# Piano Fighter

Writing by Franz Nicolay (posted biweekly)

Page: <https://rssamplifier.com/pianofighter-substack-com>  
Feed: <https://rssamplifier.com/pianofighter-substack-com.md>

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## [Ten Years of "The Humorless Ladies" (Part 2)](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/ten-years-of-the-humorless-ladies-e59)

_2026-08-15 · Franz Nicolay_

Part 1 of my revisitation of The Humorless Ladies of Border Control, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, is here.

## [Ten Years of "The Humorless Ladies" (Part 1)](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/ten-years-of-the-humorless-ladies)

_2026-08-07 · Franz Nicolay_

What holds up; what I'd change

## [The disappearance of the pop group](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/the-disappearance-of-the-pop-group)

_2026-07-15 · Franz Nicolay_

An excerpt from a larger article I’m working on, in which I did some crude research to try to confirm an anecdotal sense—that multi-person groups (whether as creative collaboration or performers) are thinner on the ground.

## [Wurlitzer of Cincinnati](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/wurlitzer-of-cincinnati)

_2026-07-01 · Franz Nicolay_

The carnivalesque story of one American music company

## [Gee Dad, it's a Wurlitzer!](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/gee-dad-its-a-wurlitzer)

_2026-06-15 · Franz Nicolay_

One of the minor tragedies of being a rock keyboardist is that you rarely get to, in the course of your work, play your actual instrument. That is, for all the obvious logistical reasons—they’re heavy, bulky, fragile, hard to keep in tune, hard to amplify—you’re not typically touring or performing with an acoustic piano, a Hammond organ, a Wurlitzer or Rhodes electric piano, but with digital…

## ["Writers are you and me and everyone we know."](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/writers-are-you-and-me-and-everyone)

_2026-06-04 · Franz Nicolay_

Piano Fighter is a reader-supported publication.

## [My full Congressional testimony on LiveNation/Ticketmaster](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/my-full-congressional-testimony-on)

_2026-05-19 · Franz Nicolay_

From yesterday's hearing

## [A quick one from Boston](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/a-quick-one-from-boston)

_2026-05-01 · Franz Nicolay_

…where I’m setting up with the Hold Steady for four nights at the Sinclair.

## [Admiring one bassline](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/admiring-one-bassline)

_2026-04-15 · Franz Nicolay_

Dottie West's "A Lesson in Leavin'"

## [Non-custodial Crypto Payments & Escrow (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/qNBJCE8jGnxZ)

_2026-04-15 · **Sponsored**_

Accept multi-chain crypto with trustless escrow, instant confirmations, and no KYC

## ["More like 'Copy and Paste magazine' eh?"](https://pianofighter.substack.com/p/more-like-cut-and-paste-magazine)

_2026-03-31 · Franz Nicolay_

Who is holding the line for original music criticism, if the editors themselves aren't?