Bayou City Music Mindbender, Part II

Touring has yet to pick up after the holiday lull. We're sick of holidays and holiday parties, football season's winding down, and the long, bleak winter months stare us in the face. We feel your pain. And so, to kill a few minutes until pitchers and catchers report in the spring and this year's crop of next big things blaze through on their way to or from South By Southwest, we've come up with this quiz. So get out your Scantrons and No. 2 pencils -- it's time for the Return of the Bayou City Music Mindbender.

1. Which of these singers was not born in the Houston area?

a. Chris Whitley

b. Devendra Banhart

c. Barry White

d. Marques Houston

e. Billy Preston

2. Which of the following was not a real Houston venue during the hippy era?

a. Love Street Light Circus & Feelgood Machine

b. The Catacombs

c. The Sonic Equation

d. The Living Eye

e. La Maison

3. Which of the Monkees was born in Houston?

a. Peter Tork

b. Davy Jones

c. Micky Dolenz

d. Michael Nesmith

e. Peter Noone

4. Which of the following was one of Fifth Ward-bred blueswoman Sippie Wallace's racy signature tunes?

a. "Come Play with My Poodle"

b. "Shave 'Em Dry"

c. "Let Me Warm Your Wiener"

d. "I'm a Mighty Tight Woman"

e. "Two Old Maids in a Folding Bed"

5. What was the name of the Fifth Ward pianist whose recordings of "Suitcase Blues" and "The Fives" are regarded as the blueprints for boogie-woogie music by such later practitioners as Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons?

a. Robert Shaw

b. Jelly Belly Johnson

c. Tuts Washington

d. Roosevelt Sykes

e. Hersal Thomas

6. Which of these contemporary rock bands has never had a Houston-bred member?

a. Dillinger Escape Plan

b. Spoon

c. The Flaming Lips

d. The Arcade Fire

e. Rogue Wave

7. Which of these acts has never written a unique song called "Telephone Road"?

a. Rodney Crowell

b. Townes Van Zandt

c. Culturcide

d. Steve Earle

e. Mark May

8. Billy Bob Thornton was once the singing drummer in a Houston-based ZZ Top tribute band. Which Top album furnished Thornton's band its name?

a. Tres Hombres

b. Degüello

c. Fandango

d. El Loco

e. Rio Grande Mud

9. What sport was Texas country singer Cory Morrow involved in at Memorial High School?

a. Baseball

b. Football

c. Cross country

d. Cheerleading

e. Lacrosse

10. Which of the following things has Houston's Johnny Nash never done?

a. Been the first black performer to be regularly featured on Houston television.

b. Caddied at River Oaks Country Club.

c. Popularized reggae in the UK and the U.S. with the smash single "I Can See Clearly Now."

d. Owned a rodeo arena.

e. Starred in a film with Dennis Hopper.

11. Over the past decade and a half, who has taken home more Houston Press music awards than anyone else?

a. Carolyn Wonderland

b. Shake Russell

c. John Evans

d. South Park Mexican

e. Blue October

12. Match the Houston rapper with his real name:

1. Lil' Flip

2. Lil' Troy

3. Aztek

4. Bushwick Bill

5. Fat Pat

6. Paul Wall

7. Chamillionaire

8. Big Moe

9. Scarface

10. Willie D

11. Bun B

12. Pimp C

13. Z-Ro

14. Slim Thug

15. Big Mello

16. DJ Screw

17. South Park Mexican

18. Baby Bash

19. Chingo Bling

20. Mike Jones

a. Brad Jordan

b. Mike Jones

c. Stayve Thomas

d. Willie Dennis

e. Paul Slayton

f. Wesley Weston

g. Ronald Bryant

h. Bernard Freeman

i. Miguel Gomez

j. Pedro Herrera III

k. Robert Earl Davis Jr.

l. Hakeem Seriki

m. Joseph McVey

n. Curtis Davis

o. Carlos Coy

p. Chad Butler

q. Patrick Hawkins

r. Kenneth Moore

s. Richard Shaw

t. Troy Birklett

13. Bonus: True or false: David and David's 1986 mini-hit "Welcome to the Boomtown" was written about oil-bust Houston.

Answers

1. D. White was born in Galveston. Banhart, Preston and Whitley were all born around here but left as children. The fact that Whitley died here also was merely an eerie coincidence. As you might have guessed, only the guy named Houston is not from Houston.

2. C. Love Street was near Allen's Landing downtown; the Catacombs was at 3003 South Post Oak until it moved to the corner of Kirby and University and changed names to Of Our Own; the Living Eye was at 1493 Silber in Spring Branch; and La Maison moved back and forth from a house in Midtown to a church on the corner of Bagby and McGowen to a building in the 1400 block of Richmond. As for the Sonic Equation, that was the name of a fake band my friend Steve Uecker made up in order to score chicks while he was skiing one year. In his tale, he was the Sonic Equation's oboe player. The lineup also included a bassoon and a harmonica. (Believe it or not, some snow bunny swallowed that line.)

3. D. Bonus Nesmith trivia: His mother, Bette, invented Liquid Paper. (And no, Peter Noone wasn't a Monkee at all.)

4. D. After some six decades away from Houston, Wallace returned here to play the Juneteenth Blues Festival in 1985. The octogenarian singer was still very ribald -- I recall her crowing that "A hard man is good to find!" between songs from the stage.