Weekday mornings at 7:35, join Paul Mendenhall and Todd Berryman as they test your rock-n-roll knowledge with the Morning Music Mindbender.  If you answer the question correctly, you get bragging rights for the day and a WTTS Prize Pack - the week of June 30th, you'll get a family four-pack of tickets to see the Indianapolis Indians game of your choice!

Monday, June 30, 2008:

Q:  A baseball theme, of sorts - name the third song on Los Lonely Boys' Sacred album, which they performed at WTTS Studio 92.

A:  "Diamonds".  Song played:  the Studio 92 version.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008:

Q:  On which John Mellencamp album can you find a song with "Justice and Independence" in its title?

A:  Scarecrow.  Song played:  "Justice and Independence '85". 

Wednesday, June 25, 2008:

Q:  Coldplay performs on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight, only the third musical guest in the show's history with Stewart.  The second was Tom Waits, and the first was a duo that sported a red, white and black color scheme.  They are...

A:  The White Stripes.  Song played:  "I Want to Be the Boy to Win Your Mother's Heart" from Elephant.    

Thursday, June 19, 2008:

Q:  The question was asked regarding the identities of the three lead guitarists to play for the Rolling Stones.

A:  Although this falls afoul of rule number two below (the "Circus Trick" rule, involving multiple-part answers), Todd correctly identified Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood.

Friday, June 27, 2008:

Q:  The author Eric Arthur Blair was born this week in 1903, 105 years ago.  The dystopian writer was better known as...

A:  George Orwell.  Song:  "1984" by Spirit.  

TRUMP TODD ON THURSDAYS WITH THE WTTS MORNING SHOW!

Trump Todd is basically a reversed version of the Morning Music Mindbender.  It's your chance to throw Todd Berryman for a loop and ask your own question of the top 10 finalist in the 6th Occasional Rhino Music Aptitude Test, Thursday mornings at 7:35 on 92.3 WTTS...giving you the chance to win a bonus prize!  Get creative and send your questions to Paul (who acts as the moderator of Trump Todd). 

There are, of course, a few simple rules that must be observed when phoning with your question, otherwise Todd or referee Paul Mendenhall may dismiss the question without comment and with extreme prejudice:

1. All questions must involve an artist you could hear during weekdays on WTTS (also known as the "Ask Questions Appropriate To The Class You're Attending" rule").  This means no questions regarding Little Steven’s Underground Garage or OverEasy, for example (this is designed to be equally fair to both Todd and the listener; since Todd hosts one of these shows and occasionally gets to preview some of the others, his advantage may be even greater in some instances).  Likewise, all questions about recordings must be about easily available commercial releases - no questions about bootlegs or remixes, in other words.   
2. No multiple-part questions.  The point of this is trying to Trump Todd with one doozy of a question, not have him supply a laundry list of answers (also known as the "Circus Trick" rule).   Also, all questions must have one definite answer; for example, “What was the name of John Lennon’s wife?” is a bad question, but “What was the name of John Lennon’s second wife?” is all right.  Well, except that…
3. The Professor doesn’t do Yoko Ono questions.  He’d like to sleep at night, thanks (also known as the "Pull Up Your Head Off The Floor, Come Out Screaming" rule).
4. No questions about the artist’s grandmother’s paramour who lived down the block – that is, the question must center on the artist, not a relative (also known as the "What's Your Name, Who's Your Daddy" rule).  Yeah, we all know Michael Nesmith’s mother invented Liquid Paper, and we still don’t care.  
5. No "I know someone in the band" or “I have a friend who knows someone in the band” questions (also known as the "Wall Street" rule...you will recall that insider trading is generally frowned upon).
6. Questions about the music are encouraged, but questions about its appearance in other media (say, a television program or a movie) are, by and large, not (also known as the "Moulin Rouge" rule).  Just because the Professor may have seen Los Lobos on Saturday Night Live does not mean he’s obligated to know that they were also on Reading Rainbow.  Likewise, the Professor doesn't care who was on the cover of Guitar Player this month.
7. Generally, no questions about concert dates/performance events and locations.  Only the most unhealthily obsessed fan would know exactly when and where a WTTS artist sang the national anthem for a ball game, or when and where Sarah McLachlan played every show when she hit Indianapolis (also known as the "Possession" rule).   For similar reasons, the Professor also doesn’t do "what musician has a birthday today?" questions or any regarding which age an artist did a particular activity.  He doesn’t care if George Harrison was 27 or 29 when he did All Things Must Pass, but he’ll be glad to tell you that Badfinger were among the session musicians for the album.
8. The Professor needs time to think about his answer, bemoaning his fate with coffee in one hand and Motrin in the other, so don’t blurt out the answer while he’s kicking his brain into gear (also known as the "Otis Redding 'Cigarettes & Coffee' Memorial" rule).
9. No repitition of artists within 30 days...if the Professor answers a Grateful Dead question, he won't answer a Grateful Dead question the following week (also known as the "It's The Same Old Song" rule).  Also, you may only attempt to grill the Professor once every 90 days…everybody wants to use their fork, so give everyone a fair chance (also known as the "Lou Reed 'Last Great American Whale' Memorial" rule).  Go stir the barbecue sauce or something for a while.  
10. Most critically, make sure your question is factually right and KNOW THE CORRECT ANSWER TO THE QUESTION YOU ASK!  Someone once asked us who died in the same apartment as Keith Moon two years after his passing.  The correct answer, in this case, was nobody.  However, if the question had been who died in the same apartment as Keith Moon four years earlier, we would have correctly guessed that it was Cass Elliott of the Mamas and the Papas.  We reserve the right to rescind your prize if a fact check turns up a bad question or wrong answer (also known as the "Papa Don't Take No Mess" rule).  On a related note, Wikipedia entries will not be considered valid sources for an answer, for reasons detailed in this article (in a nutshell, since anyone can edit Wikipedia, the information isn't actually always correct...a simultaneous boon to democracy and impedance to scholarship).   Websites cited must be a) artist-sourced or b) fan sites approved by the artist, or website content must itself cite an original reputable print source or artist interview (so rollingstone.com, for example, would be considered fair game).
11. No employee of the company can answer questions or claim prizes.
12. Occasionally during the regular Mindbender, Todd might ask a question that appears on its surface to violate his own rules for Thursdays.  This is for a few reasons:

• A) Todd will have taken pains to give you enough information to lead you to a very specific answer...for example, if it involved a song's appearance in a movie, he would tell you that the movie was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on Hunter Thompson's book of the same name and that the song was one of the two longest included on the Rolling Stones album Beggar's Banquet.   He would not ask you something like "what song was in The Big Chill?"
• B) There are more of you than there are of him, so statistically your odds are better to answer a question correctly...and the Professor comes up with questions every weekday instead of once every 90 days.
• C) Finally, not to put too fine a point on it...the prize is his to give out, so he determines the criteria (also known as "The Golden Rule" by way of rapper Oran "Juice" Jones...whoever has the gold makes the rules).

Ultimately, this list is not comprehensive.  The Professor has the option to add to these rules when deemed necessary (also known as the "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" rule)!