My Oh My: Lu Kala and Aqua Perform at Caesars Windsor

All glitz and glamour: Lu Kala 

Photo credit: Chris Woodrich

Collage photo by me: Before the show, During, and 

Special moment with Lene and Soren on stage

Continuing their Canadian Tour, it was a full out 90’s dance party with Danish-Norwegian euro-pop band Aqua at Caesars Windsor.

Opening up was a Congolese-Canadian singer artist I had never heard of before named Lu Kala. If I’m going to be honest, this was a strange choice when I had seen that 90’s bands like Bran Van 3000 and even singer Simone Denny from Love Inc were Aqua’s openers before, which really fit the vibe of the show and homage to the 90’s era. Still I was open to something new.                                           

Stepping onto the stage, Lu Kala was anything but subtle showing off her glamour, complete with bright flowing orange hair. Kala’s voice at times throughout her perfomance reminded me a bit of Meghan Trainer and even Adele. She had a powerful voice and oozed feminine energy/empowerment with  songs like Lottery Pretty Girl Era and Hotter Now. Those were definitely catchy and pop-ish.  One song really struck me though called Nothing But Love. Kala poured her soul into it and I could just feel the chills. She won me over with that one.   

With a short intermission, Aqua was up next. With non-stop energy, René Dif and Lene Nostrøm were bop bop bopping on and off the stage featuring so many of their chart-topping hits like Barbie Girl, Doctor Jones, Roses are Red and many more that filled my 90’s heart with nostalgic glee. One cannot forget musician, Søren Rasted’s with his multi-talents of singing and rockin’ out on the keyboards.  The music overall stepped a bit away from the high-pitched sweet pop sounds to more edgier rock anthems and Lene’s vocals roared with passion in every note.  

Highlights:

👉A beautifully simple version of Aquarius showing the raw and vulnerable side of Lene with Soren matching her tone on piano.

👉René's intermission dj-set and rapping skills – unbelievable performance.

👉Calling You – One of my favourites that I played all the time on my cd player back in the day! It sounded even better live.

👉Turn Back Time – stripped down to the very core with one of my favourite lines of lyrics: “If only I could say what I still hide”.

👉The lighting and stage visuals were really colourful and eye-catching, if not at times a little blinding.

👉René's energy was wild. He was completely enthralled with jumping out into the audience with every opportunity he could. It was also funny to see Lene climb up onto the shoulders of a security guy while continuing to sing to the crowd.

Overall, this was the most fun I’ve had with my husband at a concert in a while especially one that hit the 90’s vibe so heavily with nothing but happy boys and girls all around us. 

💜Band's Official Site: Aqua

💜IG: Lu Kal

💜Check out all the great shows coming up at Caesars Windsor

*I received complimentary tickets to this show from Caesars Windsor - all opinions are my own!

Dressed with a Smile: 2025 Musical Annie Review at the Stratford Festival Theatre

       

                           

It was another evening at the Stratford Festival Theatre with our tickets in hand, ready to head to our seats. This time with tickets to see Annie, directed and choreographed by Donna Feore.

Highlights:                                                                                                                                                                                           

👉Harper Rae Asch was fantastic as Annie. Her bright red curly hair, bubbly personality that didn’t miss a beat throughout the whole show and incredible vocals earned a well-deserved standing ovation. 

👉Kids performances (Cast)  were incredible to watch especially during It’s the Hard Knock Life. A specific stand-out was Cydnee Abbott, who plays Pepper. (interesting note, she holds the Guinness World Record for the most full-body revolutions in a backbend in 1 minute!)           

👉Miss Hannigan (Laura Conlin) what a gem. I couldn’t help but feel that she really embodied the spirit of Carol Burnett with impeccable comedic flair. 

👉Mark Uhre and Amanda Lundgren who play Rooster Hannigan and Lily St. Regis were a fun energetic duo and convincing on stage together as swindlers trying to pose as Annie’s biological parents in return for $50,000. 

                 

👉The song “NYC” – The scene set and lighting for this one really set the tone of New York City. Probably one of my favourites. I’m still humming the tune.

A few missteps to address...

👉I didn’t quite feel the connection between Annie and Oliver Warbucks (played by Dan Chameroy) in the second act, even during what would have been considered the emotional moments. I have seen Dan perform in many other productions in Stratford, believing his character to a tee, but this one didn’t convince me of a father figure in the end, way more believable in his role as the billionaire, Oliver Warbucks.

👉Some scenes in the second act felt rushed and the over-enthusiasm of Warbuck’s staff being so thrilled to be not only at his beck and call, but now to Annie felt a little odd as they danced around gleefully– as if they didn’t have any other purpose.  

👎Pet peeve theatre moment:  Despite the announcements to turn off all devices, I don’t think some people got the memo clear enough near where we were seating. Scrolling endlessly (not just a quick check if you absolutely must) on one’s phone during a performance or playing a game (Wordle can wait, trust me) is not just annoying to patrons who have to see your phone light up in the dark, but also just rude to performers on stage!  

