Mind Over Music: Austin’s Music Trivia Smackdown

It was a packed house Monday, Feb. 1, at the Palm Door for the Chronicle's first-ever music trivia competition. Twenty-eight teams of five took part in the boisterous and rowdy affair as friends and co-workers looked on. Competing teams featured a who's who of Austin's vibrant music scene including two teams from C3 Presents as well as squads repping KUT, Austinist, the Texas Music Office, Woxy, South by Southwest, KVRX, Showlist Austin (my team), and musicians including David Garza and Amy Cook and members of What Made Milwaukee Famous, Brothers and Sisters, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, and Manikin.

Hosted by KGSR's Andy Langer and KLBJ's Charlie Hodge, the contest had a festive vibe but was not without controversy. One of the C3 teams was disqualified for cheating while other participants were caught texting. Shame, shame, shame. The questions leaned heavily toward the KGSR crowd while steering clear of punk and classic rock with very brief forays into hip-hop, metal, and jazz. The competition was close and hotly contested, and the bartenders stayed busy from start to finish keeping the contestants well lubricated as several teams erected their own beer-can pyramids, most likely an attempt to harness the powers of the gods of trivia.

After the final question was deliberated and the scores were tallied, the music-savvy team of Audra Schroeder, Greg Beets, Jerald Corder, Doug Freeman, and Austin Powell from The Austin Chronicle claimed first-place honors – Powell even corrected the judges on the proper title of Watchtower's debut LP. But, more importantly, the Latina Turners won for best team name; Waterloo Records' Bill Jeffery took home the prize in the competition's highlight, the dance-off segment; and money was raised for beneficiary Grounded in Music. For a full list of the participants and how they fared, go to austinchronicle.com/mindovermusic. Test your own music knowledge with a sampling of questions from Monday night's event:

1) Brooklyn High School is a rock & roll landmark because this artist played his first concert north of the Mason-Dixon Line there. Name him.

2) In the Prince song "Get Off," how many different positions are there in a one-night stand?

3) What was the name of the last music venue Stevie Ray Vaughan played in?

4) What three country music standards did Willie Nelson reportedly write in a single week? Must get all three songs correct.

5) In the Townes Van Zandt song "If I Needed You," who were Loop and Lil in the line "Loop and Lil agree, she's a sight to see"?

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Answers: 1) Elvis Presley; 2) 23; 3) Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wis.; 4) "Crazy," "Funny How Time Slips Away," and "Night Life"; 5) Van Zandt's two parakeets