He had been expecting a letter for a long time, but when it arrived the contents were still a pleasant surprise. For months, Gary Smith had daydreamed about how much his mum’s records had raised for charity. Last week, he got to find out for certain. His donations had...
Review: Skinny Lister (Plus support) at The Old Fire Station, Bournemouth
words and pictures by Peter Nicholson. This was my first visit to The Old Fire Station in Bournemouth. I was there to see a band that I photographed at Wickham Festival back in the summer. That was an extremely hot weekend, a contrast to winter coats that were the...
Review: la boheme, Mayflower Theatre, Southampton.
by Joy Richardson. La boheme features an operatic score by Puccini, with lyrics by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, and was first performed in 1896. It is loosely based on Scènes de la Vie de Bohème, a series of short stories about bohemian Parisians, written by Henri Murger in...
View from the Kingsland: Strange days indeed
by Nick Mabey. It’s November and the World Cup is in full swing. That’s not a sentence I ever imagined saying, and yet here we are. It wasn’t even a plan. We ended up here because someone realised, too late it seems, that it would be too hot to...
New books column: Under the Covers
by Carolyn Thomas. Since ruining my eyesight by reading under the covers as a 10-year-old wielding a torch, I’ve loved books. I can’t really remember a time when there wasn’t a pile of TBRs (to be read) next to my bed – although the topics and authors have naturally...
Review: Frantic Assembly’s Othello at MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton
by Anita Foxall. Frantic Assembly brought Shakespeare’s Othello to the MAST last night (22 November), and it is a magnificent experience of music, dance and acting. You enter the auditorium and you are…. in a pub. Loud electronic music, a pool table, a flashing fruit machine. Othello is very...
Preview: Man the Lifeboats at The Railway, Winchester
Man the Lifeboats have launched their new album: ‘Soul of Albion’ and are currently touring the UK, bringing them to The Railway, Winchester on Friday (November 25). As we wrestle with our collective identity and culture, our glorious but tarnished history and our place in the world, the new...
Southampton listings 22 – 28 November
The (replacement) Christmas market has arrived in Southampton and you can drink, toast marshmallows, skate and do all manner of outdoors Christmassy things. But we’re not quite into the full on Christmas season yet entertainment-wise. So hold your pantomime horses, we’re not ready for ‘he’s behind you’ just yet....
Opinion: members of the University and College Union are striking – here’s why
by Dr Elizabeth Reed. This week and next, members of UCU (the University and College Union) at Higher Education institutions across the country will be taking strike action on three days (24th, 25th and 30th November). We don’t want to do it, but the conditions in our workplaces have...
Review & interview: Native Harrow at Vinilo, Southampton
by Sam Wise. Hurrying into Vinilo a few minutes before the scheduled start of Native Harrow’s 45 minute in-store performance, a somewhat forlorn sight greeted me last night (20 November). The duo of Devin Tuel and Stephen Hams were set up in the corner of the generously sized record...