Hi there! The bar where I used to host trivia went out of business, so I don’t get the answer sheets anymore, and thus can’t really do this blog. Alas. But I am keeping busy, fear not, and that’s where you come in. I need your help (hence the cross-post with my other blog).
2017 will see the release of something called Sesquicentennial. It’s not an album, exactly. It’s 15 albums. A collection of 150 songs on a single theme: the upcoming sesquicentennial.
Each song is about an event from a unique year since Canadian Confederation. So a song about something from 1868, something from 1932, something from 1987, you get the idea. And these aren’t “inspired by” events, or “about” them in the vaguest possible sense. No! Each song is on-the-nose about the event in question (which can be damned hard), although I have allowed for some speculation and invention of characters to flesh out certain happenings. But don’t worry, I’m not trying to pick the most Historically Significant thing from that year. God that would be boring. Instead, my only criterion is that the story be somehow interesting. Here’s an example, the annotated lyrics to a song about a sea lion who escaped from an amusement park in London, in 1958:
I have completed around 80 songs so far, and it should all be done on time… if you help me! You see, I’m starting to run out of good stories, and I need assistance filling out many years. I have asked the National Archives, the Canadian Encyclopedia, and some academics, and they’ve all blown me off, probably because they think I’m a crank or that I want some extensive research done. But I’m dead serious, and this is a damned cool project, and all I really need is a tattered thread of information to follow on my own. And so, motivated by desperation, here is my list of subjects, and resultant holes.
What I’d like is for anyone out there to suggest any subject at all for any year where I have a blank. As you can see I love disasters, crimes, murders, hauntings, craziness, any type of spectacular failure, or any outsider either triumphing or being crushed. What is out of bounds? X invents the (whatever). Or Y becomes the first (man/woman/Canadian/ethnic anything) to do (anything). These are generally boring unless there is a story to it. So without further ado, here it is. Suggest away! Leave your ideas in the comments, and pass it on to all your friends. Please.
Year | Subject |
1867 | Confederation |
1868 | Republic of Manitobah – a drunk megalomaniac tries to make his own country |
1869 | Hanging of Patrick Whelan |
1870 | The Battle of Belly River – a Cree band makes a desperate play to take the territory of another, with disastrous results |
1871 | Phoebe Campbell, manipulative murderess, goads her lover into killing her husband |
1872 | |
1873 | Cypress Hills Massacre |
1874 | |
1875 | |
1876 | |
1877 | Crowfoot signs Treaty 7 in an attempt to save his people |
1878 | Esther Cox is haunted by the Amherst Poltergeist |
1879 | Swift Runner murders and eats his family |
1880 | The Queen’s daughter is nearly killed in a sleigh accident |
1881 | Steamship Victoria Disaster |
1882 | |
1883 | |
1884 | Discovery of dinosaur bones in alberta by Tyrrell |
1885 | Jumbo the elephant |
1886 | Vancouver is destroyed by fire |
1887 | |
1888 | |
1889 | |
1890 | |
1891 | McGreevy is kicked out of Parliament |
1892 | |
1893 | Founding of Algonquin Park |
1894 | |
1895 | |
1896 | Manitoba Schools Crisis |
1897 | Klondike Gold Rush |
1898 | |
1899 | |
1900 | |
1901 | Death of Queen Victoria |
1902 | Oil discovered in Lethbridge |
1903 | Alaska Boundary Dispute |
1904 | Etienne Desmarteau absconds from his job and becomes an Olympic Champion |
1905 | Barton Murder, maybe |
1906 | |
1907 | Anti Asian riot in Vancouver |
1908 | |
1909 | Border Waters Treaty (I rapped about it) |
1910 | |
1911 | |
1912 | Regulation 17, concerned English education in Ontario |
1913 | |
1914 | The great Newfoundland Sealing Disaster |
1915 | Vanceboro bridge bombing, a halfwit German agent blows up a bridge |
1916 | |
1917 | Death of Tom Thomson |
1918 | End of The War |
1919 | Ambrose Small Disappears |
1920 | William Red Hill Saves Bobby Leach again at Niagara Falls |
1921 | |
1922 | |
1923 | Home Bank fails |
