Tattoo Road Trip… Tough Times in Las Cruces
DNA AND THE BLACK MISTAKE
DNA tattoo
We bade a sad farewell to Albuquerque and continued on, three freeway hours south, through the desert to Las Cruces, and a shop called Black Rat. We even booked a second shop, DNA, that was nice enough to join the project, so that we didn’t have to drive six hours round trip from Albuquerque to photograph just one location. This second place, Drew McClanahan’s DNA, was contacted relatively late in the game, but saved the day by getting on the phone at the last minute and gathering a dozen customers to photograph. Black Rat, on the other hand, just plain stood us up. I walked in the door, said hello and asked, “Ya got a bunch of folks for us to photograph?” The answer was “no.”
No? You’ve got to be kidding. And when I asked, “Why didn’t you give us a call?” the reply was, “We didn’t have your cell number.” Not only did we send a complete information packet with all our contact information a month ago, but the shop was already on our website Directory, where we likewise have all our information… INCLUDING THE PHONE NUMBER!
In twenty years reporting on over 500 tattoo shops in the U.S. and Canada, I have only been stood up one other time. So, seven hours later we are back in Albuquerque and anticipating our next stop, Blue Jay Tattoo, in Rio Rancho. They called and told us that they will be there with lots of people to photograph… and “plenty of refreshments for all.” Now, That’s Classy.
Daily Blog of Bob Baxter, editor-in-chief of TattooRoadTrip.com and past editor-in-chief of the award-winning tattoo magazine Skin & Ink, for 14 years.
First of all, you really only ever talked to James, who was moving yesterday. Secondly, you apparently were in the shop for about a minute, before storming out and calling us a “bunch of assholes”…. There were probably 10 people in the shop at the time, and had you been calm, and talked to anybody else in the shop (there were 4 of us in the process of tattooing at the time you came in), you probably could have photographed them for whatever project you were doing. Or, if you had talked to any of the artists who were not moving yesterday, you probably would have known we probably wouldn’t have been interested in being part of the project in the first place. You probably don’t even know who I am (and never talked to me), but I opened Black Rat Tattoo, and I was in the shop yesterday (you’ve never talked to me). We didn’t “stand you up”. There was poor communication on both of your parts. But only one of you acted like a spoiled brat.
Tick
2 Mar 13 at 8:56 am
If you weren’t interested in being part of their project, then why not let them know when you got the packet, or is James Who Was Moving also the only one who gets the mail? I wouldn’t gripe anyway, Bud. Obviously, you weren’t interested in any publicity that would be generated by “whatever project” they were doing. So why bother responding now? Guess you’ve got all the business you can stand. Talk about spoiled brats, dude.
Poot728
2 Mar 13 at 12:43 pm
A bit of context: I work the counter at the shop you stormed out in the throes of one of the more memorable temper tantrums I’ve seen from behind this counter.
For what it’s worth, I called Mary weeks ago to let her know that March 1st was just about the worst day to come to the shop. Didn’t seem to matter much, but I get it. Schedules’re schedules. Sometimes things don’t work.
Best as I can tell, things then went two ways:
1. You had absolutely no idea that this was terrible timing, and you were just BLINDSIDED by a lack of chilled refreshments. Maybe you were expecting a deli tray. I’m sorry, I should have bought a deli tray. So your mouth’s dry, and you were expecting a frosty beverage. Maybe a nice, icey mug or a can wet with condensation. Maybe tea? Coffee? Maybe you’re a julep guy, Bob. You could have let me know. Your stomach’s set to rumblin’, and there aren’t any sliced melons. No carrots. Grapes? Not even red grapes! Shit, at this point, you’d have settled for green ones.
Your hunger and your thirst, coupled with the stress of grueling three and a half hour drive just overrode your ability to acknowledge your surroundings. Maybe you were getting tunnel vision. Maybe that’s why you only talked to one tattooer in a shop with four tattooers in it. Maybe your blood sugar was low. Maybe that’s why you only managed to talk for about a minute before you grumbled out the door.
2. You were made entirely aware of the fact that the timing of this endeavor was utterly abysmal, but you bravely soldiered on. You committed yourself to journalism years ago, you gave it your heart, and your quest will not be deterred by obstacles as paltry as ‘time’ or ‘courtesy’. Not even ‘reason’ will stand in your way. So you burst in, poised to do for dusty Southwest tattooers what James Agee did for sharecropping, only…something went wrong. You…you might have actually had to be around for more than two minutes.
Now, there’s something I really like about this, Bob. Isn’t it just wonderfully Quixotic? I will be your windmills, Bob Quixote, and your blog can be my flames (Mary is Sancho Panza and I think James is Dulcinea?)
Then again, doesn’t Quixote make it all the way through his twilit years without a huffy-puffy hissy fit (I never finished it. Maybe there is a twist?). It just doesn’t seem like it’s in his character, at least not to me. I can’t envision Quixote yelling “fucking assholes” at a room full of people despite only talking to one person. I can’t picture him goin’ home and tack-tack-tackin’ away at his keyboard in a shitty hotel room, thinking “really showed those assholes” (again, I didn’t finish it, but I don’t think Cervantes knew about ‘blogs’).
Good luck chasin’ those windmills, Bob.
Maybe you can call me an asshole again some time. It’ll be fun.
xoxo (that is: hug, kiss, hug, kiss [I think. I've never been sure which was which])
-Walker (shop guy)
PS eat a mountain of turds
Walker
2 Mar 13 at 6:19 pm
Reminder: Some people’s job in this industry is to put in the work and make good tattoos. They’re called tattooers.. And they don’t care about who’s taking pictures of THIER hardwork and would rather not have old man Baxter leeching off of them. If you had a shitty day because you got stood up with no candy and cakes, maybe its about time. People like Bob Baxter only take what they can get and don’t deserve anymore than an occasional kick in the nuts for thinking they may live so large.
CWL
2 Mar 13 at 9:33 pm
Black Rat, give this douchebag a deli tray, you fucking assholes!
dirtcult
2 Mar 13 at 9:37 pm
Thank you for letting us be a part of your projects, Bob. I am sorry things didnt work out as smoothly as we all wished they would have…. I am truely greatful… Black Rat is an outstanding shop with some of the most talented tattoo artist I know … Be well and I wish the best to you all.
Drew/DNA Tattoo, Las Cruces
drew@dna
4 Mar 13 at 10:43 am