Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Friday May 15, 2015 - Iowa City, IA

Tour Blog – Show 5 – Iowa City
May 15, 2015

We enjoyed a nice leisurely afternoon in Iowa City of retro tv and coffee. First up was Emergency! Then “CHiPs” and M*A*S*H before it was time to get ready for some dinner and the show. Patty went for a beer run and made sure we were well stocked for when we got back. We have a rotating designated driver system and it’s funny how that person is usually the most concerned about the after-show booze inventory.

It’s graduation weekend at the University of Iowa and the city center was full of students and parents and partiers. There was live music in the plaza and no shortage of people pouring in and out of the bars and restaurants. We settled on hipster bistro diner called Pullman’s and went to an adjacent rock bar to have a pint while we waited for a table. For dinner Gabe and I opted for the fried chicken but it was the bone marrow spread appetizer that had us all talking. Served in a long-cut bone, mixed with some herbs and bacon jelly and spread on bread. Sorry to my herbivore friends but it was awesome.

After the early show was over we loaded into Gabe’s and set up for our soundcheck. We were the first of 4 bands playing so we had that luxury. It’s a really cool room and the sound on stage was fantastic. A couple drinks and it was showtime. Since the room was relatively empty we opened with a new tune we’d never played on stage before and by the end of that first song a few people had gathered and were watching. We played well and broke out a couple other rarely played numbers and by the end of the set there was a good crowd gathering so we’d done our job. After us were The Paperhead from Nashville and then LA Witch from Los Angeles, who were the headliners most people had come to see. They were 3 piece all-girl band with heavy riffs and great vocals. Their drummer hit `em hard and it was a good set. Locals The Burning Hand closed out the night with some psychedelic rock.

We got back to our AirBnB around 2:30 and got elbow deep into leftover fried chicken and Goose Island 312 before crashing out. Gabe and I got into some good rye at the club so we’re moving a little slower than Patty this morning, but we’re starting to come around. Patty, perpetuating his fatherly role, is frying up a pound of bacon and some eggs and ‘m trying to get up the gumption to get a run in before we head to Dubuque for tonight’s show at The Lift. It’s a short drive and there’s not really a hard check out so we have the luxury of taking our time today.