"It's 106 miles to Chicago. . ." You know the rest, especially if you are a fan of the Blues Brothers, the musical comedy invention of John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd and one of the breakout hits of the original Saturday Night Live, earning sold out concert tours, two feature films, platinum albums, and spinoffs and tributes that continue today. A serendipitous meeting of John Belushi with future blues star Curtis Salgado in Eugene during the filming of Animal House gave John the blues bug, as well as the moves. Danny Ackroyd was already a huge blues fan, even buying a blues bar to unwind in after SNL tapings. Put that together and you had some real combustible magic -- and a real boost for blues music and blues musicians at a time it was sorely needed. As Dan Ackroyd put it (in the persona of Elwood Blues) "We're on a mission from God." Mission accomplished! As always find full cuts below and thanks for sharing our shows!
Want more Blues Brothers?
The Blues Brothers was a fun (and funny) movie -- and a very quotable one at that. See if you or your friends quoted any of these lines after the movie came out in 1980. https://youtu.be/TrxSM_Gxtqw?si=hJq1l2i9OKtyxFJl
The Blues Brothers specialized in excavating superb blues tunes from singers who weren't household words (unless your house had it's own Jake and Elwood). And Jake learned well from his teachers, including Curtis Salgado, that a little ad=libbed naughtiness in the middle of a song always brought a big reaction. Check out this version of Willie Mabon's "I Don't Know" from a 1978 Winterland concert. And man, what a band! https://youtu.be/eBcc7PvXAHg?si=c4K9JH8m8jMUsYHw
Blues Brothers 2000 paled in comparison to the original in critical reception and box office, but that isn't really fair given the task (replacing John Belushi). There are some great bits in here and the musical numbers are over the top. https://youtu.be/2eEpcETVV3s?si=dYwZrWy6qTq1kVf1