This summer's slow concert season means shrinkage for some folks selling rock T-shirts.
But at Brooklyn Park's Nice Man Merchandising, which sells T-shirts and memorabilia at live events and in stores worldwide, business is going XXL. Nice Man recently acquired the assets of the rival Brockum Group when Brockum's parent company left the music business.
Nice Man doubled its roster, adding pop stars Bruce Hornsby, Love and Rockets, Peter Frampton, West Side Story, the Moody Blues, Ministry, the Dead Kennedys, Violent Femmes, Live, Bon Jovi and Faith Hill. They join Nice Man clients REM, Alice in Chains, Van Halen, Amy Grant, the Black Crowes, Pearl Jam and Bette Midler.
To hedge against further music industry downturns, Nice Man also is acquiring apparel licensing rights to films ('Twister,' 'The Frighteners,' 'The Cable Guy'), TV shows ('Space, Above and Beyond'), card games (Magic, the Gathering) and even computer software ('Myst'). It added Harley Davidson to its motor sports roster, which includes Ford, Ferrari, Chevrolet, NASCAR and IndyCar.
Larry Johnson, Nice Man's chief executive officer, expects the company to pull in more than $70 million next year. Not bad in a down market, but Johnson has even bigger goals. Through the firm's Australian offices, he's set his sights on the apparel and memorabilia concessions at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
- Colin Covert
1/3 Today and Sunday Lots of art and elbow room
Like art, hate crowds? Two Minneapolis weekend art fairs offer alternatives to the nearby Uptown Art Fair.
At the Powderhorn Festival of the Arts, more than 170 artists - selected from 400 applicants - display paintings, drawings, sculpture, ceramics, pottery and jewelry. Look for shows by the Scott Price Project, a Guatemalan band and a rope walker. Storybook characters will greet kids from 1 to 3 p.m. both days.
When: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Powderhorn Park, 3400 15th Av. S., Minneapolis.
Admission: Free.
Call: 823-1141.
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At the Lyndale Farmstead Art Festival, more than 50 artists display their wares. And folk musicians, harpists and fiddlers perform.
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When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Where: 39th St. and Bryant Av. S., Minneapolis.
Admission: Free.
Call: 823-9224.
1/3 Country fun
To taste antique country living, try the Scott-Carver Threshers festival.
If you're not a farmer, don't be steered away by the slow tractor races and a daily 1 p.m. parade of antique steam engines and farm equipment. There's more to this 33rd Thresher Steam and Gas Engine Festival.
Grab your partner for 11 a.m. square-dancing or watch a 4:30 p.m. fiddling contest Saturday. Experts demonstrate quilting, spinning and winding wool; blacksmiths craft horseshoes and broom makers sell brooms. See a shingle mill, lath mill and straw baler.
Or you can compete at horseshoes with old-time champs throughout the weekend. On Sunday, 8 a.m. gospel singers at breakfast are followed by a 10 a.m. performance by the Roadies, a country rock band.
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When: Today and Sunday, 8 a.m. to sundown.
Where: Scott-Carver Threshers show ground, 19375 Fairview Lane, Jordan, northwest of Hwy. 169.
Admission: Adults, $5 per day or $8 for the weekend, no charge for children under 12.
Call: 472-2987.