1924 | |
1925 | |
1926 | Hornby goes north (my personal favourite Canadian story ever) |
1927 | Newfoundland gets Labrador |
1928 | |
1929 | Aquarian foundation dissolved. Brother XII. |
1930 | Canadian Martyrs recognized by the Catholic Church |
1931 | |
1932 | The Mad Trapper |
1933 | Newfoundland ends its government |
1934 | Kidnapping of John Labbat |
1935 | On to Ottawa Trek |
1936 | Red Ryan dies in a hail of bullets |
1937 | |
1938 | |
1939 | Mackenzie Papineau Battalion returns in defeat |
1940 | |
1941 | Voyage of the St Roch |
1942 | Death of LM Montgomery |
1943 | |
1944 | Smokey Smith kicks ass. A classic. |
1945 | The Gouzenko Affair |
1946 | |
1947 | |
1948 | Newfoundland Referendums |
1949 | Asbestos Strike |
1950 | |
1951 | Leo Major in Korea. Ultimate bad ass. |
1952 | Kurelek hospitalized |
1953 | Stanley Park Babes in the Woods bodies discovered |
1954 | Hurricane Hazel lays waste to Toronto |
1955 | Richard Riots |
1956 | The Coffin Affair |
1957 | Collapse of peace river bridge / CNE airshow crash |
1958 | Slippery the Sea Lion |
1959 | Completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway |
1960 | L’anse aux Meadows discovered |
1961 | The Coyne Affair |
1962 | |
1963 | FLQ First wave of terrorist attacks and robberies |
1964 | Glenn Gould gives up live performance |
1965 | The Rivard Affair, which is funny |
1966 | Munsinger Affair: the defence minister had an affair with an East German spy at the height of the Cold War |
1967 | Expo 67 |
1968 | |
1969 | |
1970 | FLQ Crisis |
1971 | Kingston Pen Riot |
1972 | Summit Series |
1973 | |
1974 | Moe Norman wins the Canadian PGA |
1975 | |
1976 | |
1977 | The great Antonio is beaten to a pulp |
1978 | |
1979 | Terry Fox begins the Marathon of Hope |
1980 | |
1981 | Kent Cochrane becomes an amnesiac |
1982 | |
1983 | The Gimli Glider |
1984 | |
1985 | Tunagate or vicki keith |
1986 | Death of Claude Jutra |
1987 | |
1988 | Ben Johnson national disgrace |
1989 | Kids in the Hall debuts on CBC |
1990 | Oka |
1991 | |
1992 | Failure of the Charlottetown Accord |
1993 | Somalia Affair |
1994 | Tom Green starts his first public access TV show |
1995 | Referendum |
1996 | The Shawinigan Handshake |
1997 | Bre X fraud |
1998 | Dionne quints settle for cash |
1999 | |
2000 | |
2001 | |
2002 | Lanark Firebug |
2003 | |
2004 | Dave Sim completes Cerebus |
2005 | Stronach crosses the floor |
2006 | |
2007 | First BC severed foot appears |
2008 | Hershey plant closes |
2009 | |
2010 | |
2011 | |
2012 | Ikea Monkey |
2013 | Rob Ford |
2014 | |
2015 | |
2016 |
You’re my hero. Here are some ideas … I opted for the easy, more recent years.
2010: Sister Hits Moose on Way to Visit Sister Who Hit Moose: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/b-c-woman-hits-moose-on-way-to-visit-sister-who-hit-moose
2014: Angry Beaver: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/angry-beaver-delays-traffic-roams-around-miramichi-1.2628083
2015: Hero Dad punches cougar in face: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/father+punch+face+saves+british+columbia+toddler+cougar/11384275/story.html
OR
2015: Snow Brush Bandit: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/macs-robbery-thunder-bay-1.3330952
LikeLike
I’ve done some additional research based on your own advice (heard in interview)!
1928: Maybe you could work in the Famous Five in this year? In 1928, women were deemed “not persons” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Famous_Five_(Canada)
1931: Beauharnois Scandal discovered (I like that the money helped supplement a trip to the Bahamas!) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauharnois_scandal
1962: There might be something interesting here: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/12/10/the_end_of_the_rope_the_story_of_canadas_last_executions.html
OR Medicare here?
1975: Sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Obvi.
LikeLike
Very nice finds!!! Thanks!!!
LikeLike
2003 – SARS / and SARS-Stock
“Justin Timberlake was booed by the crowd, which was anticipating the harder-rocking second half of the concert. Throughout his performance he had to dodge water bottles, toilet paper, muffins, and other items thrown by the audience.”
LikeLike