At Le Cabaret Noir’s sold-out shows last year, the audience was thrilled, titillated, and at times moved to tears by the performances of Thunder Bay’s only burlesque-inspired group. It was sexy, it was fun, and it was powerful to see women embracing their sensuality on stage. This month, from June 11 to 14, the baddies are back at Cambrian Players Theatre with another bold, unapologetic celebration of self-love and female empowerment.

The gastropub’s menu is centred around the fictitious Monty and his preference for mildly spicy cuisine. And what a menu. Using local products is a priority, with a concentrated effort on creating every dish in-house.

Cody Angus’s love of photography and love of live music means that there are plenty of sweaty, colourful, high-energy shots on his website and social media pages.

After dedicating his first album, Watin, to his grandfather, and calling his second a “Taylor Swift break-up album,” Juno Award-winning Aysanabee is back with his third release, Edge of the Earth. This time, he’s drawing on his own experiences—who he has been, and the pivotal moments that shaped him.

I am a child of the earth I have two spirits

You will not silence my voice, you will hear it

This past weekend, the Thunder Bay Blues Society presented Blues Blast 2025 featuring performances by Junior & The Bifocals, The Mike Wheeler Band, and Brandon Santini.

This past weekend, the Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW) hosted its 27th annual LitFest at Goods & Co. The two-day event concluded with the NOWW Awards Gala on May 17, where Marianne Jones and Michael Sobota, two influential local writers, were celebrated for their significant contributions and support to literature in the region.

What started as a sidewalk sale in 2013 has grown into a neighbourhood-wide festival attracting thousands of attendees over the years. This summer, the Bay & Algoma Buskers Festival will celebrate a milestone tenth anniversary with more international acts than ever before. 

The Lockyer Boys have an exciting summer ahead of them. The musical duo of brothers Will and Charlie Lockyer hit the local pop music scene in 2021 and quickly gained traction. Now, after two years of working on a batch of songs, their new single “306” releases today.

you can kiss yourself,

stick to side streets.

carrots hold cosmos . . .

Even in this day and age, the topic of youth mental health can still be considered taboo, typically discussed through euphemisms, if at all. So what is unveiled when a snapshot of 10 young people’s mental health and their ways of coping with it is not hushed up or downplayed, but instead proudly displayed for all to bear witness to—unadulterated? In Teenage Mechanisms, Kamryn Woloschuk seeks to answer that question.

Bon Iver is hard to categorize but easy to recognize, with a distinctly unique sound and immediately identifiable voice. His latest album, SABLE, fABLE, is a 12-track collection of emotive, introspective songs guaranteed to get you in your feels.

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery will host the debut exhibition of local photographer and filmmaker Laura-Lynn Petrick, Hometown Anthems, running until June 8. The show will focus on highlighting Petrick’s experiences growing up in the rural outskirts of Thunder Bay, and provide a behind-the-scenes look at her family traditions and country life, blending her Finnish roots with the unique aspects of life in Northwestern Ontario.

The hours are long, the responsibility is huge, and the number of cases in NWO far outnumbers the veterinarians. It’s hard to hold boundaries, but it’s so important to be off the clock. It’s a huge toll on mental health, and people in this profession have a three times higher risk of suicide. To put the stats in perspective; I moved back to Thunder Bay 15 years ago. We have lost three veterinarians here to suicide in that time. 

Did you know that the most important meal of the day can also be the best? Bay Village Coffee, located in the heart of Port Arthur, has been slowly perfecting this concept since opening in 2018—and now, it’s fully realized with their own breakfast sandwich.

It’ll be a high-energy affair when Calgary band L’omelette makes their first visit to Thunder Bay this month. “We love to rock out and play live rock shows. We’re kind of like a festival dance band, and so live you can expect lots of dancing, lots of jumping around, and lots of energy,” lead singer Meg Thompson says.

A new short film has gained international attention after its premiere in New Zealand. My Friend Saabe, directed by Morningstar Derosier and Victoria Anderson-Gardner, was filmed in Migisi Sahgaigan (Eagle Lake First Nation), Derosier says, and screened in late March at the Māoriland Film Festival.

“It’s just been such a wild ride,” says Thunder Bay-born musical artist Megan Nadin, who is no stranger to boldly venturing into the unfamiliar. It was a fortuitous encounter that would lead her to open for country legends Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan on their Grits and Glamour tour this Sunday April 13 at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, which will be Nadin’s largest show to date. 

The 2025 Wake the Giant festival lineup is here, and festival organizers have got a feeling that festival goers will have the time of their life. This September 6th at the waterfront, international superstar musical group the Black Eyed Peas will headline this year’s festival.

My Morning Jacket have come a long way since their debut album, The Tennessee Fire, which was partly recorded in an improvised studio above vocalist/guitarist Jim James’s cousin’s garage. For the Kentucky-bred rock band’s milestone tenth release, they enlisted Grammy Award-winning producer Brendan O’Brien (known for working with Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam).