NTN Encore Question of June 16th, 2012.
Played at The Squire & Firkin in Etobicoke, Ontario.

Headliner:...VAN MORRSION over Van Halen and Vandelles (sic)

Encore Question:...Which hit single by Van Morrison is from his 'Veedon Fleece' album?

Tonight I'm playing with my two boards with Rob COSMO, Sean METLCA, and Phil PLBAAB.

Here's how my game went and my comments:
Tune Up...ROCKET...5000/5000..1st/5...our five win this round.     
.............LITBOX...5000/5000...1st/5. 
The Line Up...ROCKET...13000/15000...4th/5. 
...........LITBOX...13000/15000...4th5...I go 8 right and 2 wrong for a good week but the others get 9 right.
Triviaoke...ROCKET...20890/25000...3rd/5.  METLCA wins round and is in the lead.
............LITBOX...20890/25000...3rd/5.  I think I took two -250s this week.  Wow they ask the Tegan & Sara song 'Walking With A Ghost'
which I thought may have only ever have made Alternative playlists.    
Opening Act...ROCKET...25890/35000...2nd/5.
...........LITBOX...25890/35000...2nd/5.
The Pound key round.  I figured I must have gone 6 right for 1000, 0 for +250, 4 for -250, and 0 I didn't answer.  My two win round.
Headliner...ROCKET...36640/56250...1st/5.   
............LITBOX...36640/56250...1st/5...my two win the round...missed on Q6 and Q10.

VAN MORRISION:  1. In which country was rock singer Van Morrison born?--Northern Ireland...2.  Van Morrison began his musical career touring
the UK in Europe with a band named The __________:--Monarchs...3.  Which is the title of rock singer Van Morrison's first album?
--Blowin' Your Mind...4.  Van Morrison's album ____________ was a suite of love songs for his then wife Janet Planet.--Tupelo Honey...5.
This is the title of an acclaimed romantic album by Van Morrsion released in 1970:--Moondance...6.  Van Morrison's album featuring the
Oakland Symphony Orchestra was called:--Hard Nose The Highway...7.  The Doors opened for this Van Morrison group on their opening night
at The Whiskey A Go-Go:...Them...8.  Which song mentions memories of "skippin' and jumpin' in the mystery morning fog"?--Brown Eyed Girl
...9. 'Whenever God Shines His Light' is a hopeful song by Van Morrison initially on this album:--Avalon Sunset...10.  Which poet did singer
Van Morrison regard as one of his influences?--John Donne    

I just knew this week's Headliner would be Van Morrsion because Van Halen was already used as a Headliner and Vandelles was mispelled if this was the Motown 'Martha and the Vandellas' or the Chariots of Fire composer Vangelis. There'd also been the listing of three generic categoris like 'Memphis Soul' but this week should be the turn of a specific artist. I found my old notes on Van Halen but was too busy to make any on Van Morrison. Wikipedia had a write-up on him and I got distracted by the album 'Astral Weeks' which I then played segments of on i-Tunes. Also read that Bruce Springsteen was influenced by this album. Yeah 'Blinded By The Light' was very similar to one of these songs.

I was at a soccer game earlier today in which we couldn't get the national anthems to play while testing the sound system. The guy from City of Toronto said the CD was generic and wouldn't play and he tested the player out with a CD copy that sounded artist-wise familiar but it was on Memorex so it played. I looked closely at the CD and he'd handwritten 'Best of Van Morrison'. I felt like not showing up for tonight's game. The game was in the west end and this week's location was decided by my friends as The Squire & Firken which was not that far away by car. So no alcohol for me but then no 26 stop subway ride neither. Perfect as I'll miss the next two weeks with soccer games at exactly the same time as Playback.

Well let's get started. Q2 I think I'd read that on Thursday on Wikipedia but I couldn't help my friends out on all the 'royal' themed answers. Q 3 to 6 were the 'only' Van Morrison album in the choices listed. I didn't get Q6 as I went for 'Brave New World'. Finally 'Them' came up on Q7 in the list of other British groups we all knew. Q8 we also knew. Q9 Rob guessed Avalon Sunset and I went for it too. (again that may have been the only Van Morrison album listed. Q10 I was looking for an Irish name (like James Joyce--not an option) so didn't go for Scotch Robbie Burns...went with William Blake...right answer was a different English guy.

