Nickell’s Bag

Today is Insult Your Boss Day. Now, I’m pretty sure the proclamation  is merely a marketing ploy for this book; but it’s hard to resist celebrating anyway.

Just kidding, Uncle Lee! I love you with all the money in my bank account!

I don’t mean to beat a dead horse. Really.

But when someone wishes actual violence upon me over a story I wrote, something’s out of balance. [Read more →]

I just realized I had never linked up the final wrap-up story I wrote about going to China with the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theater — which is unfortunate and needs to be fixed, since it is, in many ways, the story I am most proud of from the series. I think, or at least hope, that I finally touched on some of the more profound aspects of the experience in this story.

So here it is. Enjoy!

I received a gift certificate in the mail today. It was from the Uptown Cafe in Butte. It’s made out to “Joe Nickell’s Mother-in-Law,” and it’s for lunch for two. It had a “get well soon” note in the bottom corner.

Now that’s the kind of reader-feedback a feller can bite into.

If only all readers had been so thoughtful.

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Ear Candy Music isn’t supposed to exist. As early as a decade ago, tech-business magazines such as Wired and Business 2.0 were sounding a death dirge for small, independent record stores like Ear Candy. The business model, those magazines told us, couldn’t hold up against the onslaught of new technology and new forms of retail.

Amazon.com was already taking a huge bite out of the traditional retail music business; digital downloads were on the horizon; and even in the traditional retail world, mega-stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart were flexing new muscle, preparing to pound the little guys.

I know this bit of media history all too well, because I wrote for those magazines back then.

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