Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Friday October 18, 2019 - Sommerset, KY

Road Blog October 18, 2019 Somerset, Kentucky We left Birmingham around 10 am and Bob drove the 5 ½ hours to Nancy, Kentucky. Morale was low after the bummer show in Birmingham, but we were rocking out to this and that, it was a beautiful day, and we trudged ahead. We passed through Huntsville, Alabama, the home of NASA, Nashville, where we stopped for lunch and a way overdue pee break, then into Kentucky and Bowling Green, the home of the National Corvette Museum with the sinkhole in the middle that still has a car in it. We turned east south of Louisville, pulled into Nancy, down a winding country road past car graveyards and sprawling cow pastures, to our Airbnb. We’re staying in a nice little ranch on a small horse farm at the end of a long, winding road. It’s quiet, peaceful and beautiful. We had a couple hours of downtime, much needed, so we just kinda locked ourselves in our separate bedrooms and called home, dozed off, read a bit, or whatever. I went for a walk and saw a couple deer in the field next to the house, said hi to the horses – Belle, Alley, and Gent, took a photo of the amazing sunset, and got ready for the show. We had dinner at a Mexican called El Charro Authentic Mexican Cuisine , suggested by Chris Hosner. The enchiladas were great! From there we headed over to Jarfly Brewing Company for the show. The streets of downtown Somerset were closed off for a Fall Festival they are having today, but we drove around them, parked right out front, and went in to say hi to our friends. Chris and Leila Ann Coppala – 2/3s of the Vibrolas – are wonderful people we’ve known for a few years now through some shows up in Lexington. We’ve had them up to Michigan and we’ve played their once-annual summer party Fun Ranch a couple times. I last saw them in April when I came down for their former drummer Andy’s last show at Jarfly. It was great to get caught up and see their smiles again. We loaded in, got set up and went on around 9:30 to a pretty good crowd. Jarfly is a smaller place, a concrete square room. There’s no stage, but a spot next to the stairs where the bands play. It seems like the kind of place you keep the volume low and try not to scare people, but these people came to rock and, while we weren’t going full blast, we didn’t have to play like mice either. We played ok, got a great response, and had a lot of fun. We tore down and the Vibrolas went on next. I love that band. They have the grooves, the power, the sexuality, the humor, the riffs, the songs. So great. Their new drummer Benyamin Zimmerman is fitting in great, and he’s a good dude. We watched their set with big smiles and had a blast. After the show we had a couple more rounds, took some photos, loaded out, and headed back to the farm. Back at the AirBnB we finished off the George Dickel Rye we bought in Memphis and crashed out somewhere north of 2am. This morning I got up and thought I’d do the boys, who were still sleeping, a solid so I jumped in the van and headed into town to get some coffee. I landed at a local place called Baxter's Coffee. The drive-through was 6 deep so I went inside where I was second in line. The older couple in front of me hemmed and hawed their way back and forth between the cinnamon-raisin and the blueberry bagel, settling on the later eventually, toasted, with cream cheese. The kid was doing his best, but there was some issue with the circuit breaker and he seemed sure that continuing to engage the toaster was going to fix it. It wasn’t. After several minutes of that, the couple took their Amex Platinum card and walked out the door empty handed. I exchanged a frustrated but patient smile with the woman behind me. I ordered three large black coffees to go. The kid said “OK two coffees…” and I said, “nope, that’s three please buddy.” “uh ok sorry” he said as he added a third cup to the stack. I paid, dropped a couple bucks in the tip jar, because he seemed like a good kid just trying to get by, and it wasn't his fault the old couple bailed, and stepped aside and waited. A couple minutes later they gave me my TWO coffees and all seemed pretty sure I’d only ordered two. The woman behind me, witness to the entire debacle rolled her eyes. “Uh I only charged you for two” the kid said. As I was reaching for my wallet to give them any amount they wanted to put an end to this fiasco, the other dude just muttered “Here, I’ll pay for it” and gave my third coffee. “Thanks man” I said, as I walked out, knowing that I’ll never get that 20 minutes of my life back. Not that big of a deal in the grand scheme, these are first world problems. Poor old punk rocker had to wait a few minutes for his coffee, waaaaaahhhhh. They were really busy, they were all working hard, and the coffee is truly damn good. We’ll give `er another go next time Baxter’s. Xo. By the time I got back the boys were stirring, happy to see their large black Baxter’s coffees. I went for run around the farm, down a dead-end cul de sec of newer construction, back up the other direction by some older farms. Bob was out for a walk, taking in the crisp Kentucky morning air, and Gabriel was out by the van, being adored by a darling, big but slightly skittish pit bull who just didn’t want to leave his side. She ran out to greet me, we had a moment, then she had had one with Bob, and now she’s out on the porch giving us sad puppy eyes, wishing she could come in for some more scratches. It’s been a great time in Kentucky – from the great dinner to the show and hangs with the Vibrolas, to this awesome farm we’ve called home for the last 18 hours, to the horses, cows, deer and dog and even Baxter’s Coffee, adding to the story. The sour taste of the Birmingham show has been largely washed away and we’re off to Charleston, West Virginia now to wrap up this tour in grand style at The Empty Glass with the Whiskey Daredevils. Can’t wait!!!