A Nine Part Tom Verlaine/Television Quiz: For Beginners, for Experts, and for Madmen Only (After Part 1, most questions are multiple choice. Answers at end of each Part; interpretation of your score is given on last page of quiz.)

(5 points each)

1) Name the four band members of Television who recorded the album, Marquee Moon?

2) Who was the original bass player in the band Television?

3) What was Tom Verlaine’s name at birth?

4) True or false, Fred Smith of Television was married to Patti Smith?

5) True or false, Verlaine and Richard Hell were questioned at a police station in Alabama for almost causing a forest fire?

6) With which major record company did Television sign in 1976?

7) Name a NYC band that was one of Verlaine’s favorites and to whose music he listened before he moved to New York?

8) What was the Bob Dylan song that Television played in their live performances?

1) Tom Verlaine guitar/vocals, Richard Lloyd guitar, Fred Smith bass, and Billy Ficca drums

2) Richard Hell

3) Tom Miller

4) False

5) True

6) Elektra

7) The Velvet Underground

8) ‘Knocking On Heaven’s Door’

1) What was the name of Verlaine’s first band for a short period of time in 1973? (15 points)

2) What was Richard Hell’s real name? a) Richard Taylor; b) Richard Stern; c) Richard Meyers; or d) Richard Franklin Fliegler (20 points)

3) What was the name of the bookstore in NYC in which Verlaine worked? a) The Brattle Book Store; b) The Strand Book Store; c) Avenue Victor Hugo Book Store; or d) St. Mark’s Books (20 points)

4) What did the initials CBGB originally stand for? a) Cheap Beer & Good Blues; b) Cycles, Beer & Gang Boys; or c) Country Blue Grass & Blues (25 points)

5) (i) What was the name of the Patti Smith single in June 1974 on which Tom Verlaine played guitar? (20 points); (ii) What was the name of the song that Verlaine co-wrote and played lead guitar on Patti Smith’s first album, Horses? a) ‘Kimberly’; b) ‘Birdland’; c) ‘Elegie’; d) ‘Break It Up’ (10 points)

6) What was the name of label on which Television’s first single, ‘Little Johnny Jewel’, was recorded? (15 points)

7) True or false, Television’s first album, Marquee Moon, reached number 28 on the United Kingdom charts? (15 points)

8) Which song on Adventure was co-written by Richard Lloyd? a) ‘Days’; b) ‘Glory’; c) ‘Ain’t That Nothin’; or d) Foxhole (30 points)

9) Who was the engineer on the album Marquee Moon who when he heard the two Fender guitars without fuzztones, pre-amps or Marshalls said, "What kind of trip is this?"? a) Alan Lanier; b) Andy Johns; or c) Bob Clearwater (20 points)

10) What was the name of Television’s/Tom Verlaine’s publishing company in the 1970s until around 1985? (20 points)

11) For what group did Billy Ficca play drums after the first breakup of Television? a) The dBs; b) The Waitresses; c) The Reducers; or d) The Shoes (30 points)

1) The Neon Boys

2) c; Richard Meyers

3) b; The Strand Bookstore

4) c; Country Blue Grass & Blues

5) (i) ‘Hey, Joe’ (ii) d; ‘Break it Up’

6) Ork Records

7) True

8) a; ‘Days’

9) b; Andy Johns

10) Double Exposure Music, Inc.

11) b; The Waitresses

1) "He [Verlaine] plays lead guitar with angular inverted passion like a thousand bluebirds screaming. . . . he is blessed with long veined hands reminiscent of the great poet strangler ..." a) John Rockwell, The New York Times; b) Clinton Heylin, From The Velvets To The Voidoids; c) Patti Smith; or d) Sam Shepard, ‘Cowboy Mouth’ (45 points)

2) "I actually like rhythm guitar more than lead in a certain way. I love playing rhythm guitar!" a) Richard Lloyd; b) Jimmy Ripp; or c) Tom Verlaine (30 points)

3) "Eddie Van Halen and all that boys’ band music is just wacking off. ‘Look at my fingers! They never stop moving’." a) Billy Ficca; b) Fred Smith; c) Richard Lloyd; or d) Tom Verlaine (20 points)

4) "We’re just as much underdogs as we ever where. . . . There’s so much prejudice against New Yorkers it’s incredible. . . . You walk into a radio station and a guy looks at you like, ‘Here’s another bunch of N.Y. assholes.’ I don’t mind if they play the record or not, but I’d really like it if the’d listen to it." a) Richard Hell; b) Tom Verlaine; c) Richard Lloyd; or d) Fred Smith (25 points)

5) "When Fred [Smith] came in and replaced [Richard] Hell, I couldn’t deny that the music got twenty times better." a) Richard Lloyd; b) Lenny Kaye; c) Billy Ficca; or d) Tom Verlaine (25 points)

6) a) " . . . [he] has the most beautiful neck in rock and roll. Real swan-like—fragile yet strong. He's a creature of opposites. The way he comes on like a dirt farmer and a prince . . . ’’ (25 points); b) Who was the ‘he’, i.e., to whom was the speaker referring? (15 points)

7) "I can not play lead guitar and sing at the same time." a) Tom Verlaine; or b) Richard Lloyd (35 points)

