This week's Secret Theme rounds

Each group of 10 otherwise unrelated tough questions has a theme running through its answers. Can you answer the questions and figure out the themes? Answers will be posted early next week.

Lyon's Den:

In all honesty I reused an old round because there were a lot of small, even one-person, teams and I wanted to slip in something I knew was easier for a crowd before. I'll try to have a 100% new game this week.

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar:

1) What Aussie post-punk band (1977-1983) did Nick Cave front before the Bad Seeds?
2) Who was the leader of the Soviet Union in between Nikita Khrushchev and Yuri Andropov?
3) What famed rock critic did Philip Seymour Hoffman play in the 2000 movie Almost Famous?
4) What musician was born Saul Hudson in England in 1965?
5) What comedian was arrested in Miami in 1951 for impersonating a priest?
6) In 1910, American amateur geologist Frank Bursley Taylor was first to publish a paper about what now generally accepted geologic concept?
7) In the 2006 animated feature The Ant Bully, what did the ants call "sweetrocks"?
8) What term do biologists use to describe interdependence between species?
9) What Beatles song reached #1 in December 1964, has the B-side "She's a Woman", and appeared on LP in the US on the album Beatles '65?
10) What NBA expansion team joined the league in 1970 and has played at the Quicken Loans Arena since 1994?

Dirty Frank's:

As part of the one film program, the theme is a movie title.

1) What 1981 movie was directed by Louis Malle, had a screenplay written by the two main characters and was filmed in an abandoned hotel in Richmond, VA as a stand-in for an operating hotel in Manhattan?
2) For what 1956 film did George Stevens win the Best Director Oscar?
3) What 1968 B-movie about terrorizing bikers is best remembered for its soundtrack, which featured Cream and Iron Butterfly?
4) What well-known American actor was featured as "Der Filmstar" in the 1987 Wim Wenders Palme d'Or-winning film Der Himmel über Berlin?
5) Who played Jenny Curran in Forrest Gump?
6) What 1988 thriller about the end of the world featured Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham and was directed by Steve DeJarratt?
7) Who played God in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and then Satan in Needful Things (1993)?
8) What 1982 movie took place on the planet Thra?
9) What popular 2001 movie featured Julie Andrews and was directed by TV's Garry Marshall?
10) Give me the three names by which Uma Thurman's character was known in the Kill Bill movies. Only one helps you with the theme.

Three all-new quizzes for quiz maniacs

Sunday, March 2, 8pm
Lyon's Den
2nd & Christian Sts.
Subject Round: AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY

Tuesday, March 4, 9pm
Ray's Happy Birthday Bar
1200 E. Passyunk Ave.
(near 9th & Federal Sts.)
Subject Round: SIX ROUNDS OF MOVIE QUESTIONS
As part of One Film, One Philadelphia, featuring special movie-themed prizes.

Wednesday, March 5, 9pm
Dirty Frank's
13th & Pine Sts.
Subject Round: URBAN LEGENDS

Weekly winners' round-up; Sofa Kingdom wins all-film quiz easily, ties all-time record

The All-Universe team Sofa Kingdom destroyed everyone in the all-film quiz at Dirty Frank's. Their score of 187 ties the highest score ever attained in this format, as noted in the Top Ten list at right. Note that in the rules I set out for that list, the team to notch the score first in a tie gets top billing, thus the Group W tied score still atop the list as I do need to make that determination somehow. This is the first time anyone has changed the list at all in a few months, and the first time in 2008. Well done! Group W finished in second place for the second week in a row, admirable for anyone else but a poor showing for them. The Movie Monster broke off of the Lil' Roy team and beat them by 3 points, setting up a good-natured(?) intra-team rivalry.

Not a single customer was drawn in from the One Film, One Philadelphia promotion, and Frank's was the place with the correct address on the flier. Make of that what you will.

