by Brian Weidy
Photo by Allison Murphy from 2010
In 1965, George Porter Jr. came together with Art Neville, Cyril Neville, Leo Nocentelli, and Zigaboo Modeliste, to form The Meters: one of the most formidable and genre-changing groups ever to come out of New Orleans. Last night, Porter, along with his band the Runnin’ Pardners – Brent Anderson on Guitar, Michael Lemmler on Keys, Khris Royal on Sax and Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI), and Terrence Houston on Drums – brought his distinctive brand of New Orleans funk to the Hiro Ballroom.
Porter Jr. played a monstrous set, mixing songs from his solo albums with Meters classics. Within a four-song seque, the band masterfully moved from “Funkify Your Life” – in which Houston sounded as if he was playing a double or even triple bass drum – to “Same Old Thing,” off the group’s 1970 release, Struttin. All in all, the night was an absolute blast as the band was able to make even the most straight-laced people put on their dancing shoes and get into Porter Jr.'s deep-pocket grooves.
Opening was THOR Jam, a program designed for high school students to learn rock. Their spirited 45 minute set capped off with a remarkably precise take on the Frank Zappa classic, “Peaches en Regalia.” Conversely, Sherman Ewing, a New York-based band which plays their own take on funk, lacked cohesion as they alternated between up-tempo rock songs – which frequently cooked into quite the jam – and sappy ballads with hardly any segue.