8) a) "We were dropping acid — and he would really open up then; he more or less revealed that he had this fundamental belief in his absolute inherent superiority to everyone else on this earth." (65 points); b) Who was this speaker in (a) talking about, i.e., who was the ‘he’? (35 points)

9) Who was the philistine who wrote: "Somewhat mysteriously, Television was the most widely touted band to emerge from the N.Y. New Wave. But Marquee Moon showed the group as the exclusive project of guitarist Tom Verlaine, an interesting Jerry Garcia influenced guitarist who lacked melodic ideas or any emotional sensibility." [emphasis added] a) Jon Landau; b) Dave Marsh; c) Deborah Frost; or d) Nick Kent (150 points)

10) What famous Irish lead guitarist found inspiration from Tom Velaine’s guitar playing and said, " . . . the only guitarist I heard who was saying something musically. . . . I was very influenced by Tom Verlaine—not stylistically, but in terms of approach and tearing up the rule-book." (15 points)

1) c; Patti Smith

2) c; Tom Verlaine

3) d; Tom

4) b; Tom

5) a; Richard Lloyd

6) a) Patti Smith; b) Tom Verlaine

7) a; Tom Verlaine

8) a) Richard Hell; b) Tom Verlaine

9) b; Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone Record Guide

10) Dave (The Edge) Evans of U2

Although the lyrics below tend to lose a great deal of their emotional power when heard unaccompanied by Tom Verlaine’s guitar work, the reader is asked to MATCH THE LYRICS, 1 through 26, TO THE SONG TITLES, a through z, BELOW (50 points each)

1) ‘Last night I drifted down to the docks, the water . . . glittering and black. The snow fell lightly and disappeared. I felt the old ropes grow slack.’

2) ‘When I hear you voice the arrow flies, the streets turn silver and the fools get wise.’

3) ‘Tight toy night, streets were so bright. The world looked so thin, and between my bones and skin there stood another person who was a little surprised, to be face to face with a world so alive.’

4) ‘The stars are out, they’re writing on my brow. Your names, your qualities I could drink them.’

5) ‘I was listening, listening—to the rain. I was hearing, hearing—something else.’

6) ‘Up on the high, high hills—with my floating friend, watchin’ all the silver—no one will ever spend.’

7) ‘Well, I walked in the pouring rain, and I heard the voice that cries it’s all in vain.’

8) ‘It’s funny how attractive indifference can be. My sense of failure … it’s not so important. Electricity means so much more to me.’

9) ‘Someone came in the middle of the night … threw me in a room without walls.’

10) ‘We tried so many things to find out how it felt. Now you say get lost, well don’t that buckle my belt.’

11) ‘Discover dishonor with its thousand commands. It ain’t worth a shot, that target is sand.

12) ‘Well I love to watch you from first light to day. You’re the rainbow darling, the special kind that never fades.’

13) ‘I take my oath and I make my vow. For the tender things are upon me now.’

14) ‘I have to face what’s never there.’

15) ‘One by one, the lights go out. Names are forgotten. There’s darkness in the house.’

16) ‘Deep is the longing that I feel, it’s like a light that goes right through. It’s something I’d like to solve—the mystery of the pleasure of you.’

17) ‘My tongue—it clattered like tin.’

18) ‘He had no decisions. Just tryin’ to tell a vision …’

19) ‘Oh no. Can’t pull a trick. Never the rose, without the prick. But tell me how do I say. I woke up and it was yesterday.’

20) ‘What does the dove see, there at the window … a man and woman furious.’

21) ‘You’re a graduate of the Reemco School of Numbness, and you walk in here with your fifteen degrees, telling everyone you knew they must be some kind of puppet, and how the big mirage … it is your specialty.’

22) "He’ll know the code is broken. Tell him, ‘the dog is turning red’."

23) ‘The seasons pass. It’s so quiet; I hear the raindrops splashing on the leaves. Somehow it brings your face to me. And the tappin’ of a branch on my windowpane, somehow it’s ravishing my sense of time.’

24) ‘I believe I’ll move to the junkyard and live in my old shack. I’ll take my place at the junkyard, I ain’t a-comin’ back.’

25) ‘If I ever catch that ventriloquist, I’ll squeeze his head right into my fist.’

26) ‘Hail Mary, full of grace.…… I don’t know how to talk…no. I don’t know how to think …uh uh … I just lay there…lay there. . .’

a) ‘Venus’

b) ‘The Scientist Writes A Letter’

c) ‘Call Mr. Lee’

d) ‘Little Johnny Jewel’

e) ‘Ain’t That Nothin’

f) ‘Fragile’

g) ‘Carried Away’

h) ‘Breakin In My Heart’

i) ‘Friction’

j) ‘The Fire’

k) ‘Penetration’

l) ‘Flash Lightning’

m) ‘Days’

n) ‘A Future in Noise’

o) ‘1880 Or So’

p) ‘Marquee Moon’

q) ‘Bomb’

r) ‘Prayer’

s) ‘The Grip of Love’

t) ‘Kingdom Come’

u) ‘O’Foolish Heart’

v) ‘5 Miles of You’

w) ‘Lindi Lu’

x) ‘Pillow’

y) ‘Guiding Light’

z) ‘Without A Word’

