Guest Quiz and Giveaway by Erik Atwell, author of "Thank You For Flying Air Zoe"

Book Description (from Amazon): Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fasten Seat Belt sign has been turned on, but feel free to ignore it, because sometimes life is best lived on its dizzy edges. Your cruising altitude today will be sky high, and you will be flying at staggering speeds as you travel alongside Zoe Tisdale, former Valley Girl and rock star turned bored butter saleswoman.


On the heels of a brush with mortality, Zoe concludes that she’s been letting time pass her by. Realizing she needs to awaken her life’s tired refrains, Zoe vows to recapture the one chapter of her life that truly mattered to her – her days as drummer for The Flip-Flops, a spirited, sassy all-girl garage band that almost hit the big time back in 1987. But reuniting the band won’t be easy. The girls who were once the whiz kid guitarist, the prom queen bass player, and the hippie lead singer grew up and became women who are now a reclusive dog trainer, a wealthy socialite, and a sociopathic environmentalist. Will Zoe bring the band back together and give The Flip-Flops a second chance at stardom? Is it possible to fully reclaim the urgent energy of youth?


As you follow this wild flight path, please know that your destination could be anywhere at all, complimentary oxygen is provided upon request, and baggage flies free. We hope you enjoy the ride, and Thank You For Flying Air Zoe.


A big thank-you to author Erik Atwell for taking the time to stop by The Book Chick Blog today and for sharing this fun quiz about 80's music with us! Please read on to see how you can win a copy of Thank You For Flying Air Zoe:



The 80s S.A.T.


“Wow, I always thought SAT meant Saturday Afternoon Test -- what is up?”
Dinger Holfield - Dream A Little Dream, 1989


Hey there, class -- I hope you brought your pencils today.


Before we get started on the quiz, I’d like to thank Jonita for inviting me to write a guest post for her excellent blog The Book Chick. Of course, being one who likes to find new and inventive ways to entertain, sometimes I inadvertently run into brick walls when trying to come up with a topic for such a post. Invariably, when this happens, I’m forced to try devious and distractive tactics so the reader won’t know I’m struggling. Like now, for instance. Instead of a typical guest post, filled with paragraphs and prose and such, I’m simply going to ask this:


Who wants a free book?


Yes, class, it’s giveaway time! For those who aren’t familiar with my debut novel Thank You For Flying Air Zoe, I can tell you spoiler-free that the book is very rooted in 80s music and the decade’s loopy entertainment culture. So what I decided to do in lieu of a guest post was to create a 1980s Quiz -- 12 questions designed to challenge you, make you laugh, and possibly even make you cringe.


Loved the 80s, but yeah, it had some very cringe worthy moments. Totally.


Anyway... Your mission is to answer the questions in this blog’s comments field -- a simple list along a line will be perfect -- like: a/b/c/d/a/b/c/d, etc... Or any derivation thereof, just so it’s clear what your answers are. I will leave it up to your esteemed host Jonita to set a deadline for answers, then when time’s up, I’ll score the quiz, and whoever scores the highest will win a paperback copy of Thank You For Flying Air Zoe! In the event of a tie, I will select one winner from a number drawn by the random-dot-org website.


Here I will bring you one final request... It’s pretty easy to cheat on an internet quiz, so if you wouldn’t mind abiding by an honor code, perhaps you could recite the following oath:


I, (state-your-name), promise upon Molly Ringwald’s boots, Ferris Beuller’s sweater, and John Cusack’s boombox that I will not consult the internet while answering this quiz. I understand that if I get caught cheating because I’ve sought out internet assistance, I will be forced to get a bad perm, carry a Trapper Keeper notebook wherever I go, and wear patterned parachute pants for one whole week.


Good luck, class -- I hope you all enjoy taking this quiz as much as I did coming up with the questions & answers!


You may begin.


1.) Quarterflash was __________ .


a.) a band out of Portland, Oregon who scored a single top-10 hit in 1981.
b.) an 80’s modeling industry term given to male models who pulled aside their shirts just enough to expose half of their chest. Prince was notorious for doing the Quarterflash during his live shows.
c.) a video game for the Atari 2600 that was pulled from shelves for being too violent.
d.) none of the above.


2.) Who was Georgios Panayiotou?


a.) An eccentric Greek tycoon who bought the exact same DeLorean used in the Back to the Future trilogy at an auction for $1.3 million dollars.
b.) An Italian soccer star who once dated Brooke Shields.
c.) One-half of the British pop duo WHAM!
d.) None of the above.


