Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Friday September 20, 2024 - Dayton, OH

Road Blog
September 20, 2024
Dayton, Ohio

My new solo album Dynamite Alley was released yesterday, and I woke to some encouraging and positive messages from friends who were listening to their recently-arrived pre-orders, checking it out on the streaming services, and now ordering it online. The pre-sale went great, and I’m very grateful to all who ordered and are still ordering!

I left my motel room with window stuck open and the loud interstate beneath just shy of 11am and headed over to visit with my pal Colin at @colins coffee (can't tag for some reason) . Colin is the CEO-CFO-CIO-COO and all the “C”s at Pencil Storm (except co-editor in chief, that’s Ricki and me) and also in the great band WATERSHED, who The Tucos will be supporting in Columbus and Hamtramck on the next 2 Saturdays. Colin is a bundle of spirit, energy, and passion about all things rock and roll, coffee, and Ohio, and we share a strong bond over our love of Cheap Trick, among other things. Don’t tell anyone, but he seems to be more objective about Michigan Football than most of his neighbors, but he’s no softy either – he led a band called Dead Schembechlers for years, to the ire of many donning the maze and blue. His new digs at The Daily Growler are really nice and I had a great visit and a fantastic latte before I dropped off a record and headed into the city.

As I was approaching the skyline I noticed a huge plume of smoke, and once downtown there was a faint scent of toxicity in the air. Turns out a huge auto scrapyard had caught fire over night and was spewing poison for going on 12 hours. Yummy. Toxic plume aside, Columbus is a great city for record shopping, and it’s been years since I’ve had the luxury, so I set some time aside to make the rounds. First I stopped into Spoonful Records downtown and had a nice visit with my pal Brett (also in a new, very nice spot!) and picked up a Stray Cats record that’d been on my list for a while and left copies of the latest Tucos record and my new one Dynamite Alley. We had a nice chat and I complemented and congratulated him on his new store; really nice – great selection, super clean, and friendly people.

From there I went up to the North High Street neighborhood and hit Lost Weekend Records. I was hoping Scott would be working so we could say hello, but I was happy to have a great chat with owner and super-music-geek Kyle and we talked about all things Columbus, Lost Weekend, Watershed, local venues, and records. I picked up a rare, sealed copy of a The Meices record and told Kyle how excited I am to be playing a show with my pal Joe in Seattle in a couple weeks! They’re now carrying Dynamite Alley as well, so stop on in, support these great stores, and pick up my records so they’ll continue to sell them!

With an mega-full bladder and my crappy motel powdered eggs now completely digested, it was time for a late breakfast/lunch so I headed over to my favorite breakfast joint ever The Starliner Diner in the suburb of Hilliard. This place rules and it’s always great, so I try to eat there whenever possible. I got the Starliner Burrito and a side of plantains (in addition to, not instead of the home fries) and it did not disappoint. See ya next week after the Tucos show SD!

My Columbus checklist was now complete and it was time to head west. By now temps were in the mid-90s and I had the food-coma-sweats from my massive feast, but I somehow found the strength and courage to forge on, down I-70 towards Dayton. I stopped in a cool little town called Yellow Springs (known for a mega-famous comedian resident) where there’s a little upstairs record store called Toxic Beauty Records. I almost pulled the trigger on a Souther-Hillman-Furay Band LP, especially in light of the recent passing of JD Souther, but I wasn’t too familiar with it and passed. Listening to some of it now online, and seems like something I should’ve probably jumped on. Dang.

From there I made a quick shop at Sheetz for some gas and a slushee and the nice lady helped me get signed up for the Sheetz Points Club, which seemed fun and like a good idea given that they are coming to Michigan and a frequent stop whenever on tour. It was a short 20 minutes to Dayton where I bopped around the Oregon District for a bit then found a shady spot by the river to get caught up on internet business, call TrooperGirl22, and change into show clothes.

I loaded into the South Park Tavern around 7:45 and ran into my pal and touring partner this weekend Brian Lisik. I was informed by my pal Henry out east somewhere that my album was still showing as Pre-Order on Bandcamp so I had to fire up the ol’ laptop and remedy that (thanks for the heads up bud!). We said hello to Nick Kizirnis and Kyleen Downes who were also playing, ordered some pizzas, and got set up.

Brian went on at 9pm to a pretty respectable and responsive crowd that really dug his set. I went on after and the room sorta thinned out as the night went on, but there were enough people to keep it fun and they were all very engaged, which allows for some quieter material I can’t play in front of more conversational audiences. Nick and Kyleen played after me, swapping out acoustics and Gibson SGs throughout the set and playing each other’s songs. Great synergy and chemistry, great songs, and great playing. Pretty sure I’ll be running into them again!

My pal, U of D DJ Art was there, digging the live music, supporting the artists, and spreading his positive vibes and energy as he always does. We had a great chat and it’s always a pleasure and a good hang!

I packed up and loaded out, fired up Karen Jacobsen - The GPS Girl and pointed the truck northward on I-75 towards Detroit. I passed Needmore avenue, and sent a shot to my pal Lenny, whose new band is called The Needmores, and are playing with me at my record release show tonight in Ypsilanti. I stayed away thanks to a steady intake of gummy bears (purchased at Sheetz), Faygo soda, and CRANKED albums by Aerosmith, Lydia Loveless, and Jason isbell. I got home at 3:15am and crashed out just shy of 4am. Late night, but worth it to sleep in my own tomb for a few hours. Today will be shipping out orders, packing up gear, and heading into Ypsi for the show.

Big thanks to Grant, Brian. Nick, Kyleen and everyone else at the South Park Tavern for a fun night! Dayton is always a good time. We’ll see ya next time!

Tonight we wrap it up with a one-off performance by The Jeremy Porter Band and friends at Ziggy's in Ypsilanti for my Record Release Show! Brian Lisik and The Needmores open. Doors at 7, music at 8. It will be one for the ages. Thanks for reading. More in October from the west coast xx