Music Trivia Tuesdays at Attica

I’M sure you can think of many other ways of spending your Tuesday nights. If you’re not planning on staying home, you can either dance the night way at some club, rock till you drop at a rock and roll joint or just quietly chill out in some lounge or coffee shop.

Or you can also try something different, like playing a game of Music Trivia at Attica Bar and Lounge in A. Venue in Makati. Hosted by DJ Jerome B. Smooth, it is easily the most exciting part of the watering hole’s By Request Tuesdays as the game takes your musical knowledge to its extreme limits.

Personally, I thought this would be a piece of cake for someone like me who started my career as a music writer. But as I’ve been finding out the hard way for the several Tuesdays that I’ve been here since I was invited by events organizer Ria Reyes last Novembver, it’s actually a lot more challenging than it sounds.

Here, you and your friends form a team that will play for three grueling rounds of Name That Tune, Rewind and Sing-A-Long, each consisting of 15 songs in question. As chosen and played by Violator DJ Euric Lumanog and his partners Nick and Jason, who also stand as the game’s panel of judges, Name That Tune is pretty much self-explanatory except that aside from the tune, each team also has to name the artist to which it is originally credited to. Spelling, punctuation and complete name (including groups that have a “The” in them or songs that are spelled as “U” instead of “You”) all count a lot so it is important to write all the correct information on each team’s provided whiteboards as seen in the pic above.

Round two is where things get a little tougher. In Rewind, the playing teams also name both the tune and the artist that recorded it, only this time the tunes are played backwards, so many of them are barely recognizable. Unlike in Name That Tune where a team gets one point for every correct answer, Rewind rewards those who did their homework with two points per right answer. This allows teams that are leading to further pull away and those trailing on points to mathematically catch up.

The final round is where it all comes together with a bang. No more whiteboards this time. The only thing required here is lyrical proficiency or whatever passes for it. Euric will announce a particular category (i.e. 90's alternative rock or 80's new wave or 2000 plus OPM) and a team will then send a representative to play for the tune.

While the tune is playing, each representative’s finger must be on the edge of the table. He or she must then tap the center of the table (as seen above) once the song stops. The first one to tap gets the chance to sing the missing lyrics (usually the chorus but not always) for three big points. If he or she gets even just a single word wrong, his team gets a one-point deduction and this also allows the second person to tap the table a chance to steal.

So far, many teams have come and go but there are three teams that have consistently slugged it out for top honors and that is the Slizzles who have won twice so far and LRG who have won once. The team I belong to, the Krungz, have come close to winning it all this week but we lost by just a single point to the Slizzles in a contest that was decided on the very last Sing-Along question that turned out to be The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.”

For a team to be really competitive, it must have a healthy balance of “youth and experience” (sounds like a political tagline, doesn’t it?) which also means having members who have a good knowledge of songs from as many genres and eras as possible. I’m pretty good at getting the older pop and rock tunes right, even singing the correct missing lyrics to The Beatles‘ “Michelle” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” on two separate occasions (which is actually a little embarrassing given that I’m the only one who tapped the center of the table and no one even hoped to steal) but am a little dumbfounded when it comes to the more current stuff that the DJ’s and well, most of the young participants seem to be more partial to. So yes, it is important to have teammates who are also good at R & B and hip-hop and other current genres.

We’re only playing for a bottle of Jagermeister (which doesn’t do anything for me since I don't really drink) but as such regulars like Gadgets Lifestyle Editor Michelle Callanta, fashion designer Kat Sy, actress Michelle Madrigal, make-up artist Ria Gamboa, events photographer Pam Santos (who provided the pics for this blog), Marie France PRO NJ Torres and my good friend Ria (my, there’s a lot of chicks who do come here) would likely attest, there’s also a fair amount of pride and bragging rights involved, especially if you’re part of the winning team.

There are lots of laugh and lots of good music. Most of all, there’s a lot of good, clean fun for all our brain-wracking troubles. Just how much fun? Let me put this way. In one recent eventful night, I already won a nice video camera at the Canon Christmas Party at Merk’s Bar and that would normally be more than enough for me to call it a night. Still, I found my way trooping to Attica afterwards for this. Yes, that‘s how much fun this is for me and for many others who come here.

To his credit, Jerome B. Smooth does know how to keep things interesting and tightly paced. And while the players can say what they want about Euric, Nick and Jason, the fact remains that they are, well, fair, in all fairness, hehe. Everybody cheers for those who get things right and at the end of the game, we congratulate the winners and maybe even share a drink or two with them.

Yes, there are many other ways of spending your Tuesday nights. Be that as it may, we still hope to see you at Attica next week.

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Here’s Music Trivia’s usual “goodbye” song to signify the end of the game: