Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Friday October 14, 2022 - Catonsville, MD

Road Blog
Catonsville, MD
October 14, 2022

We fueled up and I took over driving duties shortly after we crossed into Pennsylvania. Jacob played some BIG SHOALS and I countered with Aerosmith’s Draw the Line before Gabriel played the ragtime soundtrack for the Crumb documentary . The sky was blue and the landscapes of bursting fall colors of the Allegheny Mountains around every turn were amazing. It was a beautiful drive and spirits were high. As we hit the greater Baltimore area we ran into our first real traffic of the tour so far and we crawled to our AIrBB in what appears to be a nice, wooded, northern suburb. It’s a basement apartment with one bedroom and a small bed and a pullout sofa in the main room. There’s a microwave and a nice, modern bathroom, but it’s otherwise pretty bare bones. Our dental-hygienically-challenged host helped us gain entry with the key code that was neither what was sent to us of what she’d originally hollered at us from the window above.

We quickly changed our clothes and freshened up a little, but it had been a long drive and we had things to do so we jumped back into the van and drove to the venue. Catonsville is a suburb of Baltimore that sits directly west of the city. “Four blocks either way and you’re getting shot” one guy would tell me later in the night, not sure if that’s true or not. State Fare is a rock and roll-themed gastropub with paintings of Eddie Vedder, Flea, David Bowie, Joan Jett, Biggie Smalls, and other rocks stars on the walls. We were playing in giant white tent set up in the parking lot. We checked in with the sound engineer and walked across the street to check out Bill's Music a giant guitar store. The boys were enjoying themselves but I wasn’t feeling it so I headed down a block to Trax on Wax records and had a look around. First thing I saw was a super cool Cheap Trick promo poster from In Color that was hanging near the register (not for sale). I thumbed through a few bins but I was pretty strung out from the drive and just couldn’t focus on shopping so I met up with the boys at El Guapo, a Mexican restaurant between the two stores.

We were starving. My care tacos came out hot enough but they looked a little dry, so I put a strip of the hot sauce on the table across one and dug in. Holy hell what was I thinking? My eyes watered up and my mouth was on fire for the next 20 minutes. I can handle some heat but JFC. Food was decent, service was good, and I switched to the verde sauce for my other taco.

We set up our gear on stage back in the tent at State Fare. We were providing drums and bass rig for the opening bad The Silverites, which is something we like to do when we can. It makes everything easier – from the other band not having to haul as much gear, to the sound engineer not having to mic up multiple kits and rigs, to us being able to get on stage easier and quicker. The Silverites guys meandered in one by one we met them all – super nice dudes who were excited to play. My pal Stephen showed up. He’d introduced me to Joseph from The Silverites and that was the catalyst for getting the show booked. Steve played in a band called Braddock Station Garrison from DC who we played with in Philly a few years back (it was a great show, but a debacle too, no fault of any of the bands involved). Anyhow, it was great to see him and his lovely wife again. Then I got to meet JCE, one of my colleagues from Pencil Storm, who was there with his lovely wife Janet. They made the drive up from Culpepper, Virginia, which is amazing, and it was really nice to put a face to the name I’ve seen on so many great Pencil Storm articles.

The Silverites played from 8 to 9pm to a great crowd that was there to take in some original music. They were fantastic – great harmonies and playing, and really great songs. One dude has history in Toledo so he’s spent a lot of time in Michigan, and they had a song about how Lake Saint Clair should be one of the great lakes. Clever lyrics, and it was cool to hear a song about back home. Not sure where I stand on that issue – but I know it’s come up as a topic before. They also did a cover of “Our Lips are Sealed” by The Go-Gos, which was kinda odd since Beauty and the Beat was the record I played when we left home on Thursday.

We went on at 9:30 and played until 11pm. The crowd pretty much stuck around and there were some new faces popping in and we had a great room. The sound was fantastic, and we played way better than we did in Cleveland on Thursday. Well, the boys were fine in Cleveland, but I did better anyway. We had a blast up there, and the only real issue was that it was a bit brisk, which made keeping the guitars in tune a bit challenging. We wrapped up our set, sold some merch, said our goodbyes to the people who had drives back south, and loaded out. My first ever show in Maryland was a gas!

The promoter of the show, John, invited us to meet up with some of their gang at the bar up the street so we meandered over there to Iamps – Jennings Cafe - where a good portion of the audience was partying heavily. We were immediately informed that our money was no good there and had drinks in hand and a lot of great conversation. We met some great people, got a lot of fantastic feedback, and had a blast at what was essentially the after-party for the show. This is what a Friday night should be like!

Back at the AirBB we scarfed down our Mexican leftovers and crashed out around 2am. That was a fantastic night, and we’re already talking about coming back. Great band we played with, great people running the show and in attendance, and super fun times afterwards too. Thank you Silverites and Sunrider9 Productions and Catonsville!

The boys are sleeping and I’m contemplating heading out for a walk or a run. It’s supposed to be another beautiful day, a bit warmer, and from what I heard last night, the Shenandoah Valley will be beautiful as drive to the Roanoke area to play at the Olde Salem Brewing Company in Salem tonight. Feeling great and glad to be alive. xx