Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Saturday October 17, 2026 - Boulder, CO

Road Blog
October 17, 2026
Boulder, Colorado

We watched the sun rise over I-80 and southwestern Nebraska as we headed towards Colorado early Saturday morning. It was 39f and the coldest day the van has seen in her young life. Tire sensors were flashing, a couple lbs. low, but she fired up and got back to normal as the sun rose and the miles racked up. In Goshen, our pal Daryl Tesh suggested we stop in Ogallala, Nebraska of all places, and have breakfast at Caroline's Omelet House. JakeE Jacob loves his breakfast, Troy will eat ANY time, ANYwhere, and I’m always up for a new experience in a mega-random place on the map, so we budgeted time in for it. It’s an old, modest, little building on a quiet, small-town street with a high, tin ceiling and a few tables. There was one poor gal working the room, but the locals seem to know what’s up and helped make the coffee rounds. We had a great breakfast, Troy’s French toast taking the best-of-day award, and headed west.

The next stops on our Pink Floyd journey were Meddle and Obscured by Clouds. Meddle was the most cohesive, formulated, and foreshadowing album yet, we all agreed, and ObC was a soundtrack with some memorable and some not-so. We’re all anxious to get into the meat of the discography next, with Dark Side of the Moon. We also listed to the Rolling Stones – Aftermath, Ryan Bingham (loved this album Mescalito JakeE played), and Bad Religion as we crossed into Colorado and eventually started seeing the Rocky Mountains in the distance. We drove just north of Denver and into Boulder, around the city and into an industrial park where our venue was.

Upslope Brewing Company sits beneath a great view of the Flatirons on the east-range of the Rocky Mountains. We’d been hearing about snow and cold temps and thought we might have to play inside, but it was blue sky, sunny, and 70 - a perfect day for an outdoor gig. We met the bartender, who was sweet, but didn’t really “know what’s going on with the bands or when.” She made a couple phone calls and basically confirmed what I’d been advanced, so we were good to go. We set up, sound-checked, got a round of Oktoberfests, and took a minute to shake off the drive.

My favorite and only niece Ella and her fiancé Quincy came up and we had a nice chat. Woody, a friend of my pal Brooks said hello, an old friend from Marquette – Kim Fisher – who I haven’t seen in probably close to 40 years was there – that was an awesome surprise, and good pal Steven Johnson arrived with a snack bag for the band (thanks Jackie!!!!) and his amazing enthusiasm for rock and roll. A couple songs in and my good friends Angie and Andrew arrived and later on my Michigan-transplant former-co-worker Jenny took a seat in the back. It’s great to play for a room of strangers, and in the end expanding your audience is kinda what it’s about, but to have so many friends and family there really makes it special, especially when we’re so far from home. Love you all, thank you! In addition to these people there was a good amount of strangers too, enjoying the day and this band that sounds unlike anyone who as ever played there before (as we were told multiple times throughout the afternoon).

We went on shorty after 3 and played `til 6, with a short break in the middle. My voice is back to about 90% after the scare in Kearney on Friday, and the band was singing together well. Our “stage” was a section of the patio off to the side, beneath a small canopy tent that shielded us from the sun. We were a bit away from the closest people in the audience, but that was ok. Our sound was dialed in surprisingly well, especially considering that we were using out little road PA, and I’d grabbed 2 monitors and one main instead of the two mains and one monitor I’d intended. The response was good, from friends and strangers, and merch sales were decent after the show. The bartender Dave took a special interest, coming in expecting a Grateful Dead cover band and instead getting us. While we were playing he curated a playlist of what he thought we might dig or have been influenced by and the rest of the night we listened to Drive-By Truckers, Lucero, Slobberbone, and other picks that basically match our record collections. Super great guy, and really glad he was there!

We packed up and loaded out, said goodbyes to some friends, and took a table in the back with Angie, Andrew, and Woody, and had a great visit over beers and food. The sun was setting over the Flatirons and it was a beautiful end to a beautiful day. We felt very fortunate. I like to tease Angie that she went to the bathroom right when Jason Isbell went into “Outfit” at Red Rocks when TrooperGirl, her, and I saw him there a while back, and she holds her ground stubbornly, saying it was “Decoration Day” not “Outift” (basically just about as bad, by the way) and that she’s seen Jason many, many times and more than redeemed herself. It was totally “Outfit,” I confirmed with TG22 later, but hey tomato-tomatoe, and redemption acknowledged, but it’s still funny to yank her chain about it. To be fair, I vomited outside her car on the way back to the hotel after the concert (IT WAS THE ALTITUDE YOU GUYS!!!!) and she keeps that little nugget of information loaded whenever this topic comes up. Shuts me up pretty quick.

We said our 3rd round of goodbyes and headed into downtown Boulder as JakeE has never been there (or to Colorado at all) and had the inclination to do some record shopping. To our surprise, Paradise Found Records was open and actually hosting a show, so we stopped in. It’s a great store, but I wasn’t feeling the shopping bug so Troy and I meandered around outside while JakeE bought some jazz records. We did a loop around the block so Troy could see the Mork and Mindy house, then we headed south towards our AirBB. I was driving, being easily the sober one, which is often the case when we play breweries, since I’m not a big beer guy. We listened to the Posies and enjoyed the lights across the valley.

Finding and getting into an AirBB in the dark after a long day of travel, performance, and drinking, can be a challenge, and it took us a few minutes to figure it out, but we eventually got in. It’s an awesome basement apartment that will serve as our base for the next 24 hours until we leave for Kansas. Troy crashed out pretty quick, JakeE and I called home and got caught up with our wives, and JakeE crashed out not long after. I stayed up, had a nightcap (not beer!) and did some business before crashing out at the lovely early hour of 11:30pm.

While the setting wasn’t our dive-bar-sweet-spot, we had a fantastic show yesterday. Thanks and love to Upslope Brewing, the great staff, and all our friends and strangers who hung out with us. This was the 4th show I’ve had booked in Boulder, and the 1st that didn’t get cancelled by the venue, so I am grateful for that. I finally cracked the egg!

I got a respectable and so-needed 6 ½ hours of good sleep last night, and with next to no partying to recover from, I’m feeling great this morning. Working on the blog and some other stuff, drinking jet-black coffee, and letting the boys get caught up on the sleep that they need. Not sure what today has in store, but we’re playing Fort Collins at Surfside7 tonight with The Low Stakes and Lowfive – our only show on this whole run with other bands – so we’re excited about that! Doors are at 8 and music starts shortly after, so if you’re around come see us!!!