The Thursday Trivia Podcast

Guest Podcast: Artful Ghosts: It’s been busy here at ThursTriv HQ, so no new episode this week (I was going to take next week off anyway, so now they’ve just flip-flopped). In lieu of this enjoy the latest half-hour special of infinitespace, entitled “Artful Ghosts.” infinitespacepodcast: (Ed. Note: Thanks for bearing with me during the extended hiatus.) This week on infinitespace, we feature two New York art exhibits each presenting haunting pieces telling stories from oft forgotten parts of the American identity. First, we head to Morris-Jumel Mansion in northern Manhattan, where artist and fashion designer Camilla Huey tells the stories and shows the writings of The Loves of Aaron Burr (Esther Edwards Burr, Margaret Moncrieffe, Theodesia Prevost Burr, Mary Emmons Burr, Theodosia Burr Alston, Leonora Sansay, Jane McManus Cazneau, and Madame Eliza Jumel, who owned the Mansion) through corsetry, showing the binding of Enlightenment women’s bodies, through their legal rights, their bodies, and the binding of their books. (More info on the exhibit, which runs until September 12th - including events, one of which is TODAY - here; more photos from the exhibit on Camilla’s site here.) In Act 2, I speak to Valerie Hegarty, whose exhibit Alternative Histories “activates” the Period Rooms of the Brooklyn Museum with jarring commentary on the history of slavery and of Native American upheaval. (More info about the exhibit, which runs until December 1st, here.) ——— Music on this week’s show is as follows (per usual, all songs are from the Free Music Archive unless otherwise noted - and a big thanks this week to the curation page Music for Video): "A Suicide" by Candlegravity "MLU" by Welcome Wizard "b3" by A.P. Vague "The Happy Birthday Song" by Andrew Bird (via the Internet Archive, live from Teatro Academico Gil Vicente in Coimbra, Portugal, looped and remixed by me) "Twelve Diseases" by Welcome Wizard "Trees Don’t Sleep" by Zachary Cale, Mighty Moon and Ethan Schmid "Dust Settles, She’s Not Coming Back" by Muhr "Gnossienes 1 (Erik Satie)" by Glockabelle "Harmonica Solo" by John Roundcity and Dooley Williams

55a: All Star Interview with USA Today's Ted Berg: No quiz this week, but in honor of the All-Star Game coming to Flushing for the first time in nearly 50 years, I held an interview with Ted Berg, MLB writer for USA Today's For the Win blog. We chatted about the Home Run Derby, the Verducci Effect, Nick Swisher’s trivia prowess and much more! Regularly scheduled ThursTriv will return with 5 questions on coins next week.

55: Independence!: Happy Independence Day, America! This week, 5 questions on the American Revolution and 5 questions on independence movements around the world. Music this week is “Yankee Doodle” performed by the United States Army Chorus and “Independence Day” by Persephone’s Bees (available on the Free Music Archive). 

54: The Planets: 5 questions on the planets. Music this week is “Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance” by Jonathan Coulton. 

53a: Bonus!: The Bronx: A special off-week 5 questions on The Bronx, as written for the Thursday Trivia Podcast Live event at the Macaulay Honors College Olympics at Lehman College, which took place last week. Music this week is “Baby Can I Hold You” by Tracy Chapman on the G train, part of the Subway Music Archive.

32: Live! Brooklyn/The Ancient World/Flags/Sea Life (Rerun): I’ve been moving over to my summer dorm room this week, so no new episode. BUT there will be a bonus episode next week, and then regular podcasts thereafter! In any case, the Macaulay Honors College Spring Picnic and Olympics was today (this time at Lehman College in the Bronx). Last year, I did the Thursday Trivia Podcast Live at the Macaulay Olympics, at the Grecian Shelter at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Rounds for this game are on Brooklyn, The Ancient World, Flags, and Sea Life. Play along at home using these answer sheets!  This week’s music includes “I Left My Heart in Brooklyn” by the Unbroken Hearts, “One Minute for the Stars” by Fax, “Future Crimes” by Wild Flag, and “Ocean Breeze” by Sycamore Drive from the Free Music Archive, and “Scythian Empires” by Andrew Bird featuring Calexico from the Internet Archive. (Additionally there’s a snippet of “Airbrushed” by Anamanaguchi, available on the Free Music Archive, which was used in an episode of The Aulos.

53: Islands: Five questions on islands (in honor of Governor Island's reopening). Music this week - which is relevant to question 5 of the quiz - is “Going to Port Washington” by the Mountain Goats, live from Webster Hall in 2009 and courtesy of the Internet Archive.

52: Women's Soccer: In celebration of the National Women’s Soccer League’s inaugural season, 5 questions on women’s soccer. This week’s music comes from the Subway Music Archive. (Also, I’m the Guest Quizmaster this week on PodQuiz, so do check it out when it comes out today/tomorrow.)

