Céleste Bonnier is a Montréal based tattoo artist and visual creator whose work lives where body, memory, and intuition meet. She approaches tattooing as more than image making, viewing it instead as a way of marking moments, emotions, and transitions directly onto the skin.
Michael A. Occhionero is a Montreal based author whose work spans three novels and a collection of poetry. Between holding an M.A. in English Literature and finalizing his upcoming novella, he finds his rhythm spinning old records and traveling.
Jackki Harrt writes real songs that live in the underbelly of life, blurring heartbreak and addiction into something human and holy. By dragging the things people hide into the light, they turn pain into power chords and confession into connection. Influenced by the rougher edges of the punk lineage, Harrt proves that there is truth in the noise and power in surviving the mess.
Anisia Alexe, also known as Amnesia, is a 22-year-old non-binary, mixed-media artist based in Montreal. While the name Amnesia is a staple of the local drag scene, they are also an accomplished hip-hop dancer, currently performing with the E.Y.E. dance crew under the mentorship of Professor Word.
Before I even stepped into Barfly, I was greeted by the crowd spilling out into the streets of St. Laurent. I walk past the vivid, brightly painted fly mural on a weekly basis, and I have to say I was more than a little thrilled to finally peek behind the curtain and enter the iconic bar.
During a long, lazy, blazing-hot summer day on school break, a group of neighborhood kids and I were shuffled off to a local library’s community room for my first-ever improv workshop.
Behind the unassuming vintage swivel chairs, and the classic blue and red swirling pole of a barber shop lies the long bar, dance floor, and carefully placed stage of the Blue Dog Motel.
Up a short flight of stairs, above Boulevard Saint Laurent, is one of the city’s top venues. From the outside, the only signage is plain black, but inside hides a true cabaret theatre.
Tucked upstairs on the ever-touristy St. Paul Street in Old Montreal, is one of the safest comedy rooms in town. Well, sort of. On the surface, Saanya Nanda’s monthly The Heckling Show would be the last thing most people would call safe; the name says it all, and every month comics take the stage knowing exactly what they're in for.
In the back room of N sur Mackay every Tuesday, something special is stirring up. And no, it’s not just the bar’s famous cocktails or the excellent whiskey tastings (though those are worth checking out). It’s Comedy on Mackay, a vibrant new weekly comedy show that’s quickly becoming a staple in Montreal’s comedy scene.
The atmosphere was reminiscent of a high school play, or at least that’s what my date leaned over to whisper into my ear as the lights dimmed. With its knots of young people huddled in their respective corners and coats hung up on wooden pegs near the stage, in a way I did feel transported back to high school, the fun part where I joked around with my friends in the stage wings before a production.
Docking my Bixi at the corner of St. Laurent and St. Catherine, I weave through the shiny new CIBL radio station and dodge the long line outside Club Soda. The air smells faintly of grilled meat and poutine from Pool Hall, and I jaywalk across the street toward the door of Café Cléopâtre.
