VENICE- On Friday evenings around sunset, Billy Stobo parks his work truck in front of 32 Windward Avenue. He unloads a large wooden box from his trailer and starts setting up a sound system. By 7 p.m., as the boardwalk starts to quiet down, a crowd will gather to hear various performers step up into the box to provide a night of free music.

The Music Box Microstage, as Stobo calls it, began around two years ago when Stobo, a carpenter by day, cleaned out his tool cabinet.

“I was moving it,” the Redondo Beach native said of the seven-by-four-foot wooden enclosure, “and I was like, ‘This is pretty big. I can stand in here…and my guitar fits, too’.”

Stobo outfitted the box with a small PA system plus lights and began experimenting with locations for his portable show. He started near the beach, then near Zelda’s Corner on Westminster. Stobo then partnered with Radio Venice, a weekly live music show webcasting from Ocean Front Walk. Last summer, he moved the show in front of Only In Venice Vintage clothing store on Windward at the invitation of its owner, Petey Pete.

Read the full story here »