30: The Stanley Cup (Rerun): No new episode this week, as I’m swamped with work. Enjoy this episode from last year on the Stanley Cup. Regular episodes in two weeks’ time. 5 questions on one of the greatest (physical) trophies ever, The Stanley Cup. (I don’t mean the best sporting competition, but it’s close.) Music this week is “Ivy (There’s No Forgetting)” by Tom Fahy from the Free Music Archive. There’s also a bit of “The Crystal Cat” by Dan Deacon used in the preview for next week’s premiere of The Aulos on infinitespace.

50: Molly Shannon: 5 questions about SNL veteran and perpetual TV guest star Molly Shannon. (Because this podcast is 50! 50 episodes old!) Music this week is “La Di Da” by Sydney Wayser, via the Free Music Archive.

49: π!: It’s Pi Day (in North America)! 5 questions on one of mathematics’ biggest days.  This week in lieu of music, I’m featuring a stanza from Garrett Buhl Robinson’s epic poem Martha. You can find out more about Garrett’s work here. Also, I’ve got a new addition to the Subway Music Archive - listen to it here.

48: International Baseball (with Ted Berg): 5 questions on international baseball, in celebration of the World Baseball Classic, which begins next week!  Featured this week in lieu of music is an interview I did with USA Today sports writer/sandwich maven Ted Berg. I got to talk to him about the WBC, his expectations for the Mets this year, being both a fan and a sportswriter, his time in the Jeopardy! contestant pool, and of course, Taco Bell. The music before the interview was Fax’s “One Minute for the Stars”. Afterwards, it was this Nike ad from 2001.

infinitespace 2x03: Timeline of a Loop: infinitespacepodcast: Looping, cycles, repetition - it’s all present in our history, art, literature, and nature. This week in two acts (plus a prologue), how loops affect us all, from every 10 or 20 seconds to every 10,000 years. We begin at the Staten Island Museum, home to the largest collection of cicadas in North America. Brood II of the 17-year magicicada genus is returning to the East Coast this summer, which the museum is celebrating with a yearlong exhibition and site-specific sculpture piece. I spoke with Alex Bolesta, of the American Museum of Natural History’s Invertebrate Zoology Collection and the SI Museum, about the unique life cycle of those cicadas. I then talk to K Ishibashi, previously the frontman of Jupiter One, then a touring musician for Of Montreal and Regina Spektor, and now the one-man band that is Kishi Bashi. He uses a loop and effect pedal to not only create orchestral sonic landscapes, but also to mess with time and meter - sort of bringing the sound of a strings section to a dance club. Finally I speak to Matt Greco, an artist-in-residence at the Museum of Arts and Design and art professor at Queens College, about his series “History Vessels” and the revival of an older artistic ethos. Special thanks this episode to Alex Bolesta, K Ishibashi, Matt Greco, the Staten Island Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, Kellyn Slone at 2:30 Publicity, Prof. Michael Sugrue, Signe Valentinsson, KEXP and NPR Music. ——— The music and sounds for this episode, per usual, come from the Free Music Archive unless otherwise noted. Sound of a mezzo cicada as recorded by Freesound user Tito Lahaye “Fiya” by tUnE-yArDs (via NYC Taper, remixed and looped by me) Snippets of “Atticus, In the Desert” and “I Am the Antichrist to You” by Kishi Bashi, via NPR Music’s recording of his show at the 9:30 Club (available here, used under fair use) Clip of “Bright Whites” by Kishi Bashi, via KEXP’s recording of his show at CMJ Music Marathon (available here, used under fair use) “Waiting on the Day” by Tall Tall Trees (used under fair use) “Aux Puces no. 2: Carosello” by Circus Marcus Sound of a music box by Freesound user klankbeeld “Búsqueda exploratoria #007 - Rue Laide Coupe” by Circus Marcus “Brown Wax Recording” via the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project “Wet Riffs,” via Incompetech “Plasticities” by Andrew Bird, via the Internet Archive (remixed and looped by me) To those who subscribe to the ThursTriv Feed, I present to you “Timeline of a Loop,” the latest episode of my other podcast, infinitespace. 

47: Broadway Musicals: Two weeks late is 5 questions on Broadway musicals. Music this week is “Maxima and Minima” by Matheatre from Calculus: The Musical.

12: TV of the 2000s (Rerun): In honor of 30 Rock’s finale - and the fact that I have a bunch of stuff to read this week - I’m re-running this old episode (almost back to the SoundCloud days!) on TV of the 2000s. (Fun note - I believe I mentioned my friend Kerishma Panigrahi in this episode. I have now been dating her nearly the past 13 months. Oh, how time flies.