3.) What was Lloyd Dobler’s goal in life?


a.) To become a professional kickboxer.
b.) To not sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career.
c.) To hang out with Diane Court.
d.) All of the above.


4.) Debbie Gibson and Tiffany ____________ .

a.) were bitter rivals who hated one another.
b.) once had to be separated by security guards in a Minneapolis mall while in the middle of a ferocious shouting match.
c.) were each romantically linked to Scott Baio in 1988.
d.) never even really met one another until they were both well into their thirties.


5.) Which of the following about John Mellencamp is true?


a.) He once modeled men’s bathrobes and sleepwear in a late 70s Sears Catalogue.
b.) His classic “Jack and Diane” is actually an homage to his high school sweetheart, a woman who to this day he still refuses to talk about.
c.) He once owned a tattoo parlor, and his aunt ended up getting a tattoo that says, “Hurts So Good.”
d.) Despite being acclaimed for writing songs that speak to the hearts of Americans, Mellencamp was actually born in Ontario.


6.) In the joke John Bender tells while crawling through the air ducts on his way back to detention/the janitor’s closet, what is the naked blonde carrying when she walks into a bar?


a.) A copy of REO Speedwagon’s album Hi Infidelity.
b.) A poodle and a two-foot salami.
c.) A bottle of baby oil and a tennis racket.
d.) Anthony Michael Hall.


7.) What was “Rat Salad?”
a.) An early name of a band that would later become Van Halen.
b.) What Ozzy Osbourne moved onto after eating the head of a bat onstage.
c.) A culinary concoction put together by members of the hair metal band Ratt at the end of every tour. Rat Salad consisted of all the scraps of food found on the floor of the tour bus after months on the road, and the band would eat every last bit of it over a bed of lettuce  and drenched in a dressing that was one part honey and three parts Jack Daniels to officially celebrate a successful tour.
d.) None of the above.


8.) How did Sting get his name?


a.) His mother gave him the nickname due to his knack for getting stung by bees as a child growing up in northern England.
b.) He gave it to himself as a teenager because he thought it sounded cool and mysterious.
c.) He used to wear a black and yellow striped shirt while in a jazz band, and the nickname took hold because the shirt made him look like a bumblebee.
d.) His real name is “Gordon Stinger Sumner,” so he shortened his middle name and made it his stage name in 1977.


9.) Who was Noah Drake?


a.) Mallory Keaton’s scruffy and long-haired boyfriend on the TV show Family Ties.
b.) The original singer of the band U2 when they were known back in Dublin as Feedback. Drake was ousted immediately after the rest of the band met Bono and heard him sing.
c.) The songwriter of Tommy Tutone’s smash hit 867-5309. Drake wrote the song to get back at an ex named Jenny who jilted him, but the joke was on Drake, as Jenny had her phone number changed after months of harassment by Drake prior to the song’s release.
d.) Singer Rick Springfield’s character on the soap opera General Hospital.


10. What was Cyndi Lauper’s song “She-Bop” about?


a.) Um... Uh... Yeah no. Never mind. Please move on to the next question. Thanks.


11. Which of the following was NOT a lyric from an 80s song?


a.) Take your baby by the ears, and prey upon her darkest fears.
b.) War is stupid, and people are stupid.
c.) I stumble into town just like a sacred cow.
d.) I’m not your Molly Ringwald, so stop you’re freakin’ cryin’. I’m not a little princess and baby, you’re no Jake Ryan.”


12. Who wrote the 1987 song “I’d Rather Date My Bicycle Seat?”


a.) Joan Jett, as a response to a bad run of relationships spanning over five years.
b.) Actress and published poet Ally Sheedy actually wrote the song for her friend Madonna, who included it as a B-side on the CD single for Who’s That Girl.
c.) British pop vixen Samantha Fox after going on a blind date with an unnamed member of the band KISS.
d.) Zoe Tisdale and Lauren Pace, co-founders of The Flip-Flops, an all-girl garage band out of Southern California who came within a nanometer of hitting the big time. Read all about their past and their present by picking up a copy of my novel Thank You For Flying Air Zoe!


Thanks to all who played along, and thanks again to Jonita for letting me play silly 80s games on her blog!


Jonita's Note: Thank YOU, Erik, for that really fun quiz (I will admit that I totally do not know most of these answers, LOL!). So, you heard him ladies and gents! Answer the quiz in the comments below and Erik will score the quiz and announce the winner (liking Erik's Facebook page and following him on Twitter may not get you any bonus entries, but it may get you brownie points!). US/Canadian entrants only please, and I will give you until midnight on July 26, 2012 to enter. Good luck!!