The Monthly Mailbag With Noah Hickey

March 31, 2026

TL;DR

Noah Hickey, visual editor for The Dispatch, answers reader questions in a monthly mailbag.
Hickey uses Photoshop for illustrations, combining assets with composition, coloring, and texture, while considering editorial input and other news sites' work.
He expresses concern about AI in art and music, believing art forms should not be overly accessible and that discipline is key to musical greatness.
He humorously used a "John Mayer better than Hendrix" claim as clickbait but later discussed guitarists, praising Mark Knopfler as the greatest.
Hickey believes The Beatles' Abbey Road is their best album, especially with the 2019 Super Deluxe Edition mixes, and notes that young people still listen to The Beatles.
He prefers St. Petersburg to Tampa for its beaches, cleanliness, walkability, and better dining and bar scene.
In his band Foxhall, he plays guitar and contributes to production, classifying their genre as indie pop.
Hickey named Slackbot as his favorite coworker.

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