Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Friday July 07, 2017 - Rochester, NY

Road Blog
Rochester NY – July 7, 2017

Our day started off with lunch at Duff's Famous Wings, a Buffalo wings place that most locals tell us is better than The Anchor, the better known, "original" wings joint the tourists tend to flock to. We ate at the Anchor last time and I thought it was really good, not life changing, but really good. Duff's didn't quite measure up in my book, though it wasn't bad, and I actually liked the restaurant a little better. Gabe preferred it to The Anchor, and Patty was indifferent, preferring his chicken off the bone. From there we hit a couple record stores - The Record Theatre and Revolver Records – before heading east on I90 towards Rochester.

We checked into our hotel just after 3pm. The Homewood Suites by Hilton Rochester-Henrietta is a really nice place. Pat and I shared a suite with a separate bedroom, pull-out couch, and a kitchenette. It was a spacious, comfortable, clean room. We quickly settled in for a few hours of downtime. I broke a string in Buffalo on Thursday (that's 3 shows in a row, after a year of breaking none on stage) so I had to tend to that while Patty went and worked out for a bit. Gabe relaxed and we all got in some good chill time. We headed into the city around 7 and stopped at the Record Archive, a massive record store, novelty shop, and music venue. Patty left with a stack of vinyl and I got the new Steve Earle and a clean $3 copy of Bat Out of Hell.

We loaded into the ButaPub and sat down for some dinner. The menu was Asian-themed, with a twist, and it was hard to choose. Patty doesn't like it when I go on about the food we eat, but I got the Korean fried chicken, and holy crap it was amazing. A half chicken with a spicy, sweet, pepper sauce, served piping hot, with kimchi and mac and cheese. So much for eating healthy. We all loved the food. We talked to the other bands and I went for a walk around the neighborhood (the "South Wedge") and called home.

Butapub is a basement bar attached to a 1909 German dance hall. The short stage sits off to the side, and there's a bar in the back. There was a big swing dance party upstairs in the hall, and the floor was shaking all night, with patrons dressed in 20s & 30s attire coming and going. It was definitely a hopping joint. The Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company went on just after 10 and played a set of blusey, noisy, jazzy rock. Their drummer was a doppelganger for my good friend and brother of some 30+ years John Burke circa 1991, and I texted him out in LA and sent him a photo. We hit after them to a somewhat thin, but fun crowd who were dancing and hollering along to our set. We probably played a little better in Buffalo, but we had fun and it was steamy and sticky and rowdy good. After us came SuP? – a great name for a band. These were younger dudes who played indie rock with good hooks and energy. They had a bunch of dancers and it was an enjoyable set. We had a nightcap, chatted it up with the staff and bands and loaded out. Back at the hotel I finished off my Korean fried chicken and somewhere just south of 3am it was lights out.

This morning we hit the breakfast buffet and I got in a quick workout before heading over to the The House of Guitars of every shape and size, stacked 3 rows high, in every corner, hanging from the ceiling, and everywhere else. Downstairs is a massive record store with over a million records and CDs. They were, again, stacked in every corner, row, on top of each other, and everything else. We each found a couple records, got a photo with the owner upstairs, and headed out.

We just checked in to our hotel for the night, which is a tiny mom & pop place between Rochester and Ithaca. Options are limited in these parts, and Ithaca is really expensive, so we're saving a few bucks staying off the beaten path. We were met by a pair of tail-less cats, Kevin and Michael, one with an eye missing, and Patty made fast friends with them. We had some food at the local grocery and are now taking care of some business at the hotel before heading down to Ithaca.

Tonight we're playing at The Nines with our old pals Stranded with a Kiss. Looking forward to getting back to Ithaca!