1) g ; ‘Carried Away’

2) l ; ‘Flash Lightning’

3) a ; ‘Venus’

4) k ; ‘Penetration’

5) p ; ‘Marquee Moon’

6) m ; ‘Days’

7) t ; ‘Kingdom Come’

8) b ; ‘The Scientist Writes A Letter’

9) h ; ‘Breakin In My Heart’

10) s ; ‘The Grip of Love’

11) e ; ‘Ain’t That Nothin’

12) r ; ‘Prayer’

13) o ; ‘1880 Or So’

14) f ; ‘Fragile’

15) z ; ‘Without A Word’

16) v ; ‘5 Miles of You’

17) j ; ‘The Fire’

18) d ; ‘Little Johnny Jewel’

19) y ; ‘Guiding Light’

20) x ; ‘Pillow’

21) n ; ‘A Future in Noise’

22) c ; ‘Call Mr. Lee’

23) u ; ‘O’Foolish Heart’

24) w ; ‘Lindi Lu’

25) i ; ‘Friction’

26) q ; ‘Bomb’

COMPLETE THE LYRICS BELOW BY FILLING IN THE BLANKS (60 points for each completed line)

1) ‘I know how easy things can rot, I need your blank1 blank2.’

2) ‘I was torn out by the roots, and laid out to dry. My head was spinning; blank1, blank2, blank3!’

3) ‘… well, I’m forgetting things blank1 blank2 blank3 blank4.’

4) ‘Travel fulfills you, but the distance blank1 blank2 blank3.’

5) ‘Broadway, it looked so medieval, it seemed to blank1 blank2 blank3 blank4’

6) ‘Rosie Rosie … the violets bloom … no blank1 blank2 blank3 blank4 blank5.’

7) ‘I’ve been given a fortune … a fortune in blank1’

8) ‘Thirty lights in a row, every one of them blank1.’

9) ‘Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. I’m like that except I’m blank1 blank2.’

10) ‘Walking slowly into romance, lions roaring by the entrance. Saw you standing in my heartbeat, blank1 blank2 blank3 blank4 blank5.’

11) "She said, ‘Oh no, I guess it is my fate, to live a life I blank1 blank2’."

12) "I finally found your note, underneath the bed. It said, ‘You’re not too smooth, goodbye blank1’."

13) ‘Lonely man in a lonely town. Key words … blank1 blank2’

14) ‘How you remind me . . it’s the pattern on your blouse. It’s really so funny . . it gets me blank1 blank2.’

15) ‘The river’s so muddy, but it may blank1 blank2.’

1) ‘I know how easy things can rot, I need your tender spot.

2) ‘I was torn out by the roots, and laid out to dry. My head was spinning; My oh my!’

3) ‘… well, I’m forgetting things before I think them.’

4) ‘Travel fulfills you, but the distance it kills you.’

5) ‘Broadway, it looked so medieval, it seemed to flap like little pages.’

6) ‘Rosie Rosie … the violets bloom … no curtains hanging in her room.’

7) ‘I’ve been given a fortune … a fortune in lies.’

8) ‘Thirty lights in a row, every one of them green.’

9) ‘Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. I’m like that except I’m more slow.’

10) ‘Walking slowly into romance, lions roaring by the entrance. Saw you standing in my heartbeat, Cinderella with a new treat.’

11) "She said, ‘Oh no, I guess it is my fate, to live a life I can’t communicate’."

12) "I finally found your note, underneath the bed. It said, ‘You’re not too smooth, goodbye Butterhead’."

13) ‘Lonely man in a lonely town. Key words … overseas factor.’

14) ‘How you remind me . . it’s the pattern on your blouse. It’s really so funny . . it gets me so aroused.’

15) ‘The river’s so muddy, but it may come clear.’

1) (i) What were the first two musical instruments that Tom Verlaine learned to play when he was a youngster? a) guitar and drums; b) acoustic guitar and electric keyboards; c) piano and saxophone; or d) electric base and electric guitar; (65 points ); (ii) How old was he when he first started playing an instrument? a) 10; b) 6; or c) 12 (60 points); (iii) Approximately how old was Tom when he first started composing songs? a) 5th grade; b) 10th grade; or c) 8th grade (75 points)

2) (i) Where did Television play it’s first gig? a) The Mercer Center; b) CBGBs; or c) Town House Theater (50 points); (ii) When? a) March 30, 1974; b) March 2, 1974; or c) March 30, 1975 (50 points)

3) (i) Where did Television play it’s last gig in the 1970s? a) The Palladium; b) Bottom Line, or c) CBGBs (35 points); (ii) When? a) July 29, 1978; b) the night of a full moon in September 1978; or c) December 21, 1978 (65 points)

4) True or false, the guitar solos on the song ‘Foxhole’ were recorded in one take? (25 points)

5) Where was Tom born? a) Mt. Morris, New Jersey; b) Wilmington Delaware; or c) New York, New York (45 points)

6) (i) Who introduced Richard Lloyd to Tom Verlaine? a) John Cale; b) Debbie Harry; c) Terry Ork; or d) Johnny Ramone (25 points); (ii) Where did this initial meeting take place? a) Max’s Kansas City; b) My Father’s Place; or c) Reno Sweeney’s (70 points)

