I was saddened to hear recently of the loss of my friend Sheila Stathopoulis, who had been living with cancer for many years. She passed on March 23rd, 2025.
Sheila was the owner/operator of The Apollo in Thunder Bay, Ontario for many years. The Apollo was a Northern Ontario indie rock outpost, where travelling Canadian bands would rest their weary heads for a night, play a set, drink some beer, and often enjoy a home-cooked meal prepared by Sheila and her mother Tina(who shuffled around the bar, visiting with the musicians, conversing in her thick greek accent, browsing and buying merch, and making sure everyone had been fed).
I must have played there 30 times over the years( I toured Canada a lot), to the point I was mistaken for a Thunder Bay local on a couple of occasions. The Apollo was indeed a home away from home for me, and I was always happy to find myself there. It was a weird and wonderful place and Sheila was a weird and wonderful owner.
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No other place that I have played across Canada exemplified the struggle to keep the music alive in this country like The Apollo did. It was a lifeline for many an indie musician, whether it be singer-songwriter, punk rock, blues, indie rock, etc. The fact being, Thunder Bay is a long way from anywhere...8 hours from Winnipeg...11 hours from Sudbury...15 hours from Toronto!! That is touring in Canada baby! It is daunting. It is stark. It is a threadbare two lane highway with no alternate routes...
It is beautiful.
For those of us who get in the van and lay it all on the line, we know what having places like The Apollo means for music in Canada, even as we watch them disappear one by one(The Apollo closed a few years ago btw)to be replaced by coffeeshops or condos. The geography of the Apollo's location profoundly accentuated how integral the venue was for artists making their way across the vastness of Ontario.
But what was unique about The Apollo was that it didn't pretend everything was okay. It was gritty and it was real. It didn't try to cater to people or create a social media buzz. It had so much character, with Sheila, Tina and sound tech/bar tender Alex always there steering the ship in their own ragtag style.
Sheila wasn't shy about speaking about her struggles, about the venue's battles with the city just to keep the lights on. I took comfort in her honesty, because I too was struggling...in a way I had gotten used to it to the point of satirical enjoyment...but struggling just the same. The venue mirrored the experience of many of the artists stopping into play a show there.
And Sheila unapologetically carried the torch for those underdog indie musicians. She herself was an underdog, and it is in this that I believe we recognized ourselves in each other.
I'll miss her. The Canadian music scene will miss her. She affected so many lives, she supported so many touring musicians, she gave everything she could give to the arts in this country.
That's one helluva legacy if you ask me.
I wrote a song years ago that referenced The Apollo, entitled, "Northern Ontario Highway". It was always fun to play it at the bar, and have people hoot and holler when they heard "Thunder Bay" or "The Apollo" in the lyrics. Have a listen. I'll think of Sheila and my friends at The Apollo every time I play it.
Goodbye Sheila Rock!
