The set list kept changing, right up until showtime. Laura Jane Grace had to cram more than two decades of music — both solo material and from her influential punk band Against Me! — into 15 minutes. Her band was used to this gleeful chaos. Grace’s wife, Paris Campbell Grace, Drive-By Truckers’ Matt Patton and The Ergs’ Mikey Erg make up the Mississippi Medicals, a loving and stabilizing force for a catalog of songs about American injustice, creative frustration, identity and broken promises… but also hope through collective action and personal revelation. In this Tiny Desk, you’ll see them play newer songs (“I’m Not a Cop” and “All F***** Up”), but also throwbacks to “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” (a personal request) and an absolutely powerful version of “Black Me Out.”

An Against Me! show changed my life. Before Grace’s set, I shared a story about a sweet, sheltered suburban kid who spent his freshman year at shows instead of studying for class. (I lost my college scholarship, but, hey it worked out for me in the end.) Reinventing Axl Rose had just come out, but everyone knew every single word. In the small living room, the mass of bodies moved like high tide, pushing and pulling as we gleefully sang, “ ‘Cause, baby, I’m an anarchist / And you’re a spineless liberal.” We knew that the world can be rotten and cruel, yet could be beautiful, too, in how we fight for freedom together. At one point, the swell spilled over and I fell out the back door, then was quickly pulled back up because that’s what we do when someone falls.

Walking back to my dorm room afterward, beaming and bruised, I had a realization: Punk is complex and contradictory; it will fail and frustrate you… but it will also set you free. That paradox still haunts and challenges me, but I wear these songs — and all that have come after — like armor.

SET LIST

• “I’m Not a Cop” 
• “All F***** Out”
• “Supernatural Possession” 
• “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong”
• “Black Me Out” 

MUSICIANS

• Laura Jane Grace: vocals, guitar
• Paris Campbell Grace: vocals
• Matt Patton: bass, vocals
• Mikey Erg: drums, vocals

TINY DESK TEAM

• Producer: Lars Gotrich
• Director/Editor: Maia Stern
• Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
• Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
• Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Elizabeth Gillis
• Audio Engineer: Carleigh Strange
• Photographer: Estefania Mitre
• Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Kara Frame, Ashley Pointer
• Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
• Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
• VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

WABASHA, Minn. (KTTC) – Many Minnesota communities living close to the Mississippi River faced flood warnings as water levels rose over the weekend. The city of Wabasha is one of the most significantly impacted areas with many streets and parks under water.

“We had a flood here last year, and it was our fourth highest crest in history,” City of Wabasha Emergency Management Director Riley Castello said. “This one is about two feet shy of that.”

According to Castello, water levels at the river peaked on Monday; on Tuesday afternoon, it sat at 15-feet.

“We’ve had to close down five of our major parks and a couple of streets in town.” Castello said.

Due to the severe weather and flooding, both the city and Wabasha County declared a local state of emergency, being one of the 22 counties approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a federal disaster declaration.

“It’s frustrating that we can’t just get in moderation. We just came out of a drought. Last year was incredibly dry and the river level was low comparatively. This year, we just can’t stop getting the rain. And now we have water standing in fields.”

According to the National Eagle Center, the severe weather did not significantly impact the amount of visitors it received. “Overall, I don’t think the number of visitors have been impacted by the weather,” Director of Marketing and Communications Ed Hahn said. “ Maybe a little bit when it rains, you get fewer people going out.”

Castello shared there are currently many uncertainties with how the flood waters will be cleared and the restoration process will undergo. He said property damage estimates cannot be determined until water levels go down.

“We gasped when we saw the flooding,” said Maria Gorde, who was in Wabasha on Tuesday for a visit. “We had seen it online, but seeing it in person was like, ‘Wow.’”

Find stories like this and more, in our apps.

Copyright 2024 KTTC. All rights reserved.

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A probation officer was arrested on seven counts of embezzlement.

Lacosta Lee is accused of receiving court-ordered fines and fees from those on probation and using them for her personal use.

She is a contracted probation officer for Court Programs, Inc.

Lee was served with a $7,558.50 demand letter at the time of her arrest.

She faces up to $5,000 in fines and 20 years per count if convicted.

Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.

Copyright 2024 WLBT. All rights reserved.