MEET: August Rosa, DIVE Presents Pint Sized
August Rosa outside Mittler’s Market + Bodega Bar, the future home of Pint Sized. Photo credit: Victoria Sedefian/The Dishing.
August Rosa talks going analogue, building businesses, when to walk away + getting the band back together.
Interview: Susie Davidson Powell
Photos: Victorria Sedefian/The Dishing
Shoot location: Saratoga, N.Y.
Tastemaker: August Rosa, owner + promoter
DIVE/Pint-Sized| website: diveupstate.com | IG: @diveupstate
Hometown: Cornwall, NY
Current city: Saratoga Springs, NY
Personal style: Band tee shirts & jorts.
Listening to: Loud psychedelic noise. Rock music is good. As much stuff that is not made in the United States as possible. Too many bands to list but quick shout out to my favorite local band Bruiser & Bicycle.
Favorite spirit: Gin. My favorite drink in the area is the Gin Gin Fizz at Hamlet & Ghost. Can’t go wrong.
Favorite classic cocktail: Margarita. Always a good time. Can drink anytime of the year. Always gives vacation vibes. Frozen marg on a hot day can’t be beat.
Favorite bar or venue ever: As far as venues are concerned Valentines without a doubt. I think most people would agree. On the bar side of things I really love Desperate Annies. Their support of Super Dark Monday is massive, fostering a vital cultural offering for Saratoga Springs.
Favorite restaurants: Having to bounce between Albany and Saratoga Springs I find myself having to hit up quick service spots all the time. Some of my go-to spots include Saratoga Awesome Dogs before I head down to Albany from Saratoga, Banh Mi 47 when I bounce from Albany to Troy & First Choice Caribbean for the best beef patty on earth before I go to Sun Natives band practice at Love of Fuzz. When there is a moment to enjoy a sit down restaurant I like the Cock N’ Bull in Galway. Rick is a legend and a big supporter of local music. Beautiful old barn. He throws shows there regularly and has a killer sound system in place. Dinner and a show there is ideal.
Biggest cocktail influence: As far as cocktails are concerned at Pint Sized my biggest influence is speed. Soda gun cocktails and ready-to-drink canned cocktails like High Noon all day at Pint Sized. Our craft beer selection is where our offerings are enhanced. We have really dialed in breweries we love and have weekly orders down to a science at this point as the craft beer market has matured. Selection is always solid, varied and fresh. No need to investigate the can dates at Pint Sized.
Drink trend that should end: I don’t really have anything here. People should be as weird or as normal as they want. No judgments here y’all. Do your thing.
August Rosa. Photo credit: Victoria Sedefian/The Dishing.
The Dishing talks with tastemakers in the hospitality industry + trailblazers at the intersection of food, culture, sound + art. Today we’re with August Rosa, music producer, bar owner and business builder which a passion for getting people off the couch. Let’s get into it.
Hi, August! Thanks for talking to The Dishing. You’re well known on the music scene as a music promoter, former owner of the music venue No Fun in Troy, and owner of the two bars called DIVE in Saratoga and Albany that were originally Pint Sized. You’ve recently returned to the original name. Can you clarify DIVE vs. Pint Sized?
Dive is the company and Pint Sized is the place so the bars are called “Pint Sized”. I recognized a misstep on the rebrand I implemented last year after receiving customer feedback. It’s a good name. I didn’t like it last year. I was wrong.
It took a little bit to feel it out but ultimately I realized I didn’t need to scrap the name to organize my thoughts and projects in one place. Everything I do moving forward falls under Dive. Dive Presents Shows... Dive Presents Pint Sized… Other creative ideas may end up happening and will fall under Dive as well. I like having one channel to push what I am working on.
You sold No Fun music venue in Troy last year, you’re moving Pint Sized Saratoga into Mittler’s Market which will expand your footprint, while booking bands for Lark Hall, Hangar on the Hudson, and No Fun. You told me recently that you’re the happiest you’ve been since 2019. That would seem to span pre- and post- pandemic. Why do you feel so happy now?
It all comes down to work life balance. This has been a year of focus for me. I have trimmed a lot of fat and will continue to refine what I do. If something is annoying or doesn’t make sense I will scrap it. Right now we have two hyper focused bars that operate with a manageable amount of hours on the backend. On the music side of things with promotion I have scaled back my obligations by 70% - 80% easily.
How would you describe the last 5 years in 5 words?
Nonsense, Curveball, Pivot, Persevere, Growth.
What sort of music are you aiming to bring to the Capital Region and what are some of the challenges?
My bookings lean psychedelic. I am only interested in music that is challenging that can bring someone to a different place. I personally like loud stuff but it doesn’t have to always be that. A quick glance at our current list of events will show the range of stuff we are interested in. Another focus of mine is bringing in international acts whenever I can.
August Rosa of DIVE Presents Pint Sized in Saratoga Springs. Photo: Victoria Sedefian/The Dishing
You’re a father of three but still make time to get out to play live on occasion with Sun Natives, a local band you were already a fan of. You were also in a band called the Aficionado with college friends including James Kehoe, a familiar local musician and former owner of Whiskey Pickle who you grew up with in Cornwall, N.Y., and Nick Warchol of Herbie’s Burgers / Larkin HiFI whom you met at the College of St. Rose. (I know you did the whole van tour right of passage!) How do you balance work with fatherhood and can you see yourself ever getting the band back together?
On the work side of things I have scaled back my interests to the ones that are most manageable for where I am in my life. Family is first. I am not a typical business owner and far from a workaholic. My ethic is the path of least resistance. If I can achieve a similar result with less effort I will always go that route. That less is more mentality has always worked for me.