How can I blame people for not stopping by? They can't even feel safe. The game was delayed repeatedly by a drunken, violent Frank's employee who no one seemed completely interested in controlling or removing. Apparently hitting people, loudly challenging the entire bar to a fight and throwing furniture isn't enough to get a person fired let alone flagged, even barred within the same evening. The atmosphere in the place goes all to hell when someone drunk and stupid acts up or becomes violent, and the continued tolerance of that is a disgrace for which I can only apologize. I worked pretty hard on trying to make this a decent special program for peaceful patrons, and it got shat upon by an employee. Thanks. One problem customer drives out 20 good ones; why is that hard to understand?

Beautiful Gold: Sofa Kingdom 187
So-So Silver: Group W 129
Shameful, Shameful Bronze: The Movie Monster 114

Also-rans:

Lil' Roy & the Raiders of the Lost Ark 111
King Shit of Fuck Mountain 91
Don Quizzote 78
The Centaur 72
Regular Joes 70
Kenya 59

The Movie Monster at Frank's was Yes I Cannibis at Lyon's Den on the Sunday night at the Oscars-themed game. He won first easily.

Asking trivia questions in a bar should be the easiest thing in the world. Unfortunately some people I need to work with seem to attempt to make this as difficult as possible, as witnessed by the failure of anyone at Lyon's Den to let me know that the game would start three hours late because of a long-scheduled Oscars party with a cover charge (oddly I never saw a flier or sign for this until that night). Needless to say by the time the game rolled around, not many people wanted to begin playing at 11:20 on a Sunday night.

If you were inconvenienced by this or turned away the door, I apologize again on behalf of the venue. I was more surprised than you if that's any consolation.


Beautiful Gold: The Movie Monster 115
So-So Silver: Oscar Nite 82
Shameful, Shameful Bronze: Taint Misbehavin' 80

Also-rans:

Davey 70
McClouds 70
From tha Door 29

At least I don't need to apologize for Ray's this week.

Beautiful Gold: Andres & Co. 93
So-So Silver: Team Nick 81
Shameful, Shameful Bronze: Edward James Almost 71

Speaking ill of the dead Part III: William F. Buckley, Jr.

And another one bites the dust.

Arch-prig, "conservative" (somewhat to the right of Himmler) commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. just bit the proverbial big one at the age of 82. Buckley was born into multi-generational wealth and made millions more attacking poor people and "socialism" - on public television, no less - for their sloth and related failures. His smug, corpulent frame was perched upon overburdened swivel chairs for decades, a heaving caricature of what America thought the landed gentry looked like, and, as it turns out, does. Buckley would spit vile invective at anyone struggling to upset Mammon's apple cart through the ridiculously clenched jaw aping the Boston Brahmin bully, a perpetual smirk on his increasingly puffy face generated by the knowledge that he was born into a position where one could ridicule the plight of the weak and get away with it, always.

Buckley enjoyed yachting and made even more money writing books about it. Why, I imagine he wondered, don't poor folks have the gumption to write their own yachting memoirs and pull themselves up by their wingtip-straps?

As a TV commentator Buckley in some ways pioneered the Bill O'Reilly school of claiming to have debate with intellectual superiors, and "winning" these debates by cutting off responses, refusing to answer questions, insisting on answers to loaded questions. As a "gentleman" he wouldn't yell at guests, although in one memorable event he did threaten to punch Gore Vidal, his intellectual and moral superior, a man born into wealth who noticed the struggle of the weak and has earnestly tried to help them. Yes, Vidal is a "queer"... he's also a World War II vet, a decorated pilot.


If you can stomach it, witness Buckley dodge substantive debate with the far brighter Noam Chomsky by repeatedly changing the subject, and setting up a series of strawman arguments. One can almost see the mouse on the little wheel in his head whispering things about how awful it is to have a filthy Jew on the set.


