The June issue of ANTIGRAVITY is starting to hit the streets! We have a special cover celebrating our 4-year anniversary with several local characters from our history drawn by Caesar Meadows. Coverage includes local artists Good Guys and Robin Boudreaux and we have two artist-on-artist chats: one with Ballzack talking to local cult icon Biff Rose and the other with The Junior League’s Joe Adragna and Sloan’s Jay Ferguson. Plus, coverage of Worn Again II, why Chris Paul should’ve been the NBA’s MVP, previews of Settly, Zydepunks, Mudhoney and others, reviews of Indiana Jones, the new Nine Inch Nails, The National’s DVD, our statement on The Gray Ghost vs. NOLA Rising, the last Rock & Roll Confessional, and way, way more.

Don’t forget to check out our 4-year anniversary party on Saturday, June 21st over at Handsome Willy’s. It’s free and the festivities begin at 7pm—come see us before you go out for the night!

Download the issue here or pick it up soon at an eatery/coffeeshop/hedonistic place of fancy near you!

June content (and some exclusive stuff–whoah) will start to hit the blog on Monday, so keep an eye out!

“It isn’t about every song being some genius home run. Music is more eclectic than that. Records are more eclectic than that. That’s why “Wild Honey Pie” is on the “White Album.” —Charles Thompson

Mountain Battles is the Breeders’ White Album. Maybe I’m supposed to woo you more, suggest and insinuate with all kinds of flowery descriptions of what this album sounds like (and don’t worry, it’s coming), but there it is, my big, wet, sloppy kiss to you and also to this record, which has made my ears born again. It’s the kind of album that shatters the critic’s system of stars, grades and whatever ruler is put up to the latest offerings, but there you have them up above there. The otherwise venerable Onion A.V. Club, for example, gives Mountain Battles a C+. calling it “shapeless.” Are we beyond the point of no return where albums have to be a string of easily digestible hits, served up one right after the other? Maybe Mountain Battles’ spectrum is so wide ranging it’s hard for those with impaired senses (like music critics) to understand, even though the Breeders lay it out quite simply on the first two tracks. Opener “Overglazed” is an ethereal echo, an easy refrain shout-sung over swooping guitar riffs and an excitable drum track. The follow-up, “Bang On,” then counters as a lo-fi, staticy hopscotch tune with lyrics that seem deliberately unfinished, though the otherwise vivid insert artwork (by Pixies veteran Vaughan Oliver) leaves them out. The third track, “Night of Joy,” finds us in the dead center and is the sweetest black hole lullaby you could possibly lose yourself in. The title, alas, does not reference (in any discernible way) the low-rent strip club in Confederacy of Dunces, though it wouldn’t be hard to imagine the spacey Darlene humming this to herself as she practices her “routine.” (more…)

As we briefly talked about yesterday, NOLA Rising’s Michael “ReX” Dingler has emerged victorious in his battle with Fred Radtke, a.k.a. “The Gray Ghost.” Radtke took it upon himself to turn in Dingler to the police for placing original artwork around New Orleans, and Dingler faced $50,000 in fines and a possible jail sentence.

Today, Dingler posted a full account of yesterday’s court case on his blog. One of the more interesting (to us, anyway) points:

“RAdTke produced from his grocery ba[g] of cheap tricks the ANTIGRAVITY articles that first called into question his tactics, which has since become an issue that has cost RAdTke funding.”

I thought this would be a good time to clarify our stance on The Gray Ghost, so we blogged parts 1 and 2 of our late-’07 story on Radtke, and I’m going to talk about it in general. (more…)

This story originally appeared in ANTIGRAVITY Vol.5 Issue 2 (December 2007).

The Baddest Brush in Town, Part II:

Who is Winning the Color Wars in New Orleans?

by Sara Pic, with Dan Fox

In last month’s issue we attempted to describe the situation between taggers, graffiti writers, street artists and anyone who’s taken to New Orleans’ public visual space to express themselves, and their collective headache known as Fred Radtke, dubbed the “Gray Ghost” for his ubiquitous blocks of paint throughout the city (also known as “buffs” and “ghosts”). Radtke has made eradicating others’ graffiti by imposing his own a personal crusade, regardless of the law, the wishes of the community and visual aesthetics in general. In Part I we talked to a few artists who have organized efforts against Radtke, notably ReX of NoLa Rising and the Krewe of Krabkakes. These artists and the many others who take to the streets opposite Radtke seem to end up in a zero-sum, eternal battle with Radtke: they paint, he covers it; they take to the gray as if it were a fresh canvas, he returns, etcetera, ad nauseam. The result, as can be seen by anyone with two eyes, is a huge quilt of spray paint and primer that covers the city. But what about the more “ordinary” citizens who are equally frustrated by Radtke but don’t feel the need to go out in the middle of the night to stencil their thoughts on one of his fresh stretches of gray? In this second installment, ANTIGRAVITY attempts to understand more fully whether Radtke is a martyr or a criminal, as we speak with the Vieux Carre Commission, one local business owner and a New Orleans police officer, while also exploring allegations of violent acts by the Gray Ghost. (more…)

This story originally appeared in ANTIGRAVITY Vol.5 Issue 1 (November 2007).

