As George Porter Jr. finished a rousing four-hour set with friends at the historic Maple Leaf bar in his hometown of New Orleans, he had no idea that hours later he and his family would suddenly find themselves homeless, seeking refuge from a storm that would tear apart a city and claim over a thousand lives.

Even when Porter, bassist for recently-reunited New Orleans funk legends The Meters, reflects on the damage Hurricane Katrina inflicted upon his home - including five feet of water and mold reaching eight feet high on the walls - his concerns still return to music. "I lost three cases of CDs, about 600 of my own personal collection. I also lost a real nice old piano that was downstairs in the living room. My studio was up on the third floor; that was absolutely spared," said Porter in an exclusive interview with Chicago Innerview from his family's new house 50 miles outside New Orleans.

Porter clearly misses New Orleans very much, but is resigned to his "new home" in Darrow, La. until repairs can be made on the storm-damaged house. "I try not to worry about things I don't have control over," Porter explained. "Weather is one of those things. I accept the fact that I cannot go home, and I move on. Hopefully we are not displaced from New Orleans for too long because I can get kinda crazy when I don't go home too often."

Porter's mother and three bandmates from different groups were also in the path of the hurricane, including Meters founder Art Neville, who is displaced and living in Nashville. "One of the guy's house don't even exist anymore," Porter said in his classic drawn-out, born-and-raised-in-New Orleans accent. "It just absolutely collapsed."

After 25 years apart, the Meters announced their official reunion tour in August, only weeks before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. On the bright side, the reunion occurred just in time for the originators of their largely instrumental, syncopated flavor of funk to represent their storm-ravaged hometown at several hurricane relief benefit concerts. On Sept. 20 at Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall - while headlining two bills called "From the Big Apple to the Big Easy" that also featured Elvis Costello and Elton John - the Meters helped raise a whopping nine million dollars for different hurricane relief funds.

"[The Meters] don't see [fundraising] as an obligation," Porter says firmly. "We want to do it because our families are some of the many people who have actually been displaced by this storm."

In the late '60s, the Meters cut their teeth and eventually gained prominence in the French Quarter playing at staples such as the Ivanhoe bar. Their 1969 self-titled debut album produced what remain some of the group's signature songs, such as "Cissy Strut" and "Sophisticated Cissy." By the time the '70s rolled around the Meters were touring with the Rolling Stones and became an in-demand session band, contributing to albums for Dr. John, Paul McCartney, Robert Palmer, and Patti Labelle.

The pursuit of profitable solo and studio work by the band members - most notably Art Neville's work with the Neville Brothers - finally caused the collapse of the group in 1979. The Meters were most audible in the '80s and '90s in other people's music. The group became one of the most sampled bands of the time, especially by those in the burgeoning hip hop genre such as Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys and Ice Cube.

Porter and Neville continued the Meters tradition in the late '90s, with a different drummer and guitarist, christening themselves the Funky Meters. Now, despite a history that spans decades, Porter says the Meters called it quits prematurely and expects the group to write new music very soon. "Musically the Meters never reached their peak," he said. "So there is still a whole lot of music that is left in this band."

And that's something no hurricane can ever wipe away.

The Meters :: House of Blues :: November 11-12.