MR. NICE GUY
The photos and public service of music devotee Michael Dubin
What if the music industry were filled with only nice guys? Just think of all those stories about Peter Grant ruling Led Zeppelin with an iron fist and replace them with him crumbling like sand at the first misstep or four-letter word. Then again, maybe there would be no mud shark...
Okay, so maybe we don’t need a legion of nice guys; maybe one of those will suffice. And for that, we nominate Michael Dubin. You see, Dubin has been around for a bit—a fixture at shows in NYC, Long Island, D.C./ Baltimore, and New Jersey—and he’s always lived by the old adage “I want to help.” That all started with him becoming a huge live music fan, then continued on with his label Fadeaway Records, booking shows when needed, then into management, but the connecting thread through it all was photography. Unlike most of us (guilty as charged), Dubin started documenting shows and never stopped, with the self-taught photographer amassing a collection that spanned 30-some years, documenting everything from Long Island royalty to emo gods to hardcore legends to punk staples along the way.