Bars for Days by Mic Nickels
Literature abounds with coming-of-age memoirs of scrappy young men raised by single mothers who go on to become successes in their chosen field. There might even be an entire subgenre dedicated to authors who succeed in music. But what makes Bars For Days by Mic Nickels so different isn’t his subject matter — it’s his approach.
Nickels combines an ethnographer’s careful study of the human condition, underscored by detailed interviews with the people in his life. But it’s his gifted lyricist’s ear for storytelling and beautifully turned phrases that make this book such a delight. Consider this gem:
“The conclusion of this conversation solidified the name that would be placed on my birth certificate. Michael Ray Winick, son of Donna Lynn Winick of Hartford, CT, and Rafael Aloma of Havana, Cuba, was born just before 10:25 a.m., at Hartford Hospital. The middle name Ray, which is what they called my father in those days, would end up being the only thing he ever gave me.”
Nickels was born to a high school student and would have had a completely different life if his teenage mother hadn’t been given a chance to hold her infant son. Her demand to call off his adoption to a well-to-do professional couple set him on a trajectory that led from being brought home in a laundry basket to a tumultuous upbringing as a member of the last generation to spend their childhood free from the onslaught of the digital revolution.
A WITNESS TO THE BIRTH OF HIP HOP
It’s a generation that grew up in the 1980s and 1990s alongside the emergence of a new genre of music, one that came up from urban streets and would forever change popular music, and it is here that Nickels found his lifelong passion. He would go on to become an entertainer, tending bar alongside a growing career as a solo artist and frontman for Nickel and Dime Ops, and collaborating with various other artists across the globe as a rapper, emcee and producer. He would release several albums, make countless performances, always perfecting his art.
Now, with Bars For Days, Nickels brings his knack for language and story from the microphone to the page. Music fans will find Nickels’ portrayal of early hip hop culture just as fascinating as the anecdotes from his life, which are full of encounters with fame and world travels to places as far-flung as Peru and Egypt. His memoir is also deeply informed by the politics of his time, and his commentary about the persistent presence of racism in our culture is particularly astute.
For all Nickels has done and seen in his lifetime though, what really sets this book apart is the dedication of family and the lengths we will go to care for the people we love. There are hardships and hope, tragedies and success, heartaches and joy all along that path, and Nickels relates it all with authenticity and a poet’s heart.
