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LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

ANTIGRAVITY Editorial Staff
A grayscale illustration of two hands opposite another with a flower in between them. The hand on the left is facing up and the hand on the right is facing down. The flower in the middle is white and the leaves around it are dark. The background is dark gray. Illustration by Artemesia Trapeze.

WILD WAVES

Taylor Balkissoon
A grayscale illustration of a whistle in the shower, whistling while it bathes itself. The whistle is wearing a gray, polka-dotted shower cap, and it’s looking up with a music note coming out of its puckered lips. The whistle is washing itself with bars of soap in both hands, and around it are lots of bubbles. Illustration by Ben Claassen III.

TIPS FROM THERIOT

Isabel Ryan Theriot
A black and white illustration of weeds, and at the bottom reads “Elderberry.” The plant has a stem, leaves, and berries. Illustration by Rachel Speck.

DIRT NERD

Ian Willson
This is an excerpt of the cursive handwriting on lined paper from which the article is transcribed.

TALES FROM THE PEN

Leather
A grayscale illustration of a dark-skinned person looking out of the window. They are facing away from us and their hands are perched on the windowsill. Their hair is up in a ponytail and they’re wearing a light dress. Illustration by Victoria Allen.

RAISING LOUISIANA

Tamara Prosper
A black and white illustration of a needle and a fentanyl test strip. They are facing towards each other and intersect at the bottom. On the fentanyl test strip there is a tiny smiley face. Illustration by Sadie Wiese.

FOR THE RECORD

Marisa Clogher
A black and white photo of Brandi Charlot sitting, in costume, surrounded by flowers. She is a Black woman and she’s wearing a bucket hat, fishnets, and a jacket with lots of differently colored tassels. She’s smiling widely and is looking slightly above the camera. Around her are many different bouquets of flowers. Photo courtesy of Brandi Charlot.

Business is Blooming with Blucid Floral

RENARD BRIDGEWATER for MaCCNO
A grayscale illustration of 3 tarot cards side by side. The left card depicts a large pentacle, a smaller pentacle, and another pentacle that’s on a glue bottle. There are puzzle pieces around, and the bottom reads “Three of Pentacles.” The middle card depicts a waterfall with people floating along and falling down it. There’s a big cloud behind it and the sun is overhead and masked. The bottom reads “Ace of Cups.” The right card depicts a person with braids who’s wearing a cropped top and a skirt. They have pentacles floating above each hand and a crown shape behind their head. They’re standing in water. The bottom reads “Two of Pentacles.” Illustration by Karla Rosas.

TAROT

Michelle Embree

Latest

LOUISIANA’S CONSTITUTIONAL INFERNO

If you’re looking for a quick way to get a Louisiana lawyer to stop talking, try asking them about the Louisiana Constitution. An infamous legal labyrinth, the mere mention of...

Holly Devon

A BITTER STING

For years, the Convent Refinery could send jet fuel from St. James Parish straight to airports in Atlanta, Washington, and New York City via the Bengal, Colonial, and Plantation...

Chris Staudinger

TABLE FOR ALL

Last March, at a time when many restaurants were willing to sacrifice the health and safety of their workforce for the sake of profit margins, Pagoda Café preemptively closed...

Morgan Dowdy

BAD PRESS

Forty years ago, reporters from The Times-Picayune visited a set of Metairie businesses and, apparently finding the services on offer were as they expected, called the police. A...

Steven Melendez

UNWINDING WITH THE SELF-HELP TAPES

The past year has turned local multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Kevin Comarda’s longtime themes of anxiety and dissonance into something more universal than ever. These...

William Archambeault

DECRIMINALIZE SURVIVAL

New Orleans has been a site of sex worker uprisings, crackdowns, and community efforts since all the way back when the Quarter was the city. Sex workers have a specific legacy of...

Beck Levy
A black and white photo of Esther Rose leaning on a balcony and looking directly at the camera. She is light-skinned and has long hair that’s halfway pulled up. She’s wearing a leather jacket and a choker. We can see the French Quarter in the background, out of focus. Photo by Akasha Rabut.

