Musings of a Dead Parrot

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1.  What color is the bullseye in the middle of a competitive archery target?  this gets asked regularly at trivia nights and I still do not remember for sure.  Red?
2.  What large lake on the border of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland is named for the emperor who founded a 4th-century Roman dynasty?  Lake Como?  Lake Lugano?  I'll go with Lake Lugano
3.  "Ionization" is the name of the phase transition in which matter in what phase changes to matter in what other phase?  solid to liquid?  or liquid to gas?  I seem to recall that ionization energy is the energy required to move an electron from one orbital to another.  But that does not seem relevant here.  I'll guess liquid to gas.
4.  What musical acronym was used for the U.S. government program set up in 2009 to help "underwater" homeowners avoid foreclosure?  I don't remember this.  HARP?
5.  Who died of a heart attack on November 29, 1924, leaving a work named Turandot unfinished?  Puccini?
6.  In China, oolong is a type of what?  tea.  It is tea everywhere else too, isn't it?
7.  What unusual distinction is shared by these holidays and observances, and no others?  New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, the vernal equinox, Halloween, Thanksgiving (arguably), and Christmas.  Is this a popular culture question?  Movies about holidays?  #1 songs?  or something about the dates and how they appear on a digital display?

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1.  What country's current president, Michael Martelly, became famous there in the 1990s as Sweet Micky, a popular "compas" musician?  Compas is the national music of Haiti.  KJ misspelled the president's name.  It is Michel, not Michael.  I certainly would have guessed differently had I known the true name.
2.  What television actor, best known for a 1960s role, released his own fragrance line last year, "Eau My"?  George Takei never said "Oh, my" as Sulu on Star Trek, but it's become his Howard Stern Show catchphrase.  This phrase has not yet entered my cultural consciousness.  I don't watch or listen to Howard Stern.
3.  What word for a halogen salt can also refer to a boring cliche, because it was once a common ingredient in sedatives?  Potassium bromide was once used as a sedative, so "bromides" today are expressions so trite they'll put your audience to sleep.  correct
4.  Or, gules, vert, and purpure are among the colors used in what art form and field of study?  Heraldry has its own colors, called "tincture."  Or is golden, gules is red, vert is green, and purpure is purple.  I only wanted 2 see U laughing in the purpure rain.  heraldry?  bleah question
5.  The chorus of Mack Rice's biggest hit song, later made famous by Wilson Pickett, incidentally includes the name of what future astronaut?  The chorus of "Mustang Sally" repeats the phrase "Ride, Sally, Ride," accidentally name-checking the future astronaut.  correct
6.  What best-selling 2012 novel begins with the disappearance of Amy Dunne from her new hometown, North Carthage, Missouri?  Amy is the title missing person in Gillian Flynn's mega-selling thriller Gone Girl, soon to be a major motion picture. never heard of the book or the author.

7.  What unusual distinction is shared by these famous people?  Eubie Blake, Gordon Brown, Tim Daly, Langston Hughes, Hugh Laurie, Paul McCartney, Tim McCarver, David Niven, Dan Quayle, Strom Thurmond.  Each went by his middle name, because his real first name was "James."  Probably the only time you'll ever see Tim Daly and Langston Hughes's names together.  correct!