Buckley served for a year in the CIA, attempting to destabilize Mexico. Very little is known about how. Vidal also claimed that Buckley and relatives vandalized a Protestant church (despite appearances, he was a loyal Catholic and a book could likely be written on the resultant psychologically driven attempts to out-WASP the WASPs) because the pastor's wife sold some property to a Jewish family. These two events sum his life nicely I think.

William F. Buckley, Jr.'s dead and we're not. Enjoy that. The only regret is the amount of time it took to get there.

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar: The viral(?) video

With a cameo from yours truly. This will be on the upcoming uwishunu.com profile of Ray's soon. Thanks for the alert to cameraman/editor Jimmy V., who tells me that the garbled beginning is only in the YouTube upload.

From Soul to Seoul: A Philadelphian in Korea

Some months ago, local quizzo fan and friend of this blog Garrett left here for there to teach ESL. He's been keeping a blog of his opinions and as a record/promo for the quizzes he's started in western round-eyed barbarian bars in Seoul, and I think it's well-written and well worth a gander. From Soul to Seoul

He recently shot me a hello note, and what better time to alert local readers to the blog? Of course this would be your first night activity should business or pleasure take you to South Korea.

If I had any sense when I was teaching ESL in Qatar, I would've done the same thing instead of speaking conversational English to other English speakers for free like a sucker. That's not what I was there for, no sir! Mercenary speech is the watchword of the ESL expat. There were plenty of Brits around who I'm sure would enjoy a good quiz.

Answers to last week's Secret Theme rounds

Lyon's Den:

The theme was streets in South Philly, all of which run East-West so as to make an undeniably specific category.

1) Which US state is the Beaver State? Oregon / Oregon Ave.
2) Johnny Roventini (1910-1998) had a catchphrase in a classic popular radio and TV ad from several decades ago. What product did he push? Philip Morris (link to Roventini memorial site; listen to his distinctive ad pitch!) / Morris St.
3) The Oakland A's retired the number 9. Whose number was that? Reggie Jackson / Jackson St.
4) In 1889 this became the 42nd US state. Which one is it? Washington / Washington Ave.
5) For what 1994 Mike Nichols-directed movie was Jack Nicholson not nominated for any award? Wolf / Wolf St.
6) Her 2000 album I Wanna Be with You, which went gold, was a remix of her 1999 album So Real. Who is it? Mandy Moore / Moore St.
7) What English borough is home to 0 degrees longitude? Greenwich / Greenwich St.
8) Who played new homeowner Delia Deetz in the 1988 movie Beetlejuice? Catherine O'Hara / Catherine St.
9) What American socialist journalist wrote Ten Days That Shook the World, his account of the Soviet Revolution, published in 1919? He's buried at the Kremlin. John Reed / Reed St.
10) What religious group was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the 19th century? Christian Science / Christian St.

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar:

The theme was units of time.

1) In 1956, this singer had a #2 song on the US pop charts with "Whatever Will Be, Will Be" from the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much. Who was it? Doris Day

2) In 1972, Badfinger had a #4 on the US pop charts with this song produced by George Harrison. Name it. "Day After Day"

3) What was Al Stewart's best-selling single, a #8 in 1977? The title of the song is also the title of his best-selling album. "Year of the Cat"
4) What movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1946, a somber story of returning World War II vets adjusting back to civilian life? The Best Years of Our Lives
5) What was the highest-grossing film of 1996, #25 on the list of all-time highest-grossing movies? Independence Day
6) What important historic event occurred on June 6, 1944? D-Day (Normandy invasion)
7) What 1991 movie centered around the possibility of a homosexual fling between John Lennon and Beatles' manager Brian Epstein? The Hours and Times
8) What ABC show had its pilot air immediately following Super Bowl XXII, won the 1988 Emmy for Best Prime Time Comedy, and ran another 5 years without winning the Emmy again? The Wonder Years
9) What 2002 romantic comedy paired Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant? Two Weeks Notice
10) What TV show set a record of 23 consecutive seasons in the Top Ten of the prime time Nielsen ratings, 1977-2000? 60 Minutes

Dirty Frank's:

The theme was fruit.

