Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Thursday November 16, 2023 - Dayton, OH

Road Blog
November 16, 2023
Dayton, Ohio

Jacob and I met Gabriel at his place and headed south down I-75 from Detroit. I kicked things off with Elvis – Live at the Las Vegas Hilton 1972. Jake played Siouxsie And The Banshees and Gabe played The Low and Sweet Orchestra. The ride was mostly uneventful. We’re a bit wiped out from all the road work this fall and making up for lost social and home life time since our last run so there wasn’t a whole lot of chatter.

Our AirBnB in Dayton is one we’ve stayed at three times now. A great spot right on the Miami River with a spectacular view of the Dayton skyline. It was approaching 70f when we got to town, and while it’s not going to last, it was nice to get one last breath of summer. I took a quick walk up to the riverbank to grab a spot where I met a nice older lady and her dog Gizmo. She was friendly enough, but Gizmo made it clear that he didn’t like me one bit. She got him outta there before some shit went down.

We pulled up to the South Park Tavern and loaded in around 7pm. We’d played there before, in 2015, and didn’t have a great show, but we were hoping for something better this time around. We said hello to Nate Wainscott, who was opening the show, and Daniel M. Griffin- Magdalena's Brown Bag, who were headlining. SPT is a pizza joint by day and we had a great pie and some yummy Bavarian style pretzels with a pint while we waited and set up our gear.

The venue was beer and wine only, and I was lookin’ for something to take the edge off, so I walked both directions up the avenue for about ½ mile each way. I called TrooperGirl22 back home and checked in, then finally stumbled into a place called the Silver Slipper. It’s a bit of a hipster joint, where drinks take a bit longer but come out looking like works of art, but it was dark and quiet and served my purpose more than adequately. I gulped down an Old Forrester 101 rye as Gabe was texting me that it was time to get back.

Up first was Nate Wainscott, playing a short solo-acoustic set. He plays in a band called Turboslacker and has a big voice and some great songs. He also did a cover of Waylon Jennings’ “Waymore Blues” which was unexpected and very cool. We played second to a decent-enough and appreciative room. We haven’t practiced much since we got home from the deep south a few weeks ago but it didn’t really feel like it. The new songs don’t feel new anymore and the old songs are like comfortable shoes.

After us was Magdalena’s Brown Bag. These guys were psychedelic rock in the vein of Pink Floyd, Donovan, or Black Sabbath at their most trippy. They had an effect on their vocals, great guitar tones, and great, jammy arrangements. It was definitely a fun departure from the types of bands we usually play love (and also love, of course).

We said goodbye to our Dayton pal Gretta, who we always hang with in town, tipped out the bar staff, loaded out, and drove back to the AirBB. I fired up the space heater in my room until it was as hot as Hades and crashed out around 2am, waking up every 5 minutes in a sauna, basically, `til turned the heater down.

This morning I’m up and at `em. I just made a pot of coffee that’s strong enough to wake the dead. We’re going to hit our fav breakfast joint the Hasty Tasty Pancake House on our way out, and hopefully hit Knoxville in time to visit my fav record store there Lost And Found Records. Thanks for a good start to this run, Dayton. We’ll see ya` again for sure!

See ya tonight in Knoxville. We’re at Scruffy City Hall from 8-11, playing before Wasted Major. Xx