In Search of Lost Venues
by Kristina Rothstein
Memories of Vancouver live music venues which no longer exist from the local musicians who played there. Each episode is a walk through a neighbourhood with one or more Vancouver musician, past their favourite venues, places where significant events occurred.
Episodes
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Terry Ondang @ The Royal, Bill Copeland Sports Centre & The HIve
Terry Ondang has been running music shows since she was a teenager. She put on shows at the Java Joint in Surrey before promoting shows around Vancouver, co-owned The Hive recording studio and ran Hive Fidelty record label. She lives on Gabriola Island where she runs The Noise Floor recording...
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In Search of Lost Venues is wrapping up!
Thank you so much to everyone who listened and participated. There will be a new conversation in the next few months, and the occasional bonus episode. I always saw this as a finite project; there are way more stories to tell but I don't want to get repetitive in my own angle into this topic.
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Luke Meat @ The Brickyard
Luke Meat was the music director at CiTR radio during the 2000s. From 1998-2000 he was the DJ at the Brickyard under the name Audio Where. Luke was a member of the bands Damn Fine Sandwich, Storc, Value Village People, and Zero Percent Interest and currently in Bat Leather. This conversation was...
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Dennis Mills in Gastown and beyond
Dennis Mills has been playing with bands in Vancouver for over four decades. He was in AKA and Rhythm Mission, and still plays with the Judys and the Jazzmanian Devils. This conversation was recorded on November 28th 2025. Venues visited: Tamara Restaurant (311 W Hastings), site of the first...
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Ziggy (formerly known as Yuriko Igo) @ Blim
Ziggy (Yuriko Iga) opened Blim in 2003, after graduating from the Alberta College of Art and Design and starting a venue called Kisaten in Calgary. Blim was a music venue performance space, art gallery and much more. Blim hasn't had music events for about 14 years but is still a shop/retail art...
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Kristjanne Vosper @ the Black Lab
Kristjanne Vosper's current project is KMVP. She has played in Smearlord, Bash Brothers, Repukes, and OK Vancouver OK. She lives in Nanaimo. Venues visited:The Black Lab ( E Hastings) was a "DIY, collectively run, volunteer-based punk space" on Hastings Street , just east of Main, in the Downtown...
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Amber Webber at Pat's Pub
Amber Webber is known for the bands Lightning Dust and Black Mountain. She briefly had a project called Kodiak Deathbeds and has been a guest singer on many other projects. She started in the band Dream On Dreary. This conversation was recorded on August 13th 2025. Venues visited: Pat's Pub was…
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Sydney Hermant at art spaces in the Downtown Eastside
Sydney Hermant played in the bands Bonaparte, Hello Blues Roses, and the Choir Practice. She is also an artist and was the curator of the Or Gallery. She put on cabaret shows with the Hot Rod Puppet Ensemble. This conversation was recorded on July 30th, 2025. Venues visited: Sydney's house from...
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Ryan McCormick at Hoko's
Ryan McCormick is the band Collpasing Opposites and has also played in Green Belt Collective, They Shoot Horses Don't They? and others. He was a director of the Safe Amplification Site Society. This conversation was recorded on July 10, 2025. Hoko's was a sushi restaurant at 362 Powell Street…
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Ana Rose Carrico at the Red Gate
Ana Rose Carrico is a grassroots arts administrator who co-founded The Red Gate Arts Society. She is the current Executive Director, a former Station Manager of CiTR & Discorder Magazine, and a lifelong advocate for the cultural life of Vancouver. This conversation took place on May 9th 2025. The...
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Keith Parry at the Cruel Elephant
Keith Parry founded and ran the legendary record store and label, Scratch Records, which opened in 1987. He played in bands including Superconductor, Octatrackter, Twerdocleb, Kicking it with Coho, The Gay, Pink Mountaintops, and Neko Case. Keith lives on Vancouver Island and we walked and talked...
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Keith Parry at the Savoy
Keith Parry founded and ran the legendary record store and label, Scratch Records, which opened in 1987. He played in bands including Superconductor, Octatrackter, Twerdocleb, Kicking it with Coho, The Gay, Pink Mountaintops, and Neko Case. Keith lives on Vancouver Island and we walked and talked...
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Joshua Stevenson at the Anza Club
Josh Stevenson has been playing experimental music since the 1990s in projects like Staked Plain, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Glow worm, Bold Axis Arms, -Outhern Acific+, Magneticring, July Fourth Toilet, and Von Bingen. He also does audio mastering under the name Otic Sound. This conversation was...
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Marita M. at Astorino's
Marita M. is a musician, performer and arts organizer. She has been in many bands including True Crush, Lunch Lady, Derek Wheeler, Divorcer, Reveal Yourself and Bill Can. This conversation was recorded on April 3, 2024. Astorino's was the venue for the Safe Amplification Site Society (Safe Amp...