1) What 1991 movie starred Ethan Hawke as Tom McHugh, a man who gets entangled with tongs (Chinese-American gangs)? Mystery Date
2) What soap opera replaced "Another World" on NBC in 1999? Passions / passionfruit
3) What classic Sunday comics reporter worked for a newspaper called The Flash? Brenda Starr / starfruit
4) What movie character from a popular 1993 movie owned a dog named Zero? Jack Skellington / jackfruit
5) What Ukrainian political movement made headlines in 2004-05 while backing candidate Viktor Yushchenko? Orange Revolution
6) What Led Zeppelin song from their third album (1970) opens with the lyric "Measuring a summer's day..."? "Tangerine"

7) What 1954 novel by Simone de Beauvoir tracked the progress of the existential movement in post-war France, and won the coveted Prix Goncourt? The Mandarins / mandarins
9) In 1975 this specialty magazine was founded as The Strategic Review. In 1976 it changed its title to its current one. In 2007 it went internet subscription-only. Name it. Dragon / dragonfruit
10) What was Orson Welles' character's name in the classic film The Third Man? Harry Lime

Wrong Ray's address, wrong time in One Film, One Philadelphia mailer

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar is located at 1200 E. Passyunk Ave., near 9th and Federal Sts. There is no 200 E. Passyunk Ave. Hopefully any of the 25,000 people I understand got the mailing who are trying to find Ray's via an internet search might stumble across this post. The all-movie quiz there will be on Tuesday, March 4, at 9pm... not at 8pm as the One Film mailer reads.


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Normally I might not find this sort of typo quite as irritating, but there have been a series of problems with my participation with the program. Initially the website and mailer text had switched the nights and weeks of the Ray's and Frank's quizzes, which would send people to the wrong places at the wrong times. I called in a correction.

These things happen I suppose (?), but the initial reaction of my library contact to pointing out the gaffe was to suggest that we all switch the days and locations of the two quizzes! That's right, a hundred or so patrons and employees of both bars should switch up their schedules over four nights, maybe reschedule some other bar activities planned for nights we're not normally there, travel to a bar further away from your regular spot, give up whatever tips might be generated from the additional business or swap work schedules... in order to make a couple of typos "correct." This all assumes that the bars work for me, and not the other way 'round, that I have control over these things. Imagine the phone calls to two bar managers "Hi, yeah, this is Chris... could we switch up your schedule this week? There was a typo."

Fortunately before I could blow a blood vessel in my head typing out a response to that, I was recontacted with the info that the problem was caught at the printer's and corrected, so maybe I should just go ahead and, y'know, keep to the normal schedule that regulars expect. The Ray's address and game time, however, were now incorrect on the mailer, and I didn't get a look at that before they went out.

Now, even this might not be so much of a problem if my phone number were included in contact info as I requested. Instead the Ray's number is listed, and assuming that you call that when someone is there to answer (there's no voicemail), most employees who answer the phone have no idea what I do there or certainly what One Film is. Even this might not be such a problem if the mailer included this website, but it doesn't. In fact the text is laid out poorly enough that three of the four quizzes (two of them mine) have no info at all about who is hosting them, or how to contact us. You can't even Google "Quizmasterchris" if that doesn't appear anywhere on the flier, and it doesn't. Of the few dozen events on the mailer, mine are the only ones with no explanatory material. Any reader is left with the impression that a fellow named Scott of Fancy Pants Cinema is running all four, when he's doing one of them.

Prediction: No one who wasn't already aware of the Ray's quiz will be there. For once, I thought, it'd be nice to have someone else promoting the quiz. So much for that.

Even all of this might not irk me so much if I didn't get a phone call suggesting that my attitude toward the program was problematic! Sheesh...