Playing in Sun Natives has been great for true creative time. It’s been nice to carve more time for music as a creative outlet. I love promoting shows but that is absolutely work. The band stuff is fun - beers, psychedelic projections & loud sound. It’s a nice thing to look forward to every week. Next show we have is August 4 at Super Dark Monday at Desperate Annies. Pull up!
You worked in marketing for Mass MoCA and the Albany BID before opening Brew in Albany in 2014 (later renamed Pint Sized), Pint Sized in Saratoga in 2017, and founding Pǒst Wine Bar on Lark Street in 2019. You later left LoFi, opened No Fun as an event venue and sold it last year. What’s your favorite part about opening new ventures and how do you know when to walk away?
Great question! Something that has worked for me is pacing growth. It’s been really fun building everything up to where it is today. We started with just retail sales in the early boom of the craft beer movement. That evolved into a bar business. The bar business continues to evolve based on consumer trends. I always embrace change. People tend to be concerned about change. Any period of change in my life has always been the periods that have excited me the most.
Regarding when to walk away from a project you really need to trust your gut and you will know when a change needs to be made. It just clicks. Small business ownership is stressful and hard work but it shouldn’t make you depressed or miserable. There is no point in doing it if that is how you are vibing. You can quit anything at any time for any reason - can feel weird at first but the universe has a way of sorting itself out.
As you look at the post-pandemic nightlife in Albany, Saratoga and the 518 in general, what would you say is missing?
I think a lot of folks are neglecting the importance of analogue experiences. It’s like cool or something to be lame now! People need to stop that. I think people should remove as much stuff as possible off their devices that craves attention. Go out in the real world, see who you bump into… analogue world stuff. Even group texts. I am about to exit all of the ones I am currently in. If people want to chill or contact me they are going to have to see me at the coffee shop or bar pretty soon.
How should a new mayor help a capital city like Albany? Do you have high hopes for the money Governor Hochul has recently earmarked for revitalization?
I really have become incredibly fatigued on politics. I truly don’t care at this point. The only advice to whoever becomes mayor is to get rid of all unnecessary rules and embrace controlled chaos. Quick example… I had placed some permits for some block parties to try and bring some vibrancy to Lark Street this year and the city said the live music events I was hoping to throw would put people in danger. So dumb. I think when it comes down to it they perceive more stuff as more work and want to avoid that. But honestly they don’t really need to do anything other than get out of the way. Trust people's ideas and just let them happen. It seems to be what every other city up here does. This can be achieved by having less rules and chilling out. We need a fun mayor.
August Rosa enjoying a cold one outside of Pint Sized in Saratoga. Photo: Victoria Sedefian/The Dishing
You have a knack for building places for community and connections. Can you imagine taking a run for local office?
Hard pass, [laughs.] Unless people are ready to embrace anarchy. I have no interest in politics.
OK, let’s get to know some of your own tastes. When out of town friends come to visit, what would be 3 favorite places in the Capital Region or Hudson Valley where you’d take them for breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Breakfast Sweet Mimi’s. Lunch Kuma Ani. Dinner Hamlet & Ghost or Familiar Creature.
Imagine you have a day or weekend off, reservations and costs aren’t an issue and you can get in anywhere. How would your day or night unfold?
Someone gives me a reasonable budget of $10,000 - $15,000 and we throw an obvious event that should happen every year called LarkFest with an open container permit. People are stoked and get hammered in the street and have a great time. Five people complain about the event. Ninety nine thousand nine hundred ninety five people are hyped about it. The event becomes an annual thing again.
Your tagline for DIVE Presents… is “Go out to bars!” Likewise, The Dishing is on a mission to get people out to restaurants or whole nights out. Given the post-pandemic shift in dining/nightlife trends, what do you see as the future for the hospitality and nightlife industry?
I am trying to look at all the positives. This year I am seeing a significant increase in the younger generation coming out to the bars which I am cautiously optimistic about. There are certain things that can’t change. Happy Hour just isn’t what it used to be due to work at home shift. It pushed everything later. I think bar operators are just going to have to get used to later hours especially on the weekends.
August Rosa outside Pint Sized in Saratoga. Photo: Victoria Sedefian/The Dishing
I know you played Valentine’s back in the day, one of the area’s busiest live music venues on New Scotland Ave. When would you say that Albany had peak nightlife from late night bars, dance clubs and live music venues?
Albany was so unbelievably sick when I was in undergrad 2004 - 2008. Pearl Street was wild with packed clubs lining the block. Lark Street was the place to be and didn’t have to compete as much with surrounding towns. I believe the kegs and eggs fiasco of 2011 was a turning point for the weird little war on culture that has slowly dulled Albany’s nightlife the past ten years be it cabaret permitting or neglecting legacy events.
If you didn’t have your current job, what would you probably be doing?
Probably changing jobs every two years. Preemptively resigning marketing jobs to salvage references and maintain a decent LinkedIn profile. I started a business kind of out of necessity. That being said, having run small businesses for over a decade I believe I would now be a great worker should all this stuff completely fail at some point.
Lastly, what are some of the bands you’ve booked this summer and where can people find out more?
Some shows that are tracking to potentially sell out that people should buy NOW include Pile, Nnamdï & Prize (Hangar 8/22), Tropical Fuck Storm (Hangar 9/30), Frankie & The Witch Fingers, Population II & Sun Natives (Lark Hall 10/11), Ezra Furman & The Golden Dregs (10/22 No Fun) & Jonathan Richman (10/23 Lark Hall). GO TO SHOWS!
Awesome, August! Thanks so much for talking to The Dishing and I hope we’ll be able to collaborate soon. — SDP