"I remember when I was a freshman in college going
to shows at Tipitina's that were totally packed and thinking to myself
'Maybe someday I'll play here.' Looking up at that Professor Longhair
banner...imagining what it would look like from the stage, instead of
from the audience. We never intended for [Galactic] to be this successful.
I never thought I'd really be making a living off of music. But I can't
say I'm not happy about it."
Robert Mercurio, along with Jeff Raines, grew up in
the Washington D.C. area. Together, they played in a number of different
local bands. When it was time to pick a college to attend, the city the
school was in was more important than the school. They wanted to be in New
Orleans. "We heard about the Meters and knew about the whole scene," Mercurio
says. "We knew we wanted to play music but we also had to go to school."
So Robert ended up at Tulane University (Raines at Loyola). But the real
classes were conducted in the city's music clubs. On their first night in
town, Mercurio and Raines went to Benny's, an after hours club where late
night funk and blues went down. The club has now been closed down due to
city officials declaring the club a neighborhood nuisance. "We fell in love
with that scene." It was places like Benny's and Tipitina's that kept Mercurio
in New Orleans during his tenure at Tulane, and is what keeps him there
to this day!