History of Commodore Ballroom to be detailed in new book
Posted March 9, 2014 9:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom turns 85 next year, an occasion that will be marked with the writing of book detailing its long and storied history as a live music venue.
Author Aaron Chapman is looking for your stories as he starts putting pen to paper.
“It’s amazing some of the people who have been coming out of the woodwork as they’ve heard I’m doing the research for the book right now to tell their stories,” he explains.
“I had the occasion the other night when Sting was in town with Paul Simon to talk to Sting after the show about when the Police played there on May 22, 1979.”
Do you have a Commodore connection or a favourite memory? You never know. It could make the book too.
“I’m hoping to speak to, right now as I’m interviewing people and collecting some of the stories from over the years to talk to a bunch of different people as I equally go through the archives of the city and some of the old newspaper clippings to see who’s played there over the years.”
Chapman’s last book was about the notorious “Penthouse” Nightclub, and he finds there is a bit of overlap with his project.
“I just discovered an old clipping from the paper in the 1960s of a bunch of professional safe crackers that blew up the safe in the office of the Commodore Ballroom and robbed it.”
If all goes according to plan, the Commodore book could be out just in time for the holiday shopping season.
You can reach Chapman at aaron@aaronchapman.net.
