The boys in Zen Fuse Box had a great time participating in the Virginia Highland District Porchfest on May 17, 2025!  We had the coveted 5pm slot at a prime location where we were able to spread the message of ZFB!  Below are recaps from the guys. To the extent that they may be inconsistent, blame beer! 

The band getting hyped up for the show! 

Here's the VaHi Porchest promo poster: 

Pete: “For the past two years I have visited my friends, Farris and Kristie Briggs in Atlanta for the Virginia Highlands (VaHi) Porchfest and have watched it grow from 10,000 to over 40,000 festival goers. It started in 2021 with 2,000-3,000 attendees as a COVID measure. Two years ago, I took two Daughters of Zen (DOZ) K-Pop fans (Anna and Sylvia) to visit the Briggs and go see ATEEZ at the Gas South Arena. Last year, Sylvia and two of her FSU buddies tagged along. Farris is an old buddy from my Stetson University days who has been nudging me to bring Zen Fuse Box to his porch as a cultural enrichment service for the people of Georgia. Rich set up an awesome Airbnb, literally 0.6 miles from the venue, and after approvals from Steve, and drummer extraordinaire Dave Oltman's booking agent, we decided to give it a go. We all arrived Thursday late afternoon and began coordinating rehearsals and dinner plans. The day of the Porchfest we were ready to bring the gear up to the porch and begin our sound checks. Those sound checks brought so many people into the yard we had to make sure that they knew we wouldn't be starting until 5pm, which was the final time to play at the fest. Many fans stood or sat in the front yard as others walked by in the street, and many stopped to see the show. The reception was continuously strong and palpable. We did our usual set and added our hit cover tune ”Chigaco" which involved the DOZ singing the chorus sections. We also threw in our original hip-hop tune “Can Do No Wrong” to fervent and lasting effect. The band had time to walkabout the festival and even hand out some flyers with QR codes for the promotion of ZFB. The family and friends and the lunches and dinners were all top notch, and even if we hadn't played an hour-long set to an enthusiastic crowd, it would have been a great trip!"

This is the full lineup of bands!  We got to see and hear a few, and everyone was great!

Here's the poster announcing us! 

Rich: “After 15 years of Zen Fuse Box history, the band finally wandered out of the State of Florida to the friendly confines of Atlanta, Georgia, where the band got to experience the musical and cultural extravaganza known as Virginia Highland Porchfest! Pete's college buddy, Farris, and his awesome wife, Kristine, hosted the band to perform at their VaHi house porch and were amazingly hospitable and welcoming to us and our families. Farris even provided a butt - a tender, slow-cooked pork butt, that is! (with all the delicious fixin's!). The weekend was a combination of a band road trip, family reunion, and vacation getaway with friends. The VaHi neighborhood was fun to check out and much food, coffee and barley pop were consumed. All within walking distance, for the first time I got to see my daughter Abby's and boyfriend Matt's place (as well as my nephew Ben's place). Got to see an Atlanta skyline pink sunset at the Clermont hotel rooftop, and happy to report, no one fell off! If you missed us at Porchfest this year, the good news is we'll be back next year to rock the porch! Put it in your cooler notebook now! Saturday May 16, 2026!”

Pre-show driveway rehearsal - we hadn't graduated to the porch yet! Note the awesome handmade sign that the Daughters of Zen made for us! 

Steve: “The scope of this event escalated quickly! What was originally going to be a band venture to Atlanta became, as Rich mentioned, a multi-family trip! The fact that we had so many family members there was awesome, especially as it dawned on me that while each of our families has certainly heard our music, and has seen us perform individually in various capacities, this was the first time that many of them have seen us perform as a unit!  I'll echo that our hosts, Farris and Kristie, couldn't have been nicer to us!  A pic of our setlist is below, for those interested in the tunes we played, but for me a highlight was having the Daughters of Zen join us on our cover version of ”Chicago!" As has become our live performance custom we were joined onstage (onporch?) by drummer Dave Oltman, who we like to joke, “knows our tunes better than we do!” 

Here's the full ZFB touring entourage for this event! 

The band wandering the streets of Porchfest, pre-show! 

Pete warming up his harp chops for the show, while Rich and Steve warm up by downing a cold one! 

The band's setlist for the show! Note the last-minute inclusion of “Chicago” and the kind affirmation by Rich! 

Some action shots of the band! 

We had a great time hanging out and performing in Atlanta, and look forward to doing it all again next year! We'll also be poring over more pics, videos and audio of our Georgia trip, so stay tuned!!

But lastly, 

Steve got a bag of something! Was it a souvenir, a bomb, or dog poop? We don't remember!