Actually, the once “little” town of Albuquerque “Has grown, and continues to do so.”, says local coffee roaster and 8th grade teacher, Thaison Garcia, creator and owner of “Rust is Gold”, a curious coffee shop that combines caffeine and gasoline to create a unique atmosphere. The aesthetic definitely caters to the bad asses of the motorcycle world, but the soft and mellow brew appeals to even the snobbiest of PNW coffee aficionados. It makes sense, since Thaison himself, covered in tattoos, ball cap on, shorts and vans, and fitted T-shirt, looked like the cool guy who probably rode his dirt bike to prom, with a long-haired, leather dressed vixen on the back, who rebelliously put her cigarette out in the prom punch for fun. But when he approached us, he had a gentle handshake, kind eyes, and warmly welcomed us to Albuquerque and his shop. Taking us both off guard he said, “I’m an 8th grade teacher. A few years ago, I realized that I am NOT even the cool teacher anymore.” We laughed and he laughed even harder at himself. Shaking his head, he mused on how and when that even happened. “At least I have this place to fall back on when I retire in a couple years.” He didn’t look old enough to even be considering retirement, but he said he was closing in on 25 years and was ready. We traded stickers, and he bid us a great gig, apologized for not being able to check it out due to school starting the next day, and took off. Super cool dude. Glad to have met him.
After Thaison left, we found this outside the bathroom. Apparently the guy made a movie! We’re gonna have to check it out.
Unfortunately, this was the only photo we got of the night. The brewery (Marble Brewery; the NE Heights one) was cool enough. The staff was friendly and accommodating. The patrons were into the music and grateful we were there. Really grateful, actually, but surprised. I asked one woman who came up just gushing about us and how much she loved to support new acts and local, original bands, why she was so surprised to see us there. “Well, there was no mention that they even had live music tonight. We came for the food truck and were first just excited to have some live music to listen to, but then we were completely floored to hear you and get to experience your talent.”
Then, we heard from several others similar stories. One guy at the bar said they were going to leave because usually the music is so bad. They listened to one song and stayed the entire evening.
Hmmm. I just typed out (and decided to delete) three paragraphs about how pissed we were at the seemingly little involvement the booker or manager had in putting our band up there for the night. We never even met the guy. I guess extra advertising costs extra money and time, and they maybe can’t be bothered. I wish it was different. But the truth is, if we didn’t want to play it, we could have left. No one’s forcing us to play these gigs. I’ve got to try and see the other side. We did get paid, and that was nice. Even though we had to play in the dark since there were no stage lights, and one person sitting just around the corner said to me after the show, “Oh hey! Were you just up there? We couldn’t see anything, but you sounded good.” Oh my gosh… So frustrating. But at least we weren’t behind chicken wire, getting bottles thrown at us. I suppose it could always be worse. (Jared here: Also, they could’ve said that we sucked. So yeah, could always be worse.)
So at the end of the day, we left with some new trailer stickers, some cash in our pockets, a nice place to grab a cup of coffee, and a venue that essentially did us a favor by booking us to fill a gap between Keystone and Bisbee. They can’t all be winners. Sometimes you just gotta fill the gap.