7) Besides Television and his own post 1978 solo groups, name two of the three other bands in which Richard Lloyd has played guitar? (15 points each)

8) On their American tour after the release of Adventure, Television was the opening act in 2500-seat venues for someone whose audiences did not warmly receive Television. For whom was Television the opening act? a) King Crimson; b) Graham Parker; c) Pat Metheney; or d) Peter Gabriel (50 points)

9) The beginning of which Tom Verlaine song has a dog barking on it? (30 points)

10) The song ‘The Blue Robe’ is completely instrumental except for one word. What is this one word? (25 points)

11) Why did Richard Lloyd quit Television for about three days in the summer of 1975? HINT: It was not due to a drug problem. (55 points)

12) Who was Peter Laughner and what was his connection to the band Television in the 1970s? (65 points)

1) (i) c; first the piano and then later the saxophone (ii) b; six (iii) a; 5th grade, classical pieces

2) (i) c) New York City’s Town House Theater (ii) b) March 2, 1974

3) (i) b; Bottom Line (ii) a; July 29, 1978

4) True

5) a; He was born in Mt. Morris, New Jersey and lived there for a short period, but he spent his formative years growing up in Wilmington, Delaware.

6) (i) c; Terry Ork (ii) c; At a club called Reno Sweeney’s in New York where Verlaine was performing.

7) John Doe, Matthew Sweet and Bibi Farber

8) d; Peter Gabriel

9) ‘Swim’

10) Hi-Fi

11) Lloyd told Verlaine that he would quit if Verlaine chose to release ‘Little Johnny Jewel’ as a single instead of another song that Lloyd preferred.

12) Laughner temporarily replaced Richard Lloyd for about three days in the summer of 1975. His group called Rocket From The Tombs was the opening act for Television in their first out of town gig in Cleveland in July 1975.

*1) In several interviews Verlaine has complained about a dishonest individual who had access to the early Television demo tapes made for Island Records, and passed them around to almost every band in Great Britain. (i) Who was this scoundrel? HINT: It was not Brian Eno. (165 points); (ii) What was the name of the popular (in Britain) British rock group that Verlaine claims in their subsequent album release plagiarized at least a dozen ideas and lyric phrases from these Television demo tapes? a) The Move; b) Roxy Music; c) The Soft Machine; or d) Ultravox (150 points)

2) What is Tom Velaine’s date of birth? a) February 21, 1950; b) December 13, 1949; or c) July 31, 1949 (50 points)

3) Fill in the one word blank: Tom Verlaine was voted ‘Most blank’ by his high school class before moving to New York City in 1968? (90 points)

4) Where was Richard Lloyd born? a) Long Island, New York; b) Homestead Pennsylvania; or c) Hoboken, New Jersey; or d) Louisville, Kentucky (100 points)

5) a) True or false, both Verlaine and Lloyd as late as 1993 were still using tube amplifiers? (30 points); b) True or false, absolutely no digital technology was used in recording and making the master tapes of 1992’s Television? (30 points); c) Why or why not? (60 points)

6) Verlaine in a 1982 interview said: "I saw an interesting junkyard from a train about a month ago. From the window of a train it had this look to it. I always like junkyards. All this metal piled up—they’re filled with pathos, those places. Much more pathos than most of the music I’ve heard." Which Verlaine song from the album, Words From The Front, was most likely influenced by this observation? a) ‘Coming Apart’; b) ‘Days On The Mountain’; c) ‘True Story’; or d) ‘Clear It Away’ (65 points)

7) Jimmy Ripp played guitar in a group that had moderate commercial success before he joined Verlaine in 1981. What group was this? a) The Gun Club; b) Oingo Boingo; c) Kid Creole and the Coconuts; or d) The Suburbs (100 points)

8) On what group in September 1988 did Verlaine play as the opening acoustic act? (HINT: One of the musicians from this group later played guitar on Verlaine’s album The Wonder)? a) The Church; b) The Go-Betweens; c) Pere Ubu; or d) Husker Du (50 points)

9) Who played piano on Tom’s first solo record on the song ‘Last Night’? a) Ivan Kral; b) Bruce Brody; c) Tom Verlaine; or d) Brent Mydland (100 points)

10) Where did Tom Verlaine very briefly attend College? a) NYU; b) University of Delaware; c) Stony Brook, New York; or d) Erskine College, South Carolina? (35 points)

11) What was the name of the first feature film for which Tom scored the music? a) "Dead Man Walking"; b) "Love and a .45"; or c) "Equinox"; or d) "Love At Large" (30 points)

12) Televisions second album, Adventure, reached what number on the UK charts?

a) #2; b) #30; c) #7; or d) #26 (50 points)

13) The weird organ-like sound on Adventure’s ‘The Fire’ was made by what instrument? (60 points)

14) What is the title of the one-shot, little pamphlet (27 pages) published in the UK on Tom Verlaine by John Angus that features reviews and interviews? (60 points)

1) (i) Alan Betrock (ii) b; Roxy Music

2) b; December 13, 1949

3) Most Unknown

4) b; Homestead, Pennsylvania

5) a) True; b) True; c) They prefer the analog sound of tubes.

