Ottawa Music Trivia is an institution

Mark Arnold’s basement is like a museum. It’s almost overwhelming for anyone who loves music. Or sports. Or movies. Or just collecting things in general. It’s wall-to-wall sports memorabilia, music memorabilia, DVDs and the most amazing posters. “Oh, you’re a Packers fan?” Mark will say. He will then open a binder to show you the football cards of all the Green Bay Packers players from 1967-1974. Like, ALL of them. A fan of The Who? Check out these two Who parkas and this one-of-a-kind photo of Pete Townshend taken by a famous local rock photographer.

Now, to be fair, not all of this memorabilia is Mark’s. A lot of it is stuff he’s obtained for the 6th annual Ottawa Music Trivia Night, coming up Friday at the Sala San Marco Banquet Hall on Preston. Mark created this event, and in a very short time it has become an Ottawa institution, drawing repeat guests year after year and selling out every time.

Part of the appeal of Ottawa Music Trivia Night is the venue. Sala San Marco brings out the most amazing food to every table, and guests leave extremely well-fed, sometimes a little tipsy, and very happy. Another part of the appeal is the silent auction table, one of the best in Ottawa. It’s full of incredible music and sports memorabilia, tickets, and donated items from hundreds of local businesses. So much so that it all has to be bundled together – were they to auction each item off individually, there would not be enough table room. It would circle the massive banquet hall twice over. They even have a massive trove of band and backstage T-shirts that are either given away or sold for $10 apiece. It’s thanks to this kind of swag that Ottawa Music Trivia Night has been able to raise more than $165,000 for Operation Come Home and the Youth Now farm over the past six years.

But the main appeal of the evening is Mark. He has become a familiar figure as the host of the event, getting to know and become friends with dozens of individual players over the years. But even now, as he begins handing off hosting duties to focus on other things, his fingerprints are all over the game.

There are clever and fun categories (this year: Potty Mouth, Dynamic Duos, and Arthur Murray among others). There is the balance between easy, sing-a-long songs everyone will know, tougher songs only some will get, and the seven or eight songs over the course of the evening that are nigh impossible.

This all comes from Mark’s unique and admirable ability to combine all of his passions. One of those passions is helping youth. Mark runs the Youth Now farm here in Ottawa, where at-risk youth gain job experience working on a farm just outside the city. He has been involved in many different ways with Operation Come Home over the years, and OCH was an easy choice for him as a charity partner to split the fundraising dollars with Youth Now.

Mark’s second passion is music. Very few people could listen to another person’s playlist and know all the songs. We all usually gravitate to at least one obscure band, or less popular form of music. In Mark’s case, he legitimately loves it all. 80s syth-pop? Yes indeed. Wu-Tang? Absolutely. Emo, outlaw country, garage punk, Norwegian black metal? Yep, more of all of that please! This is what makes him uniquely qualified to come up with challenging yet accessible music for the purpose of a trivia contest. It’s a fine balance making sure no one leaves angry – but Mark is able to nail that balance, year after year.

Mark’s third passion is memorabilia and collections – sports, most notably. If you attend a Music Trivia Night, this passion is immediately obvious when you look around the room, or peruse the silent auction table.

Mark, of course, does not do this alone. The team is actually quite large. This year’s Ottawa Music Trivia (OMT) had incredible help from tech-wizard Mark Kelly, who makes the videos and the graphics that create the atmosphere of fun and laughs for which OMT is known. Jonathan Desjardins and other OCH staff found most of the amazing silent auction items. Ed Gariano, Jackie Miller, Barbara Mitchell, Katherine Chrysler, and both Stephanies (yes there are two) were all essential in helping put this event together.

When you attend Music Trivia Night, you’d never know how much work went into it. It runs smoothly, it’s three-four hours of fun and partying, and all you have to do is listen to music and eat all that food! This smooth running operation and energetic atmosphere is created by the efforts of the team that makes it all happen.

It is, most of all, possible thanks to Mark. Which is why we’re writing this post.

Thanks to Mark.