Lil' Roy ends 11-week Group W / Gofa Wingdom reign of terror

Riding the strength of a perfect Subject round, identification of circuit diagram elements, Lil' Roy broke out of perpetual So-So Silver status and put a whuppin' on Group W. W and related hybrid team Gofa Wingdom had won 11 consecutive weeks. Last week I didn't even bother posting the scores from two weeks ago (yawn), now reproduced at the bottom of this post. It is duly noted that W literally lost during a lunar eclipse, an unshaded moon clearly the source of their eerie powers.

Next week is the SIX ROUNDS OF MOVIE QUESTIONS quiz - can Lil' Roy keep the crown..?

Beautiful Gold: Lil' Roy vs. Powerman and the Money-Go-Round 152
So-So Silver: Group W 107
Shameful, Shameful Bronze: Kenya 102

Also-rans:

Fantasy: The Reign of Blood 98
Don Quizzote 93
Chic-Fellatio 70
What the February's?! 58
Batty Bats 53

Previous week:

Beautiful Gold: Gofa Wingdom 154
So-So Silver: Lil' Roy & the Spiders from Mars 127
Shameful, Shameful Bronze: Don Quizzote 85

Also-rans:

Kenya 69
Cabo Cabo Cabo 66

Kisses for Kittens wins low-scoring Ray's smackdown

At long last, a Kittens victory! They took out some good competition, including a large team (Philly Meds) from the Union League.

Beautiful Gold: Kisses for Kittens 92
So-So Silver: High on Philly Meds 79
Shameful, Shameful Bronze: Pat Murphy, Di Giants Hater 72

Also-rans:

Cosine of Four (-3) 69

Cowducken beat a crowded field at Lyon's Den

Last Sunday the two-person team Cowducken, including half of Frank's bullies Group W, knocked off the field at Lyon's Den. Great to see the participation! The pair is pictured at left.

Beautiful Gold: Cowducken 127
So-So Silver: Alpha Squad Seven 116
Shameful, Shameful Bronze: Edward James Almost 78

Also-rans:

King Shit of Fuck Mountain 65
Dizzle 43
Team Turkish 40
Risky Quizness 33
Team Blackout 24
Chloe 19

Three very cool upcoming quizzes

How cool? Cooler than a Cambodian death skull. That's how cool.

Sunday, February 24, 8pm
Lyon's Den
2nd & Christian Sts.
Subject Round: THE OSCARS
It is, after all, Oscar night.

Tuesday, February 26, 9pm
Ray's Happy Birthday Bar
1200 E. Passyunk Ave.
(near 9th & Federal Sts.)
Subject Round: CLASSIC TV

Wednesday, February 27, 9pm
Dirty Frank's
13th & Pine Sts.
Subject Round: SIX ROUNDS OF MOVIE QUESTIONS
As part of One Film, One Philadelphia, featuring special movie-themed prizes.

South Philly Five Bar Crawl: I have a FREE pass for one lucky player at Ray's this week!

No word on whether or not First Drunkette Jenna Bush will be attending, but as part of Philly Beer Week, Ray's Happy Birthday Bar and four other nearby South Philly bars are selling $12 vouchers good for five drinks, one drink at each location, Saturday, March 8. Yes, that's less than $8.72 per drink assuming I did the math correctly.

Ray's was kind enough to give me a FREE pass - a $12 value - as a shout-out prize for this Tuesday's quiz.

Other participating bars are 1601, The Dive, South Philly Tap Room and the POPE.

Three of this week's Secret Theme rounds for your quizzing pleasure

Each group of 10 otherwise unrelated tough questions has a theme running through its answers. Can you answer the questions and figure out the themes? Answers will be posted early next week.