6) d; ‘Clear It Away’

7) c; Kid Creole and the Coconuts

8) a; The Church

9) b; Bruce Brody

10) d; Erskine College, South Carolina

11) b; "Love and a .45"

12) c; # 7

13) an Ondoline

14) ‘Quote Unquote’

*1) Name a classical music composer whose symphonies Tom listened to on records in the 2nd grade? (50 points)

*2) Name six jazz musicians whom Tom listened to on records around the 7th grade? (65 points for each musician)

**3) Name the B-side of a single by The Byrds that Tom especially liked? (185 points)

**4) Besides The Byrds, name four other rock groups/songs that Tom heard when in the 7th grade and later said: "Those are the records that made me think the guitar could be as good as jazz. Up until then the electric guitar was a stupid instrument to me. When I heard the solos on those records, the sound, the general sound, that’s when it occurred to me that the guitar was a cool instrument." ? (40 points each group / 90 points each song)

5) When Tom Verlaine performed live with his band in the 1980’s, what Elvis Presley song would he sometimes do a cover version during the encore? a) ‘It’s Now or Never’; b) ‘Mystery Train’; c) (‘You’re A Hunk of) Burning Love’; or d) ‘Little Sister’ (100 points)

****6) According to Tom Verlaine the intro guitar part (and which repeats thereafter) of the song ‘Marquee Moon’ is the horn part of the singer/songwriter, Blank1 Blank2’s, song called Blank1 Blank2 Blank3? (250 points for the singer/songwriter, 50 points for the song)

7) On Television’s album Adventure, one of the most stunning and captivating guitar riffs had a strange origin. Verlaine: "I had read that Wagner would write something and then write it out backwards. He’d have violins play the main theme backwards. I thought that was interesting. And I always liked The Byrds so I asked Lloyd if he could play ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ backwards. We took that and changed it a little bit and that became ‘Blank1’." What song on Adventure is Tom talking about? a) ‘Careful’; b) ‘Foxhole’; c) ‘Days’; or d) ‘Glory’ (150 points)

**8) True or false, Tom had a twin brother who died when Tom was in his mid 30's? (55 points)

9) When Television reformed in 1992 they sometimes did a final encore of a cover of the song, ‘Don’t Need Your Loving Anymore’. What group first recorded this song? a) Roky Erickson; b) The Chocolate Watchband; c) Moby Grape; or d) The Seeds (100 points)

***10) In concert many of Tom’s songs have additional or extemporized lyrics. a) In a live performance of ‘The Scientist Writes A Letter’, can you complete the additional lyrics: ‘Got your postcard, the one from Greece, looks like some blank1 blank2 blank3 blank4.’ (400 points); b) In a live performance of ‘Rhyme’, can you complete the additional lyrics: ‘That old blue dress is about worn out, you can blank1 blank2 blank3 blank4.’ (50 points)

11) Verlaine is known to have extremely eclectic musical tastes. (i) What is the name of the TV show whose melody was written by Henry Mancini that Verlaine thinks is so great? a) ‘Secret Agent Man’; b) ‘The Avengers’; c) ‘The Pink Panther’; or d) ‘Mr. Lucky’ (400 points); (ii) Snippets of the music used in what other old American TV show (not listed here) did Tom particularly like? (125 points)

12) What was the lowest number that Tom’s second solo album, Dreamtime, ever registered on the U.S. music charts in 1981? (250 points) a) #177; b) #66; or c) # 101

13) a) Phonogram Records revives its Fontana label for Verlaine’s Flash Light, but the record only sells how many copies? (i) a) 25,000; b) 10,000; or c) 40,000 (150 points); (ii) The record reached what number on the UK charts? a) #25; b) #99; or c) # 40 (200 points)

14) Who is Mario Salvati? (100 points)

15) Which of the following adjectives has never been used in a review of Tom Verlaine’s or Television’s music? a) elliptical; b) oneiric; c) boogie; d) Symbolist; e) disembodied (20 points)

16) The live versions of the following songs have what in common? ‘Glory’, ‘Kingdom Come, ‘There’s a Reason’, ‘Rotation’, ‘1880 Or So’ (100 points)

17) Who said: ". . . There are always those people with no sense of aesthetics. They may be in the majority now. I’m wondering about that. But it seems to me that there’s always room for something different. Something new. Sooner or later, people will hear it. In this country it’s all radio. . . ." a) Hal Milgren, head of Capital Records, 1992; b) Clive Davis, head of Arista Records, 2000; c) Dave Bates, A&R man for Phonogram/Fontana Records, May 1990; or d) Tom Verlaine, Guitar World, November 1981 (55 points)

1) Wagner

2) Albert Ayler, Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk

3) ‘She Don’t Care About Time’ (The Byrds)

4) The Rolling Stones / ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’; The Kinks / ‘All Day and All of the Night’; Yardbirds / Five Yardbirds Live; Bob Dylan-Mike Bloomfield / Highway 61 Revisited

5) c; (‘You’re A Hunk of) Burning Love’

6) James Brown’s / ‘I Feel Good’

7) c; ‘Days’

8) True

9) b; The Chocolate Watchband

10) a) ‘Got your postcard, the one from Greece, looks like some kind of rocky place.’; b) ‘That old blue dress is about worn out, you can see right through it.’

