It’s been quite a whirlwind around AG HQ the past few months, as we’ve seen a lot of love come our way. An extra-special shout-out goes to the people who put together the “SAVE ANTIGRAVITY” fundraiser for us in late September at Okay Bar, which was a truly magical evening. I don’t get out much, so it was extra thrilling to enjoy all the music, friends, and comrades who showed up, as well as seeing a gigantic crowd turn out and have a pretty good time. Watching Sari Jordan completely command the floor inside Okay Bar was mesmerizing and makes me want to write something music-critic-corny like, “I saw the future of New Orleans music that night.” Wit’s End Brass Band in the backyard was the perfect soundtrack for a breeze that hinted at cooler weather to come. DJ Kerem was hypnotic behind the booth, and TV Pole Shine reminded me that, indeed, pockets of true freakdom still exist in this swampy little backwater we call home. Thank you to the bands and DJ, the staff at Okay Bar, and NOLAxNOLA, who kicked in quite a bit of cash to make sure everyone got paid that night.
That Friday was especially cathartic as the AG staff had just come off what I can only call a historic week, where with the October edition we published our biggest non-anniversary issue ever (72 pages, matched here this month!) then turned around to put the finishing touches on a 22,000-word voter education guide and go live with it mere hours before the night’s festivities began. And we’re going to do something similar again when we send this issue off to the printer—get a few hours’ sleep, then wrap up the run-off guide for the November 15 election and have it ready for you just before early voting begins on the 1st.
Not too long after the “SAVE ANTIGRAVITY” party, we hosted a Salon of Shame fundraiser at the Original Nite Cap, where everyone packed into Bella Blue’s new—and fabulous—venue to bare their teenage souls by reading diary entries to an eager, supportive crowd. Another night that felt like a galaxy of smiles and laughter.
I’m also amazed that our latest voter guide—which we send out into the world for free, but kindly ask for $5 donations—did pretty well on that front, with the average donation actually coming in at around $15. Yes, the money’s nice, it helps. But what really gets me excited about this exchange is that it points to something better. One thing that is exhausting all of us right now is the crushing feeling that everything is a scam, where we’re either being bled dry or just outright robbed, forced to pay for substandard services and plastic food, or worse, bombs and prisons, and no one is getting their money’s worth—or their time or labor’s worth—out of anything these days.
But with our voter guide and these fundraisers, something of true value was offered to our community, and you responded in kind in a way where everyone came out satisfied—whether you paid nothing or in some cases up to $100. There was no coercion, no extortion, and in the spirit of the original harm reduction gang who founded this version of our guide, “no bullshit.”
And I usually don’t like to celebrate things like a record page-count or these moments of glory. I’m too superstitious. Every high comes with a low eventually, and in the past we’ve had a few victory laps crash into disaster. I bring these accomplishments up now only to say that with the support the community has shown ANTIGRAVITY in the past several months, I hope you see the fruits of your labor manifest in these bigger issues, and more issues available around town, as well as small increases in payment to our contributors here and there: a reinvestment anywhere we can make it. These wins, small and large, prove the old adage that it’s not so much about what you’re fighting against, but more about what you’re fighting for.
Last, in the best spirit of this season, I’d like to express my undying gratitude to the ANTIGRAVITY editorial staff, many of whom are hustling extra hard over a busy October weekend, flying in contributions and editing in between gigs, working under Entergy’s whims, and bringing their laptop to a kid’s birthday party in one case—everyone doing their part to make sure we deliver something worthy of all this love. —Dan Fox
illustration by Sadie Wiese
November 2025 cover by Gurleen Rai
