GEORGE PORTER JR. AND THE RUNNIN' PARDNERS
At Mexicali Blues - Teaneck, NJ (1/12/07)
At 10:00pm, I arrived at Mexicali Blues to catch
the start of the show featuring George Porter Jr. and the Runnin' Pardners. The
New Orleans-based funk/R&B quintet, featuring George on bass, John Gros (of
Papa Grows Funk) on keyboards, David Russell Batiste on drums, Brint Anderson
on guitar, and Michael Lemmler on keyboards. They performed an instrumental jam
that incorporated the lyrics "Funkify Your Life". I had to step
outside the club to handle some business over the phone so I missed about 15
minutes of the show...when I returned, the guys were performing the classic
"Junko Partner", sung by George...the best part of the song was the
marching drum riffs of David Batiste and the amazingly sizzlin' lead guitar
soloing of Brint Anderson!! "Hey Pocky A-Way" was followed by
"Will It Go Round in Circles". The band performed the Earl King
original "Rough Spots" (also available on the "Runnin'
Partner" CD by George Porter Jr.)...it was good, but I liked the other GP
(George Porter) song "Concentrate on Work" better...George didn't
play bass for half of the song (keyboardist Michael Lemmler filled in on bass
synthesizer while George just sang)...on the instrumental breakdown, George
added some swooping bass riffs while Brint lit the place afire with some
smokin' lead guitarisms (John Gros already added his spice to the nasty R&B
song on churning organ riffs)!! For the song "He Bite Me", George
started off by making loud roaring noises during the intro...some good Nawlins
funk with George's solid funk bass lines! Another song was performed (I wish
that I could remember it) before the first set ended around 11:15pm.