Authors Chris Wong and Aaron Chapman share behind-the-scenes stories of Vancouver’s greats from jazz to rock, legendary venues, and unforgettable performances.
A lively conversation about the city’s music history and the people who shaped it.
Location: Room 485, UBC Robson Square
Moderator: Gary Jones
Readers: Chris Wong, Journeys to the Bandstand (Friesen Press) | Aaron Chapman, LIVE AT THE COMMODORE The Story of Vancouver's Historic Commodore Ballroom - NEW UPDATED EDITION (Arsenal Pulp Press)
About The Moderator
Gary Jones
Gary Jones is a Vancouver-based, award-winning playwright, comedian, actor and producer. His 40-year career began with Toronto's fabled Second city Theatre who then shipped him off to perform for the duration of Expo '86. After all the pavilions were dismantled, packed up and sent back to IKEA, Gary stayed on to eventually achieve a modicum of inter-regional fame & fortune, minus the fortune, performing with Vancouver TheatreSports. Gary went on to appear in countless TV episodics and MOW's, appearing alongside the likes of legends such as Nick Nolte, André The Seal & Katherine Hepburn, one of whom cosumed a bucket of fish a day. Gary has won two Leo Awards for his music-based web series, Forgotten Masters. He is currently writing jokes for his 20th season of CBC Radio's beloved comedy show, The Debaters.
About The Readers
Chris Wong
Chris Wong is a lifelong music nerd, who is an aficionado of jazz and many other genres. His affinity for writing about music emerged in high school, when Chris received his first byline for a review in the school newspaper of the iconic punk band the K-Tels. With the University of British Columbia’s The Ubyssey student newspaper, he started writing about jazz. Chris went on to cover music and other subjects for the Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail, Georgia Straight, Vancouver Courier, DownBeat magazine, and other publications. Journeys to the Bandstand is a passion project that Chris honed for more than a decade. The book chronicles the musical and life journeys of thirty extraordinary artists who have helped shape the vibrant jazz scene in Vancouver, and further afield. The book's chapters are long-form portraits of expressive musicians, resilient club-owners, and others who overcame challenges to reach the forefront of the city's jazz community. Journeys to the Bandstand is Chris' first book. Born in Regina, Chris lives in Vancouver.
Aaron Chapman
Aaron Chapman is a writer, historian, and musician with a special interest in Vancouver's entertainment history. He is the author of Vancouver after Dark: The Wild History of a City's Nightlife, winner of the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award (BC Book Prizes) in 2020; The Last Gang in Town, the story of Vancouver's Clark Park Gang; Liquor, Lust, and the Law, the story of Vancouver's Penthouse Nightclub, now available in a second edition; Vancouver Vice: Crime and Spectacle in the City's West End; and Live at the Commodore, a history of the Commodore Ballroom that won the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award (BC Book Prizes) in 2015 (with a new updated edition recently published). He has sat on the board of the Friends of the Vancouver Archives, and is a member of Heritage Vancouver. In 2020 he was elected as a member of the Royal Historical Society. A graduate of the University of British Columbia, he lives in Vancouver.
