Mickey's Common Bond: Entertainment -- Part 7 Quiz

Answer: Long Island

People who live in Queens and Brooklyn (Kings County) don't usually think of themselves as Long Islanders, since Nassau and Suffolk counties are referred to as "The Island", but Long Island does include all four counties. Queens and Brooklyn, of course, are two of the boroughs of NYC.

Answer: 1949

This excellent book was titled "Summer of '49". The extremely close and exciting race was won by the Yankees, who went on to beat the Dodgers in the World Series.

Answer: The Pianist

Brody played Wladislaw Szpilman, real-life classical pianist.

Answer: The Stranger

This is considered an outstanding work of the French existentialist school. "The Fall" and "The Plague" were by Camus. "No Way Out" is a play by Jean-Paul Sartre.

Answer: 52nd Street

During the 30s and 40s, Eddie Condon's and the Hickory House were two of the numerous jazz clubs that lined 52nd Street.

Answer: David Brinkley

The show was called "The Huntley-Brinkley Report". Huntley died in 1974. Brinkley later hosted ABC's "This Week with David Brinkley".

Answer: Allentown

Allentown was founded by Chief Justice William Allen of the Colonial Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Citizens of Allentown need to beware of individuals posing as water authority personnel.

Answer: River Phoenix

Phoenix died of cardiac arrest caused by drug abuse. A sad story. He was the only actor in the 20th century, besides Harrison Ford, to play Indiana Jones in a movie. In "The Last Crusade", he played Jones as a teenager in the sequence where we see how Indy got some of his trademark characteristics, like the scar, the hat, and his fear of snakes.

Answer: In Dreams

"In Dreams" was a hit for Roy Orbison in 1963. It's also the song Dennis Hopper keeps requesting in that weird David Lynch flick "Blue Velvet".

Answer: glass houses

And then there's "People who live in grass houses shouldn't stow thrones."

Answer: bridge

"No trump" means that the hand will be played with no suit as trump. "Seven" means you're contracting to take seven tricks in addition to the six that are the basic requirement, known as "book". In short, you must take all thirteen tricks without trumping anything. A tough row to hoe! And if you go down at seven-no-trump doubled and redoubled, you have taken a bath indeed.

Answer: Easy Money

The board, equipment, concept, and rules are all pretty much like Monopoly.

Answer: Elton John

As you no doubt know, the album was recorded on November 17, 1970. It was released in 1971. Elton's first three were "Empty Sky", "Elton John" ,and "Tumbleweed Connection". Elton has done two major tours with Billy Joel: "Piano Men" and "Face to Face".

Answer: Leningrad

Leningrad was besieged by the German army for almost three years, leading to mass starvation, disease, and the deaths of more than two million people - more than the total war death toll for the UK and US put together. The end of Communist rule led to the name change.

Answer: Billy Joel

Billy Joel is a giant of the music world. He recorded a string of smash albums from 1973 ("Piano Man") to 1993, when he recorded his last, or at least his last in the twentieth century, album of songs, "River of Dreams". Between 1993 and 2003, he did one CD of classical piano pieces and toured on his own, as well as doing two awesome concert tours with Elton John. Billy was born May 9, 1949 (Q2) either in the Bronx or on Long Island (depending on which source you want to believe), but he definitely grew up in Hicksville, LONG ISLAND (Q1).

He is, of course, a PIANIST (Q3). He built his reputation on albums like "THE STRANGER" (1977) (Q4), "52ND STREET" (1978)(Q5), "RIVER OF DREAMS" (1993)(Q8, Q9), "GLASS HOUSES" (1980)(Q10), and "THE BRIDGE" (1986) (Q11). Three of his notable songs are "ALLENTOWN" (1982) (Q7), "LENINGRAD" (1989) (Q14), and "EASY MONEY" (1983)(Q12), the theme for Rodney Dangerfield's movie of the same title. Two of the important people in his life have been his second wife, supermodel Christie BRINKLEY (6), and rock superstar ELTON JOHN (13), with whom Billy has done two spectacular tours. Thanks for taking my quiz. Hope you enjoyed it. See you soon. Mickey.