Lyon's Den:

1) Which US state is the Beaver State?
2) Johnny Roventini (1910-1998) had a catchphrase in a classic popular radio and TV ad from several decades ago. What product did he push?
3) The Oakland A's retired the number 9. Whose number was that?
4) In 1889 this became the 42nd US state. Which one is it?
5) For what 1994 Mike Nichols-directed movie was Jack Nicholson not nominated for any award?
6) Her 2000 album I Wanna Be with You, which went gold, was a remix of her 1999 album So Real. Who is it?
7) What English borough is home to 0 degrees longitude?
8) Who played new homeowner Delia Deetz in the 1988 movie Beetlejuice?
9) What American socialist journalist wrote Ten Days That Shook the World, his account of the Soviet Revolution, published in 1919? He's buried at the Kremlin.
10) What religious group was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the 19th century?

... and what theme links the ten answers?

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar:

1) In 1956, this singer had a #2 song on the US pop charts with "Whatever Will Be, Will Be" from the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much. Who was it?
2) In 1972, Badfinger had a #4 on the US pop charts with this song produced by George Harrison. Name it.
3) What was Al Stewart's best-selling single, a #8 in 1977? The title of the song is also the title of his best-selling album.
4) What movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1946, a somber story of returning World War II vets adjusting back to civilian life?
5) What was the highest-grossing film of 1996, #25 on the list of all-time highest-grossing movies?
6) What important historic event occurred on June 6, 1944?
7) What 1991 movie centered around the possibility of a homosexual fling between John Lennon and Beatles' manager Brian Epstein?
8) What ABC show had its pilot air immediately following Super Bowl XXII, won the 1988 Emmy for Best Prime Time Comedy, and ran another 5 years without winning the Emmy again?
9) What 2002 romantic comedy paired Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant?
10) What TV show set a record of 23 consecutive seasons in the Top Ten of the prime time Nielsen ratings, 1977-2000?

... and what theme links the ten answers?

Dirty Frank's:

1) What 1991 movie starred Ethan Hawke as Tom McHugh, a man who gets entangled with tongs (Chinese-American gangs)?
2) What soap opera replaced "Another World" on NBC in 1999?
3) What classic Sunday comics reporter worked for a newspaper called The Flash?
4) What movie character from a popular 1993 movie owned a dog named Zero?
5) What Ukrainian political movement made headlines in 2004-05 while backing candidate Viktor Yushchenko?
6) What Led Zeppelin song from their third album (1970) opens with the lyric "Measuring a summer's day..."?
7) What 1954 novel by Simone de Beauvoir tracked the progress of the existential movement in post-war France, and won the coveted Prix Goncourt?
9) In 1975 this specialty magazine was founded as The Strategic Review. In 1976 it changed its title to its current one. In 2007 it went internet subscription-only. Name it.
10) What was Orson Welles' character's name in the classic film The Third Man?

... and what theme links the ten answers?

Pie Face!

How many lawsuits before this was taken off the market?

The Free Library of Philadelphia would like you to know something

On Friday I received a call from my contact at the Free Library of Philadelphia about the One Film, One Philadelphia program about which I recently blogged. This was not a happy call. My contact wished to express concern that I was giving the program and the library a bad name through a failure to be accurate about the funding of the program.

You'll note that I made a single, half-serious sardonic remark about library funding in that post, in which I provided a half dozen links to One Film and One Book programs and encouragement to attend. For the record, One Film, One Philadelphia (link to the Free Library's portal for the program) is its own 503(c) corporation. Now you know.

After getting off of the phone, my girlfriend, who was sitting next to me during the call, asked if there were any way that I could blog about this in such a way that the library not look worse as a result. I have to say I still can't think of one. Regular readers of the blog will note that Your Quizmaster sometimes makes sardonic remarks on the state of Philadelphia in the course of conducting his official duties. This is largely the result of living here. I would suggest that hopefully English-language Humor & Satire is still available at your local branch of the Free Library under 817 in the Dewey Decimal system and in the PN6157-6222 range in the LOC system.

I've been pushing our two One Film quizzes on this site and in person on the mic for the past two months. As a reminder, the first all-movie questions quiz will be at Dirty Frank's the last Wednesday in February and the Ray's quiz is the first Tuesday in March. I have obtained some movie-related prizes myself, and hopefully these will still be augmented by Empire of the Sun DVDs from One Film.

