, this Sunday night at the Westbury is the ALL-STAR EXTRAVAGANZA!! Starting at 9:00 PM, this 5-round quiz on Star Trek/Star War/Astronomy is gonna be a lot of fun (if you are a the right kind of geek, that is). In any case, there will be lots of prizes and give-aways. Stayed tuned to this channel: Later today I’ll be posting the topics for the rounds. Live long and prosper! (Yeah, I know, but I couldn’t resist)
Quizzo News and Notes
If you are here looking for Quizzo Bowl scores, pics, and videos, click here to go to the JGT Quizzo Page on facebook. All the important stuff is up there.
As for quizzo in the next few weeks, as you can see below there is a lot going on. In addition to the quizzo and comedy in Old City on Monday night, Mike Minion is hosting a post-Oscars movie quiz at the Westbury at 9 p.m. Monday night.
The Spring Quizzo Invitational will be kicking off on March 7th. Teams who earn the most points will get an invite to the Big Spring Event (Time and location TBA).
I will try to get Quizzo Bowl questions posted on the site early next week. Have a great weekend everybody,a nd hope to see you Monday night!
Quizzo and Comedy on Monday Night!
We’re pulling a quizzo-comedy doubleheader on Monday night. Hope you can join us. We’re kicking it off at Koob and Kristy’s first POP quiz at the Khyber at 7 p.m. They did their first one this past week at the Raven and apparently it was a big hit. Great drink specials and a chance to check out the all new Khyber setup.
Then we move across the street to the Plough and the Stars, where we’re gonna be putting on a great comedy show at 8:30. I’ll be hosting and inviting people up to play face-off, Chip Chantry and Steve Gerben will be featuring, and Dennis Horan will be the headliner. You all saw Chip’s dance moves on Saturday night, and saw him perform character Bing Supernova at halftime. Can he tell jokes as well as he can dance? Find out Monday night. Steve was named Philly’s Phunniest comedian by Helium Comedy Club in 2007, and his short New Age Medic video is a viral hit on youtube. Our headliner is Dennis Horan, a local comedy legend. He’s been performing for over 20 years, and he may be the funniest computer programmer you’ll ever see. This is gonna be a fun night (we’ll be celebrating Kristy’s birthday) and I’ve gotten three of the funniest comedians in Philadelphia on the show for a mere $5. Hope you can make it!