If you go to the Wikipedia page that lists┬аGrey Cup halftime shows, you’ll find familiar names such as Shania Twain, the Guess Who and the Tragically Hip.
You’ll also find the Parablegics listed as the performers at the 1999 Grey Cup halftime show. Unlike the majority of acts listed on the page, there is no link to a Wikipedia bio┬аdedicated to the band.┬а
It’s something that has plagued┬аBraydon Stachel, a CFL fan and music lover from Kingston, Ont., who┬аhas┬аnever heard of the┬аact, which┬аappeared to have performed┬аin front of more than 45,000 people at B.C. Place in Vancouver.┬а
With no Wikipedia bio as a starting point, he began digging around online for information and found little except a few references to the Parablegics being an obscure act that performed at the 1999 Grey Cup.┬а
After┬аa fruitless search, Stachel went from thinking,┬а“Why haven’t I heard of the Parablegics?”┬аto “Why hasn’t anyone heard of the Parablegics?”
In an age when it seems like every nugget of information, no matter how arcane, is easily available through a Google search, the fact that details about┬аthe halftime performance at one of Canada’s most-watched events remain┬аelusive bothers him and a small group of users on the CFL┬аReddit forum.┬а
“Why does nobody know that information?” Stachel┬аsaid. “It has not left my mind since I’ve started [searching].”
Who are the Parablegics?
Stachel says his quest┬аstarted last year when a user on the CFL reddit page asked to crack the mystery of the 1999 halftime show.┬а
“That started off the chain and nobody was able to solve it,” Stachel said.┬а
Stachel, who has experience working in the music industry, made efforts of his own.┬а
He searched databases of performance rights organizations such as BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.), ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) and┬аSOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) and found no record of them.┬а
He watched the CBC’s broadcast of the 1999 Grey Cup and found┬аits halftime segment featured an in-studio panel that included analysts┬аMike (Pinball)┬аClemons and Glen Suitor and did not show the performance on the field.┬а
“You can hear music in the background, but they never cut to the halftime show, which is incredibly strange,” Stachel said of the broadcast.
Searches of media databases found little mention of the Parablegics. The few articles that came up only noted that they played at the Grey Cup and include no other information.┬а
A new thread popped up on Reddit earlier this month┬аcalling for a renewed search.┬а
Efforts from CBC News were also┬аproven futile.
CFL head statistician Steve Daniel says he has a copy of the 1999 Grey Cup game program and there is no mention of halftime entertainment. There is a reference to a plaza party but the Parablegics were not among the list of performers.
A search of the CBC’s archives found no trace of the Parablegics. A search of the CBC Sports archives also came up empty,┬аwith no mention of the halftime performance┬аin shotlists┬аfor┬аthe 1999 Grey Cup.
Grant Lawrence, longtime CBC Music host and member of the Smugglers,┬аsays he has never heard of the Parablegics.
Stachel says he’s considered that Wikipedia could be the problem, with someone adding a name of a non-existent performer as a hoax and subsequent media reports┬аciting information from the site┬аwithout looking for further attribution.┬а
He notes, however, that one Reddit user found┬аthat the oldest instance of “Parablegics” showing up on Google was in 2003 тАФ┬аbefore the Wikipedia page was created in 2011.┬а
Given the lack of┬а details, theories about what took place in between halves at the 1999 Grey Cup (which saw the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeat the Calgary Stampeders 32-21, for what it’s worth)┬аabound.
A Twitter user┬аwho said he┬аattended the game seems┬аto recall a “military demonstration,” leading some┬аto wonder if the “Para” in “Parablegics” stood for “paratroopers.”
One user found a reference to┬аa performance by high school cheerleaders. That has led some to think that the Parablegics were a high school band, perhaps from a Christian┬аschool, which would put the “Parable” in Parablegics.┬а
A shot during the telecast shows cheerleaders on the┬аB.C. Place turf┬аand a person on stilts dressed as a Mountie.┬а
Stachel┬аsays┬аthere was a time when Grey Cup halftime shows featured a cappella groups, such as the Nylons, so the Parablegics could have been an a cappella group performing cover versions, which would explain why there is no record of them in databases like┬аSOCAN.
Stachel admits┬аthere could be┬аa perfectly straightforward explanation for what happened at B.C Place 24 years ago.
Until then, this elusive piece of trivia┬аwill continue to gnaw at him.
“I have searched every [database]┬аfor any reference of of this band and they just don’t exist,” he said. “Yet they were booked for the biggest halftime show in Canada and it just doesn’t make sense.”
The 110th edition of the Grey Cup kicks off Sunday at┬аTim Hortons Field in Hamilton. Green Day will┬аperform at halftime.