I've been a Philadelphia library patron for a relatively long time. I got my first Free Library card at the age of two, at the Northeast Regional branch. That was in 1973. It's one of my earliest memories. It is especially ingrained because the children's librarian in the basement of the building was a little person (we said "midget" at the time, which still sounds less insulting to me than "little person," but hey I'm easy that way... pick your poison...) who didn't want to give me a card.

She expressed doubt that I could print my name/read, the requirement for a card. She seemed to take a perverse delight in thinking that this would get us out of her hair as I couldn't possibly print my name. Needless to say I did. (Earlier I'd printed my name on my Social Security card, so I was an old hand at this sort of thing.) With a great deal of bitterness she harumphed her way through accepting my application. This was my first taste of Philadelphia gubmint, and far from the last. I was well into my teens before the thought occurred that she was probably in that department because she could reach the shelves, and might well have hated children...

Every day I passed that library on my way to and from high school, and frequently stopped in to research papers in the pre-internet era. Not one time have I passed there and not thought of the miserable littlewoman. Not sure what the point of this tale is, but here we all are. This is the most interesting Free Library story I can impart, and it's all true. You're probably just reading this at work anyway, aren't you? Back to work!

Answers to last week's Secret Theme rounds

Lyon's Den

The theme was units of measure.

1) Who won the 1962 Oscar for Best Actor for his role in To Kill a Mockingbird? Gregory Peck / peck
2) What band featured Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page serially as lead guitarists? The Yardbirds / yard

3) What 2002 movie won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself"? The movie was set in Detroit in 1995. 8 Mile / mile
4) What song won the Grammy Award for the year's best single for 1968? It went to #2 on the US pop charts in January 1968 and was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. "Chain of Fools" / chain

5) What child actor (now a well regarded adult actor) played the lead in Steven Spielberg's movie Empire of the Sun? Christian Bale / bale
6) Tom Selleck turned down the role of Indiana Jones because of a TV commitment. What show was he working on? Magnum P.I. / magnum
7) Actor C. Thomas Howell played what role in the early '80s movie The Outsiders? Pony Boy / pony
8) Who played John Connor in the 1991 movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day? Edward Furlong / furlong
9) What actress had major roles in Irreconcilable Differences, Alan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold and Total Recall? Sharon Stone / stone
10) For what 1989 film did Daniel Day-Lewis win the Oscar for Best Actor? My Left Foot / foot

... and what theme links the ten answers?

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar

Event called off owing to ice storm.

Dirty Frank's

The theme was humor periodicals.

1) What '90s sit-com told the story of Paul and Jamie Buchman? Mad About You / Mad
2) What Agatha Christie mystery is said by some to be based in the demise of starlet Gene Tierney? The Mirror Crack'd / Cracked
3) What 1985 movie was advertised with the tagline "For over 2,000 years, Europe has survived many great disasters. Now for the real test..."? National Lampoon's European Vacation / National Lampoon
4) What 2002 movie featured Adam Sandler as Barry Egan? Punch Drunk Love / Punch
5) What Beatles song from their 1968 double LP The Beatles (a.k.a. "The White Album") makes lyrical reference to six other Beatles songs that had been released previously? "Glass Onion" / The Onion
6) What 2001 movie starred Kirsten Dunst and Jon Hernandez? Crazy/Beautiful / Crazy
7) What New York hardcore punk band was founded in Queens in 1984 by brothers Lou and Pete Koller? Sick of It All / Sick
8) What 1981 Hall & Oates album featured 3 Top Ten songs, including two #1 hits, one of which was also the title of the album? "Private Eyes" / Private Eye
9) What Latin abbreviation, the full phrase of which translates as "one may see", is usually read aloud in English as "namely" or "to wit"? viz. / Viz
10) Maricopa County is one of the most populous counties in the United States. What is its largest city? Phoenix / The Phoenix