Showing results by author "NICK POLLACK" in All Categories

What if the rumors that Paul McCartney really died in 1966 were true… and the cover-up was orchestrated by pigeons, psychedelic cults, and a sentient record player named the Vinyl Oracle? Welcome to The Fab Façade: The Rise of Faul, a kaleidoscopic fever dream of Beatlemania, brainwaves, and backmasked breadcrumbs. When a Scottish oddball named Billy Shears stumbles into a Paul McCartney look-alike contest by accident, he unwittingly becomes the linchpin of the most ludicrously elaborate conspiracy in pop culture history. Selected by a shadowy cabal known as the Order of the Saffron Veil...

What if the soundtrack of your life was written by Neil Diamond? Brooklyn, 1973: Eli Rosenberg, a clumsy, wisecracking record-store clerk with big dreams and even bigger shoelaces to trip over, meets Maria Sullivan, a fiery Catholic artist with paint on her hands and rebellion in her heart. They shouldn’t work, his Jewish family wants him to stay in line, her Irish clan wants him to stay away, but Neil Diamond’s songs pull them together, chorus after chorus. From the neon buzz of Coney Island to the cracked vinyl bins of Eli’s shop, from shouting matches with parents to late-night ...

The playbook for creatives in the algorithm age! SCRIPT SHOOT SCROLL: The Art Of Storytelling In The Social Age is for the next generation of storytellers - the filmmakers, editors, screenwriters, copywriters, social creatives, and brand builders learning to make something real in a world that rarely is. If you’ve ever written a script that died in feedback hell, stayed up cutting a thirty-second ad until it felt honest, or wondered whether the industry still values emotion over metrics - this book is for you. Writer-director Nick Pollack distills two decades of experience in commercials,...

When Ruth Ellison opens The Last Bookshop in the fading Cotswolds village of Willowby, she’s looking for more than just a fresh start. At 48, reeling from a divorce and a lifetime of what-ifs, she’s poured everything she has, emotionally and financially, into restoring a dusty old shop filled with creaky floors, forgotten first editions, and a cat named Brontë with an attitude. She wasn’t expecting Graham Hargrove, a reclusive former literary star with a tweed cap, a bruised past, and a knack for quoting poetry when it’s least convenient. Nor was she expecting a leather-bound ...

In the rain-soaked shadows of early-’90s Seattle, where flannel is armor and guitars bleed truth, Nina Carter and Jake “Jagger” Malone are on opposite ends of a dying genre war. She’s a sharp-tongued zine queen and grunge band manager whose words have bite and purpose. He’s a Sunset Strip refugee, all eyeliner swagger and glam-rock riffs, trying to keep his fading band alive in a world that’s swapped hairspray for heroin and solos for screams. When a West Coast Battle of the Bands throws their paths together, grunge versus glam, dirt versus polish, their rivalry is instant, ...

GUILTY AS CHARGED: A CROSS-COUNTRY CODEX OF CRAZINESS : PART TWO The laws get weirder. The laughs get louder. The road gets real. After burnout, breakdowns, and one disastrous goldfish arrest, the Lawbenders are back on the road, recharged, reunited, and ready to finish what they started. Milo Carter, former law student turned accidental outlaw, leads his ragtag crew, Tina Morales, the stand-up comic rediscovering her fire; Raj Patel, the tech wizard with new resolve; Clara Nguyen, the historian-turned-activist; and Dave Thompson, the world’s most optimistic himbo, back into the chaos of ...

In the eyeliner-smudged chaos of 1982 London, where synth-pop rules the airwaves, New Romantics clash with rude boys, and every mixtape feels like a manifesto, two rivals are about to find harmony in the last place they expect. JJ Ryder is a Smash Hits journalist with a mullet teased to the gods and a devotion to Duran Duran so intense, he dreams of fronting his own band. Marisa Schmidt is a graphic designer with Boy George in her bloodstream, Culture Club stickers on her smock, and a permanent eye-roll reserved just for JJ’s frilly blouses and “yacht-pop fantasy.” When their editor ...

Brighton, September 2025. Mara Ellison runs Echoes, a tiny record shop haunted by memory and rain. For her, The Cure’s “Pictures of You” is more than a song, it’s a lifeline back to her late mother, and the scars she hides behind shelves of vinyl. Leo Alvarez is a DJ chasing shadows, still grieving the brother he lost and the call he ignored. For him, only the deep cuts matter: The Cure's introversion, Joy Division’s despair, Siouxsie’s gothic edge - songs that echo what he can’t say out loud. Thrown together for the Venice Biennale’s pop-up art festival, their clash of ...

In the whiskey-sweet air of 1950s Tennessee, where the ghosts of war still haunt the jukebox and the promise of country music clings to every neon-lit dive, Clara Faye Dalton is chasing a dream louder than her past. With a battered guitar, a pocketful of pain, and a voice like smoke and silver, she storms into Sun Records ready to burn through every lie she’s been told, about music, men, and the cost of wanting more. Wes Malone, a worn-down World War II vet with a liver full of regret and a heart tuned to swing rhythms, isn’t looking to be anyone’s hero. But when he hears Clara sing, ...

