PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Want to remind everyone to join us weeks right here at the Chase Bank Auditorium or at our upcoming show in Newark, New Jersey, near my ancestral home, December 4. For tickets or more information, go to WBEZ.org or you can find a link at our website waitwait.npr.org.
Right now, panel, it's time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Brian, country singer Taylor Swift is popular in Canada - really, really popular. How do we know? We know that because one of her tracks went instantly to the top of the iTunes sales chart in Canada. What is the song?
BRIAN BABYLON: It was like eight seconds...
SAGAL: Of?
BABYLON: Static.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Eight seconds of white noise - number one in Canada.
BABYLON: Like shhh.
SAGAL: Yeah, due either to a technical error or Taylor Swift's subversive John Cage-like genius. A song called "Track Number 3" was uploaded as part of her new album, and even though it is only eight seconds of static, it rocketed to number one on the Canadian iTunes chart. Now some devoted fans believe it is not just static, it is a heartfelt angry song about Taylor's breakup with an old RadioShack FM receiver.
(LAUGHTER)
ROY BLOUNT JR.: They never worked.
BABYLON: But if you play that backwards...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: But - all right, so here's Taylor Swift. She's got the number one song in Canada on iTunes. It's eight seconds of static. How does the number two guy feel?
AMY DICKINSON: Right, really.
SAGAL: Roy, this weekend dozens were injured as police in SWAT gear used tear gas and tasers to stop rioters at what event?
BLOUNT: Rioters at what event - could you give me a hint?
SAGAL: Yeah, well, the rioters were armed with those little serrated knives you get in the carving kits.
BLOUNT: In the carving kit? What kind of carving kit?
SAGAL: Well, what do you carve?
(LAUGHTER)
DICKINSON: It's that time of year.
SAGAL: What sort of things do you carve this time of year?
BABYLON: This is a time of year you guys love.
(LAUGHTER)
BLOUNT: Oh, yeah.
SAGAL: So OK, it's something you carve this time of year as you...
BLOUNT: Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins.
SAGAL: It was a pumpkin festival. That's right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: There were - there was a riot at Keene, New Hampshire's annual pumpkin Fest. The chaos is being blamed on drunken Keene State College students. They ripped up street signs, overturned cars and dumpsters, then headed over to the orchard for some apple looting. Police in SWAT gear rolled in, used the tear gas, tasers, and in a quaint touch - pumpkin-spiced pepper spray.
(LAUGHTER)
BABYLON: The pumpkin riot is so funny though. To call it the pumpkin riots - oh, son, I was there through the great pumpkin riots.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It was crazy. There were pumpkin guts everywhere.
BABYLON: That's when American changed, during the pumpkin riots.
SAGAL: Yeah. As you might expect, the Keene, New Hampshire Police Department doesn't get to use their riot gear very much. Fortunately, it was all out and ready because for Halloween, they were dressing up as the Ferguson Police Department.
(LAUGHTER) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.