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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Marcus define a band in "The Band"?
(a) A singer, a drummer, and at least one guitarist.
(b) A group of people who have been together for a long time.
(c) Individuals working together to achieve something they cannot on their own.
(d) Individuals playing music together.

2. Who said "I played rock and roll before I ever heard of Elvis Presley. I saw him in Memphis before he ever made a record"?
(a) Little Richard.
(b) Sam Phillips.
(c) Harmonica Frank.
(d) Bob Dylan.

3. From what feeling does Robert Johnson pull his images?
(a) Hope.
(b) Fear.
(c) Anger.
(d) Desolation.

4. What type of music did Robert Johnson sing?
(a) Rock 'n' roll.
(b) Gospel.
(c) Blues.
(d) Country.

5. In "The Band," Marcus tells that groups are images of what?
(a) Hope.
(b) Family.
(c) Community.
(d) Democracy.

6. Who does Marcus compare Phillips to in the beginning of "Harmonica Frank - 1951"?
(a) Harmonica Frank.
(b) Elvis Presley.
(c) Starbuck.
(d) Huck Finn.

7. How many songs did Johnson record before he died?
(a) 29.
(b) 30.
(c) 5.
(d) 98.

8. What does Marcus say each performer he will discuss in the book attempts to do?
(a) Redefine love.
(b) Create oneself.
(c) Entertain.
(d) Make music for money.

9. What was Johnson's instrument of choice?
(a) Harmonica.
(b) Guitar.
(c) Piano.
(d) Saxophone.

10. What is ironic about rock 'n' roll and democracy?
(a) They are both individual and a community.
(b) Each asks people to be something better than they are.
(c) Neither works in a specific way.
(d) They demand work and play.

11. Who interrupts the fight over the book in the Prologue?
(a) Little Richard.
(b) Erich Segal.
(c) John Simon.
(d) Rita Moreno.

12. How did Robert Johnson die?
(a) Suicide.
(b) Old age.
(c) Drug overdose.
(d) Murdered.

13. Which of the following performers will NOT be discussed in Mystery Train?
(a) Elvis Presley.
(b) Randy Newman.
(c) Sly Stone.
(d) Chuck Berry.

14. What does Marcus claim in "The Band" is not community?
(a) Friendship.
(b) America.
(c) Family.
(d) The Band.

15. In the Prologue, Marcus says that the music he will discuss dramatizes what?
(a) What it means to be American.
(b) Life in the projects.
(c) The racial tensions of the time.
(d) The war.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Marcus think the performers discussed in the Prologue have in common?

2. Who wrote "Whispering Pines"?

3. What was the original name of the Band in the early sixties?

4. What religious group does Marcus compare blues singers to in "Robert Johnson -1938"?

5. Four of the members from The Band are from where?

(see the answer keys)

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