Forget big stadiums, small is beautiful with Micro Music

by Tony King. Micro Music was born out of an enjoyment of watching live music in small venues. There is something about the intimacy of seeing musicians in small confines where you get to really appreciate them that is quite magical. And what better way to appreciate it than...

Southampton Top 10 The songs that come from the SO

by Howard Bowden. When The Beatles released their 1969 single The Ballad of John and Yoko – opening line: ‘Standing in the dock at Southampton’ – it would become the first of THREE number ones in just 32 months to reference events in the SO postcode area. Two years...

Review: Hot Jazz Special by Jonny Hannah

reviewed by Charlie Hislop. Can you do jazz without sound? Hot Jazz Special comes very close. In sketches, painting, words, and colours it captures all the excitement; the buzz, the characters, and the clubs. Featuring jazz greats like Billie Holliday, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and more while mixing song...

People in Common: Jim Chorley

by Martin Brisland. Jim Chorley – acoustic/folk singer-songwriter from Southampton. They say you should write about what you know. ‘Painting Circles in the Corn’ is certainly that. It is Jim Chorley’s song which immortalises an amazing family story. In 1991 Doug Bower and Jim’s father, Dave Chorley, from Southampton,...

Southampton’s new online music archive

by Geoff Wall. Stick It In Your Ear (SIIYE) has just launched an online archive of  local music originally recorded on originally recorded on reel to reel tapes and published on cassette in the 1980s. Southampton-based SIIYE started life in the 1980s as a magazine, rather like a catalogue,...