Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Thursday November 13, 2025 - Washington, DC

Road Blog
November 13, 2025
Washington, D.C.

The crüe was moving pretty slow on Thursday morning after the late-night shenanigans in downtown Raleigh on Wednesday night. Our 10:30am departure target came and went as we drank coffee with our host Michael and slowly gathered our things. We were in varying states of pain, with one fella amongst us hurting particularly bad, but we soldiered on, loaded the van, took a couple Polaroid portraits on Michael’s porch, cranked Salt N Pepa , and headed out.

We hit a Sheetz just outside of Raleigh for some breakfast and coffee and I got a made-to-order burrito and it was pretty great. Still not a huge fan of their coffee but I learned in West Virginia last year that it comes out a funny color like it’s full of cream or something then settles back to a deep brown like it should be. Back in the van and heading north, with Kernel at the helm, me shotgun, and the boys in the back.

The drive was uneventful as we listened to Rumours, Unmasked, Fleetwood Mac Live, and Music from The Elder, the next titles in our Fleetwood Mac + KISS discography deep-dive. Not much to say, except Unmasked is a good Ace record and The Elder, which may be the only KISS album I’ve never listened to, is laughably bad. There are a couple redeeming moments, again Ace with a couple songs that are just north of listenable, but just silly and dumb overall.

We headed north through Virginia, Kernel and I pointing out Civil War landmarks and trivias about them, and eventually started hitting DC traffic, which is no joke, I’ll tell ya what. I put on this Vietnamese Soul compilation I had and I think it baffled Jack a bit, but he’s a gamer and he went along with it. I guided Kernel through about 90 minutes of complex expressways, turnpikes, winding roads, and eventually city streets until we arrived at the venue.

Haydee's is a non-venue venue that is a Mexican restaurant that sits just north of the city center in downtown Washington, DC. The promoter had a venue called the Simple Bar that was recently shut down and in an effort to not cancel shows and leave artists without venues, he’s using Haydee’s as an interim venue before his new joint gets off the ground next year. The Tucos played a weird Italian restaurant in Saint Louis over a decade ago, and I’ve certainly played countless bar/grills and breweries with food, but I can’t think of ever playing a genuine, dedicated Mexican restaurant before. Anyhow, ya play the card yer dealt and hey we’re in Washington DC so let’s go.

Don Zientara, our support for the show, met us at the door and greeted us warmly. Don is basically punk-rock royalty; the man behind the console for most of DC (and beyond) / Dischord Records greatest releases from bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Jawbox, Dag Nasty, and so many others. The dude’s resume is insane, and he’s just completely cool, engaging, chill, and friendly, and seemingly happy to be playing a Mexican Restaurant with an unknown group of vagabond gypsies from Michigan.

My pal Steve showed up, who I’ve known for some time now, and it was great to see him, and the drummer for his (previous) band Braddock Station Garrison, Jed. Dang, we forgot to get a photo but it’s always nice to get caught up with those guys. Don had a few friends out too, including one dude wearing an Avail hoodie that I was trading Tim Barry stories with, as he’s a good friend of Tim’s, and The Tucos have played with Tim a couple times.

Don went on at 8 to the small group that had gathered while I scarfed down my enchilada combo plate with one beef/one chicken and a side of rice and beans. It may have been my 4th Mexican meal in a row, not sure. Food was great, staff was nice and attentive, bringing me paper towels when I spilled by Jack rocks and a new fork when I dropped mine on the floor. Anyhow, Don’s songs were sparse and dark, but visual and intense. They’re not what you might expect coming out that dude, but everyone was pretty engaged. He did a Gene Clark song ( Tommy probably knows the name ) and closed with a sort of stripped down and turned-on-it’s-side version of Loverboy’s “Working For the Weekend” that was really great.

We went up around 9PM and did about 70 minutes I guess of our A-list stuff. I stepped off stage for a moment to sell Avail dude a couple records and Nicolas went into “Push It” and the band vamped for a couple minutes while I sealed the deal at the merch table then went back up to resume the set. There weren’t many there, but we were grateful for the dedicated few, and did our best to rip it up. The staff seemed particularly into my mariachi murder ballad “Angelito Bebe” that was especially ripping last night.

We sold a little merch, gulped down a nightcap, chatted it up with the staff and crew, and headed out. While we were loading this kid carrying a Dominoes Pizza box came by and asked if we were a death metal band and of course, yes we are, and next thing he’s got his phone out sharing videos of himself shredding on his pointy purple guitar with us. Dude can really rip and had great energy and positivity, and it was a nice exchange, but the road called and be went our way and he went his, just two lost ships who met briefly on the sidewalk in front of the Mexican restaurant venue and talked about Megadeth for a minute, never to cross paths again. Rock on, my dude. You rule.

Last night and tonight we’re crashing at a friend of Adam’s who lives in a giant farmhouse somewhere between Baltimore and Frederick, Maryland. Once again, the boys gave me the dad room with my own bed. I’ve very grateful for the liberties they’ve allowed me on this run. Sometimes being the old guy is ok. Everyone was wiped out after the long drive and especially spirited version of “Angelito Bebe” so we each crashed out pretty quickly. Big thanks to Don, Haydees, Louis, Steve + those who braved the night with us.

The plan for today is to chill for a bit, get a needed shower in, call Troopergirl22, hopefully visit the goats and turkeys, then head into Baltimore to get the boys some crabs (interpret that at your discretion) and see a couple sights and then play at Micky's Joint with my pals The Starlings. Crazy to think that there’s just 2 shows left of this run and a week ago we woke up in Chattanooga. See ya tonight Baltimore!