Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Saturday October 14, 2023 - Fort Worth, TX

Road Blog
October 14, 2023
Fort Worth, Texas

We started our day off at the IHOP in North Little Rock, AR, Arkansas, around the corner from our motel. If you know me, you know that I’ve never had a bad meal at an iHop. I got my usual, Eggs Benedict, resisting the urge to get something more aggressive that might wreak havoc on my already aggravated bowels. Gabriel got the same but the version that came with spinach and stuff. Both were awesome, but the poached eggs were overdone and there was no liquid yoke, so we were both disappointed. I won’t go so far as to say it was `bad,` but they need to do better. The struggle is real, I assure you.

Jacob drove us south, across the Arkansas river, through Little Rock, and towards Texarcana and the Texas border. Other than some construction it wasn’t a terrible drive until we hit Dallas traffic. We stopped in Fate, Texas, where, as fate would have it, I was destined to get a Sonic Blast milkshake, Recess Peanut Butter Cup flavor. `Cuz that’s what a dude with antibiotic-triggered digestive issues needs to calm things down. We cranked out The Lyres, Whiskeytown, Coffin Break, Porcupine Tree, G. Love & Special Sauce, and more. As we neared our dive motel I blared “Rock Soldiers” by Ace Frehley because Jake’s never heard it and he’s a Rock Soldier, so he needed to. He LOLd into the motel parking lot.

The front desk clerk at this dump tried his best, but what a nightmare. We had some sort of addict derelict try to get into our room and some sort of conflict around the number of beds and then this room was meant for that other guest and I have to charge you for another deposit but I’ll refund that one and this whole debacle. We’ll just see what gets charged and what gets refunded pal. This ain’t The Ritz, so we gotta roll with it to some extent, but JFC. We had grandiose plans to get some Tex Mex at this joint that’s 3rd generation owned and been around for 100 years but it was pretty clear we didn’t have time so we found a random restaurant near our motel called the Mexican Inn Cafe that’s at least been around 90 years. I got a combo and a mango margarita and it was really great. I ate too much, too fast, but after the roll we’ve been on and my digestive challenges we needed the energy.

We drove through Fort Worth and if I’m being honest, from what I saw, it’s a city that’s been hit pretty hard. And we’re from the Detroit area! No worries, just an observation. We pulled into Lola's, met the sound engineer, and unloaded our gear behind the outdoor stage out back. Our plans, Austin’s Bottlecap Mountain, pulled up and we quickly fell right back in to where we were when we played with them back in Michigan in March. Great people, lots of road war stories to share, and it was just great to see some familiar faces. They were coming to Fort Worth off a gig in Denton on Friday and their drummer Ray was unable to make the trip. I offered up Gabriel and they accepted, with Gabe’s trepidatious blessing of course. He spent the better part of the drive through Illinois, Arkansas, and Texas in the back of the van listening to and charting out the songs that they’d picked. He’s always up for a challenge.

Bottlecap Mountain went on right around 8pm as the night settled in and people started to congregate a bit out back. It was a pretty brisk 60f outside, and this Yankee was a bit chilly, but none of the Texan’s were complaining after months of 110f summer heat. They did a few songs as a drummer-less trio then Gabe came out did another 6 with them. He killed it; nailed their set, and they sounded fantastic. We played second to an ok crowd – not packed like we’d like on a Saturday night, but certainly enough people watching to make it fun. We played way better than we did in North Little Rock, which was good, and had a good time up there.

By the time we were done there was a pretty respectable crowd. Locals Broke String Burnett and his band went up and did about an hour of original Texas country with a bit of a rock edge. His songs are fantastic and lean a bit on the 70’s outlaw country scene, which is right up my alley. His band was super solid and we really enjoyed the set. Great people too – we had a few minutes to talk busines and music and some other stuff before we loaded out and headed back to the dive motel. Lola’s is a cool place and it was great to get caught up with the Bottlecaps and see Broke Burnett play. Not a bad night at all.

Today is, again, action packed. We’re driving to San Antonio for a 5pm show, with a stop in Austin to borrow a couple PA speakers along the way. We’ve heard nothing but good things about Alamo Beer Company, so we’re excited about it, but we’ve also been basically running for three days straight without a moment of downtime, so were a little fried. After today things slow down for a moment, so we’ll be able to catch our breath, but it’s rock and roll, so let’s do it. See ya this afternoon San Antonio! xx