THE REAWAKENING OF ESTHER ROSE

Call it a return to Saturn or heartbreak’s best revenge, Esther Rose’s full-length How Many Times is a magnetizing reverie of introspective, country-tinged...

Danielle Dietze
A black and white illustration of a light skinned man in a tweed jacket holding a briefcase labeled “FROGS.” The man is wearing a hat and is looking to the right and smiling. The briefcase has frog legs sticking out the sides of it. There is a gray circle behind the man, framing him like a cartoon. Illustration by Happy Burbeck.

Albert Broel, Frog Prince of New Orleans

Head west from New Orleans along Metairie Road and you’ll pass a building marked with the silhouette of a Churchillian gentleman smoking a cigar, advertising Winston’s Pub and...

Steven Melendez
A black and white photo of Claire Givens and Jeremy Phipps, members of the band People Museum. They are walking next to each other and the levee is visible behind them. Claire is on the left; she’s light-skinned and has dark brown hair. She’s wearing a long black jackets, black tights, and long, dark boots, and there are tattoos on her legs visible through her tights. She’s looking behind her. Jeremy is on the right; he’s dark-skinned and has short hair and a beard. He’s wearing a long-sleeved black and white striped shirt and black pants. He’s looking ahead of him. Photo by Katie Sikora.

PEOPLE MUSEUM SHAKES OFF THE ICE

In their newest release, I Could Only See Night, People Museum explores a new chapter of collaboration and experimentation. As a group, the band is extremely hands-on and DIY when...

Julia Engel
A black and white illustration of Mike IX Williams singing into a microphone. He is light-skinned and has dark, shaggy hair. He has his right hand wrapped around the microphone and he’s scowling a little bit. He’s wearing a dark jacket that reads “Smell Shock” and “The Sluts” on it. Behind him are posters for Eyehategod, the band that he’s in. Illustration by Bill Heintz.

MIKE IX WILLIAMS: UNIVERSAL DISTURBANCE

Mike IX Williams’ misanthropic screams and Jimmy Bower’s abrasive feedback have resonated with more than just a few people since they played their first gig together in 1988....

William Archambeault
A black and white photo of Micah McKee sitting down at a desk with his guitar on his lap. He is dark-skinned and has a beard. He’s wearing a sweater, a beanie, and glasses. He has noise-cancelling headphones on, and there is recording equipment around him. He’s looking to the left of the frame, toward a screen out of frame. He’s holding the guitar in his lap with his left hand, and his right hand is on the desk that his eyes are focused toward. There’s a drum on the right that’s out of focus, and there are plants in the background. Photo by Katie Sikora.

MICAH MCKEE MAKES IT COUNT

New Orleans music—be it brass bands or no-wave punk—is dominated by loud, eccentric personalities. We know ‘em, we love ‘em. And while Micah McKee might not exactly fit...

Dan Fox
A black and white illustration of egrets standing in dark water in the marsh, with oil refineries in the background. There are two egrets and they are facing away from each other. The water is black, and there’s grass on either side. In the background is a fence, and beyond the fence is an oil refinery. The structures are all white and the sky is black. At the bottom reads “St. John Makes, Marathon Takes: Communities Want a Refund” in gray letters. Illustration by Pippin Frisbie-Calder.

ST. JOHN MAKES, MARATHON TAKES

The Marathon Garyville Refinery is a fortress of smokestacks and towers that occupies about five square miles of former sugarcane fields on the Mississippi River. Its footprint...

Chris Staudinger
A black and white photo of the bells of tubas laying down on a table. The open, circular parts are laying face down, and they’re all white. The bell most prominently in frame has a crack in it. There are chairs and instrument cases in the background. Photo by James Cullen.

ROOTS OF MUSIC MARCHES ON

Derrick Tabb had an idea. It wasn’t a new idea, but one he had been kicking around for some time. Tabb saw post-Katrina New Orleans as a city that had been badly damaged both...

James Cullen

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