Downtown Blues Coffee, Las Cruces, NM

There is a US map on the wall of Downtown Blues Coffee on which pins marking visitors' hometowns have been placed. The map is completely covered, head to toe. Every one of those pins was put there by people who have been amazed by the coolness of this small coffee shop, vinyl record emporium, tchotchke heaven, and performance showcase venue. It has become the center of the cultural reawakening, post-pandemic, of the arts in Las Cruces, NM. Musicians, poets, prose writers, visual artists, performance artists, comedians, even drag artists come to share their art at Downtown Blues Coffee.

I'm Cleve Hattersley. I am one of those artists. For the last six months, I have been presenting 'Les Salons Des Arts Divers' which features all of the above. Presenters at these salons have ranged from re-awakened performers who thought they'd been left behind, to college students on the beginnings of their journeys. Even the county sheriff has read at this mic, and the governor of New Mexico has danced to our music.

My wife, Sweet Mary, and I moved to Cruces from Austin, Texas, where we had a long and fruitful career with our band, Greezy Wheels, and we were immediately taken with the atmosphere and artistic freedom offered by the coffee shop's owners, Frankie and Leilani. It is an amazing gem of a place, but it is also a place in jeopardy. That pandemic and subsequent calamities have put Frankie and Leilani on the very brink of having to close our beloved shop.

We cannot let this wonderful place be defeated by circumstance! They need to make the plumbing changes required to install their espresso machine. We need to cover mounting tax bills and hospital bills incurred by the owners' health issues. We need for them to be able to continue their access to one of the largest rare vinyl collections in the Southwest. We need to give them the opportunity to continue being the meeting place for the cultural heroes of this town and state. Therefore, we ask all you folks who've visited from around the country and world, all you local and regional supporters, all you traveling minstrels who've stopped and been so warmly welcomed: please help us reach that goal, so that we may have our cherished space. We're asking for a lot. They need a lot.