11) (i) d; ‘Mr. Lucky’; (ii) Music from the Twilight Zone TV Show

12) a; # 177

13) a; 25,000; b; # 99

14) the engineer on Tom’s last five records

15) c; boogie

16) Each of these songs usually opened a live performance

17) d; Tom Verlaine, Guitar World, November 1981, (‘Tom Verlaine Plays with the Focus’, Peter Mengaziol)

*****1) In an interview Tom Verlaine once vividly described a scene in a movie by director Elia Kazan that starred Montgomery Clift and Lee Remick. Tom: "There’s one beautiful shot in the film where he’s [Clift’s] in this vacant house with Lee Remick and it starts to rain, and basically there’s very quiet voices with the sound of the rain beating on the roof. The way it’s shot, the way it looks, it’s a great love scene, a really beautiful love scene." (i) Which Kazan film is Tom talking about? a) "Splendor in the Grass"; b) "On The Waterfront" c) "Wild River"; or d) "East of Eden" (485 points); (ii) The lyrics of which one of Tom’s songs with Television was probably impacted by this film? (15 points)

2) Name another director (who is dead) and all of whose films Tom has seen?

a) King Vidor; b) Sam Fuller; c) James Whale; or d) David Lean (250 points)

**3) What kind of a guitar (year/make/model) does Richard Lloyd still play? a) 1967 Fender Telecaster; b) 1969 Gibson; c) 1964 Al Caiola Epiphone; or d) 1961 Fender Stratocaster (125 points)

4) Now let’s get real obsessive: a) In concert and in the studio Verlaine most often plays what two guitars (year/make/model)? (125 points for each guitar); b) What are the colors and wood type(s) of the body of each guitar? (175 points each); c) Name the color(s) of the pickguard on each of the guitars? (250 points each)

5) At what intersection in NYC did Verlaine live from 1968 until about 1980?

a) Broadway and Mott Street; b) Bleecker Street and Mercer Street; c) St. Mark’s Place and Second Avenue; or d) 11th Street and First Avenue (150 points)

**6) In the late 1960s Tom was a big fan of French Symbolist poets, and by the 1970s it was Spanish poets. Name three of these Spanish poets? (100 points each)

7) During Tom’s 45th birthday that occurred while he was playing ‘2nd’ guitar during Patti Smith’s tour (the tour in which she was the opening act for Bob Dylan) Jay Dee Daugherty gave him a CD for his birthday. What was the CD? (200 points)

****8) Write a 750 word or longer essay on why Tom Verlaine’s/Television’s music was predestined/doomed to not meet with commercial success. (1,500 points)

***9) In 1996 a double CD, The Miller’s Tale/A Tom Verlaine Anthology, was released by Verlaine. It contained the only commercially available live recordings of some of his work (other than the 1982 ROIR cassette and its subsequent CD), a sample of songs from most of his CDs/records, and some unreleased studio tracks. The very last page of the liner notes of this 1996 Anthology contained a relatively recent photograph of Tom. It shows him wearing a black beret while sitting on a metal folding chair playing his guitar. In this photo his face no longer has its former ascetic, lean, gaunt look. What happened here? a) Tom’s been lifting weights; b) Tom spends too much time eating lasagna and canoli in the small Italian restaurant, Rocco’s, in the West Village; or c) Tom’s girlfriend finally convinced him to give up smoking (Export A cigarettes). (150 points)

10) a) Who was Teresa Stern? (125 points); b) On the credit sleeve to the album Dreamtime is written, ‘Thanks to Karin Berg.’ Who is Karin Berg? (200 points); c) Who was/is Robert Darby? (250 points); d) Who is Alan Rudolph? (200 points)

11) a) What was the name of the 13th-century Iranian Sufi poet whom Verlaine once recommended to an interviewer? (500 points); b) Which specific collection of this poet did he recommend? (550 points); c) Which two 20th-century American poets helped with the translations? (500 points each)

12) Who said: "Well, I think you can write about music in a way that illuminates your audience. There was this classical guy in the 1920s, Paul Rosenfield, who was great. If you read one of his pieces it totally turns you on to wanting to hear a Ravel record. And then when you hear it you know what he was talking about. . . . Also LeRoi Jones, before he changed his name to that African name, used to have a colunn in Downbeat and the way he used to write about stuff really put across what the people sounded like and made you want to hear them. . . ." a) Michel Foucault, L’Express, October 13, 1977; b) Hendrik Geller, ‘Quote Unquote’ (private pamphlet), 1988; c) Tom Verlaine, Trouser Press, May 1978; or d) Frank Taylor, The Delaware News Journal, July 6, 1978 (150 points)