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Jerome (M01E) at UBC Cry Club
Jerome is the founder of the band M01E, and of UBC Cry Club, which took place weekly, at one point, at the Fraser River Parkade at UBC. Cry Club started in 2021 and continued, usually weekly, for a couple of years, and then less frequently. It is unrehearsed and open to participation from…
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Lisa Marr at Cub house
Lisa Marr played bass and sang in the beloved Vancouver band Cub. She started by playing in the Evaporators. She continues to play music, make films, and do all kinds of other art and activism. This conversation was recorded on January 28th 2025. Venue visited: Cub House (1992-1997) at 837 west...
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Phil Smith (Corsage) in Kitsilano
Phil Smith began in the awesome Vancouver punk band Wasted Lives, whose few recordings were recently released by Supreme Echo. This conversation was recorded on December 18 2024. He went on to musical projects like Snow Geese, Blanche Whitman, Bud Luxford and the long-running band Corsage. Venues...
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Selina Crammond at Horses Records
Selina Crammond has played in the bands Movieland, Supermoon, Kiss Painting and currently, Midnight News and Roswit. She also runs Monotapes with Gal av Gay. This conversation took place on December 7 2024. Horses Records was an independent record and bookstore on Hastings and Nanaimo (on 2447 E...
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Remote Report: Rachel Melas & Conny Nowe of the Moral Lepers
In this bonus episode I talk separately with Rachel Melas and Conny Nowe, who played bass and drums in the all-female, post punk band the Moral Lepers, in the early 1980s. Rachel was also in the art punk band animal slaves among many others and Conny played in Tin Twist, and Junco Run. They now...
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Remote Report: Mar Sellars
This is a remote report, a conversation conducted virtually rather than in person. In these episodes I speak with musicians who have moved away from Vancouver about their experiences and the venues they loved. Mar Sellars started playing in bands as a teenager in Vancouver, including The Riff...
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Lyndsay Sung at The Blinding Light! & Ms T's Cabaret
Lyndsay Sung is a musician, writer, filmmaker and cookbook author. She was in the bands the Sob Story, le Petit Mort, Radio Berlin and Pink Mountaintops, and now plays in KCAR, Foxgloves and Strawberries and Cream. This conversation was recorded on November 5 2024. The Blinding Light! was an...
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prOphecy sun at Video In & Blim
prOphecy sun is an artist, musician and educator who divides her time between Vancouver and Nelson, BC. She has been perfomring experimental music in Vancouver since the early 2000s. This conversation was recorded on November 3, 2024. Sixth Fest happened on 6th Avenue between Ontario and Manitoba...
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Jesse Gander at Seylynn Hall
Jesse Gander grew up playing music as a teen in the band d.b.s. (1992-2001) in North Vancouver. He went on to play in numerous other bands, currently Uptights. He started recording bands while still a teenager and has done music production for over 500 bands and artists from around the world....
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Rose Melberg at The Shed
Rose Melberg has been making music for over three decades as part of the bands Tiger Trap, The Softies, Go Sailor, Imaginary Pants, Brave Irene, Bleating Hearts and many more. She is originally from California but has lived in Vancouver BC for close to twenty years. Most recently she is one tour...
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Jen & Andy at Submission Hold House
Jen Thorpe and Andy Healey were members of the punk band Submission Hold from 1993 to 2005. Their house, at 2024 East 1st Avenue, known as Submission Hold House, hosted many shows from 1993 to 2001. Venues mentioned: La Quena (co-op coffee house), Strathcona Community Centre, Seylenn Hall (North...
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Adrian Teacher at Toast Collective & Little Mountain
Adrian Teacher plays in the band Apollo Ghosts. He has also been in the projects Cool TV, Adrian Teacher and the Subs and the solo venture, Arbutus. This conversation was recorded on August 26th, 2024. Venues visited: The Toast Collective was a "grassroots nerve centre for new bands, art…
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Julie Colero in Mount Pleasant
.Julie Colero played the flute at one show in the band The Countless Jibes. She was the music director of CiTR for three years 1998-2001 as well as hosting a show for many years. She was also an organizer of the Vancouver music festival, Music Waste, for many years in the 2010s Venues visited…
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Jade Blade of The Dishrags at Japanese Hall & the Windmill
Jade Blade was the lead vocalist and guitar player for legendary Vancouver punk band The Dishrags. The band played the first punk show in Vancouver on July 30, 1977. This conversation took place on August 25, 2024. Venues visited: The Japanese Hall on the 400 block of Alexander Street is still…
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A new episode on September 4th!
Welcome to Season 2, starting next week with a very exciting guest.
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Celina K (aka Future Star) at The Mansion & Astorino's
Celina Kurz has been playing in bands since she was in high school. Her current projects is Future Star. Former bands are True Crush and Kidnap Kids (originally Bears and Chairs) and has played in others, including The Trolls and Only A Visitor. Venues visited: The Mansion was a venue for house...
