Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Thursday May 14, 2026 - Buffalo, NY

Road Blog
May 14, 2026
Buffalo, NY

Jacob and I met at the house at noon, loaded up the last of our luggage, and headed into the city to grab Troy. We met behind the Renaissance Center (or whatever it’s called these days), grabbed a quick photo, and hit the tunnel to Canada. Customs into Canada was a breeze with no cars in line and an indifferent agent who wasn’t up for searching our over-packed van. For the next four hours we drove through Ontario listening to The Avengers, Aerosmith, and a shuffle of Tom Waits, Justin Townes Earle, The Junk Monkeys, and early Goo Goo Dolls. The ride was mostly uneventful, and the time passed fairly quickly.

Around 4:30PM we crossed the Niagara River back into the USA with the Niagara Falls to our direct right. The line to get through customs was long and slow, with only two lanes open. Eventually we got up to the agent, who was even more indifferent than the guy in Windsor, and we were on our way. After a couple wrong turns through Niagara Falls, New York (maybe not the nicest destination you’d pick for a family vacation), we checked into our dive motel and had little time to relax, as we were already late for load-in. Accommodations were difficult to come by, not sure why exactly, but an audience for our show would prove equally elusive a few hours later.

We gassed up near the motel and headed south into Buffalo, over a series of bridges, rivers and waterways. It felt good to be back in Buffalo again, for my sixth show there. We loaded into The Cave, which is behind The Sportsmens Tavern, a great room I played last year, almost to the day. I said hello to the owner and friend Jason, and we met the salty sound engineer who would put a nice cap on the night a few hours later. After a couple drinks and burgers, the show was under way and my pal Eric Weinholtz and his trio (Nelson and Sean) hit the stage for an hour-plus of great covers and originals. These guys were locked in with great feel, sounds, musicianship, and interaction, and we knew it would be a tough act to follow. Super great set and we can’t wait to watch them play again on Saturday. My fav moment was probably their version of “Wichita Lineman,” as Eric and I were bonding over Jimmy Webb/ Glen Campbell in the weeks preceding the how.

We went up next to what we’ll call a thin crowd, if we’re being generous. The Sabres were playing the Habs in game 5 of the NHL playoffs and the entire city was locked into their TVs (or at the game) and not going to see some aging punk rockers from Detroit. Not sure if it was the turnout (we certainly never intentionally phone it in, even in the worst circumstances), the drive, the lack of any downtime, or what, but we just couldn’t find our bearings up there. Our attempt to match Eric’s Jimmy Webb cover with our version of “Galveston” fell short of adequate, and we wrapped up the set with our tails between our legs. We each admitted that we weren’t at our individual or collective bests, and hung out with the trio and other patrons for a few. I met an acquaintance Neal for the first time in person, a common friend of Woody's and mine, and we joked about Woody’s militant vegan ways, and I assured him I give Woody a regular and relentless steam of grief about it.

As we started loading out, the salty sound engineer proclaimed “Well, I’ve worked many shows, and I can say without any hesitation that this was one of them.” Leaving little room for interpretation about his feelings. To his credit, the one saving aspect of our performance was that it sounded amazing, so cheers dude, and thanks for the good work!

I had a nice chat with Jason while the boys loaded the van (new van/new gear) and continue to improve the Tetris needed for maximum efficiency of space usage. He’s the best guy and despite the poor turnout and show, he was not agitated, at least visually. Sometimes ya win, sometimes ya don’t. It’s refreshing to know people like him, and to feel like we’re all in this together, on the good nights and bad.

On the way out of town we hit a liquor store for some motel cocktails. Troy got some canned margaritas and I got a pint of some brown liquor. A big fluffy skunk ran in front of us as we were barreling through a neighborhood and Troy said it was the first skunk he’d ever seen in the wild, which I thought was really surprising from someone who’s lived in the Midwest all his life.

Back at the motel we got into some Family Guy, Jake dressed up his roll-away cot, and we crashed out somewhere around 1am. I tossed and turned most of the night, getting a couple hours of shitty sleep, which is the norm, and was up and at `em at 7am, with some lobby coffee and a toasted bagel with peanut butter to start the day.

We’re hoping it warms up a bit, but we’re glad the sun is already out, and maybe we’ll be tourists and hit the falls today. We’ve been warned to not explore this city too deeply lest we may encounter some misfortune, and that’s the last thing we’re after.

Tonight we’re at Hawley’s Grove in Lockport, not far from here. We hear it’s a small but very fun room so it’s gonna be a fun, different kinda night. We’re ready for it. Xx