I said, This cant be true this has to be a practical joke, he says.
He has plenty of company.
On this late-summer day, the prison yard is already sprinkled with hundreds of lawn chairs.
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi debuted the Blues Brothers on ‘SNL’ in 1978.Al Levine/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images
Two years later,TheBlues Brothersmovie grossed over $50 million at the U.S. box office.
Belushi must be somewhere up there laughing his ass off.
At first thought, the idea seems overly optimistic.
Theres a link to the blues somewhere, somehow, says Akyroyd.
The current Blues Brothers team is about to find out how strong that link is.
I didnt realize how big it is.
Im as stunned as you are.
Im in the middle of singing a song, Salgado recalls.
I tell him to get the fuck off.
He says, Belushis here and wants to meet you.
I dont know what a Belushi is.
Since he was generally working clubs on Saturday nights, Salgado hadnt seenSNL.
But Belushi approached, shook Salgados hand, and told him he loved what he was doing.
Every hippie in Eugene plays harmonica.
Salgado remembers the fans losing their minds when Belushi took the stage.
Hes like the Beatles, Salgado says.
Im like, Whoisthis guy?
But Salgado wasnt impressed with Belushis voice when the comic slipped into hisSNL-renowned imitation of Joe Cocker.
He told him he needed to take singing more seriously and suggested Belushi learn Floyd Dixons Hey Bartender.
The next time Belushi returned, he nailed the song.
Belushi told Salgado that he and Aykroyd were forming a band.
Says Salgado: I said, Give credit where credit is due.
Malone was dubious when the comics told him about the idea.
But Dan was part of the blues scene in Chicago.
At first, Michaels wasnt amused by the skit and the Blues Brothers never made it past pre-show rehearsals.
John and Danny jumped on him Lorne!
He put us on at the end of the show.
The rest is history.
People came up and said, He ripped you off.
But I dontlooklike that.
I dont have a chip on my shoulder about it.
I was just stunned.
It wasnt all straight up blues, it was a mash up of R&B and blues.
We had to step up a little in everything, Aykroyd says.
Even though were playing characters, its got to come off as real.
As Jordan writes, We knew we were gonna kick some , because of the actual band members.
But people were shocked when they heard the band.
It wasnt comedy, but their reaction was funny as heck!
People were blown away.
With it came a barrage of slings and arrows.
They said, What are you guys up there doing, playing with a couple of crazy comedians?
I said, Get out of here.
They didnt believe it.
Its just weird,he told Bloom.
Why would I do these things?
What am I, fucking [blackface entertainer] Al Jolson?
I read that, he exploded, going on to threaten the writer.
If I ever see that cocksucker Ill fucking cut his balls off and put them in his mouth.
Shortly after the Blues Brothers version was released, he and Prater were playing a club on Long Island.
Dave hit the ceiling, Moore tellsRolling Stone.
He said, No, man, thatsoursong!
The guys said, Yeah, okay, all right.
I said, We recorded it whether you want to believe us or not.
On one hand, Soul Man was good for us, he says.
On the other hand, its an albatross around Sam Moores neck.
A soundtrack album, and a national tour to promote the film, followed.
Youre thinking, Okay, they want to do this gig out in Los Angeles, recalls Marini.
The whole thing was like a rocket ride.
As far as an active performing entity, that was done, Aykroyd says.
I never thought Id play in that band again.
I wore a blue jacket and no hat, the shades, dark shirt, he recalls.
Not doing the Blues Brothers look at all.
I had a band there.
Then I went out onstage, and the response was great.
It works no matter whos singing it.
Nearly a dozen more have since followed.
The trend ramped up after Belushis passing.
Two teenage brothers, for instance, called themselves the Junior Blues Brothers.
Cease-and-desist letters were regularly sent to unauthorized acts.
Back in the Eighties, drug overdose was very taboo.
I think she felt a personal mission to see to it that wasnt how this whole thing was remembered.
They had the dancing girls and stuff.
But the money was impressive.
But the knockoffs continued, to everyones exasperation.
Jake and Elwood are characters, so it became very complicated with impersonators, Luke Pisano says.
We dontwantto stop them.
We want to support real music.
We dont want to be the bad guys.
After opening at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, it received mixed reviews and closed.
She would say, Jake liked sugar in his coffee, but Elwood liked it black, he says.
That made it come alive in my head.
(Catania is also the mastermind behind the Organic Blues Brothers Coffee.)
You know, thats a billion-dollar question.
I became the only legal Jake, which was an honor.
The music is just more soulful.
In the Nineties, plans to introduce Jake and Elwood to a new generation failed to launch.
At the time, it was like, Look, no ones doing this.
(They were incredibly progressive, says veteran fan Devereux of the film and the original Blues Brothers.
They tried to kill a bunch of Illinois Nazis, which was a problem back then.)
Together, theyre working on various ways to make anyone under 30 care about Jake and Elwood.
Blues Brothers beer will arrive this fall.
By the end, it doesnt even matter whos Peter Parker and whos this new kid.
Its the same kind of idea, and it just feels so authentic.
So now you have an opportunity to take Jake and Elwood and move those characters forward.
But he admits he was reluctant to join the Blues Brothers when Aykroyd asked him two decades back.
Its the same thing.
Every actor wants to play McMurphy inCuckoos Nest.
And if you get the chance, you do it.
Just because other actors did it doesnt mean you cant do it.
I mean, look at Shakespeare.
The crowd was jumping, having fun, he says.
Music was blaring and it was lifting my arms up.
And in that moment, I was like, Oh, John, I get it!
Thank you, brother.
Danny was passing a gift.
Im wistful and contemplating things in a bittersweet filter, because we just lost Judy, he says.
She was our blues sister.
So tonight, its sort of my goodbye to Judy, and closes a chapter some 40 years later.
What exactly does that mean?
Aykroyd takes the quickest of sighs.
Theres some solid, beautiful things that came of it.
And so its on to them.
Ill play these concerts as long as I dont have to do it from a chair.
But the administration of it, I think its time for a new generation.
Youre assuming that the Blues Brothers would be two white guys, right?
But plans for a reimagined Blues Brothers remain in the distance.
Right now, at Old Joliet, Aykroyd is getting ready to become his version of Elwood once more.
He shifts his gaze to a nearby prison wall, the barbed wire still in place.
Look at where we are, he says.
Imagine looking up and going, Theres no way out of here.
Its 1908 and youve been busted for a candy store robbery and youre here for 15 years.
Youre not getting out.