Berlin, 1989. The Wall is cracking. History blares from boomboxes and whispers through cassette hiss. And in the chaotic hours after the border opens, two strangers collide under a flickering streetlight, one waving a sign that reads “HOFF = HOPE”, the other clutching a Walkman and a forbidden song. Lena Müller, an East Berlin dreamer with DJ ambitions and a scarf stitched from rebellion, has spent years recording banned music in secret. Jonas Becker, a West Berlin mechanic-poet with a mullet and a KITT replica in his garage, believes in freedom, Hoff, and the radical power of ...

It started with a twenty-dollar note and a horse named Superhero Spree. Harry Foster was six years old when he placed his first bet. That “cheeky punt” lit the fuse on a life consumed by the rush of racing odds, scam hustles, and the toxic high of chasing the next win. Now a reformed gambler, ex-con, and barely-holding-it-together single dad, Harry’s trying to claw his way back, for his daughter, for his sister Jess, and for the misfit recovery group known as the Blinking Toads. But the house always wins. As gambling tycoon Norris Brooks tightens his grip on Melbourne’s betting ...

They followed KISS through love, loss, and thunder, and found eternity in the noise. When Ace Frehley, the legendary Spaceman of KISS, died in 2025, two lifelong disciples set out to keep the flame alive. For twenty-five years, Jax, a grizzled rock photographer with a Les Paul tattoo and too many miles behind him, and Riley, a cosmic muralist whose art turns noise into color, have chased the heartbeat of the KISS myth across America’s highways, dive bars, and deserts. From their wild 1998 meet-cute at a comic con to the desert flash mobs of 2026, their love story mirrors the band they ...

Two hearts. One jukebox. And the Roy Orbison song that could bring them back together. In 1989 Lubbock, Texas, the oil bust still bruises the town, but inside the flickering glow of the Starlight Lounge, cabaret singer Lila Monroe and record store clerk Jesse Harper find something worth believing in: each other, and the soaring heartbreak ballads of Roy Orbison. When their romance ignites during an Orbison look-alike contest, it feels like fate. But lies, fear, and dreams bigger than Lubbock tear them apart. As Lila lands a life-changing contract in Los Angeles and Jesse struggles with ...

In the shadowed streets of 1980s Beijing and the neon pulse of Tokyo, where cassette tapes are currency and rebellion hums beneath every beat, two hearts are set to collide, moonwalk first. Li Mei is a fearless singer performing Michael Jackson covers in the underground clubs of Beijing, dodging police raids and parental expectations. Taro Suzuki is a Tokyo DJ chasing fame, locked in a battle between duty and desire, culture and creation. Their rivalry begins with sparks, an argument at a Hong Kong fan contest over Thriller’s soul, but deepens with every duet, every clash, every whispered...

In the electric haze of 1995 London, where Britpop anthems blare from every pub jukebox and the Oasis vs. Blur chart war divides the nation, Susie Howard and Tom Riley are on a collision course as fierce as their rival bands. She’s a Camden record shop clerk armed with cherry-red Doc Martens, a sharp tongue, and an unshakable devotion to Blur’s sardonic wit. He’s a scrappy guitarist for The Vibe Merchants, all Gallagher swagger and Oasis-fueled dreams, strumming anthems in sticky-floored dives. When a moshpit mishap at a Blur gig sparks a battle of barbs and basslines, their clash ...

Breaking the law, one laugh at a time. When disillusioned law-school dropout Milo Carter stumbles across an absurd statute about pickle quality, he doesn’t just roll his eyes, he sparks a revolution. Along with his chaotic comedian best friend Tina Morales, anxious tech genius Raj Patel, fiery historian Clara Nguyen, and golden-retriever-hearted himbo Dave Thompson, Milo hits the road in a beat-up RV nicknamed The Lawnmower on a mission to “yeet” America’s strangest laws. From Connecticut’s bouncing pickles to Alabama’s Sunday domino ban, every state brings new stunts, new fines...

In the mid-90s, before streaming, before healing apps, before anyone dared call their chaos trauma, there were mixtapes. And some of them saved lives. Seattle, 1990something. A city drenched in rain, distortion pedals, and the ache of what might have been. Sam is a soft-spoken romantic trying to stay sober in a world that celebrates collapse. Nina’s heart is all elbows and noise, constantly breaking and never bothering to heal. Ellie only trusts in scissors and staples, cutting zines, cutting people, cutting herself off. Mia hides her longing behind piercings and punk shows. Jasper’s ...

In the glitter-stained shadows of New York’s queer nightlife, where Studio 54’s ghost still echoes and drag queens preach gospel in disco boots, two souls collide in a symphony of strobe lights, sequins, and survival. Eli Abrams is a shy FIT fashion student with a heart full of sketches and scars, haunted by high school taunts, ignored by his father, but burning to make art that speaks louder than shame. Sasha Verma is a rising singer with a voice that could split galaxies and a past she’s fought tooth and nail to reclaim, trans, brilliant, and done being polite. They meet under a ...

Nerd out about pitching and fantasy baseball weekly with Pitcher List's Nick Pollack and Eric Samulski.

Some love stories are written in ink. Theirs was pressed into vinyl. Liverpool, 1960. In a dim basement club thick with smoke, sweat, and impossible ambition, Emily Hargrove hears a sound that changes everything. Across the room, Jack Thornton is watching the same band, four boys on the brink of history, and neither of them knows yet that their lives are about to be measured in records, rumours, and love that refuses to stay in one place. As the Beatles rise from local phenomenon to global obsession, Emily and Jack fall in love in the slipstream, sharing bootleg singles, late-night ...