November 1, 2017 – Over the weekend, the city of Gainesville hosted the 16th annual FEST–a Punk music festival that draws thousands of visitors to the town to see hundreds of shows across a dozen venues. This year’s Fest was headlined by none other than Against Me! A band who came of age in our city and has just returned from an international tour with Green Day. Saturday night, the band performed their debut album, Reinventing Axl Rose, with their original bassist, Dustin Fridkin. Dr. Fridkin is an assistant professor of Political Science at Santa Fe College. He left the band in 2002 to pursue his doctorate and was thrilled to join his former band mates onstage to perform in front of a sold-out crowd at Bo Diddley Plaza. Against Me!’s frontwoman, Laura Jane Grace, has recently published her memoirs, Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout, and graced the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine.