Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Sunday November 09, 2025 - Gainesville, FL

Road Blog
November 9, 2025
Gainesville, Florida

Sunday morning came in hot with some last-minute cabin cleaning and departure preparations and an amazing breakfast spread by our hosts Mike and Terri. Their friends John and Raven were there, with their collie Nancy, and Terri’s sister with her dog Mr. Parker, and of course the ambassador Nacho was ever-present, looking for handouts and acting rejected and forlorn when refused. Terri made some AMAZING sausage gravy and biscuits, hash browns, and eggs. We sat on their porch, ate and visited for a good while before it was time to head out. It was bittersweet leaving our amazing hosts and their wonderful property, but new adventures awaited.

We headed south through High Springs in search of a Walmart so Kernel could get a new phone after smashing the shit out of his in the phone compartment in the door of the van, where if you actually put a phone in it and close the door it will get annihilated. Salt N Pepa “Push It” was on spin #40 more or less. In my haste I navigated us to a Walmart distribution center, which ain’t a Walmart, and hung my head in shame, a rookie navigation mistake, but 20 minutes later we were at a proper Walmart where Kernel got a new phone, Jack got a stage fan (his wife commandeered his for a project back home), and Nicholas got some duct tape and super glue for some van repairs. I got a comb (I know, what the hell for?) and some munchies, and we headed into Gainesville.

We had a late check-in at our AirBnB and an early show so we headed to the venue and loaded in, working around piles of luggage and mobile bedding that has morphed into an apocalyptic mess at this point. The Backyard at Boca Fiesta & Palomino is a sort of outdoor bar/venue that sits in a sort of alley between a pool hall and a pub. The stage is at the far end and there’s a bar under an awning on the side. It’s a cool space, and I can see why it’s revered by touring bands and locals. We chatted with the sound engineer David, and I met my contact Warren, who is a great guy, and we loaded in and sound-checked in short time.

After soundcheck we headed over to Harry's Seafood for some dinner, as Jack misses the Florida cuisine now that he’s up in Michigan. They couldn't quite figure out how to get the Lions' game on, but I got the Southern Chicken and grits and it was friggin’ amazing. Not sure it quite beat the shrimp po’ boy I had in High Springs, or the smoked turkey and collard greens sandwich I had in Dayton, but it might have. There’s been some killer food on this run.

Back at the venue we went on around 5:45 to a fairly thin crowd. There was some drama around this show in recent weeks that I won’t get too much into, on the count of not being one to air my dirty laundry, but let's just say it had a cursed vibe to it from early on for sure, and by show time things didn’t look great. As we plowed into our first set, however, some more people came and went and it ended up being a fairly respectable night for a Sunday in a new city. We took a break and played our rowdy second set and left it all up there for sure. The band is really clicking and we’re figuring out what’s working and what isn’t pretty quickly and the sets are getting tighter and looser (in all the right ways) and generally more fun as we gel.

We hung out for a while and sold a little merch and chatted with some locals, including a fella named Chris (see photos) who was quite a character and a lot of fun. I got a good John Doe and Exene Cervenka story, and made some new friends. We loaded out and headed over to Wawa for the second time in 3 nights for some late night grub and AirBB supplies. I had mac and cheese on the brain and was CRUSHED that they were out, so I settled for the meatballs, which I gotta say were pretty righteous.

We found our AirBB in the dark, Tommy and jack helping my incapacitated ass navigate the check-in instructions, and got settled in pretty quick, with WaWa food, nightcaps, TV, and some surgery on Kernel’s new phone, Nicholas and Adam getting him back in business.

Big thanks to Warren and David and everyone at The Backyard for making the best of a mess of a situation in Gainesville last night. It was ultimately better than we’d expected, given those circumstances, and everyone was cool and pro and we’ll be back for sure!

Tonight we’re heading east to play in Jacksonville at Crispy's Jax from 7-10pm. It’s a free show, and my first time back to Jax since the Tucos had a very memorable show there around 2016. Tommy and I are already conspiring to get into some trouble in the sphere of a certain southern rock band from these parts, so stay tuned for that next time. Xx