The 1812 Event - Thanks to President James Madison!
WOW! In the random shuffling of Fringe review assignments, I got sent off to war. The War of 1812 that is. And – I had a fairly wacky good time – despite my technical difficulties.
Presented by Just Press Play (a group of folks who've apparently been experimenting with audio stories since 1989 using Walkmans), The 1812 Event was billed as a free, half-hour, one-time-only, podcast-directed, non-violent, public, participatory, commemoration of The War of 1812. The organizers promised it would be even more fun than the actual War of 1812!
Let me explain how the show was set up. I'll give you the directions that I read on the web about how it works.
START OF INSTRUCTIONS
1) Download the MP3 podcast file at the link below these instructions. Transfer the file onto your iPod, smartphone or other mobile MP3 device. (But don’t listen to it yet.)
2) Register by emailing [email protected] with the subject line “I’m in”. Let us know how many you will be.
3) On September 8, come to Ron Basford Park before Noon (remember, it’s tough to park on Granville Island on the weekends), with the MP3 podcast on your mobile device and headphones. Ron Basford Park (also known as “The Mound”) is on the East end of Granville Island at the end of Cartwright Street. The Ron Basford Park is right next to the Granville Island Hotel. Go to the far side of the park, which will be marked with balloons.
4) Have a seat on the grassy area between the red, white and blue balloons.
5) Look for the Man with the Big Orange Umbrella
6) At one minute before Noon, the Man with the Big Orange Umbrella will wave his closed umbrella. This is the sign to get ready. Put on your headphones, and ready your mobile device.
7) At Noon, the Man with the Orange Umbrella will OPEN THE UMBRELLA. This is the signal for everyone to simultaneously Just Push Play on their mobile devices.
8) Follow the instructions you hear on your headphones.
9) Later, we’ll post photos on the website or facebook page (The 1812 Event).
END OF INSTRUCTIONS
So – you may want to know... just how did all this madness play out? Well, it was kinda fun. It was a beautiful sunny day. There was a decent crowd of folks, maybe about 70 people of all ages from kids to seniors. We followed the instructions, mostly. But here's where I ran into technical difficulties. My smartphone got a bit grumpy about playing the file as needed during the about one minute to go window of time. I was mucking around with my smartphone, figured it out and started to wait for a signal. I heard a woman near me talking and then realized she must be repeating the text from the podcast. Desperately, I hit play and tried to get my smartphone to catch up to the right spot in the recording. For a while, I was listening to the woman talking nearby with one ear and the podcast which was not in sync with the other ear. Hmm. Not optimal. (I noticed that others seemed to be out of sync and/or not even listening but just following along with what others were doing. Two friends of mine arrived late and never even tried to catch up on the audio!) I wondered if old technologies worked better than new technologies – as it turns out, pushing play is so much easier on a Walkman than on a smartphone. Perhaps a loud speaker system would be better?
As you might expect, the podcast eventually directed us to an actual fight (which we carried out with balloon swords). Participants were divided into armies through birthdays. Anyone born from January 1 – June 30 was a British Redcoat (aka the good guys) and those born from Canada Day to the end of the year was an American Bluecoat (aka the not-so-good guys). I was American and received a blue balloon sword. By the time we started fighting, I finally managed to sync the timing of my sound file with everyone else (thank God!) and waded bravely into battle. I felt vaguely like I'd been dropped into the paintball war episodes of Community. I was killed and the Canadians won (to much rejoicing).
If you want to know more about what this experience was like, you can have a quick listen to the podcast (since you missed the show). If you're really inspired, you can even choose to reinact the War of 1812 yourself at home with the help of some friends (and some balloons). And why not? Canada wins!