Usually there would be quite a few ushers abound to nip this in the bud but there was no one near us and we didn’t want to have to get up to find someone outside and miss parts of the show. Luckily there were some unattended seats away from the unnerving cell scrollers which we grabbed (and noticed another couple doing the same)  so we could enjoy the rest of the show.

Final thoughts:

        

Overall, this musical production of Annie with wonderful singing, incredible energetic dance sequences will no doubt make you smile and feel happy that a small change of heart can make a world of difference through a child’s eyes. 

Some of the themes of desperation and despair are indeed overshadowed by catchy song numbers draped in sheer optimism that many kids in reality will unlikely experience. However, what is very apparent is the idea of one little girl’s strength (Annie), to never give up hope for a brighter tomorrow.

💜 Book now! Tickets for Annie and other performances are available here: Stratford Festival

Returned favourites and some new spots for us to explore in Stratford. 

Nature continues to be quite healing for me especially in dealing with the complexity of grief. 

Dinner at our favourite spot: Fellini's 

17th Anniversary Dinner at Tabouli by Eddy's

Dinner at Tabouli by Eddy's

BBQ platter: hot rolls, fattoush salad & hummus, kaftas

 beef shish kabobs, chicken shish tawooks

Dessert: baklava and cheesecake

Lebanese cuisine is quite popular here in Windsor-Essex County and it's one of our favourite cuisines to enjoy when dining out or even grabbing take-out. After a busy day, we headed off  for our 17th anniversary at Tabouli by Eddy's. 

The atmosphere was really inviting the moment we stepped into the restaurant. The colours and decor pieces really match the relaxed yet elegant vibe. I would suggest bringing an extra sweater if you are eating indoors as it was a little chilly inside or opt for enjoying some patio dining.  

One aspect that was really apparent was how well-trained the staff were from anticipating specific customer needs to keeping our waters refilled before we even needed to call anyone over for a top up.

 Our waiter was friendly and the timing of the appetizers to our entrees flowed so well. Sometimes you just get everything laid out on the table and feel overwhelmed, not here. It is all the little touches that really make a difference in service and they truly excel in this area.

The menu was varied so whether you're a hungry meat lover, a vegetarian or somewhere in-between, there were tons of entrees to choose from or you could get a platter that would yield lots of leftovers. 

The food was delicious and presented elegantly. There was more than enough for us which meant leftovers for the next day and no extra cooking for me. They do not shy away from offering generous portion sizes. 

We had the bbq platter with sautéed vegetables. The pita chips definitely had a kick of spice but I enjoyed dipping them in the hummus. The meat was really tender and flavourful. They also had the best fattoush salad. 

To our surprise, baklava and their decadent cheese cake were compliments of Eddy, the owner. A sweet end to our meal. 

We'll definitely be back.

Check out their website for your next authentic dining experience:

💜https://taboulibyeddys.ca/

Anything For Love: Celebrating Meat Loaf at Caesars Windsor

I remember the day that I got the call; “you won 2 tickets to see Meat Loaf!” I felt like I had won the jackpot as his iconic music had flowed through my life for years, especially during the ultimate heartbreak of unrequitted love. I felt a real connection especially to the lyrics.  

Sadly, he cancelled the show due to illness. As time passed by, I kept hoping that I would get another opportunity to see him live, but in 2022, he was whisked away, just like a bat out of hell.

Now in 2025, I finally had my chance to wear my bat necklace with pride and practice my pelvic thrust.

Meatloaf alumni band members from The Neverland Express with powerhouse vocalist and American Idol Winner, Caleb Johnson, rocked Caesars Windsor with their homage to the rock and roll hero himself, Meat Loaf. An added bonus after intermission was a little tribute to the cult classic film; The Rocky Horror Picture Show.


Highlights of the night for me:

👉The tribute to Meat Loaf on screen with interviews, and clips of his early acting days in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Fight Club and of course, Rocky Horror Picture Show.

👉Caleb singing his entire heart out during I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) and Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.

👉 Singer Lyssa Lynne and Caleb had awesome chemistry together performing a crowd favourite, Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

👉The Neverland Express alumni – world-class guitarists; Randy Flowers and Paul Crook. They were just incredible.

👉Everyone standing up doing the iconic Time Warp together.

Was everything perfect? No. There were some noticeable sound distortions happening on stage and I wish there would have been some more theatrics during the second half for honouring to RHPS. Tell me Caleb wouldn’t have looked sizzlin’ in at least some bold makeup, a mesh shirt, or heck even some high heels while singing Sweet Transvestite?!

Overall, it was a fun show and worth seeing – thanks to Jay and Jamie for the double date!! Although I never got the chance to see Meat Loaf perform, Caleb’s infectious energy was as close to having all my rock and rolls dreams come through.

💜Caesars Windsor

💜Celebrating Meat Loaf