13) Who wrote: "Verlaine’s basic rhythm has been a 4/4 any Stones fan can dance to, and most of his songs break cleanly into verses and choruses. (One of his favorite devices is to use blue or modal chords in the verse, then switch to triumphant major chords for the chorus, as in Dreamtime’s ‘Mr. Blur’, ‘Always’, and ‘A Future in Noise’.) . . . Although each song has a specific set of more or less interlocking riffs, Verlaine doesn’t mesh them into funk polyrhythms; he wants you to hear the battle of the instruments, the parallax down-beat (when he called his publishing company Double Exposure Music, he undercounted), and he disrupts any impending stasis with a new riff or solo or a random plunk. Like dreams, the songs are buffeted from within and without; they’re not fixed objects, they’re convergences of events. If that sounds like a notion from jazz or psychedelia—well, maybe." a) Jon Pareles, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, The Village Voice, October 7-13, 1981; b) Jean Baudrillard, ‘Deconstructing Dreamtime’, Le Monde, September 11, 1981; c) Milo Miles, ‘Dreamtime’, The Boston Phoenix, September 30, 1981; or d) John Angus, ‘Review of Dreamtime’, in ‘Quote Unquote’ (private pamphlet), 1988 (850 points)

14) Who wrote: " . . . Verlaine’s guitar playing is spare, precise and deliberately unvirtuosic throughout. Even the extended improvisations on the album’s final two cuts, where second guitarists Mark Abel and Ricky Wilson provide a foil, are achieved within a kind of minimalist stasis. . . . Verlaine’s solos have always been prolonged teases, indefinitely postponing resolution, taking daring circular detours and abruptly changing direction, avoiding the note you’re waiting for. The beautiful solos on ‘Last Night’ seem to rise and fall simultaneously, a tight maze of dead ends miraculously transcended, like Coltrane’s unaccompanied sax excursion on the Selflessness live version of ‘I Want To Talk About You’ with its devastating barrage of false endings. The ‘Breakin’ in My Heart’ solo is equally static, riding Verlaine’s best groove since ‘Marquee Moon’, gradually adding notes to the same riff without going anywhere—another Coltrane dynamic. On the same song, and also on ‘Red Leaves’ and ‘Kingdom Come’, . . .Verlaine introduces a new guitar hook on the final choruses, pushing near-perfect cuts a step further." a) Roy Trakin, New York Rocker, August 1979; b) John Piccarella, ‘Tom Verlaine Wakes Up Dreaming’, The Village Voice, September 10, 1979; c) Edie Schroeder, ‘Tom Verlaine Paints With His Guitar’, The Sydney Times, September 29, 1979; or d) Lester Bangs, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, 1988 (950 points)

15) Who wrote: "Tom Verlaine has matured into one of rock music’s very finest guitarists by steering a course that is only distantly related to the virtuosic blues oriented tradition of the rock mainstream. Mr. Verlaine’s surreal dream songs, with their hypnotic, repetitive phrases usually set in minor keys, are essentially rock tone poems, in which the implications of his stark surreal lyrics are elaborated in majestic, exquisitely colored guitar solos. This stark solitary lyricism is not likely ever to earn a mass audience, and it’s power has never fully been captured on record, because Mr. Verlaine’s albums emphasize the raw strangulated singing voice … The group’s chunky, visceral arrangements, with their martial rhythms and passionate guitar tanglings between Mr. Verlaine and Mr. Ripp, reminded one at times of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but [the arrangements] had a grander sense of structure and a more precise articulation. Mr. Verlaine and his band may very well be the most accomplished guitar-oriented rock quartet in America today." a) Stephen Holden, The New York Times, June 7, 1982; b) Robert Christgau, ‘Verlaine and His Band Deliver’, The Village Voice, June 8-14, 1982; c) Jim Farber, ‘Tom Verlaine: The Last Guitar Hero’, International Musician and Recording, November 1980; or d) Eric King, ‘Changing Channels’, Spin, July 1982 (500 points)

16) Who wrote: "He’s one of a handful of players who can still hear the electric guitar as a fantasy instrument, a dream: a guitar that can hit harder and sustain longer than any acoustic version bound by physical laws. Most guitarists who reach a certain level of agility use the fretboard like a keyboard, forgetting the visceral, while the best noisy plunkers—Keith Richards, for instance—have no use for lyricism. But Verlaine’s dreamscapes demand both extremes: when things get too ethereal, he digs in blues licks like pitons sharpened with John Cipollina’s trebly vibrato; if the bottom gets too gritty, he floats a time-stopper out of Miles Davis. Verlaine is no guitar hero—just the opposite. Instead of redoubling the bass riff for maximum impact, he’ll play a counterpoint; when a chord progression threatens too tidy a conclusion, he’ll shift into modal scales (Dorian instead of minor, Mixolydian instead of major) that dissipate the momentum. And when he does build a crescendo, as he does in ‘There’s a Reason’ on Dreamtime, he can toss off a sequence that, for its lift and sculptural proportions, might as well be spun-steel bridge cable." a) Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, September 15, 1981; b) Lenny Kaye, The SoHo Weekly News, September, 1981; c) Ellen Willis, Music For A Desert Island, 1982; or d) Jon Pareles, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, The Village Voice, October 7-13, 1981 (750 points)