The Baddest Brush in Town, Part I:

Who is Winning the Color Wars in New Orleans?

by Sara Pic, with Dan Fox

The art-crime of graffiti is probably one of the least understood phenomena of modern urban existence. Are these inscriptions a public nuisance, a symbol of crime, a primeval marking of territory by criminals, or simply free speech in its essence? Who are these nocturnal prowlers dotting the New Orleans landscape with handles like “Goose,” “Nobel,” “Spin,” “Giser” and such? Are these Crips carving out their piece of the city or backpacker-hip-hop kids simply carrying forward a tradition that’s pushing four decades? Are they gangsters—or the next Basquiat? And what’s the difference between them and the campaign workers, bands, show promoters, yoga instructors, contractors, and countless others who take to our public visual space and claim some of it for their cause, whatever it is? To one man, there is no difference. And that man is Fred Radtke.

What is Radtke’s mission, exactly? Is it, as he has claimed in past stories and news reports, to help rid New Orleans of crime by painting over graffiti? Or is it to make himself famous by marking the city with his infamous gray blocks? (more…)

According to a text message we received from NOLA Rising (which stated “VICTORY IS MINE OVER RADTKE!”) and a message on the local artist’s blog, it looks like Michael Dingler has emerged victorious in the battle he was forced into by Fred Radtke, a.k.a. The Gray Ghost. Dingler reportedly faced over $50,000 in fines for placing free art around New Orleans and was “turned in” (my words, not Dingler’s) by Radtke. Supposedly Radtke stormed out of the courtroom following the verdict. Dingler promises more details on his blog later today.

Congratulations to Michael, who painted our signs for the Alternative Media Expo back in February. We’ll work on getting our two-part Gray Ghost feature on this blog to help shed some light on the subject.

If you’re a fan of the JazzFest atmosphere but dislike the obnoxiously huge crowds and prices, head to the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo this Friday night and Saturday for an equally good time at a drastically reduced cost—free. The third year of the locally produced festival sees it expanded to include a Friday evening lineup and a Saturday schedule with headliners like Soul Rebels, Rebirth Brass Band, DJ T-Roy, Otra, Kevin O’Day Hip-Hop Alive and more spread over three stages.

The best thing about the Boogaloo is that you can celebrate while giving back to the Mid-City neighborhood. The Mothership Foundation has given parts of the proceeds of past Boogaloos to neighborhood associations and helped with the Mid-City library, and this year’s goal is to help rebuild the playground along S. Jeff Davis.

Friday’s lineup starts at 5pm and Saturday is kicked off at 9am, so bring your chairs and gear, but please, no ice chests—vendor revenue helps keep the Boogaloo free to the public and you want to support local businesses anyway, right?

This interview first appeared in the October 2004 issue of ANTIGRAVITY and was conducted by former AG writer Miles Britton (who’s now an editor at MAGNET!).

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Singularity, Ratty Scurvics’ one man music project, has for the past two years been building a loyal and ever growing fan base thanks to his darkly hypnotic songwriting and intense stage presence. Dressed up in his signature clown costume, his face painted stark white, stabbing simultaneously at the keyboard, drums and microphone with a glowing cigarette clamped between his teeth, Scurvics gives us a glimpse of what Brian Eno might have sounded like if he had run away to join the circus. ANTIGRAVITY sat with Ratty and chatted with him about rock operas, the Know Nothing Zircus, and trying not to bleed at the Hi-Ho. (more…)

This interview originally appeared in the March 2007 issue of ANTIGRAVITY.

To celebrate After The Deluge getting picked up by Pantheon, I thought I’d post our original talk with artist Josh Neufeld, which coincided with A.D.’s debut over at SMITH. Interested parties may want to know that the current issue of DC/Vertigo’s American Splendor mini-series features some of Josh’s work.

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Josh Neufeld has become adept at telling graphic stories of a personal nature — his comic series The Vagabonds chronicles his and wife Sari’s travels around the world, his artwork frequently tells Harvey Pekar’s unique slice-of-life stories in American Splendor, and his 2004 graphic novel A Few Perfect Hours (and Other Stories From Southeast Asia & Central Europe) won him a prestigious grant from the Xeric Foundation. Neufeld’s latest projects feature both personal and, for the first time, communal stories. In early ’06 Neufeld released Katrina Came Calling, a chapbook-style collection of prose journal entries written in late ’05 during a three-week tour of duty with the Red Cross in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi. In January ’07 the prologue of Neufeld’s new sequential art project, New Orleans: After The Deluge, premiered on SMITH, an upstart website that celebrates personal storytelling and, in 2006, published Shooting War, a highly acclaimed webcomic about the war in Iraq. After The Deluge features several real-life people affected by Katrina (including AG editor Leo McGovern), and Neufeld intends to weave those people’s stories together in an attempt to show readers that New Orleans isn’t a city full of statistics; that the populace of the Gulf Coast isn’t simply full of people either with or without the means and/or desire to leave, return and rebuild; that our region, even a year and a half after Katrina, is brimming with grey area.

ANTIGRAVITY spoke with Neufeld about the reasons he created A.D., what he hopes readers take away from these stories, and how this project is different from anything he’s done before. (more…)

We just received word that New Orleans: After The Deluge, the webcomic that features the real-life Katrina stories of six New Orleanians, including mine, has secured a publishing deal with the graphic novel division of Pantheon, which itself is a division of Random House.

A.D. author Josh Neufeld joins a very distinguished catalog of authors that includes some of my personal favorites: Jessica Abel’s La Perdida, Charles Burns’ Black Hole, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Craig Thompson’s Goodbye Chunky Rice and Art Spiegelman’s Maus.

Neufeld has planned for the web version of A.D. to run 12 chapters, and the GN version will be expanded to further delve into all the characters’ stories. A.D.’s set for a Summer 2009 release and will appear in both hard and softcover editions.

It’s kind of mind-blowing to be a character in a webcomic, much less a graphic novel published by a company like Pantheon. How awesome is this?