Now the Encore betting comes up. Well 50% as usual.

Answers:

  1. Cleaning Windows
  2. Summerime In England
  3. Spanish Steps
  4. Streets Of Arklow
  5. Sante Fe

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I don't know this. I haven't heard any of these songs nor the album. I went with 'Streets of Arklow'. There wasn't a pattern of Headliner answer being '4' so that wasn't a reason. I didn't think he sang any song named after an American town so only ruled out '5' but no good reason why I thought that. Again with that 'Astral Weeks' reading, I read that it was about his childhood--was Arklow a town in Northern Ireland? Well no--but looking it up days later--found it was in the Republic of Ireland). I wonder if I've seen this on a map and just filed it away? My friends all went with '3' I found out later.

Correct Answer:....4. Streets Of Arklow

[NTN Extra Fact:...Another cut on the 1974 album is 'You Don't Pull No Punches But You Don't Push The River'.]

Hit single? None of the choices made the charts! They were all Van Morrison songs but just on five different albums. Very lucky and I feel great as I'm going to miss the next two weeks of playing. I found out you can't buy that album on i-Tunes or Amazon.

I'm right and win as ROCKET with 54960. I earn 3000+ points for meeting the standard of 18000. I finish 2nd on the Network Top 20 in the Playback East district.
The bar is 3rd in the Playback East district.

(ntn.com keeps us in 3rd place out of 1025 with a 32577 average).

Here's how the rest of the bar did:
Player	preEncore       Final           Rank   ntn.com rank
LITBOX   36640     4    54960             2          3
ROCKET   36640     4    54960             2          3
COSMO    35590     3    17795           240        308
PLBAAB   35430     3    17715           244        311
METLCA   34910     3    17455           255        321
(ntn.com listed 2252 Players Plus players with 2078 having a positive score in the Playback East district).  

The scores across the entire network were quite low. Even the bars that split on the final question didn't have enough to cover every answer. Maybe some vindictive quiz writer still upset at the hate mail when there was no Playback last month is getting even. I'm glad I'm missing the next few weeks while at soccer games.

Other games:
7:00pm...Countdown...ROCKET...11470/15000...1st/2...1000+ points...I'm 449th in NA...I'm here for the last 14 questions.
..........LITBOX...10273/15000...2nd/2...1000+ points...I'm 639th in NA...I'm here for the last 13 questions.
7:30pm...Countdown...ROCKET...12636/15000...1st/5...1000+ points...I'm 30th in NA.
...............LITBOX...12606/15000...2nd/5...1000+ points...I'm 31st in NA.
8:00pm...Playback...(see above)
9:00pm...Tuned In...ROCKET...5563/10000...2nd/5...I earn 500+ points...I'm 213rd in NA.
.........LITBOX...5509/10000...3rd/5...I earn 500+ points. I'm 222nd in NA...COSMO wins with 5993 so doesn't make the bonus points of 6000 yet finishes 150th in NA. So it's not just the Playback game they've made too tough.
9:15pm...Speed Freaks...ROCKET...2000/27000...4th/5...900+ points...I'm 3562th in NA...I'm not sure who won.
...........LITBOX...2500/27000...3rd/5...900+ points...I'm 3359th in NA.
I get my 2000 points early to make the bonus points then leave for the bathroom.
9:30pm...Countdown...ROCKET...11302/15000...1st/5...1000+ points...I'm 127th in NA.
..................LITBOX...11302/15000...1st/5...1000+ points...I'm 127th in NA.
10:00pm...Late Shift...ROCKET...8327/10000...1st/5...900+ points...I'm 67th in NA.
............LITBOX...8327/10000...1st/5...900+ points...I'm 67th in NA...the bar is 16th in NA with a 71xx average.

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