17) Who said: " . . . He’s the most respected new guitarist to come along in years, breaking away from the Claptonesque cliches that have plagued the genre. . . . Hearing Verlaine’s solo on ‘Marque Moon’ grow from the recorded version to his expansive improvisations at the Bottom Line, I had the sensation of someone learning how to talk. His lines had an effortless, unhurried sense of flotation— a sweet vocal quality to every note— yet there was something unbearably urgent about his improvisation. Slowly, methodically he built bird-like flutters, church-bell hammerings, wrong-is-right vibrato effects and singing distortion tones to an elliptical, double-timed climax, rapidly cross-picking notes so that his lines seemed to be going in two directions at once . . . Verlaine is among the most natural melodic guitarists you’re likely to hear – his syllables are more interesting to hear than other players paragraphs." a) Nick Kent, New Musical Express, February 1977; b) Chip Stern, Musician, Player, and Listener, November 1979; c) Peter Herbst, The Chicago Tribune, March 1977; or d) Robert Christgau, The Village Voice, February 9-15, 1977 (550 points)

18) Who said: "It’s nice to get good reviews and it's interesting to get reviews that are so bad they're good. Some good reviews are so off the wall that they're funny and some bad ones are the same way, but I've never seen a good or bad review that I thought the reviewer had his head on straight. . . . Seriously, the good reviews and the bad reviews both seem like the reviewers express their own personalities more than they express any general truth about the group - which is fine in a way." a) Richard Hell; b) Danny Fields of Sire Records ; c) Tom Verlaine; or d) Richard Lloyd (55 points)

***19) Who said: "There’s a theory about the voice, how you voice the guitar, how you bring out that note. An instrument is a voice – an extension of your inner self. There’s a real voice inside the instrument that you can bring out. . . ." a) Patti Smith; b) Pablo Casals; c) Richard Lloyd; or d) Tom Verlaine (65 points)

20) a) What was the ethnic background of Tom’s great grandparents? (750 points); b) What was the name of Tom’s great grand parents? (1,100 points)

21) When Tom was arrested in South Carolina for speeding and driving without a license what answer did he give when the judge asked him what he did for a living? a) "I’m a musician"; b) "I’m a salesman"; c) "I’m a guitarist"; d) "I am a poet’; or e) "I write songs" (800 points)

(©2000 Leo James Casey, All Rights Reserved)

Send any comments or corrections to: casey_leo@hotmail.com

1) (i) c; "Wild River" (ii) ‘Marquee Moon’

2) b; Sam Fuller

3) d; 1961 Fender Stratocaster, although he takes a 1962 reissue Stratocaster and Telecaster with him when on tour

4) a) a mid-60’s Fender Jazzmaster or a Fender Jaguar; b) The body of the Jazzmaster is made out of wood from an alder tree (not ash). Original wood was most likely stained whitish-yellow, and after drying, translucent red and dark blackish–brown were ‘sunbursted’ (sprayed) on the edges of body. The body of the Jaguar also of alder, is most likely Olympic white (or cream/white); c) tortoise-shell on both, although it seems probable that someone (Tom?) replaced the original metal/chrome-colored pickguard on the Jazzmaster with a tortoise-shell pickguard. According to Fender experts, only Jazzmasters and Jaguars can be taken apart without unsoldering them.

5) d; 11th Street and First Avenue

6) Lorca, Jimenez, Vallejo

7) soundtrack/music from the movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

8) Well, ……

9) c; Tom’s girlfriend finally convinced him to give up smoking (Export A cigarettes).

10) a) An alias Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell sometimes used when writing their poetry; b) She signed Television to Elektra Records and was the only person at Elecktra who supported the band; c) In the 1990s he was Television’s amp technician; d) another of Verlaine’s favorite filmmakers.

11) a) Rumi; b) Night and Sleep; c) Coleman Barks and Robert Bly

12) c; Tom Verlaine, ‘In Search of Adventure With Tom Verlaine’, Trouser Press, May 1978 (in interview with Dave Schulps)

13) a; Jon Pareles, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, The Village Voice, October 7-13, 1981

14) b; John Piccarella, ‘Tom Verlaine Wakes Up Dreaming’, The Village Voice. September 10, 1979

15) a; Stephen Holden, The New York Times, June 7, 1982 (Review of Tom Verlaine Show at the Ritz, June 4, 1982)

16) d; Jon Pareles, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, The Village Voice, October 7-13, 1981

17) b; Chip Stern, ‘Tom Verlaine’, Musician, Player, and Listener, November 1979

18) c; Tom Verlaine, In Search of Adventure With Tom Verlaine’, Trouser Press, May 1978 (in interview with Dave Schulps)

19) d; Tom Verlaine, in interview with Musician, Player & Listener, November 1979,

20) a) Russian. His great grandparents emigrated from Russia to Scotland and then to the U.S.; b) According to Tom in an interview, ". . . something like Millaren-Schenkov."

21) e; "I write songs."

0 - 300 points: Have you ever heard of a musician by the name of Tom Verlaine?

300 - 1,050: Beginner

1,050 - 3,500: Got potential

3,500 - 4,500: Impressive

4,500 - 6,500: Authentic, dedicated Verlaine/Television-o-phile.

6,500 - 7,500: Show off

7,500 - 9,000: Entering the Danger Zone

9,000+ : Better make an appointment to see Mrs. Verlaine

REFERENCES: All reference materials used for the answers to this quiz are from the voluminous Casey archives. A comprehensive, detailed list of these references can be requested via e-mail to: casey_leo at hotmail.com