Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Saturday October 12, 2024 - Salt Lake City, UT

Road Blog
October 12, 2024
Salt Lake City, Utah

I left the Rugged Mountain Inn with a half cup of luke-warm coffee and cranked The Peawees new album as I headed southeast towards Utah. I stopped at an overlook about 20 minutes out of Pendleton that faced west over a vast expanse of open plains. I wound up and down that mountain and back onto the high desert and put on The Pure Prairie League’s Greatest Hits. I was singing my fav tune “Aimee” with Diana in Portland the other night and it’s been stuck in my head. I need to get Tommy and The Wild Honey Collective to learn that tune with me.

Turns out you burn a lot of gas when the speed limit is 80 and the cruise is set at 86/87 and you’re zig-zagging up and down and around mountains. Seems to be a small tank on this rental too, so I stopped at the greatest truck-stop chain of them all – Love's – for a fill up and some hot coffee. I was able to listen to the entire Tigers game on SiriusXM, and while it wasn’t the end we wanted, it was a hell of a run, so not too bummed about it.

First stop in Salt Lake City was the Guitar Center, where dudes were thwack thwacking on electronic drums and playing Pantera riffs poorly on shitty, pointy guitars through terrible sounding amps. I got what I needed and got the hell out of there as fast as I could. Back at the motel I had some downtime so I practiced some guitar and called TrooperGirl22 back home. She’s holding her own, making sure the bunnies and opossums have their apples and the basil plant is inside when a thunderstorm is coming.

I headed a couple miles north into the city and checked out the Center City neighborhood. It’s a couple blocks of boutique shops, restaurants, and other businesses. I did a little window shopping and bought a patch with a raccoon on it that says “Eat Shit and Die.” At first I was all “nah, I don’t need that” but I kept going back to it and now it is mine. It’s pretty sweet.

From there I went to the Tailgate Tavern and loaded in my gear. It’s a cool dive bar on a busy-traffic main strip, with concrete floors, billiards in back, and a long bar along the north side. I said hello to the bartenders and got the lay of the land, had a delicious pulled-pork sandwich, and set up. One of the bartenders lived in Ishpeming for a summer a few years back and we talked about the UP for a while. Crazy how often that kind of thing happens. It took a few minutes to figure out the house PA but I managed. It felt good to be in a dive bar again after a nice wine bar and brewpub the previous two nights.

I went on at 9:30, exactly one and a half minutes after gleefully watching OSU lose to Oregon on my phone. The crowd was thin, mostly hanging back and playing pool, but there were a few faithful up front, paying attention and enjoying the music. As the night went on people came and went, and most dropped a few bucks in the tip jar on their way. One dude asked me if I knew this Eagles tune or that Eagles tune and I told him I kinda honestly wished I did but I do mostly my own tunes and he was all “but you just did a set of all covers!” and I was all “dude there were 20 songs and 3 were covers…and they were obscure so you don’t even know them anyway.” anyhow, he was cool, and he’s got big plans for me so I hope we can meet up again someday.

After a couple sets the crowd was thinning out and I wrapped up the live entertainment portion of the evening. I tipped the bar staff and made my exit down State Street and back to my motel. A bit wired up from the show still, and knowing tomorrow is going to be hectic, I set to restringing and replacing the battery in my guitar while watching an episode of Diff’rent Strokes. It was awesome. It was the one where Mrs. Garrett had a hangover (I missed whatever led to that) and Mr. Drummond wasn’t impressed, and they had words so she decided to quit, and Willis went on camping trip and there were thunderstorms and they got lost, but he was ok, then he came home and it was pretty clear that this family couldn’t possibly exist without Mrs. Garrett so she decided to stay and starting barking orders like the good ‘ol days as the credits rolled.

Today I am up and at `em before dawn with little sleep and off early for the long drive to Denver where tonight I’m at the Lion's Lair for a taping of the “Laxin’ at the Lair” podcast. It starts at 6:30. There will be some talking and a whole set of music, and I think it’s free, and it’s def early, so come on out you Colorado people, and spread the word! Xx