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Veda Hille on Commercial Drive
Veda Hille is a beloved Vancouver musician, composer, theatre maker, and performer. She first played in a band called Mudlarks and started making records under her own name in 1991. She also had a children's band called Duplex. She has been involved in music, art, and theatre for several decades,...
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Stephen Hamm at John Barley's
Stephen Hamm played in Vancouver bands starting in the early 1980s, including Slow, Canned Hamm, Jungle, Tankhog and Nardwuar And The Evaporators. The Georgia Straight once called him 'semi legendary.' His current solo show is based around Theremin and Synthesizer. This conversation was recorded…
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Gary Smith at Luv-a-fair
Gary Smith was a founding founder of the synthesizer-based Vancouver band Images in Vogue in 1981, after playing in various bands as a teenager. He went on to a later career as a music video producer and assistant director in film and TV. The conversation was recorded on March 14th, 2024....
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Bruce & Ryan Dyck at the Smilin' Buddha
Bruce Dyck was the drummer in Fun 100, the B-Lines, You Say Party, They Shoot Horses and LeMaster. he is also the author of "Three reincarnations of the Smilin' Buddha Cabaret: Entertainment, gentrification, and respectability in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside 1952-84" a Master's thesis at SFU.…
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Ida Nilsen at the Sugar Refinery
Ida Nilsen has played in Beans, Cunt, Great Aunt Ida, the Buttless Chaps, Radiogram, The Gay and others. Ida was involved with The Sugar Refinery venue as a musician, employee and owner. The Sugar Refinery was a vegetarian restaurant and music venue from the mid '90s to 2003 at 1115 Granville...
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Scott Morgan (loscil) at The Blinding Light!
Scott Morgan is best known as the electronic music project loscil. He previously played in Meet Daisy, Thee Crusaders, Destroyer, The Multiplex and others. The Blinding Light! was an underground cinema which ran from 1998-2003 at 36 Powell Street. Founded by Alex MacKenzie as a follow-up to his...
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Lindiwe Coyne (Wandering Lucy) at the Malcolm Lowry Room
Lindiwe Coyne performed as Wandering Lucy in the 1990s and her music came out on K Records. Her Discorder cover story is here. Her live set on CiTr's Live from Thunderbird Radio Hell is here. The Malcolm Lowry Room was at 4125 Hastings Street in Burnaby, operated by the writer Michael Turner as a...
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Nicholas Krgovich at The Sugar Refinery
Nicholas Krgovich has played in the bands p:ano, Burquitalam Plaza, Slavs, No Kids and also under his full name. This conversation was recorded on November 14th 2023. The Sugar Refinery was a vegetarian restaurant and music venue from the mid '90s to 2003 at 1115 Granville Street. It was known…
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Larissa & Jonelle at the Secret Location
Larissa Loyva has played in p:ano, Kellarissa, Fake Tears, the Choir Practice, How to Dress Well, Destroyer, Dream/loss. Jonelle Aspa has been in the bands Sontag, Hen Party, Anybodys and Dream/loss. Both are involved in organizing Girls Rock Camp Vancouver. This conversation was recorded on...
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Harley Rothstein at The Retinal Circus
Harley Rothstein's first band was the folk duo Russ and Harley. He then played in the psychedelic rock bands The French Hand Laundry, Pacific Nation and My Indole Ring. The conversation was recorded on August 30 2023. Russ and Harley played at The Bunkhouse, a folk music coffee house at 612 Davie...
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Adrienne LaBelle at Red Gate, Hoko's, Zoo Zhop
Adrienne LaBelle has played in The Barcelona Chair, Aunts and Uncles, Movieland, Garbage Dreams, Supermoon, Lazy Bear. Venues visited: Red Gate (855 East Hastings), 121 Heatley, Hoko's (362 Powell), The Astoria (769 E Hastings), Spirit Vegetable studio (876 Cordova Diversion), Ironworks Studio…
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Chris-a-Riffic at Little Mountain Gallery
Chris Alscher AKA Chris-A-Riffic played with the band They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and has performed as a solo artist for several decades. He is a radio host on CiTR, the University of British Columbia radio station, with his show Parts Unknown which has been on the air for over two decades. We...
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Trailer: In Search of Lost Venues is coming soon
Welcome to In Search of Lost Venues, where I walk through a neighbourhood with one or more Vancouver musicians, talking about the sites and locations of their favourite venues, places where significant events occurred, both personal and artistic. In this season you will hear conversations with:...
About this show
Memories of Vancouver live music venues which no longer exist from the local musicians who played there. Each episode is a walk through a neighbourhood with one or more Vancouver musician, past their favourite venues, places where significant events occurred.
Hosted by
Kristina Rothstein
Categories