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Photo courtesy Tom Locke

Photo courtesy Prime Video

Photo courtesy coastaljazz.ca

Our City Tonight

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 12:59 PDT, Fri June 20, 2025

Last Updated: 1:01 PDT, Fri June 20, 2025

Spotlight on music festival, summer read, a classic film

THE EVENT – Vancouver International Jazz Festival

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, which always feels like the perfect introduction to another summer in the city. Over the last few months we’ve been showcasing the upcoming festival on Our City Tonight with a variety of guests to help walk our viewers and readers through all this musical gathering has to offer. There are many aspects that make this festival so inviting and enjoyable, including it’s ever-growing diversity of music that offers something for everyone. The festival team has done a great job of finding the right musical balance that will appeal to the jazz purist and traditionalist, while also offering a wide spectrum of music which includes artists from right here at home. “We give credit to the local music scene which is amazing,” Artistic co-director, Cole Schmidt tell us, “and that helps add to what we can offer.” The festival also offers a wide variety of venues throughout the city, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, Frankie’s Jazz Club, and three locations on Canada’s #2 tourist destination: Granville Island. The Vancouver International Jazz Festival runs from June 20 to July 1. More information at coastaljazz.ca

THE READ – Moments in Time 2.0 by Tom Locke

Author, host and Rock ‘n Roll historian, Tom Locke, first appeared on Our City Tonight back in 2022 to talk about his book, Moments in Time, a “curated walk down memory lane”, full of stories about the music that shaped our lives. We couldn’t put it down—nor, it seems, could anyone else judging by the 5-star online ratings the book received back then. The stories (or chapters) are a couple of pages long and read like the 5-minute radio version of Moments in Time that Tom created back in 2000. Now Tom is back with a welcome follow up book, Moments in Time 2.0: Stories about Artists and Songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. For Fans of Music…From a Music Fan. Each chosen song—which comes with an interesting title—provides insightful background and information, along with a QR code you can scan to listen to the song. Though it’s tough to chose a favourite out of this wonderful collection, we enjoyed reading about several 70’s classics including 1972’s Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) by Looking Glass, and Vancouver’s own, Skylark, and their 1973 song, Wildflower. Both songs were massive hits, and would be the only hits for both groups. As for Tom’s books, both now reside in the Library & Archives of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum in Cleveland. More info at mitstories.com

THE CLASSIC – The Manchurian Candidate

Though the film was released in 1962, The Manchurian Candidate has never lost its relevancy, and today, is seen by many as a political cautionary tale. The film centres around a Korean War Veteran, Major Bennett “Ben” Marco (Frank Sinatra in one of his best roles), and the disturbing, confusing nightmares he keeps having involving an innocent ladies’ garden party. The visions are so disturbing he does his best to avoid sleep. But what is the garden party masking? Fearing for his sanity, he searches for answers, which includes a former member of his platoon and war hero, Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey). As Marco digs deeper he uncovers a sinister plot which could threaten the very survival of The United States. In the mix, are Shaw’s ambitious mother (though only three years older than Harvey, this is Angela Lansbury in her best role), and her buffoonish but dangerous husband, Senator John Iselin (think Joseph McCarthy). Legendary director, John Frankenheimer, delivered a powerful, and chilling film that will have you on the edge of your seat until the dramatic end. primevideo.com